Author Archive
Threadless left me Shirtless
It had all the makings of powerful viral campaign.
It started as a Tweet:
Who wants a FREE $50 gift code? Here it is: TLTW7897 First come, first serve - and all tees are ON SALE FOR $12!! http://tinyurl.com/yqe9f
Bryan Eisenberg (@TheGrok) caught it among the noise that is twitter traffic, then predictably, he forwarded it to me and the rest of the staff. 50$ bucks off t-shirts at Threadless.com, very cool.
So like any wearer of T-shirts I followed the link and was immediately impressed by the home page. Copy easy to read and clear, check! Design functional and attractive, check! Navigation clear easy to understand, check! Images enticing, check! A cool variety of off-the-wall tees, check! Several ways to start browsing, check!
So I hover over the down arrow to “Browse by Size“. An attractive drop down appears on the hover, and I am presented with the following:
All is beauuutiful, birds are chirping, sun rays are shining. Next, I move my mouse down under Guys, and I click on my size…2XL.
This is where things go wretchedly wrong…
Somebody cue Homer Simpson.
Doh!
Now please correct me if I am wrong (I’ve been wrong about this once or twice before), but those are human beings of the feminine persuasion right? I’d be willing to bet anyone a FREE $50 Threadless gift code that I am looking at a whole bunch of ladies. Not that I am complaining about that, but I was expecting to see guy t-shirts. Wouldn’t you be?
So, I hover over the nav and click again on the 2XL under Guyyysss. Same thing. The same thing happened after I clicked on all the guys sizes.
I would be interested to see what the bounce/exit rate would be on this page. I would bet a lot more than $50 that Threadless.com is bleeding guys on this listing page. I wonder how many guys are thinking they are in the wrong place.
The reason I like to shop by size is that when I am shopping for T-shirts I hate to fall in love with a T-shirt that is not available in my size, it just grates me. Threadless.com must realize this, because they make it easy for you request notification if your size is not in stock.
The interesting thing is that many of the tees on the site have thumbs of male and female, so male model pics are available. Does Threadless know something I don’t? Do females modeling t-shirts sell more effectively to guys buying t-shirts for themselves? Are us guys that secure in our masculinity that we can buy shirts that ‘girlys’ wear?? Or, are the shirts at Threadless.com that cool that model gender just doesn’t matter?
P.S. I couldn’t even get the coupon to work either. 
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Screencast: How the Super Bowl Ads FUMBLED Online
This year’s Super Bowl ads once again found us scratching our heads. If you’re going to spend $2.7 million for 30 seconds of air time in order to send people to a website, why not sell them your product once they get there?
In this screencast, we’re going to show you how two brands — Tide to Go and Under Armour — continue to miss out on converting browsers into buyers, even after the post-game traffic surge is over. Depending on who you ask, these sponsors’ ads (”Interview” for Tide and “The New Prototype” for Under Armour) were pretty decent. The products don’t seem to be the problem, either.
Nope. What we have here is a failure to convert. So, much like the New England Patriots are doing right now, let’s see what we can learn from some video analysis:
Let’s take a look at some post-game stats from Reprise Media’s Search Marketing Scorecard:
- 6% of companies included a call to action, asking viewers to visit their websites–a decrease of nearly two thirds from last year
- 93% did not buy search placement for concepts relating to their ads, including spokesperson names, slogans and taglines. Among the brands that failed to buy featured stars’ names as keywords were Bridgestone Tires (Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons) and Sunsilk (Marilyn Monroe, Shakira and Madonna). Unfortunately, notes Reprise, given that the celebrities are often the only thing that viewers remember about an ad.
- 74% still neglected to include a call to action on their Web site landing pages, leaving users “directionless.”
These figures are important because they illustrate a common misconception among multi-channel marketing campaigns: While the TV ad’s success can be measured by the traffic it drives to the website, the traffic alone is meaningless. When visitors can’t convert, you lose.
Want help converting online? Download “10 Tips to Start Optimizing Your Site” for free!
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Comparing Personal Brands: Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs
Well earlier this week Bill Gates said goodbye to his daily grind at Microsoft. He also gave his last speech at CES.
In case you missed his farewell tribute, enjoy…
But will Gates actually stop making headlines? Probably not so much.
Gates still retains his title as one of the richest dudes in the world and, of course, he will now focus on making the world a better place. It’s enough for even the biggest Mac fanboy to have a few warm fuzzies for Gates.
Everyone raves about the charisma of Apple’s Steve Jobs, but can you picture Jobs poking fun at himself like this? Where will we find Bill Gates next?
It’s been a good week for personal brands & authenticity; first Hillary sobs, then Gates makes Jobs looks a little like a statue.
Who woulda thunk it?
