Many companies don’t fully understand what to do with social media. They don’t see the path to benefit from it. Others have tried using it and walked away not seeing the value of social media. Others still don’t get it at all, and have left themselves completely to the mercy of the online mobs.

Most of us are somewhere in between.

Social media is at its best when used as a tool to listen and interact with buyers in the early-to-middle stages of their buying cycle. This is the time to focus on providing consumers with content that matters to their buying process. While it’s possible to direct sell and find customers “in the market” today, it’s also difficult. Most of today’s companies are overly obsessed with late-stage buyers; thus, this kind of thinking seems to them less valuable.

What It Can Do

Relationship building, goodwill, and improved customer service are what social media can do for you. Also, social media can:

• Help your company communicate with early- and middle-stage buyers more effectively and push them closer to a sale.
• Help your customers communicate the bad and the good, with you and everyone else they know.
• Help you listen to what potential buyers in your sector are talking about.
• Help you find opportunities to delight customers.
• Push you to become more focused on the customer.

What It Can’t Do

If you think putting up a Twitter account or a Facebook fan page will build huge gobs of closable traffic overnight, you’re kidding yourself. Relationships need nurturing. Social media can’t:

• Drive hundreds of thousands of new qualified visitors (yet) to your site or store.
• Let you take control of the customer dialogue about your company. Those days are long gone.
• Be your primary channel for marketing your mid- to large-sized company.

More on Buying Stages

A short example: early-stage buyers have only identified a need (e.g., “I need a winter vacation this year”). Middle-stage buyers know approximately what they want (e.g., “I want to go to Florida this summer”). Late-stage buyers know exactly what they want (e.g., “I’m going to Florida and I’m making reservations and buying plane and park tickets now”).

Do you think someone in early or middle stage might be influenced to by social media? If you aren’t convinced, look at what happened to United Airlines.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anybody who is thinking about going on a winter vacation and happens to cross the “United Breaks Guitars” video (now watched over 3,000,000 times) will think twice about United. That is a negative influence on early-to-middle stage buyers.

Now, say it’s 10:30 a.m., you’re starting to think about lunch, and you come across this video?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Still, Not Everyone’s Convinced of Social Media’s Value

Patricio Robles, tech reporter at Econsultancy, recently wrote specifically about monetizing Twitter and real-time search. I agree, because Robles was talking about social media as an ad platform.

Where we part in our agreement is in thinking that real-time search and social media have no monetary value. Remember, social media can build relationships, though not paid traffic generation.

Some Practical Steps for Getting More From Social Media

• Reward customers who talk about your company in social media, both good and bad.
• Remember, bad word of mouth can be good for your brand too.
• Quit talking about yourself all the time. It gets old, really. Talk about your customers. Heck, just share a joke to break things up so you aren’t “wewe-ing” all over yourself.
• Unconvinced that social media has legs or is a match for your company? Test it. Offer a social media specific promo code and see if it gets traction.
• Use social media to take an interest in your customers needs. For instance, are you selling items in a vertical sector? Search for “follow” and “friend” people in that space. Add value to the conversation about their needs. (Early-stage buyer prospecting.)
• Use it to meet people. Meeting people is good.

Where’s the Value for You?

Social media isn’t everything people are hoping it will be, yet. Still, there’s value in participating and investing resources to be a part of the online 2.0 conversation. Just temper your expectation, and use it for what it’s good for.

Have you had to prove that social media has value to someone?

[Editor's note: the author of this post is now blogging at bryaneisenberg.com]

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 how you measure up in our 4 categories and provide you with some tips to improve your customer experience.

Your site will be evaluated by one of our Conversion Analysts against 69 distinct questions in four critical areas of customer focus:

* Product Presentation
* The Checkout Process
* Delivery Options
* Customer Service

Want Your Report Now?

If you would like a better idea of what you need to do to make your retail website more customer focused then complete your request at Benchmarkmysite.com.

P.S. We are also thinking of adding a B2B benchmark as well. If you think this would be valuable, and would like to be included in it please comment below.

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 are frequent fliers and are concerned about these trends. So when Jeff Eisenberg pointed out a site that highlights the fees associated with this growing phenomenon of sacrificing service to maintain pricing, I thought I’d share it with you.

For me, this illustrates a couple of things.

1.) We have surpassed the number of elements it takes to trigger over-choice behavior (aka “analysis paralysis”). Before, it was just price, departure/arrival times, and brand that influenced our flight-booking decision. Now, with so many other factors involved — multiple bags, bag surcharges, seating, drinking, and the (in my eyes) completely unforgivable “minimum stays” United just announced — has caused consumers to be put in the position of having to make a very complex decisions, which typically causes people not to choose*. The way I see it, the airline industry is headed right back to the time of the travel agent, paying someone to make sense of the mess.

Unless the travel sites can quickly adapt and easily incorporate these new elements to their functionality.

2.) The airline industry is devoid of real positive differentiation and unwilling to compete beyond price. As Jeffery pointed out in our conversation, airlines will become completely dependent on their ability to market being the “least awful.” One Philadelphia newspapers even launched a spoof of this concept last week with ads for a fake airline called Derrie-Air, which supposedly charges passengers by the pound. (Hat tip to the Influential Marketing Blog for spotting this.)

Normally I would say, “Market-capitalism to the rescue!” and insist that open competition will allow the fittest to prosper. But amid government subsidies and an apparent lack of interest by carriers to compete on something other than price, I’m skeptical this will right itself. So this is my open call to airline owners (yes, even Virgin Airlines) to reposition their fleets by differentiating themselves by meeting or exceeding customers’ wants, not just the bare minimum expectations we’ve grown accustom to by the current state of the airline industry at large.

My question to you, dear reader, is this: What ideas would you bring to bear on this problem? How would you change the company, product, or marketing to better meet the consumer’s needs, as well as the health of the industry?

.

*From Barry Schwartz’s “The Paradox of Choice” presentation at TED.

. .

About the Author: Brian Bond is VP of Marketing and Product at FutureNow, Inc.

“Are you new to the team?” asks the nuclear engineer of the stranger who saves a frazzled control room from reactor meltdown.

“Actually, I’m with the tour group, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”

Holiday Inn Express has a brand promise: “Stay Smart.” Well, I had the opposite experience. Why? Blame it on their poorly named “Simply Smart” bathroom products.

It’s early in the morning — very early — and I’m looking for the hotel shampoo and conditioner. Not too difficult. Just look for the bottle marked “Shampoo” and the one marked “Conditioner”, right?

But I find no such thing. My choices include “Refresh”, “Scrub”, “Wash”, “Soften”, and “Tame”. I reckon that “Tame” is the conditioner, but as to which one was the shampoo, it’s a toss up, so I bring all the bottles into the shower with me. I then compound the situation by not brining my glasses, so now I can hardly read the labels.

Where was the helpful cut-out in the bathroom explaining what each “simple” bottle was? It wasn’t until later that I noticed tiny print on the back of the bottles explaining what each thing really was.

So, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but did I feel like I could fix a multi-million dollar athlete’s sprained ankle or prevent a nuclear meltdown? Not exactly. I had shampoo on my legs, hair conditioner on my face, and mouthwash in my hair. I didn’t feel capable of pouring a cup of coffee. (Though I must say, their hot breakfast bar really is impressive.)

In hindsight, once I knew what each container was, it made a little more sense. (Though how you get Spot & Stain remover from “Rub”, I still don’t know) but surely I’m not their only guest who was confused.

Nothing against Holiday Inn Express. I stay there often and the staff is usually lovely. But this bath product labeling thing really threw me.

So, what’s the lesson here (other than mouthwash should never be used as shampoo and vice versa)?

Beware of cute and clever labels. I see this on websites as well. There’s no glory in being clever if you end up confusing your visitors.

I also see this in advertising messages. I read about an effort in Australia to pull over drunk drivers. The original message was “Don’t blow your license.” Testing showed this message had near 100% understanding. But the ad agency wanted to change it to “Don’t blow it.” Clever, yes, but only 5% of the people had a clear understanding of their message. Some people even thought they were promoting civil disobedience by saying “Don’t take the breathalyser test.”

Back to websites. I know sometimes you want to show your visitors how creative you are. But do you really look at your site from their point of view? I am often befuddled by advertising agency sites. Leo Burnette has an interesting category called “We’re Idea Centric.” The sub categories are “Start Clean,” “Stay Restless,” and “Amplify.” I honestly don’t know what any of those mean or what I would see if I clicked on them.

I’m sure you’ve run into this yourself. I’d love to hear your examples of websites that had labels or navigational elements that were “clever” but not easily understood.

Well, off to getting the furniture polish out of my hair (another story for a later date).

. .

About the Author: Holly Buchanan is a Persuasion Architect at FutureNow and co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys. If you’d like to meet Holly and judge her in person, join her on June 2nd for FutureNow’s Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar in Manhattan. Not only will you learn techniques for attracting customers online, you’ll get a chance to schmooze over hors d’oeurves and cocktails at our “Happy Hour with the Experts” reception, which we hope you’ll find to be appropriately named even though it will last for more than an hour.

