A student at the University of British Columbia Web Analytics course reached out to us via Twitter to ask some questions about creating personas, specifically Persuasion Architecture® Personas and the information is important enough that we thought we’d share our response:

“Are you saying that we shouldn’t bother with creating multiple personas with granular details but rather focus on creating only a few (4 if we use the logical-emotional, quick-deliberate quadrant)? But if we add the stages of the buying cycle in…

...continue to read "Dear Confused By Personas"

1. What is the best way to generate sales online? A Forbes study shows that 48% of marketers said that search engine optimization (SEO) was the best method for generating conversions online. It’s always easier to start when visitors have some level of intent.

2. Search drives more sales, but shoppers are thinking longer before buying.

3. Does Google Analytics overstate the value of search? Econsultancy research shows that it might.  Make sure to at least set your cookies for 30 days.

4.…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 6/12/09"

Long and short are linear terms (they refer to length, right?).  So they work fine to categorize or describe copy found in a sales letters or print advertisements.

But (most) websites aren’t linear because hyperlinks break linearity (aka subvert hierarchy).

People don’t read (most) Websites one full page at a time in a numbered order; they read/scan/move from one link that interests them to the next link that interests them, often entering or starting on something other than page #1 (what bad web…

...continue to read "How to Think About Long vs. Short Copy"

I was reviewing a usability test of a B2B site today, and I heard two very different reactions to the same video (I’ll paraphrase):

#1: That video was a waste of time.  They could’ve conveyed the same information in way less time.  My questions aren’t answered. #2: That video was awesome!  I feel much more educated about their service now, and it was very professional-looking.

Scary, right?  The video was professionally shot, edited, and produced.  It…

...continue to read "B2B Warning: One Persuasive Video May Not Be Enough"

I knew I had to buy a copy as soon as I saw it on the magazine stand: the issue of Time Magazine with Presidential temperament as the front cover story.  They even had four presidential faces on the cover, which, before examining them, made me think of previous explanations of temperament using the Four Presidents on Mt Rushmore:

Dutiful George Washington for Sensing-Judging / Methodicals Philosophical Thomas Jefferson for iNtuitive-Thinking / Competitives Rambunctious Teddy Roosevelt for Sensing-Perceiving / Spontaneous…

...continue to read "Presidential Candidates, Temperament & Website Copy?"

The financial crisis is here. It’s not a matter of if it will affect you and your company, only a matter of when and how much. Clients and friends are checking in with varying reports, some are watching their growth plateau, others are watching sales trend downward.

Overall, conversion rates are starting to trend downward.

Almost everyone I speak with is looking for areas to cut expenses in and approaching spending from a more frugal mindset. Some are beginning to make drastic…

...continue to read "Online Marketers Can Weather the Financial Crisis"

Jenny Craig has just announced their new celebrity spokesperson, and they haven’t disappointed me. But they did throw me for a loop.

Remember a few weeks back, when I wrote about the perceived marketing strategy for the Jenny Craig weight loss centers? At the time, I ruminated over the possibility that the marketing and advertising execs at Jenny Craig were either consciously or unconsciously using personas to drive the success of their celebrity spokespeople campaigns. (To read the original post, traverse…

...continue to read "Jenny Craig Does Me Proud… and Throws Me a Curveball"

Yesterday Susan Greene wrote this comment to my previous post:

Great video, great message.  Now imagine that the guy in the suit worked for a corporation, and his boss asked him to come up with the words for the beggar’s sign. 
 His sentence would have been made into a paragraph by Corporate, watered down by Legal, and politically corrected by Human Resources.  I’m thinking it would be a completely different message by then. 
 Uh…

...continue to read "Do you share Susan’s Cynicism?"

With annual revenues for the weight-loss industry estimated at $60 billion a year, competition is fierce. Food-based programs like Nutri-System and Weight Watchers account for hundreds of millions of dollars, so getting the right message across to potential customers is critical.

While other companies have featured real-life success stories in their advertising, Jenny Craig has chosen another route: the celebrity spokesperson. While I’m not a big proponent of celebrities as an effective marketing tool, Jenny Craig has applied the use of…

...continue to read "How Jenny Craig Uses Personas for Successful Marketing"

If you were to walk through the offices of FutureNow, you would get a sense that while we were in college any one of us could have been cast in the movie Revenge of the Nerds. A few of us got made fun of for being socially-awkward “bookworms.”

While it may not make you popular with cool kids, fancy book reading does have its benefits. So I couldn’t help but laugh when I read about a new study published in the…

...continue to read "Harry Potter and the Secret of Conversion"