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Screencast: Making Online Gift Shopping Easier
Although the idea of shopping for gifts online sounds easy, too many e-commerce sites make it more difficult than it should be. Sure, you could buy a gift card for everyone on your list, but what does a piece of plastic really say about how you feel? What ends up happening when customers give these unoriginal “gifts” is that they end up sending friends and family back to the same websites that didn’t inspire them to buy something cool in the first place — and the whole cycle of “Hmm… what should I buy?” starts over.
In this edition of Screencast, I’ll show you how some e-tailers are helping their online shoppers navigate the gift-giving season, while others are, well, let’s just say they’re hoping to receive (your money). For instance, WalMart.com doesn’t seem to do anything special to help gift shoppers. Meanwhile, Etsy.com — a site where independent clothing designers and artisans from around the world their wares — proves you don’t need a Wal-Mart-sized budget to sort merchandise into gift guides for the customer. BarnesAndNoble.com has a nice gift guide that helps you find gifts to match the person’s style, but good luck finding it; their guide is hidden in drop-down menus and poorly phrased navigation buttons. Amazon.com does it best, and although there’s room for improvement, as you’ll see, they engage gift shoppers front-and-center on the homepage (a smart thing to do in December) and they do a good job of limiting choices. That’s right. When it comes to deciding between gifts, less is definitely more more — just be sure to show them things they’ll like.
Our gift to e-tailers? How about some holiday bonus tips:
- Provide a Gift Buying Guide
- Overcome “analysis paralysis” by limiting choice
- Allow customers to shop THEIR way…
- By relationship
- By “most popular“
- By price
- By characteristic (i.e., type of gift)
- ASK your customers how they would like gifts sorted
(If video doesn’t load, click here.)
There you have it! Sort. Categorize. Limit their choices to stuff that’s relevant, and let that momentum pull them toward the sale. And do yourself a favor: Don’t wait until Cyber Monday ‘08 to help gift shoppers spend their money on you. Engage them directly by using language and navigation that address their needs right away. And if you’re still leaving cash on the table, make a resolution to get help.
[Special thanks to Conversion Analyst Ron Patiro for his help finding these examples.]
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Screencast Smackdown: Wii vs. Xbox 360
When you have as many kids as I do, video games are a necessary part of life.
My family’s been hobbling around on the original Xbox for a few years now, and I’ve decided a game console upgrade is long overdue. If I were more patient, I suppose I could wait until Christmas — but patience is overrated. I supposed the release of Halo 3 has me chomping at the bit. (At least I’m not the only one. Check out how Halo 3 is moving Xbox consoles.) So, I’m trying to decided whether I want to buy the Wii or the Xbox 360 now, and which one will have to wait until Christmas. The only thing up in the air is which console I’ll buy first.
To help me make this decision, I’ll go online to visit each console’s main site. This screencast documents my journey and, ultimately, the winner:
(If you’re reading this via RSS, click here for video.)
I could’ve made dozens of suggestions for each site, but it was the category pages that made the biggest difference in helping me make my decision. The Xbox 360 game listing page looks good. While it did give me the ability to sort and search games, it was limited compared to the Wii. New games or not, sometimes these subtle differences are enough to send comparison shoppers like me to the competition.
Xbox 360 does a few things right:
- Great use of game thumbnails
- “Buy Now” call to action
- Top searches
Some suggestions for the Xbox folks:
- Add a “view all” function, so we can scroll the entire listing
- Allow sort by more criteria (e.g., # of players, release date)
- Printable & sharable listings
While the functionality of the Wii’s listing page was superior and helped me make my decision, that doesn’t mean this page is great. The Wii page is far too complicated and looks out of place in comparison to the rest of the site. So, raw functionality wins, but this doesn’t exactly feel as effortless as using one of those magic wand-like Wii controllers.
Here are a few suggestions for the people over at Wii:
- Add thumbnails to the listings
- Include a call to action
- Change dreary page color to match the rest of the Wii site
- Add “view all” function to scroll entire listing
- Printable & sharable listings
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Decoding Personality: Why We Compete, Reward & Buy
Recently, I’ve had several conversations with clients about rewards and why we compete. So, when I came across this snippet from Lifehack.org, it prompted me to share a different perspective:
Author of “Motivation from the Inside Out: Rethinking Rewards, Assessment, and Learning” and “Beyond Bribes and Threats: Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students’ Behavior”, Alfie Kohn wrote this piece for the New York Times in 1993 about rewards in the workplace not motivating employees the right way.
Kohn suggests that these rewards act the exact same as punishments and create negative work environments.
I call BS on this simplistic presumption. The problem isn’t the reward itself. The problem is misunderstanding the person’s motivations and thereby offering the wrong reward.
Our whole lives are motivated by an internal sense of worth, measured by “rewards” — both internal and external. We’re each addicted to our own reward system. It stains every action we take.