Who had me doing the Tiger Woods I-just-made-another-eagle-putt fist pump? Avinash Kaushik. (The title of the Mya Frasier’s AdAge article is: “Google’s ‘Anayltics Evangelist’ Explains Why Websites ‘Suck’ — Kaushik: Despite Mounds of Data, Marketers Don’t Understand Consumers.”)

Why did this interview get me so fired-up? Because Avinash hit the hot button with the fact that, even with all the data available today, most marketing efforts still fail because advertisers don’t truly understand their customers.

Here’s an excerpt:

Avinash Kaushik thinks one of the reasons why so many websites “suck” today is because of the hippo — as in the “highest paid person’s opinion.”

And, yes, you’re likely a hippo — a successful advertising executive, CMO or brand manager, pulling in a six-figure income, often found pontificating about what does and doesn’t work online. You use tried-and-true metrics such as unique visitors and click-through rates to decide on the best design for your landing page or what content is best suited on your product site.

‘Least closest’
Yet, despite your mounds of data, Mr. Kaushik thinks you are the “least closest to the customer.”

Now, I work with these “hippos” all the time, and they’re some of the smartest people in the room. I have tremendous respect for them. The CMOs and other top executives I work with are master strategists. But like so many of us, they rely on the customer data that is collected to give them the insight into who their customers really are, and what those customers really want. That’s why not having regular, direct customer contact IS a problem. You’re forced to rely heavily on the data coming in from other sources.

And often, that data is compiled, sifted, sorted, filtered, and presented in a manner in which the original customer intent, words and emotions are missing from the final “customer data report.”

You may get insight into WHAT happened, but what’s usually missing is WHY it happened — which was exactly Avinash’s point.

What can you do to learn “why” your customers did something? Avinash suggests the two products he evangelizes:

• Use Google’s analytics tools, including Google Analytics and Ad Optimizer.

• Add a short, free 4Q online survey (from iPerceptions) to your site.

I still think nothing beats getting face-to-face interaction with your customers. Everyone on your ad team — from the CMO to the copywriters to the web designers — should have regular, direct communication with customers. Now, I hear some of you saying, “That’s impossible. We can’t take the time to send all our people out to interact with customers.”

OK. Here’s another idea: Bring customers to your marketing team.

I saw a presentation at the M2W Marketing to Women conference by a company called Snippies. They have “video journalists” who interview people in different market segments. What I love so much about this approach is, you get to hear from real people, in real environments (not focus groups), in their own words. It’s amazing what you can learn about people by hearing it in their own, unfiltered words. This documentary-style format is very engaging; the impact and insight from these videos is way more powerful than simply getting a report with a bunch of spreadsheets and data.

Smashing Stereotypes

I also love this approach because it helps smash stereotypes. When you see real people, it helps you get past stereotypical views and gain understanding. The further away you are from your target market, the harder you’re going to have to work to get past customer stereotypes to gain that understanding not only of what people do, but why.

Don’t be the one who’s “least closest” to your customers. Take the initiative to gain that greater understanding. It will keep you from wasting money on ineffective advertising and help you create messages that persuade people to take the actions you want them to take.

. .

About the Author: Holly Buchanan is a Persuasion Architect with FutureNow. Each day, she helps clients use personas to smash stereotypes about their customers. She is also co-author of a new book, The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys. If you’d like to meet Holly, join her on June 2nd for FutureNow’s Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar in Manhattan. Not only will you learn techniques for speaking to customers in their own language, you’ll get a chance to chat over hors d’oeurves and cocktails at our “Happy Hour with the Experts” reception.

I guarantee you a lot of CMO’s (and a whole lot of other people) tuned in to watch this frank round table discussion.

What industry is your website targeting? Are you a sales training company targeting sales managers? Why not get together a group of 3-4 sales managers and ask them to talk about their biggest challenges with employee training?

Are you a website development company targeting small business owners? Why not gather a group of small business owners and record a session where they talk about their experiences — good and bad — with trying to put up a website that increases business?

These would have to be candid, honest discussions about real issues people are facing. There’s no sales pitch for your company allowed in these videos. It’s simply your way to facilitate an honest discussion about the issues and challenges within your industry.

Consider of the power video. When a prospective customers comes to your site to watch this video, they gain knowledge and insight from watching peers discuss issues that are important to them.

THEN you can create copy and links, so that after they watch the video, you can show how your service addresses their issues, solves their problems, and overcomes their challenges.

It’s called building rapport. You’re letting your prospective customers know: “We understand you. We care about the same issues you do. We’re in touch with people like you, and if we’re listening to their concerns, needs, and desires, we’ll listen to yours, too.”

It’s about showing, not telling. Instead of saying, “We’re an industry leader, well versed in the problems that sales managers face every day,” SHOW them. It will be way more effective.

. .

About the Author: Holly Buchanan is co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth — Today’s Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys; and co-instructor of FutureNow’s Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar, June 2nd in Manhattan.

I don’t know makeup brands or colors, and I don’t care enough to research what makeup would be right for me. Usually, my need for makeup only results in a purchase if a friend recommends something specific, or when I run out of an essential piece, like mascara. Then I’m found sprinting to the local pharmacy to pick one that looks decent.

How do you look for people who aren’t looking for your product? Anticipate their need.

Search engine marketing is a great platform for gaining the attention of those who already have some kind of motivation, need or want for a particular solution. It’s much more difficult to get the attention of people who don’t currently need or want whatever it is you sell.

Historically, the most common forms of online marketing tactics used to gain the attention of potential customers have been pay-per-click advertising, banner ads and email marketing. But today’s customers are ignoring unwanted marketing efforts, so our tactics can easily fall flat. In order to get a higher return on investment, marketers need to find new ways to speak to customers and help them figure out what they want.

How do you speak to potential customers when they aren’t listening? Find out when and where they’re listening and provide an experience that fuels demand for your solution.

Social networking sites are growing by the second and people are looking for more interactivity and experiences online. TAAZ.com captured my attention by first offering me an interactive experience.

First, I uploaded a picture of myself without makeup:

Then I proceeded to add different eye shadows, lip liners, mascaras, etc. Each shade or style that I chose was a real product color and brand. The quality of the widget impressed me, so I spent a good deal of time uploading the image of myself and messing around with different styles and colors.

Apparently, I was going for the Cindy Lauper look!

Not a bad look, I know, but I digress.

Eventually, I played around with some shades I would have never even thought of purchasing and realised that some of them actually didn’t look too bad on me. Not only could I interact with different colors and brands of makeup, I could actually see what they looked like on me without ever trying it on.

There are some things TAAZ still needs to work on. The hair portion of the widget doesn’t look as real as the makeup portion. They don’t yet offer hair dyes relating to the color of hair you choose to place on your image.

I could go on, but suffice it to say, the look I ended up with…

…didn’t exactly measure up to their best makeovers. Still, this is a smart way to attract ad dollars from cosmetics brands like Revlon (pictured) and Sephora (which currently has banners on the site).

There’s also a great opportunity here to push the business model further. For instance, TAAZ could create a Facebook widget so users could share their makeovers amongst friends. They could get one of their advertisers to sponsor a “best makeover” competition. You get the idea.

In case you haven’t heard us talk about “The ROI of Free,” here’s what we mean: If you want to gain the attention of potential customers who aren’t actively searching for the solutions you offer, don’t just tell them about your solution, give them a way to interact without having to commit to anything. Bring the visitor into the experience and let the experience sell itself.

What are some interactive marketing examples you’ve seen have turned you into a sale or lead?

Our firm is very skeptical of surveys. They can annoy customers. The questions themselves tend to reflect the bias of the person or company asking them. At best, they offer directionally-correct information, which is often taken out of context and used to replace an old assumption with some shiny new (and equally dangerous) one.

The great thing about Web Analytics is that it allows you to see how people are using your site — without surveying them.

Our motto: “Believe what they do, not what they say they do.”

But there are things your Web Analytics can’t tell you, especially if you didn’t use personas to plan the site in the first place. And if you haven’t planned the site with personas, even believing “what they do” can be misleading.

That’s when a survey can help. When handled correctly, surveys can provide a good starting point for gathering qualitative data about the customer experience.

Not just any survey will do. You need the greatest survey questions ever:

1. What is the purpose of your visit to our website today?
2. Were you able to complete your task today?
3. If you were not able to complete your task today, why not?
4. If you did complete your task, what did you enjoy most about the site?*

Avinash Kaushik, the man who developed these powerful (and modestly-titled!) survey questions has teamed up with iPerceptions to create 4Q, a free tool that allows you to add this survey to your site.

Seeking Analytics Nirvana

It’s rather strange, isn’t it? Why would one of the World’s foremost experts in parsing quantitative Web Analytics data — the guy who wrote the book on it, actually — insist we get excited about fuzzy, qualitative data?

Let’s see what Avinash has to say about 4Q…

If you have read my book or my blog you are quite aware of the What and the Why issue. All the quantitative data you and I have from our web analytics tools is really good at helping us understanding the What happened.

