Seth’s blog post on “Things to ask before you redo your website” is a must read for everyone involved in online marketing.   Seriously.  If you haven’t seen it yet, go read it now.

What I love most about this list is the way it segregates into sub-components or elaborations on Future Now’s  three questions that are the basis of Persuasion Architecture:

1) Who is coming to the site?

2) What is it they are trying to accomplish?

3) What…

...continue to read "Redesign? Ask The Right Questions!"

The seconds pass by in your visitor’s mind as they arrive to your website. If they don’t bounce immediately because of poorly targeted marketing efforts and sucky landing pages, you’ll still be lucky if they’ll stick around for the next 2 minutes. It’s like every visitor to your website has a timer in her head and if she can’t complete her task in the allotted time, she is out of there.

How are you wasting your visitors time?

Does it take a…

...continue to read "The 120 Second Visitor"

Although I try to stay away from using personal and embarrassing topics when writing blog posts, I’m going to share this experience, because it’ll help you think about a few things you should be considering when optimizing your site.

Last night, I went for a last minute shopping expedition, looking for wax strips that are ready to use. I visited three drugstores and a Walmart just to come out empty handed. Wax strips are not something I would think of purchasing online because…

...continue to read "The Smooth Leg Approach to Conversion"

Amazon just launched Windowshop.com. When you get there you see a wall of images that you can then scroll across using a mouse or keyboard. By zooming in you get a preview of a particular album or film or book. If you want to purchase it, just click through to the Amazon website.

They advise people to come back every Tuesday to see what is new. I am not sure why they didn’t include a way to subscribe here.

When you go…

...continue to read "Window Shopping the Amazon Way"

First, if you haven’t already seen Apple’s new Mac commercial, watch this:

Now, before discussing the ad, please name a brand developed in the last 10 years that was built largely on the strength of its advertising.  Go ahead and think a bit if you have to; I’ll wait.

You might be able to name one, dear reader, but I’m betting you’ll have strained a bit to come up with it, and that you’ll only think of just one (assuming you…

...continue to read "The Larger Truth Behind Apple’s New Commercial"

Last week at the Shop.org conference, I offered attendees a report on how they ranked on our 2007 Customer Experience Study and the ability to be among the first sites reviewed for our 2008 benchmarks. I wanted to offer our GrokDotCom readers the same courtesy.

We’ll be reviewing over 500 retail websites this year and won’t be reporting the overall results until the beginning of 2009. If you put in your request this week, we’ll provide you with a report that shows you…

...continue to read "Benchmarking Your Customer Experience"

Each day it seems there’s a new headline about the latest “amenity” for which an airline plans on charging us, which, of course, causes a ripple effect as every other airline chooses to follow suit with a justification that comes across as, “Well, now that Airline X doesn’t have to give you free water, neither do we.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this sound like the opposite of the effects competition is supposed to create?

Like us, many of you…

...continue to read "Dear Airline Industry, Being “Least Awful” Won’t Save You"

Testing and optimization are a necessity in any marketing endeavor. I’ve gone deeper into the subject in several columns, such as “Conversion Folly Funnel” and “We Tried That Already.” Today, I want to focus on one aspect of optimization: customer insight.

Success in testing doesn’t necessarily indicate success in customer insight. For example, you can test landing pages, determine the best landing page, and enjoy an increase in conversion. But do you know why it converts better? Oftentimes marketers gain knowledge…

...continue to read "How to Gain and Act on Customer Insights"

The new “Ouch Point” survey from the Opinion Research Corporation suggests that U.S. e-commerce websites are still — believe it or not — frustrating shoppers.

As first reported by Direct Magazine, the survey found that…

19% dislike learning an item was back-ordered or out of stock after said item was placed in a shopping cart 14% are frustrated by Web sites that malfunction as payment is being processed 8% are confounded by unclear return policies 6% don’t like unclear shipping information 6% dislike…

...continue to read "Study: Brand Erosion Caused By E-Commerce Friction"

As tax time looms in the U.S., personal finance management weighs heavy on the minds of those of us who would rather put it off until next year.

A few of my colleagues, two of whom had actually used it, recommended Mint.com. I had been to the site a few times in December when I first heard about it. Back then, I wasn’t yet thinking about signing up, but I did recall Mint.com being extremely good-looking and well-written.

Months later — and…

...continue to read "Bold Trust-Building Ideas from Mint.com"