The same applies to the buying process, and to your website.
Creating personas, profiles, and buying perspective for our clients is what we do each day at Future Now. This work is based on our instrument of choice, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Myers-Briggs is commonly used among psychologists, and has the largest database of respondents. Millions take this test annually.
According to the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (define) — which is based on Myers-Briggs but inspired by the ancient Greeks — people default to four primary temperaments:
- The Artisan (”SP”; Sensing-Perceiving)
- The Rationalist (”NT”; iNtuitive-Thinking)
- The Idealist (”NF”; iNtuitive-Feeling)
- The Guardian (”SJ”; Sensing-Judging)
In our work we focus tightly on how people prefer to behave in the buying process, so we label each temperaments differently to reflect just that. In Future Now-speak:
- The Spontaneous (”SP”; Sensing-Perceiving)
- The Competitive (”NT”; iNtuitive-Thinking)
- The Humanistic (”NF”; iNtuitive-Feeling)
- The Methodical (”SJ”; Sensing-Judging)
People tend to be surprised when they test themselves and find they’re an SP, SJ or NF. At this point, they’ll often say something like “Well, this doesn’t make sense… I’m extremely competitive!” Of course, most of the successful people we work with often are. Just because you’re not an “NT Competitive” doesn’t mean you don’t compete fiercely; you just compete for different reasons and different rewards.
The Spontaneous often competes and is primarily motivated by the thrill of the winning experience, the adrenaline rush.
The Competitive often competes and is primarily motivated by big-picture status, the trophy on the shelf.
The Humanistic often competes and is primarily motivated by the success of the team, one for all.
The Methodical often competes and is primarily motivated by the satisfaction of a job well done, winning is it’s own reward.
Of course, you’ll likely see a little bit of yourself in each of these — depending on the situation — but you may find one more appealing than the others.
Does this apply to your website? Of course!
Since buying usually triggers reward centers in the brain, these four types of motivations are relevant to the buying process. If you promise the wrong rewards, you’ll create a negative buying experience. Here’s somethings you can do in your product descriptions:
For the Spontaneous, briefly describe the thrill/experience the product provides.
For the Competitive, show them how the product will advance their goals.
For the Humanistic, show them how the product will positively affect others.
For the Methodical, describe in detail how the product will help them get things right.
If you have a minute, share some examples with us of websites that push your reward button — and let us know your temperament. Not sure of your own type? Take an anonymous (and free) online test.
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
In Whose Hands are You Placing Your Advertising?
Are they worrying about your results, or are they busy doing something else?
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Screencast: Shopping for Auto Insurance Online
For this edition of Screencast, we decided to focus on something close to my heart: auto insurance. My teenage daughter is about to be driving for the first time, and I want to know what I’m getting myself into financially. I’d also like to see a bit of information specifically about insuring teenage drivers. I’m sure you parents out there can empathize.
All too often, companies get so hung up on optimizing their sites to convert late-stage, ready-to-buy customers that they don’t realize that creating the most relevant experience is really what helps them in the long term. For instance, I may end up buying the cheapest car insurance I can find, but I’d prefer to do business with a company that’s transparent about teen driving coverage and expenses. I’m not ready to buy today, but that’s fine. Soon enough, I will.
So, for the next few minutes, see what happens as I browse Geico.com, StateFarm.com, and Progressive.com in this early-stage buying scenario:
(For those reading this in RSS, click here for the video.)
As always, we hope to hear more suggestions on websites to cover. We’ll do our best to insure it’s something each of us can walk away with.
We’d love to hear some comments from parents or anyone who’s bought car insurance online. Oh, and don’t be afraid to steal this video. Just stay away from my daughter’s car. 
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Screencast: Conversion-boosting Basics for Petco.com
For this week’s screencast, we’ve focused on improving the basics for Petco.com. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get to it…
(For those reading this in RSS, click here for the video.)
Does your website stink? If so, you may want to read this. In the meantime, we hope to hear more suggestions from Grok readers for websites to review. We hope to hear some creative suggestions, and we’ll try to make sure there’s something everyone can learn.
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Screencast: WebAnalysts Conversion Challenge — Part 1
Here at Future Now, we love a bit of competition, especially when it involves sharing conversion-boosting tips with our readers. So, when Lars Johansson over at WebAnalysts.info challenged us to review a few sites of his choosing, we couldn’t resist. (Here’s what the competition’s up to 
)
For Part 1 (of 3), Lars had us take a look at Orrefors.com, a high-end glassware site with some conversion and persuasion-related stumbling blocks that prevent customers from quickly getting the information they need. Orrefors is a great example of beautiful design getting in the way of the basics. There’s a lot they do right, and hopefully someone from Orrefors is reading so they can do even better.
So, without further ado… The Orrefors.com screencast:
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