Visits and Visitors, pages viewed, referrers, keywords, bounces, paths (!), campaigns, and so on and so forth. All critical data that helps you step up your game – improve your campaigns, fix pages, fire someone.

It cannot, no matter how much you torture the data, tell you Why something happened.

[...] We overlay our own opinions and experiences and preferences.

Unfortunately we are not our customers. In fact being as close to our companies as we are, it is quite likely that we are the worst possible people to empathize with our customers.

Sounds crazy, we know, but this whole “visitor empathy” concept might be the best thing that ever happened to your relationship with Web Analytics — let alone your relationship with actual customers.

In this YouTube presentation, Avinash explains how qulitative and quantitative data live in harmony:

*Fourth question added by iPerceptions.

[Disclosure: Future Now's Bryan Eisenberg is an adviser to iPerceptions.]

Victoria’s Secret used to be “my” store — a place that catered to sophisticated women. Now it feels like a store catering to teenage girls and creepy guys. Why, I wondered, doesn’t Victoria’s Secret want me as a customer anymore? Could it be because I’m not 25? But isn’t that a good thing? I’m older and I have more money.

Barbara La Placa is the associate publisher of marketing for MORE Magazine, a monthly magazine aimed at women over 40. In this OMMA article, she talks about women over 40 and their buying habits:

La Placa uses the example of lipstick to compare older women with younger consumers. “Open up my medicine cabinet and I’ve got 700 lipsticks. You don’t see that with young girls who get one brand everyone else has. Me, I’m 49, and I’m always looking for the right shade. And I have the money to buy the darn things,” La Placa adds.

Touche. Wake up and meet the boomer market. There are more women over 40 than ever before. They have money and they’re spending it.

According to The Wall Street Journal, even Victoria’s Secret is acknowledging that efforts to target younger customers may have disenfranchised their core market.

In the 1990s, professional women shopped the pastel-painted stores for colorful, European-inspired lingerie, supplementing underwear wardrobes previously filled with black, white and beige styles. Soft music played in the background while saleswomen discreetly offered help.

But over time, Victoria’s Secret adapted to a changing culture. One reason Victoria’s Secret got off track, Ms. Turney said, was the success of its Pink brand, which launched in 2002 and aimed to introduce college students to Victoria’s Secret stores. Pink has grown tremendously; in October, an executive said it would probably reach $900 million in sales for 2007.

But as teens and 20-somethings snapped up Pink underwear and pajamas, too many other product lines at Victoria’s Secret shifted to target that same customer, Ms. Turney said.

It was great that Victoria’s Secret brought in the younger audience, but they forgot about the rest of their customers (like me). I’m sorry, but a pink stuffed dog isn’t going to get me to buy more bras. (Though it might make a nice “friend” for my Boston Terrier with a humping problem.)

Victoria’s Secret is working on changing its image, toning down the “super sexy” hype and going back to its “ultra-feminine” roots. Can they win back customers?

Changing customer views will be a huge challenge. Sheri Coulter, a 42-year-old secretary in Flower Mound, Texas, worked at a Victoria’s Secret store three years ago. “It was like pulling teeth to get the women our age to come in there,” she says. “In our 40s and up, we are sexy — just not the same sexy a college gal is.”

For a time, she says, the store where she worked stopped carrying sizes 38 or larger, embarrassing some older customers who were turned away.

If they want me back, that’s great. But if they are re-re-branding, Victoria’s Secret should take some redesign cues from its own website (which does a much better job than the store, in my opinion).

Here’s what VictoriasSecret.com does well:

• The homepage shows a woman with an actual figure who looks sexy without being trashy.
• Great categorization. I can shop by collection, style of bra, see specials, or get tips on fitting.
• Product pages detail why each garment is or is not right for my body.
• I can increase the text size so I can actually read the product descriptions. (Thank you!)

For now, I’d much rather shop at the online store than the retail store. That’s a problem. If Victoria’s Secret wants me back as a customer, they’ll need to match the experience they’re presenting online with the experience they present in their stores.

[Editor's Note: Holly Buchanan is co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth — Today's Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys, and co-instructor of our Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar on March 28th in San Francisco.]

Bad news first. In aggregate, online retailers fall far short of offering good or even adequate customer experiences. A pathetic 4 out of 330 sites would get a passing grade in Customer Experience 101. It’s frightening to consider how much money is being left on the table and how many conversion opportunities are missed.

The good news? Companies show improvement over the last survey, though they’re falling short on many basics. These basics, however, can be relatively easily addressed and fixed. Companies committed to improving their customers’ online experiences can prioritize lower-cost and less-complex changes to improve their customer experience scores.

Improving Customer Experience Basics

While it’s easy to stare at the puddle of spilled milk and fight back the tears, there’s little profit in it. It’s a bit painful to get a less-than-stellar grade, but the smart marketer will look at missed opportunities and be sure not to miss them again. Provide an intense customer focus, and you’ll see more customers vote for you with their wallets.

Here are some actions retailers can take in the four key customer areas:

• In product presentations, provide:
  • Better and more enticing product descriptions.
  • Better-quality product images.
  • Multiple images.
  • Customer reviews.

• For fulfillment options, offer:
  • Product availability.
  • Easily visible return policies, shipping policies, and guarantees.
  • Customer-friendly and easy-to-read and -understand return/exchange policies.
  • Gift options.

• For checkout options, include:
  • Multiple payment options (e.g., by check, PayPal, etc.).
  • Estimated delivery times, and show in-stock availability for items.
  • In-store pickup where physical stores exist.
  • A progress indicator in the checkout process.
  • Simpler or fewer steps or both in the checkout process.
  • Third-party seals and security assurances.

• For customer service options, implement:
  • Faster and more accurate replies to customer e-mail inquiries.
  • Chat options.
  • A visible phone number for questions and problems.

All these are significant factors that customers have come to expect online. Your customers notice little things that can make a huge difference. Companies that lavish attention on improving customer focus will reap more sales and will experience superior customer-retention rates in the long term.

You can continue reading on my column on ClickZ or read the full study on GrokDotCom.

Our 2007 study clearly shows that online retailers are not capitalizing on the customer experience and are overly focused on innovation while ignoring the basics.

U.S. online retail sales will more than double over the next six years, reaching $316 billion by 2010, according to a new report from Forrester Research — they expect e-commerce will grow to account for 12 percent of total retail sales in 2010, up from nearly 7 percent in 2004.

Industry observers report that, since the advent of the Internet, online sales have increased overall by about 25% annually (“Online Sales Lose Steam,” The New York Times – June 17, 2007). But they also note that sales are leveling off as customers return to brick-and-mortar venues for a more satisfying shopping experience.

A similar Forrester study in April 2006 revealed that only 26% of online consumers were simply satisfied with their shopping experience. This suggests a whopping 74% — three-quarters of online shoppers — weren’t even satisfied. And what of the remaining 26%? They weren’t delighted. They were merely “satisfied.” In other words, the shopping experience was, at best, adequate. Are retailers in a race to see who can be the “most adequate”?

The Importance of Customer Experience

With all the investments and improvements within the last five years in redesigns, usability, analytics, multivariate testing, and the increases in broadband speed and availability, one might have expected significant improvements in bottom line. Yet, according to Shop.org, conversion rates are still hovering around 2.5%. Customers aren’t delighted.

Research by companies like Bazaarvoice, however, paints a different picture of the current “leveling off” in the e-business world. Their results indicate the problem doesn’t lie in the allure of the offline shopping experience, but in the failure of online stores to present a customer-focused shopping environment. In our experience, many of these sites also fall short of customer-focused excellence because they fail to effectively integrate with their offline counterparts.

Sam Decker, CMO of Bazaarvoice said, “According to customers, what were once ecommerce nice-to-haves are now table stakes. Easy checkout, product search and the right policies are as important as multi-channel integration and authentic user-generated content, such as ratings and reviews. The way customers research, shop and buy has evolved. Future Now’s study underscores the need for retailers to do the same and reconsider priorities.”

To analyze the extent to which websites focus on the customer experience, Future Now sent mystery shoppers and Conversion Analysts to over 300 retail websites to gather information for our 2007 Retail Customer Experience Study.

What the Customer Focus Study Reviewed

The study consisted of visiting a retailer’s website and answering a series of Yes/No questions about the availability of 69 different factors that reflect a focus on customer experience. These factors were weighted based on our 10 years of optimizing retail website experiences and totaled to arrive at an eventual score for each site. The features we asked our shoppers and analysts to address include:

• Quality and detail of images (e.g., “Could the shopper zoom in?,” “Did the retailer provide product images from multiple angles?”)
• Product copy description answering the shopper’s implicit questions
• Whether the retailer offers customer reviews
• How the retailer met the shopper’s gift buying needs (e.g., “Did the retailer offer gift wrapping, messaging or gift certificates?”)
• Ease and simplicity of checkout (e.g., “How many pages did it take to check out?” “Did the retailer provide a progress indicator?”)
• Retailer’s ability to address the shopper’s concerns (e.g., return policies, guarantees, third-party seals and security assurances)
• Ease and clarity of retailer return policies
• Providing of shipping and tax totals early in the checkout process
• Offering multiple payment options (e.g., pay-by-check, PayPal, etc.)
• Offering estimated delivery times and showing in-stock availability for items
• Offering in-store pick-up where physical stores exist

We specifically asked the mystery shoppers to ignore:

• price points (inclusive of tax, shipping and handling);
• the ease in locating the products;
• the efficacy of the brand in conveying confidence;
• the impact of overall design on credibility and sales;
• the entire customer experience from search to purchase fulfillment.

