Techdirt reports that Amazon has been awarded a patent for Generating Current Order Fulfillment Plans Based on Expected Future Orders. Essentially, if Amazon deems that you won’t be a long-time customer or ordering again soon, your order will take longer to be expedited.”

This comes after Amazon snuck One-Click past the patent system by changing the word “a” to “the,” and adding the phrase “purchasable through a shopping cart model.” According to Slashdot, lawyers for Amazon “apparently managed to reinstate two of CEO…

...continue to read "Amazon’s Patented Lousy Service"

“Saying Stuff is ‘Dead’ is Dead” by Phil Gomes

“Whiteboard Friday — Controlling the Flow of PageRank & Link Juice” by Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz “‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ Button Costs Google $110 Million per Year” by Nicholas Carlson, Vallywag

“Millions in Sales from 3 Simple Words” by Glen Rifkin, The New York Times

“Psychological (’personality’) Types” — Socionics

“Caring for Your Introvert” by Jonathan Rauch, The Atlantic

“The Anatomy of Sarchasm: Researchers Reveal How the Brain Handles this Complex Communication” by S.G. Shamay-Tsoory, PhD, et al.,…

...continue to read "Tired of Your Family Already? Read This…"

Bryan Eisenberg

…marketing in an era when the customer is in greater control than ever. That businesses can ‘Always Be Testing’ (for free!). And, of course, for Hannah, Sammy & Stacey.

Cinde Johnson

…the fact that more e-tailers are coming to the realization that relevance, scent, and my buying process, are more important than their selling processes, and for making their sites more persuasive. (When you live in the “official” middle-of-nowhere, shopping online isn’t just a convenience, it’s a necessity!)

Holly Buchanan

…companies and…

...continue to read "A Commonly Overlooked Metric: “Thankfulness”"

For years I’ve been a fan of the America’s Test Kitchen chefs and their magazine, Cook’s Illustrated. I’m a bit of a foodie — and a pragmatist — so I love that they give their audience no-nonsense, real world advice on how to cook. And even though they have a hit TV show, they continue to publish their Cook’s Illustrated in black-and-white and illustrated in order to reduce costs so that they don’t need to run ads in the magazine. They’re…

...continue to read "America’s Test Kitchen Shows How to Sizzle an Email"

Anyone else enjoy life 3% more when The Daily Show isn’t in reruns? Well, if you think TV’s gotten bad since the writers’ strike, just wait until online copywriters wise up. In fact, copywriters and bloggers should consider picketing right along with the TV & film writers. (Notice I didn’t say “screenwriters.” In today’s media, a screen is a screen is a screen.) This strike isn’t about television or film. It’s about high-profile screenwriters — as high-profile as unknown gets,…

...continue to read "Writers: The Most Undervalued People Online"

Shout-out to Ron Patiro at our office for sharing this great blog post with me. It’s a story about women’s football clubs from our friends at Church of the Customer. In the post, Jackie Huba talks about the Baltimore Raven’s women’s fan club, “Purple”…

Purple already has 3,500 members who get inside information about the team, special offers for a new line of women’s team apparel and jewelry, a monthly newsletter, and invitations to special annual events.

For super-fans, Purple offers a $250 VIP level…

...continue to read "Sharing the Love with Female Fans"

Next Monday, November 26th, will be one of the busiest days of the year for e-commerce. It’s called “Cyber Monday”; the first day back at the office after the Thanksgiving break, when U.S. citizens blow-off the work they should be doing in favor of buying holiday gifts online. While it may be the worst possible news for your company’s productivity, Cyber Monday is great for online retail.

No coincidence, then, that like “Black Friday” — the day-after-Thanksgiving packaged goods consumption orgy…

...continue to read "Is “Cyber Monday” the New Black (Friday)?"

On January 14th & 15th, the Future Now team will be in Orlando, Florida, hosting two of our most popular marketing optimization seminars:

Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar & workshop — Led by two of our most popular writers, Holly Buchanan and Jeff Sexton. Learn how to write persuasive that speaks to each of your market segments. Not only for copywriters, past attendees in this class include C-level execs, marketing directors, entrepreneurs, and others who just want to improve their online communication skills. Call…

...continue to read "Two Great Seminars, One Great Location"

Joshua Porter of Bokardo.com has taken a serious look at Facebook’s new so-called “opt-in” ad model.

…Facebook is now partnering with 3rd party sites and selling your information to them for money. How does this work?

Here’s a scenario: you go to Blockbuster.com and rent a movie. A little interface element pops up and tells you that Blockbuster is sending information to your Facebook account. It gives you ten seconds to say no…and then it sends it anyway. This is called “opt-out”.…

...continue to read "Opting Out of Facebook’s Disruptive Ad Model"

One of the most important — and often overlooked — ways to boost your conversion rate while improving the experience for your customers is to focus on point-of-action assurances. Basically, these are the messages that smart e-commerce sites give us, just as we’re ready to check out. Point-of-action reassurances help us overcome that one last moment of doubt (”I think she hinted at this one, but can I exchange it if she wants that other digital camera instead?”). These types…

...continue to read "Screencast: Guarantee Holiday Sales"