In the offline world, have you ever been chased by retail staff because you opted not to buy something at their store?

Never?

You mean no one has ever blocked the exit and said something like, “Hey, I saw you put that bottle of wine in your cart, why didn’t you buy it?”

It sounds funny until you realize that most online remarketing services offer to do exactly that to your website visitors.  They’ll pester them with e-mails, pop-ups, and phone calls should…

...continue to read "Can Bad Assumptions Lead to “Gorilla Marketing”?"

I couldn’t help but write down a few comments and links in response to a recent Smashing Magazine post.  Designed to Sell: 8 Useful Tips to Help Your Website Convert kicks major butt, and I thought you’d both enjoy the article and a few comments/additions thrown in for each of the 8 tips:

Basically, make sure your design elements – and most especially your pictures – enhance your credibility and put visitors in the right emotional frame…

...continue to read "Comments on 8 Useful Conversion Tips"

So your friend shows you this book he can’t stop raving about. After giving it the old dust-cover/random-flip-through examination, you pretty much decide to buy it. Now, when you arrive at amazon.com, my question is: are you at all interested in the book recommendations that Amazon has for you?

Absolutely not, right?  Or at least not yet.

You came to buy a specific book.  You’ve already got a task in mind and browsing random books aint it.  You’ll likely…

...continue to read "Does Online Browsing Bend the Laws of Scent and Relevance?"

Have you ever read a blog post that had so many interesting and profound ideas, you actually re-read it several times? That’s what happened to me when I read this fascinating article by Joseph Carrabis at iMedia Connections.

I originally read the article because it talks about gender and website design. But there’s much more to it than the title (”Website Marketing Across Genders”) suggests. For instance, the phenomenon he calls “Towards” and “AwayFrom” advertising.

I’ll dig into that in another post, but…

...continue to read "How Website Images Affect Visitor Persuasion"

It was a bad moment. I felt like “PC Guy” from the “Get a Mac” commercial was trying to sell me an Apple product. It gave me the heebie-jeebies.

It all started when I checked my email and found an email from Apple with a subject line that said, “The new Mac Pro. Now with 8 cores standard.”

Like many email users, I don’t automatically enable HTML images. So, I have to click to allow the images to be shown. The result:…

...continue to read "Can I Please Have the “Mac Guy” Back?"

Vincent Van Gogh painted his ‘Starry Night’ in 1889 while in an Asylum at Saint-Remy.

Vince’s painting has affected millions. It’s one of the best known images in modern culture. It’s inspired songs such as Don McLean’s “Starry Starry Night” and is one of the most replicated prints. The painting has a magnetic appeal, engaging the reader by drawing them into its world.

I say “reader” rather than viewer because this image is a perfect example of how an image SPEAKS a thousand…

...continue to read "Van Gogh on Creating Magical Web Content"

If you’re responsible for planning, measuring or optimizing online marketing, you’re already too busy to breathe. Nevertheless, you have to keep up with all the latest and greatest developments.

That is why you look to the blogosphere and the collection of publications that publish advice from “experts”.

Like you, I keep current with a lot of what industry experts have to say. Some of it’s excellent, some is good, some of it’s neutral, but a dangerous yet substantial portion of it is…

...continue to read "Hey, Web Guru, Your Advice is Toxic! (Avoid if Easily Offended)"

For nearly a decade, companies have hired Future Now to help them understand how people buy online. In this same amount of time, I’ve spent a good chunk of each paycheck bidding, saving money, doing “market research” on eBay. And, throughout the years, it continues to amaze me how few eBay sellers get it right.

One little-known but poorly-kept secret out there in vendorland is that many big companies — the same ones who come to us for retail advice —…

...continue to read "Top 10 Tips for Selling “it” on eBay"

I have four kids that range in age from 4- to- 13. I must confess, sometimes being a marketing consultant feels too much like my nagging daddy role.

Anyone with kids knows the routine when you impart your wonderful child with a bit of wisdom.

“Son, do you want to get hurt?” “No, Daddy” “Then please don’t jump on the bed!” “Ok, Daddy”

Simple, right?

Then, about 8 minutes later, comes that ear shattering scream. Your son is curled up on the floor, clutching…

...continue to read "Thick Heads, PPC, B2B Demand Generation, and Converting Visitors"

Why publish valuable content for free? This questions has come up so many times over the years we’ve been in business that it no longer surprises me. The answer has been the same since we started Future Now, Inc.

“An innocuous question can hit you where you live. I should have expected one day someone would ask me, “How do you measure your ROI for that?”

If I’m conducting client training on measuring, testing, and optimizing performance, clients have a right to…

...continue to read "The ROI of Free Revisited"