Rather than evaluating the entire customer experience, this study provides a benchmark for retail sites based on more objective criteria. Therefore, our 2007 Retail Customer Experience Study provides a thumbnail view of how businesses speak to the needs of their customers.

There’s much work still to be done and plenty of opportunity for improvement. The top-rated site in this study scored only 67 out of a possible 100. Even the top-rated company has plenty of room to grow before it has thoroughly delighted its customers and improved its bottom line.

Given the results of our study, Future Now further believes that companies which lavish attention on improving customer focus will reap more sales and experience superior customer-retention rates in the long term .

The Results: 2007 Online Retail Study for Customer Focused Excellence

Congratulations to the top fifteen retailers for their efforts at providing visitors a customer-centric experience.

The Overall Leaders:

1. SmartBargains.com 67
2. BestBuy.com* 66
3. Compactappliance.com 66
4. BlueNile 65
5. EasternMountainSport 64
6. BackCountry.com 63
7. TigerDirect.com 63
8. CDUniverse.com 63
9. Ebags.com 63
10. Staples.com 63
11. AmericanMusical.com 62
12. Landsend.com 62
13. Crutchfield.com 62
14. Walmart.com 62
15. Walgreens.com 62

*Moved from 11th to 2nd since launching customer-generated reviews.

Average score for all retailers = 43 (± 11)

The Leaders by Category:

Apparel / Fashion
1. eBags.com
2. Landsend.com
3. Lids.com, Bluefly.com, LLBean.com

Electronics
1. BestBuy.com
2. TigerDirect.com
3. Crutchfield.com

Food
1. SurLaTable.com
2. Cooking.com
3. Berries.com

Jewelry
1. BlueNile.com
2. Ice.com
3. Diamond.com

Children / Toys
1. OneStepAhead.com
2. KBToys.com
3. BabyAge.com

Housewares / Kitchen
1. CompactAppliance.com
2. BedBathandBeyond.com
3. SurLaTable.com

Office
1. Staples.com
2. OfficeDepot.com
3. OfficeMax.com

Mass Merchants
1. SmartBargains.com
2. Walmart.com
3. Target.com

Selected highlights learned from the study:

* 58% offer gift certificates.
* 24% do not allow customers to enlarge the product image.
* 37% offer multiple image views of products.
* 33% offer customer reviews.
* 38% of sites have difficult to read fonts. (This is especially telling considering that, this year, our average age of reviewer was younger than ever before. Only 14% allow customers to change the default font size while viewing their website.)
* 43% offer free shipping.
* 61% do not offer any information on the product page regarding in-stock availability
* 52% of retailers have physical stores; only 10% of all retailers offer in-store pickup of orders.
* 74% offer estimated delivery times.
* 42% provide shipping cost early in the checkout process. 35% have a checkout process with more than 4 steps.
* (Only) 58% correctly answer an e-mail question within 24 hours.
* 20% offer pay-by-check, 10% offer Google Checkout, 20% accept PayPal and 18% offer Bill Me Later.

This study reflects significant factors that customers have come to expect. Having worked with online retailers for the past decade to observe how customers buy at retail websites, Future Now knows that customers notice the little things. In the long run, customers vote with their dollars for companies that have an intense focus on satisfying their needs.

Curious to know how your e-tail site measures up? Contact us to find out how you rank.

An Open Letter to Andrew Cosslett, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group:

Dear Mr. Cosslett,

As a business traveler, my needs are simple and predictable: I just want some restful sleep, power outlets numbering more than one, and an internet connection that works. Now, in the last 90 days, I’ve spent more than a third of those nights in a hotel room, so I’m waaaayyyy too familiar with lumpy pillows, concave mattresses, and TV remotes where the previous guest felt entitled to liberate the “free” AA batteries inside.

On a recent trip out to the Googleplex in the San Francisco Bay area, I found myself searching about for a quality place to stay. The usual spots had no vacancies, so I chose one of your less commonly known properties, Staybridge Suites. (I happen to love staying at “suites” hotels; the visual separation of a living area from the sleeping area, and an actual kitchen, creates the feel of a condo that a human lives in rather than just a hotel room.)

I check in, no problems. It’s actually *half* the price of regular hotels in the area. I’m pleasantly greeted by staff and quickly finding my room. But once inside, I’m delighted to see this:

That’s right, a hand-written note from the general manager, Ms. Lisa DeLorean. Not a computer-written-in-handwriting-font note, but a real, live, ink-on-quality-stock note. I wasn’t even terribly concerned about the words themselves — the note’s pleasant enough — but this fine business manager took the time to write that note herself, and addressed to me personally, so I know it’s not just the boilerplate greetings that tells you the name of the cleaning staff.

It actually took me awhile to read the note, as most of the “wow” effect came from just receiving it! Of course, she thanks me for choosing her hotel, but she also thanks me for all the other visits I’ve made to the affiliated chain members (Crowne, InterContinental, etc., none of which I suspect factored into her bonus those past years), and then she finished with a bang [emphasis mine]: “We want you to be very satisfied with your stay.”

Not just satisfied, but very satisfied.

And I was. The place was indeed restful, power outlets everywhere and free internet. And, yes, fresh batteries in the remotes.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the stat that a dissatisfied customer tells, on average, 12 others about their bad experience. (Well, Lisa DeLorean, I just told 85,000+ GrokDotCom readers about you, your fine hotel, and the classy way you treat your customers. Keep up the good work!)

Mr. Cosslett, as CEO of Lisa’s parent company, if this handwriting of thank-you notes is corporate policy, congrats to you too! If Lisa did this on her own initiative, you just found your next regional manager. Cuz if you don’t, I’m sure another hotelier will snatch up talent like Lisa’s — and fast.

Sincerely,

John Quarto-vonTivadar, delighted customer

P.S. — At the end of my stay, I tracked down Lisa DeLorean in the manager’s area and thanked her for the note. Curiously, she was taken by surprise, and expressed that no one’s ever thanked her before for writing these notes and (get this!) she was beginning to doubt if they made a difference. Chin up, Lisa, they most certainly do.

If any readers would like to stay at Lisa’s facility, here’s the 411: Lisa DeLorean, general manager, (650) 588-0770 — Staybridge Suites, at the San Francisco Airport, 1350 Huntington Ave, San Bruno, California

[Oh, and by the way, I have no financial interest in InterContinental Hotels Group or its affiliates, nor do I know Andrew Cosslett, and I never met Lisa DeLorean until the events related in this story.]

So how does one go from AIDA to ROI (return on investment) without action? And isn’t there another important element for the consumer? How about “satisfaction”? After all, that’s what keeps customers coming back — and telling their friends — isn’t it? Assuming Hatch is right about the action bit, it seems there are really two letters missing.

A.I.D.A.S. — not to be confused with Adidas — is what Nike (NIKE) hopes to achieve with its Nike+ campaign. And apparently, it’s working. Last week, The New York Times ran a piece about Nike’s novel approach to customer relevance. By teaming up with Apple (APPL) and it’s ever-popular iPod, the company engages runners directly, allowing consumers to meet running partners and track their own results online.

”It’s a very different way to connect with consumers,” says Trevor Edwards, Nike’s corporate vice president for global brand and category management. ”People are coming into it on average three times a week. So we’re not having to go to them.”

The success of Nike+ is bad news for the traditional media companies that have long made money from Nike’s television commercials and glossy magazine ads.

Last year, Nike spent just 33 percent of its $678 million United States advertising budget on ads with television networks and other traditional media companies. That’s down from 55 percent 10 years ago, according to the trade publication Advertising Age.

”We’re not in the business of keeping the media companies alive,” Mr. Edwards says he tells many media executives. ”We’re in the business of connecting with consumers.”

Responding to the Times article, The Copywriting Underground’s Tom Chandler has some great advice on how to borrow some of Nike’s mojo and apply it to your own web copy. Maybe you can’t use “Just do it!” for your own campaign, but if you’re looking for a multi-channel role model, it may not hurt to be like Nike.

While reading the news on Yahoo! this morning, I stumbled upon this ad for Delta. I’m a frequent Delta flyer and I’ve seen some small, directional changes — but they have a long way to go. They’re going through the motions of realligning and rebranding, but new tactics can’t change one’s corporate DNA.

When you click through on the ad, it takes you to Delta’s Under the Wing blog. (Blogging is an amazing tactic for engaging in conversation with your customers. I even hear from my good friend Joe that Delta is twittering.) So, what happens on the blog? One might expect to learn more about the airline’s changes. Instead, I was presented with a rather drab (like the old Delta), but clean, design and a post called “How Does Delta Gather Customer Input?”

Words can tell a lot about a company’s focus. I ran the text of this post through the customer focus (”We-we”) calculator and here are the results:

Your Customer Focus Rate: 17.39%
You have 4 instances of customer-focused words.

Your Self Focus Rate: 82.61%
You have 15 instances of self-focused words.
You have 4 instances of the Company Name.

You speak about yourself approximately 0,005 times as often as you speak about your customers.
Might that have an impact on your effectiveness?

Frank Wrenn, General Manager, Customer Insights & Analytics for Delta, wrote the post. Frank, I’d like to offer you and Delta my two cents:

1. The key to great customer insight and analysis is empathy. Don’t live by the surveys or the data; live with your customers. How often do you go through the process of booking and flying, just like the majority of your customer’s do? Want to improve the experience? Experience it like most people do. You’ll hate it. Really!

2. Show us you really care about listening to OUR voices. I believe you have honorable intentions, but your words are all about Delta. If you’d like to see how you could have changed your post from being all about how you gather data to why you want to hear from us, so you can improve the experience, I’d be happy to speak with you. I’d gladly share my experiences from the last 75,000 miles I’ve flown with Delta. Feel free to call me: (877) 643-7244 ext.801.

Is Delta serious about change? It will take more than a blog, some advertising, new uniforms, a new logo, some paint, and otherwise going through the motions.

The Greeks use the symbol delta to represent change because “Διαφορά” means “difference” in Greek. Will you really make a difference in customers’ lives, or will you be content putting lipstick on a pig?

But that’s where the analogy ends. When marketers don’t give early-stage buyers the confidence they need to move forward, it’s they who look like deer in headlights (usually around the time they look at their cart abandonment rates).

So, with hunting season upon us, we figured it was time to give Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops a try. Offline, Cabelas in particular is known as a destination spot, a must-see experience for hunters. Can they live up to that experience online? You’ll see what exactly what happens in Part 2. But first, let’s go over a few key points about persuading early-stage buyers to take action by starting out with a question: “How early is early?”

• AIDAS — Awareness. Interest. Desire. Action. Satisfaction. If customers aren’t aware of you, there’s no place to move forward. If you haven’t grabbed their interest, forget it. If there’s no emotional desire to lure them in, they won’t bite. If it’s difficult for them to take action, they’ll run away. And if they’re not satisfied, they won’t return.
• Inside-the-Bottle Syndrome (the other “IBS”) — “When you’re inside the bottle, you can’t read the label.” This is the biggest challenge marketers face. They know too much about their own products, too much about their own companies. It’s the “Curse of Knowledge” and you must overcome it to persuade.

So, without further ado, let’s go huntin’ (for persuasion)…

(If you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click here for video.)

We’ll update you once Part 2 is up. In the meantime, if you haven’t seen it, watch as Anthony Garcia shares his early-stage buying process as he looks for car insurance for his teenage daughter. It’s an eye-opener.

Also, don’t hesitate to share your early-stage buying experiences with us in the comments. Any hunters out there who plan to buy gear online this season?

That was Bryan Eisenberg’s morning riddle today. It’s a great question, and one I was sure to answer incorrectly — Bryan isn’t known to ask rhetorical questions without punchlines.

Now, before you read my response, close your eyes for a moment and think of three possible answers.

Seriously, stop cheating and humor me…

Eyes back open? Good. It’s easier to read that way.

I guessed:

1. Shoddy image stabilization — With all the hype over new image-steadying technology, I figured the camera marketers were on to something. Besides, how many commercials of parents taking pictures of kids on tire swings can I handle?
2. Grainy low-light images — This one was a (fine, I’ll say it) shot in the dark, but it’s one of my biggest complaints about non-SLR [define] digital cameras.
3. Poor red eye reduction — The human cornea reflects light differently than other mammals. Lucky us. But why, in 2007, must we endure blinding rapid-flash settings only to look like evil deer in headlights?

Just as I’d suspected, each of my guesses was wrong. It turns out that the biggest complaint among automatic digital camera owners is “shutter delay time” — not “shutter speed,” mind you; rather, the response time between clicking the button and the damn thing actually taking a picture.

Yes! Exactly! That’s my least favorite thing about point-and-shoot digitals, too! So, why didn’t I know that?

Am I backpedaling from my previous answers? Absolutely. Would your customers likely do the same thing? Absolutely. Why isn’t “shutter delay time” addressed by most retailers? Let’s stick with threes:

1. Customers don’t have the vocabulary to describe their needs in the terms of manufacturer’s jargon.
2. Manufacturers don’t want to admit how bad the shutter delay is on their cameras.
3. Retailers aren’t doing their homework on how to help customers buy on their own terms, and in their own language.

After years of hearing “megapixel”-this and “stabilizer”-that, shopping for digital cameras becomes intimidating for people who just want to take good pictures of the people, places and things they love. Some do a good job overall, but miss the big picture when it comes to shutter delay. Others have pretty decent emotional copy, but it ends up sounding generic. And with each boring, overly-technical description, digital camera retailers are flushing money down the drain. Some don’t say anything; they just list technical specs.

Here’s what camera retailers should know if they’re to fix it:

1. Surveys are flawed. Had Bryan explicitly asked if “shutter delay time” were the biggest problem with automatic digital cameras, I’d have said yes. Since I was left to my own, limited vocabulary on the subject, I gave three plausible-yet-unsatisfying answers. Such are surveys. Ask people what they really want and you’ll hear plenty about what they think they really want — which can be horribly misleading, if not altogether useless.
2. Focus on motivations. What questions would your customers ask if they had the vocabulary? What are their underlying needs? How will they be using the camera? To address motivations, learn how to create real customer personas that transcend demographics and stereotypes.
3. Search engines value relevant content. Original, engaging copy is worth whatever you paid for it, and then some. Don’t rely on the manufacturer to sell its products for you. Their perspective is biased, and they don’t know your audience like you do. Grokking customer motivations gives insights into missing persuasion barriers like “shutter delay time”; things the competition isn’t addressing. It’s also how you know you’re buying the right keywords.

For example…

I have no problem geeking out for a week, digging through review sites like CNet until I stumble across a review like this one where, halfway down the page, a graphic (not the video) introduces the concept of shutter delay. But I’m the exception. I’m the gadget-obsessed 18-35 year-old male who knows megapixels alone aren’t the measure of a camera’s worth — and I still guessed wrong about my own biggest concern about digital cameras. So much for demographics!
Meanwhile, other people may not do the research.

What if my step-mom were in the market? She’s owned her current digital camera for three years. It’s in great shape, but she’d buy a new one today if she knew it would take the shot fast enough to capture those rare moments when my 6 year-old nephew looks directly into the lens — that’s what matters to her, not techno-babble like this description of the Canon PowerShot SD800 on Amazon:

[The DIGIC III Image Processor] takes the performance and speed of DIGIC II to even higher levels of processing power including new face detection function, up to 1600 speed ISO, high-ISO noise reduction, lower power consumption, increased speed for SD media cards, and higher resolution image processing for enhanced LCD viewing.

Um… Parle vous Ingles? Any chance she’d know off-hand that ISO refers to light-sensitivity, or that “noise reduction” means it will reduce graininess of poorly lit images, or that “enhanced LCD viewing” means quickly viewing the pictures on the camera’s screen? What was “DIGIC II”? Why would she care?

Luckily for Amazon, customers have always done the selling for them. So, unless you’re Jeff Bezos, it’s good to invest in persuasive copy of your own.

Data from the University of Michigan American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) showed Yahoo had seen its customer satisfaction score rise 3.9 percent from a year ago to 79 out of 100 points, while Google’s rating fell about 3.7 percent to 78 points.

While Google remains the dominant Web search engine, Yahoo’s Internet presence is gaining user approval for its network of Web sites, e-mail, social networks and other features, according to the survey.

The positive perception of Yahoo stems from a relaunch of the main site and its various offshoots which are now gaining ground, said Larry Freed, chief executive of ForeSee Results, which sponsored the ACSI report.

“People have gotten comfortable with the (Yahoo) interface,” he said. “They’ve also done a good job in continuing to be dominant in communities and sub-functions of the portal. That’s always been Yahoo’s strength.”

While Google’s search functions remain strong, when it comes to the Web, customers look for marked improvements from year to year to say they are more satisfied, he said.

“For the average consumer, what you see with Google is what you saw three years ago,” Freed told Reuters.

While Google has developed its own e-mail, desktop office and chat applications, among other features, they have not drawn enough attention to them among regular users, he said.

“Google needs to figure out a way to take advantage of those great applications they’ve developed,” Freed said. “Not necessarily through advertising, but better marketing.”

The article goes on to discuss how Ask.com fares among search rivals. Still, I would’ve liked to see numbers on “shareholder satisfaction” — and even that might improve with better marketing.

It’s Friday night, and I’m sitting in the corner booth down at Deaf Lennie’s, sipping warm suds and wondering why I keep coming to this joint. The place isn’t exactly welcoming – it’s the kind of dive where you want to wipe your feet before leaving, where the floor plan is more like an obstacle course, and where you’re lucky if you get your drink by closing time.

It’s the sweet end of a week that sucked like a vacuum cleaner on steroids for the regulars, and that includes Lennie. Across the room, the head of peroxide curls at the bar belongs to Candy, one time cheerleader, one time nightclub singer, big time loser.

She’s picking her teeth with a match, but she gives a nod to the guy sitting a few stools away. “Good week?” she asks, just like always. “Sure,” he lies, just like always.

To the regulars, the guy is the Tin Man. He’s in aluminum siding, works the road six days out of seven for a lousy five percent commission. Makes a hundred cold calls a week for a measly two sales –not bad for direct sales, but still a rotten percentage – and he’s not getting rich anytime soon.

I raise one of my eyebrows. It’s gotta be tough hawking your wares to skirts and suits you’re pushing yourself on. But he does what he can, and it’s good to see him showing some teeth.

“What are you drinking?” I ask. “Scotch and soda.”

“Hey, Lennie,” I call to the burly guy behind the bar. “Another Scotch and soda for the Tin Man. On me.”

But Lennie doesn’t hear. He’s watching the big game on a TV set with a picture that looks like one of those glass balls you shake to make it snow. I walk down, lean across the bar and poke him in the back. He turns round like I just caught him in the act, then grunts. “A Scotch and soda for Tin Man.”

Lennie proceeds to wipe out a glass using a cloth Socrates might have used for a sweatband. I give his drink-mixing technique the once-over. I watch the contents slop onto the counter as Lennie slides the drink down the bar. I’m wondering if this place is always so deserted. “So, Lennie, how many customers do you get in
a day?”

Lennie looks at me like I might have said something. “What?”

“I said, how many …” But I clap my mouth shut when I see Candy reach across the bar and slip her fingers into Lennie’s breast pocket. I’m figuring it’s some kind of weird come on by the way Lennie perks up, but then she fans her eyelashes in my direction and gives me the low down in a sultry voice that would melt butter a mile away. “The guy never turns on his hearing aid,” she tells me. “I sat here once and watched a group of Japanese tourists wait to be served. In the end, they just split. Lennie never even knew they were here.”

On the TV a guy is making for home in the snow, but as he skids into the plate, the snow turns into an electrical storm, then the whole screen goes black. “Guess it’s time to get a new one,” I say, but Lennie just shakes his head. “Can’t,” he mutters.

“Gotta make the rent and then see to the plumbing in the john. Maybe I should just chuck it in.”

Tin Man moves a stool closer, warmed by his amber concoction, ready to start commiserating about the dark underbelly of doing business. He winks at Candy. “Yeah, Lennie, don’t it just suck.” It’s a statement, not a question.

Now that Lennie’s juice is turned up, he’s considering how much it actually sucks. “I don’t get it Lennie,” I say. “You just don’t get the bodies?”

Candy laughs. If sleepy cats laughed, they’d sound like Candy. “Oh, lots of people stick their nose round the door.” She flashes me a ten-carat smile and shows off her manicure. “But they don’t stick around long. Do they, Lennie?”

“A hundred people a day,” Lennie shakes his head like one of those wobbling dogs people put in the back window of their cars. “And I’m lookin’ at two paying customers. Maybe three on a rainy day.”

Tin Man gives a gravelly chuckle and raises his glass. “Here’s to two percent!”

* * *

I drained the last of my brew, threw my trench coat over my shoulder and settled my hat over most of my eyes, then bid Lennie and the gang a farewell, just like always.

It wasn’t a dark and stormy night. So I had time to think on the walk home.

You gotta figure Tin Man’s got it hard – direct marketing is dog-eat-dog. You reach thousands and sell to tens. They didn’t ask you to solicit them, so of course your percentages are small. You often need to push your way in past the door.

But Lennie? Why in the world wouldn’t Lennie “>consider improving that pitiful two percent? Folks walk into his bar because they’re looking for the bar experience, and every sale that walks in off the street is Lennie’s to lose. Lennie’s customers made the choice to come in; all he’s got to do is keep them there.

Think of your Web site as Deaf Lennie’s bar. But don’t, for heaven’s sake, think of yourself as Deaf Lennie. Figure out what your visitors want – they’re telling you with every click – then build a bar that persuades them to stick around, buy a drink or two and then come back tomorrow night.

Oh, yeah. And eat your heart out, Mickey Spillane!

I got this in St. Martin. I looked at it in the store and I loved it. My husband snuck back the next day and bought it as a surprise.

Jack bought this for me when he was in Asia. It’s Burmese jade. It’s a really powerful stone. The ancient Chinese believed it provided protection and could even make you immortal.

This charm is an angel’s wings. My sister gave it to me before she moved to the west coast to let me know she’d always be looking out for me.

My parents got this for me as a graduation gift. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college.

I bought this for myself the day I found out I was cancer-free.

I found this in a tiny little shop in Nantucket and thought it was the most beautiful shade of blue I’d ever seen. Every time I touch it, it reminds me of walking along the shore and staring out into that beautiful sea.

So I wasn’t surprised to read Roy Williams’s Monday Morning Memo reciting the story of a jeweler who gave away 500 free charm bracelets. The people around him said he was crazy, and that he’d lose money on the deal. But this jeweler knew better.

Sure enough, after giving away 500 free charm bracelets, he sold $100,000 in beads and charms. Only 28 people who took a bracelet failed to buy a charm for it.

Jewelry is about relationships; relationships with our spouses, our new loves, our family, our friends, and ourselves. The jewelry we wear speaks volumes about who we are. Women love talking about their jewelry. But I would argue that it’s less about bragging and more about communicating; communicating something about who they are and what’s important to them. Yes, sometimes what they’re communicating is “He spent a lot of money on me,” or “This is one expensive piece,” or “I have fabulous taste.”

But there’s much more to it than that.

So, please, enough with these ads showing fashion models with pouty looks on their faces. Show me some jewelry ads that focus on what the jewelry’s communicating. Close-ups of the piece of jewelry are nice so you can see what the jewelry looks like, but what does it mean to the person wearing it?

Perhaps more jewelery designers should take note of Di Modolo’s success promoting not just their jewelry, but insight into a woman who wears it.

Now, I’m big on environmentally friendly products and I recycle as much as humanly possible, so I’d easily be attracted to a product such as biodegradable window/glass cleaner. The issue is that I’d never think of searching for this product online and I probably wouldn’t even think about searching for that specific type of product at the grocery store. Still, I’d easily be sold on the stuff if it were effectively placed within my path while shopping.

Let’s say you sell biodegradable window/glass cleaner online. There will only be a small number of individuals searching specifically for the product, or even generically by categories such as such as “environmentally friendly cleaning products.” On the other hand, you’ll attract far more targeted traffic by advertising on ‘green community’ blogs or message boards, or doing some banner advertising on industry-related (in this case “eco-friendly”) websites.

If your website offers a commodity that’s more likely to be purchased offline, you should always be looking for new places and ways to interact with potential customers. That’s how to get the targeted traffic you might otherwise not get through search.

Surely, channels are where the action is at. However, it’s important to remember they are just that – and they change. Circa 1998, perhaps when many of you were 10, The Globe.com, GeoCities and Tripod were all the rage. They faded from our horizon over time. The same thing will happen to many of today’s hot sites. In fact, I advise marketers not to invest too much time in creating “a Facebook strategy” as much as they don’t have “an NBC strategy” or “a New York Times strategy.” Instead, I encourage them to people watch, learn and then plan based on their audience and the big picture.

The most interesting action is in sociology. In other words, how does technology change our culture and how we interact with media, the web and each other – and to what end? This was a major realization for me a few months back and you have probably noticed it in my writing, which is less channel focused. These days, I am far more interested in what people do with technology rather than on what the latest new “shiny object” is. … [read the post]

By the way, I know where Rubel got that great monkey picture he used for the post.

In the new world of marketing and PR, understanding customer motivations is essential. You might say David’s on a mission to help companies stop talking about their “flexible, scalable, interoperable solutions for improving business practices” and start getting real.

In Part 2 of the interview, David & Robert discuss:

• Why PR departments no longer control the message, and why that’s nothing to fear.
• That public relations doesn’t just mean “media relations.”
• How to avoid what we at GrokDotCom call the “Business Prevention Unit” (lawyers, PR bureaucracy, etc.) from keeping you from being influential in your industry.
• Why “thought leadership” goes beyond commissioning a white paper.
• How “buyer personas” can help you understand your customers, and speak their language.
• How to craft News Releases that work smarter (not harder) across channels.

Click here to listen to Part 2 of David Meerman Scott and Robert Gorell

To download this podcast for your next flight, car ride, or trip to the beach, right-click here

For info on David Meerman Scott, and to get the freshest in marketing & PR insight, visit WebInkNow.com.

UPDATE: For the full scoop on how David used link love to help spread the word about New Rules, listen to the podcast. And when you’re done, browse some of the great blogs on his “thank you” list:

Robert Scoble Scobleizer
Adele Revella Buyer Persona Blog
Joe Wikert Publishing 2020 blog
Steve Johnson
David McInnis
Mark Levy
David Hamm
Mike Levin
Colin Delaney epolitics
Steve Goldstein Alacrablog
Todd Van Hoosear
George L Smyth Eclectic Mix
Mark Effinger
Michelle Manafy EContent magazine
Kevin Rose Diggnation
Grub Street Writers
Dave Armon
Britton Manasco
Jordan Behan
Nettie Hartsock
John Havens
John Blossom ContentBlogger
Larry Schwartz Newstex
Steve Smith
Melanie Surplice
Nate Wilcox
Ian Wilker
Cody Baker
Dianna Huff
Brian Carroll
Ken Doctor
Jonathan Kranz
Barry Graubart
Steve O’Keefe
Ted Demopoulos
Debbie Weil
Paul Gillin
Matt Lohman
Seth Godin
Rob O’ Regan
Steve Rubel Micro Persuasion
Paul Gillin
Joan Stewart The Publicity Hound
Dave Schmidt Word Currency
Glenn Nicholas Small Business Inspiration
Mac McIntosh B2B Sales Lead Expert
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Roy Williams qualified shoppers as operating in either one of two modes: transactional or relational, a few years ago. At that time some of us loafed around virtually, exchanging emails with friends, trying to complete a list of reasons that motivate people to buy things. (Thank you, Tom G. & Brett F.) More recently, we returned to compiling the list with the rest of my colleagues. Trying to understand these types of things is what drives us. It also benefits our clients.

The following is what we came up with, albeit likely incomplete.

Can you identify which of these motivations is relational and which are transactional? Can you see where they each fit within Maslow’s hierarchy of needs [define]? Will you help us find additional motivations?

Some of these are self-explanatory. The forces that influence whether people buy include:

Basic Needs – We buy things to fulfill what Maslow describes as the bottom of his hierarchy; things like food and shelter.

Convenience – You need something now and will take the easiest or fastest path to get it. Think about the last time you were running out of gas, or were thirsty and found the nearest beverage of choice. This could also be choosing the safe vendor (no one ever gets fired for hiring IBM), purchasing something to increase comfort or efficiency.

Replacement – Sometimes you buy because you need to replace old things you have (e.g., clothes that don’t fit or are out-of-date). This could be moving from a VCR to a DVD player.

Scarcity – This could be around collectibles or a perceived need that something may run out or have limited availability in the future. Additionally, there’s a hope to gain a return on investment, such as collectible or antiques; anything that accrues value over time.

Prestige or Aspirational purchase – Something is purchased for an esteem-related reason or for personal enrichment.

Emotional Vacuum – Sometimes you just buy to try to replace things you cannot have and never will.

Lower prices – Something you identified earlier as a want is now a lower price than before. Maybe you were browsing for a particular large screen TV and you saw a great summer special.

Great Value – When the perceived value substantially exceeds the price of a product or service. This is something you don’t particularly need, you just feel it’s too good a deal to pass up. (Like the stuff they place near the end caps or checkout counters of stores.)

Name Recognition – When purchasing a category you’re unfamiliar with, branding plays a big role. Maybe you had to buy diapers for a family member and you reach for Pampers because of you’re familiarity with the brand, even though you don’t have children yourself.

Fad or Innovation – Everybody wants the latest and greatest. (iPhone mania.) This could also be when someone mimics their favorite celebrity.

Compulsory Purchase – Some external force, like school books, uniforms, or something your boss asked you to do, makes it mandatory. This often happens in emergencies, such as when you need a plumber.

Ego Stroking – Sometimes you make a purchase to impress/attract the opposite sex; to have something bigger/better than others, friends, etc. To look like an expert/aficionado; to meet a standard of social status, often exceeding what’s realistically affordable to make it at least seem like you operate at a higher level.

Niche Identity – Something that helps bond you to a cultural, religious or community affiliation. Maybe you’re a Harvard alumni and Yankee fan who keeps kosher. (You can also find anti-niche identity by rebellion, assuming you’re pretty comfortable with irony.)

Peer Pressure – Something is purchased because your friends want you to. You may need to think back to your teen years to think of an example.

The “Girl Scout Cookie Effect” - People feel better about themselves by feeling as though they’re giving to others, almost especially when they’re promised something in return. Purchasing things they don’t need–or wouldn’t normally purchase–because it will help another person or make the world a better place incrementally is essential certain buying decision.

Reciprocity or Guilt – This happens when somebody–usually an acquaintance, or someone rarely gift-worthy–buys you a gift or does something exceptionally nice and/or unnecessary. Now it’s your turn to return the favor at the next opportunity. Examples:

• Event – When the social decorum of an event (e.g., wedding, bar mitzvah, etc.) dictates buying something or another.
• Holiday – ‘Nuff said.

Empathy – Sometimes people buy from other people because they listened and cared about them even if they had the lesser value alternative.

Addiction – This is outside the range of the normal human operating system, but it certainly exists and accounts for more sales than any of us can fathom.

Can you think back to the last time you bought something and fully explain the reason why?

These are the things we help our clients think about. We hope this list at least gets you started. And let us know if you need help understanding your customers motivations. It’s what we do. But in the meantime…

What do you feel motivates people to buy?

. . . . . . . . .

ADDENDA:

Fear – From pink Taser™ stun guns to over-sized SUV’s to backyard bomb shelters–and even stuff so basic as a tire pressure gauge–are bought out of fear. So, before you go knocking “fear” as a motivator, ask yourself: Are you Y2K compliant?

Indulgence – Who doesn’t deserve a bit of luxury now and then? So long as you can afford it, sometimes there’s no better justification for that hour-long massage, that pint of Cherry Garcia ice cream, or that $75 bottle of 18-year single malt scotch other than “you’re worth it” (best when said to self in front of mirror with a wink and/or head tilt).

“Love my customers? Some of them are OK, but some of them are real jerks. They’re demanding and nearly impossible to satisfy. The only thing that would truly make them happy if is I gave my product away for free. Of course, then I’d go under in two months, and my business/life would be destroyed–but sometimes it feels like that’s the only thing that will make them happy.”

Hey, I hear you. It’s easy to look at a “they” or a “them” with disdain. It’s easy to distance yourself from a group. It’s easy to take a broad term like “your customers” and have negative feelings toward them. But it’s a lot harder to look at an individual person with disdain, distance, and even negativity. That’s why, at Future Now, we create customer personas. We take broad “groups” and vague terms like “customers” and model them into personas; individuals with whom you can relate, understand, and empathize. Personas are designed to give you deeper insight into your customers. I will argue that the more you know someone, the better your understanding of that person. The more you understand that person, the more likely you are to like or even, yes, love them. (Obviously, there are some exceptions – we don’t recommend serving axe murderers, for instance – but in most cases, I feel this is true)

Let me give you some real life examples.

I was sitting in a group, and there was this guy who I’ve known for a little while. He’s a real SOB. He was talking about an argument he had with his neighbor. This guy actually broke down into tears because he really likes this neighbor, and he didn’t want to alienate him. He just lost his temper. And he was lost because he didn’t know how to apologize to this person and try to repair the damage.

I never liked this guy much. But after seeing a different side of him, after getting a better understanding of him–while I wouldn’t say I love him–I certainly like him a lot more.

If I were a company selling an anger management course, it would be all too easy to say “Anger management candidates are control freaks who can’t manage their temper.” But if I had a better understanding of my customers, if I liked them–loved them, even–I could approach it differently. With a certain amount of empathy, I’d be able to a say things like, “Anger management candidates are in pain. They cause damage and they don’t know how to repair it. And, all too often, they alienate the people they love.”

Do you think with this new insight, I could create more effective messaging? Do you think I could do a better job of selling my product?

Here’s another example. I don’t have any tattoos. I don’t really have anything against them, but I never understood why someone would want one. But I wrote a blog post about the rise of Soccer Moms getting tattoos. I got a huge response from women who shared with me why they’d gotten tattoos. One in particular was a mother, a teacher, a woman who spent her life taking care of people and leading a “straight-and-narrow” life. She wanted a way to express herself; to feel like she was still sexy and a little daring. She got a tattoo but wouldn’t tell anyone about it except her husband. He loved it! He felt like his wife had a “bad girl” side. If I had to create messaging for a tattoo parlor, instead of writing about clean needles and master artists, I could write messaging that really spoke to the deeper reason why people get tattoos. Now I have a newfound respect for people with tattoos. I understand them better. I like them better. I can do a better job of creating persuasive messages.

Stop thinking of your customers as “they” and “them”–or as being abstract in any way. Start thinking of customers as real people.

It’s hard to build a relationship with someone you don’t like. Love is a two-way street. You want your customers to love your brand, right? Well, the first step to doing that is to understand them.

What are you doing to better understand your customers?

Jeffrey likes to say “marketers are too often forced to make promises that the business has no intentions to deliver on.” That’s also known as a lie. Verizon may well have the most “reliable” telecom network. All those folks they show in their commercials as being part of “the most reliable network” aren’t. The ads lie!

I’m sure the marketers don’t intend to lie but it was the hand they were dealt by Verizon management. Let me explain.

Jeffrey and I just came back from a very productive 10-day road trip. After some airport delays and several hotels iffy Wi-Fi, we wanted to buy wireless broadband cards for our Macs. The money Verizon spends on advertising influenced us. We want reliability. Our Crackberries aren’t enough connectivity for us.

We went online with every intention to buy. The website team and the live chat operators dropped the ball. We didn’t buy. We’re not sure we will. It’s rare that a company’s customer service is better than their sales acquisition department.

Let me show you some major disconnects in the experience (and what they need do to fix it):

The Verizon wireless site was obviously set up to sell mobile phones, not wireless cards (open this window to follow along). Wireless cards are an added appendage. This is a classic example of what I like to call the business prevention unit at work.

Let me show you why this site is having a challenging time converting visitors. Our Persuasion Architecture process has three simple questions at it’s core:

1. Who is the person you want to persuade? In this case, Verizon has no data about me; but let us use a simple profile of a busy executive, who has already committed himself in his mind to making the purchase (I really did just want to order it online yesterday) who has very little knowledge of wireless cards. I already had my credit card out on the table.

2. What action do you want them to take? This is the macro action of purchasing a wireless card and on the micro level at this category page to choose the right product for me.

3. What information do they need in order to feel confident to take that action? This is where things just unwind and their reliability falls apart.

As you scroll down the page, you can see seven cards displayed. The only information provided on the page is brand, type of access (they all have national and broadband) and pricing. In my mind, the first think I need to sort out is which of these will work with our Macs. At this point, I really don’t know what else to use to judge which card would fit our needs. The price of the card is not part of my consideration because I just want to be able to connect anywhere I am and not worry about it. The cost just didn’t matter. Well, there’s nothing indicated on this page to make a Mac-friendly sort. However, at the top of the product list, there’s a link, “select features,” to narrow your phone search.” Okay, it says phone and not wireless card but that’s a small detail.

Once you click, it shows you a bunch of options all of these related to their cell phones and not one that would help you sort wireless cards (they could have had things like PC or Mac, connection speeds, external or internal antenna, etc.) Okay, time to close that because that won’t help any. Verizon hasn’t gone through the effort to answer the 3rd question of the Persuasion Architecture process (see questions above). What information do I need to be able to feel confident to choose the right product from this category page?

At this point, I’m left with a couple of options. I can pogo-stick and go from category page to each and every product, and hope that each product description gives me enough information that I can actually distinguish between products–and trust me, I really don’t want to or have the time to do this–or I can select a couple at random and try to compare them (not that choosing and actually using the compare feature is that intuitive).

Somehow, I pulled up the Compare page with two cards and was prompted into a live chat. I almost always close these down right away but, today, I wanted to buy and I knew the website wouldn’t be helping me anytime soon.

I give Wes, my live chat agent, a lot of credit. He spent a lot of time with me even though he obviously was not given the ammunition to help someone armed with any real questions. In the end, Wes explained this was a new group (haven’t they been selling these cards for a while now?) and wasn’t going to be trained until sometime later this month and wasn’t given any additional information beyond what was on the website. How reliable do I think Verizon is now?

Check out the transcript of the chat below:

A Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat. You are now chatting with Wes

You: trying to figure out which card would work best with a mac

Wes: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. May I help you with your order today?

You: yes which card works on the mac

Wes: The PC 5750 is the newest of the REV A cards to give you great Broadband access on your lap top. With a network of download speeds of 450-800 kbps this card will give you great access to your email and office applications. With the VZAccess Manager you can manage your applications, emails, and instant messaging very easily. This card comes with a high performance hinged antenna and an external antenna connector to boost signal strength and improve connectivity. The PC 5750 is both Windows Vista and Mac Compatible. How does that sound?

You: what does this VZAccess Manager do – why do I need it?

Wes: I’m sorry for the delay. I’ll be right with you.

Wes: It allows you to sync with programs such as Outlook.

You: I don’t understand – doesn’t the card just give me a signal and then I can use my own programs on my laptop

Wes: Yes, it does.

You: so then what extra is the manager do

Wes: It is provided for someone that does not have a program for that.

Wes: Not everyone has many programs.

You: but how does it synch email? will it just work with my outlook

Wes: I would suggest contacting our Technical Support Department at 888.233.4813 for more guidance.

You: can’t you help me I want to buy one today and don’t have the time to go through tech support

Wes: I do not have access to the information you desire.

Wes: This is a technical issue.

You: I am looking to buy two of them

You: why is the WHAT the software is good for a technical issue

Wes: You’ll receive free Back-Up Protection so you never have to worry about losing your phone’s contact list. As a My Account member, Back-Up Protection will let you automatically retain a copy of your saved phone numbers to a secure website, so they’re always available if you lose or upgrade your phone.

Wes: It just is.

Wes: I am not sure what all it can do.

You: I am sorry it doesn’t make sense to me I don’t feel comfortable buying if I don’t understand what it is for – is there somewhere else online I can read about it

Wes: I know it syncs Outlook.

You: synchs outlook with what?

Wes: That is what I am saying.

Wes: With your handset.

Wes: I have been looking online and do not see a description of what all it is capable of.

Wes: This is something Technical Support has knowledge of.

You: what handset? this is for my laptop to have wireless signal – is there someone else who may know more?

Wes: Yes, Technical Support.

Wes: I already told you that.

Wes: If I knew, I would tell you.

You: I can’t believe I have to work this hard to buy 2 wireless cards – I want to order online now I have to wait to tech support and I am not convinced this is a tech support issue

You: oh I know you would

Wes: I am simply trying to help you get the information.

Wes: Then do not call.

Wes: It is your choice.

You: is there someone else on your team that has more knowledge of these cards

Wes: Not that I am aware of.

Wes: I have asked everyone on my row.

Wes: They say the same thing.

You: I am just shocked that is all the information you have, I am sure people must have lots more questions about the cards

Wes: They do.

Wes: I try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Wes: But if it is something I do not know there are departments that deal with these questions.

You: I can appreciate that – is there anything else I need to know before I purchase these cards

Wes: We have spent 10 minutes discussing the question. If I knew don’t you think I would have told you 10 minutes ago?

Wes: It is what you use to connect to the net.

You: no I am asking any other questions other than the software – any considerations I should have before I choose one card or another

Wes: That is what someone just told me.

Wes: You say you have a Mac right?

You: yes

Wes: Alright.

Wes: One moment.

Wes: The PC 5740 PC Card is a great air card that will offer you nice features. The 5740 offers you download speeds of 400-700 kps and with wire-free and cable-free it offers you laptop the ability to go where you go. The 5740 offers both Broadband and National Access and gives you VZAccess for easy connection management. How does that sound?

You: what is the difference between the 5750 you mentioned earlier and this one

Wes: That is also Mac Compatible.

Wes: The KPC650 card utilizes our VZAccess manager which serves as a focal point for all of your internet connection needs. Using BroadbandAccess the KPC650 operates with typical download speeds of 400?700 kbps and bursts up to 2.0 Mbps. It also features an adjustable antenna which can be angled for optimized reception.

Wes: That card is also Mac compatible.

You: the 5740 is 9.99 and the 5750 is 59.99 is there any real difference besides the price. I am willing to spend more if it makes sense to – quality of connection matters to me most

Wes: The 5750 is a faster card.

Wes: Maximum download speeds burst to 2Mbps (with typical data speeds of 400-700 Kilobits (Kbps) per second, and peak upload speeds burst to 144 kbps (with typical upload speeds of 60-80 kbps).

Wes: Yes, VZ Access Manager is the program that is used to connect to the Internet with the card.

You: ok thank you for the clarification

Wes: Your very welcome.

Wes: Cards are funny.

You: and the difference between the 650 and and 5750

Wes: There is not enough information online to be full informed.

You: that is exactly the way I feel

Wes: The 650 has an external antenna.

You: can I ask a side question – do they train you with more info than what appears on the web or just that.

Wes: Just what is seen.

You: so you don’t get any extra info

Wes: There was not real in depth air card training.

Wes: But we have training on the cards in late May.

Wes: This is a very new department.

Wes: The chat.

Wes: Still working the bugs out.

You: thanks I appreciate you being patient and helping me out

Wes: It was my pleasure.

You: have a great day

Wes: Your satisfaction is very important to me.

Wes: You as well.

Of course, if you go to the last card, the Verizon 650, it doesn’t say anything about it being compatible with a Mac. It is (I researched it elsewhere) but you can’t tell that from the website. Ugh!

We started out ready to but but we’re back to square one.While I appreciated Wes’s honesty the whole experience has me doubting Verizon’s reliability.

What would you do? Does anyone have any good recommendations of what will work with our MacBook Pros?