I just returned from Interaction 10, the always-exciting conference organized by the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). This year’s event was held in Savannah, Georgia. I know that there was a lot of live tweeting going on, Johnny Holland was there, and the conference site will soon feature loads of videos. Flickr has been busy, too. So, since the event reporting has been pretty well covered by others, I thought it would be interesting to look at the paper this conference generated for me.
Interaction with dead trees I had a client years ago that refused to allow paper into the office. Everything was electronic. Needless to say, this got them a lot of PR, but made them fairly ineffective. Let’s face it, paper is really, really useful. (I’m partial to napkins and paper tablecloths).
But honestly, is all this paper really necessary? How can we make the world a little bit more sustainable? Just look at what I dragged home from Savannah:
2 train tickets for the Copenhagen subway
1 printout of a so-called “e-ticket”
4 boarding passes from Delta
2 luggage receipts
5 security stickers of various kinds on passport and luggage
1 receipt for currency exchange at Danske Bank
3 taxi receipts (1 Danish, two US)
1 paper conference badge
4 schedules and maps from inside the badge
1 map of Savannah
17 sundry receipts for meals, drinks, and other conference-related expenses
1 reservation sheet from the Hyatt
1 welcome letter from the Hyatt
1 check-out description from the Hyatt
1 bill from the Hyatt
3 Delta paper napkins (with sketches)
12 pieces of promotional literature from the conference sponsors
14 pieces of United States paper currency
63 business cards
I just came across an article suggesting no fewer than 60 ways to attract Twitter followers (http://is.gd/7maoX). It comes from @technotip (who is worth following).
I’m completely jazzed. I want followers. I crave followers. Followers are now my raison d’etre. Follow me @elreiss. My ego is suffering from hunger pains. FEED IT NOW!
Oops. Did I get carried away? (must remember to Tweet about this – check it out @elreiss)
Penis envy in cyberspace
You really have to laugh at some of these tactics. Number of Twitter followers seems to have become the social media equivalent of penis envy. And some of these scams are clearly the cyber-equivalent of a penis-extender. Henceforth, anyone who even considers running a Twitter contest will be added to my personal blacklist.
Why the tasteless self-promotion, @elreiss? This is an experiment. OK?
In addition to retweeting stuff from folks smarter than I am and recommending articles, I occasionally have original thoughts. Looking through some of the past year’s tweets, I found around 50 that seemed to stand the test of time better than most.
WTF, @elreiss? Get to the point!
I’m not really out to build a huge follower base, but I would like to experiment a bit with the “content is king” notion. So please remember to “unfollow” if my tweets don’t contribute in some useful way to your own life and work. I’m keeping track of follower stats from day to day. Read ‘em and weep-or-whatever.
52 tweets I (@elreiss) wrote and like
Will the iPon be a brand extension of the iPad?
Why follow your Twitter followers if you don’t care what folks say?
This is a day for avoiding real work. Which is why I’ve been pondering cross-dressers who wear burkas. How would anyone know?
I wish it was as big a crime to be dumb as it is to be dishonest.
The more time I spend on social media (Twitter and beyond), the more I’m convinced our society is in deep shit.
Not all pithy thoughts can be compressed to 140 characters no matter how hard you try.
If the meek inherit our earth, it’s because the strong have abandoned them.
I’m more convinced than ever that “unwired” has become the new “organic”.
TV news interviews are great reality programming. There’s nothing as dumb as an “expert” if you get them off their area of expertise.
If it’s dangerous to talk to yourself, it’s probably even more dangerous to listen.
Good design can never rescue bad strategy. When did pretty uniforms last win a war?
If your competition sells cheaper, it’s called “dumping”. If you sell cheaper, it’s called “supply side optimization”.
America’s infatuation with reality TV suggests that many viewers can no longer differentiate between talent and celebrity. Scary!
False friendships are the emotional downside of most current social media offerings.
I love teaching. I learn so much.
Do arbitrary rules really deserve more than arbitrary compliance?
Ahh. What would the world be like without rhetorical questions?
Packaging designers should be forced to clean and organize a larder once in a while. Valuable lessons to be learned.
If I always knew what I was doing, I’d never learn anything. A little adversity can be a really good thing.
Changing the world is easy. Changing it for the positive is the real challenge. That’s because no one agrees on what’s good.
If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right.
Still trying to change the world, but I’m more and more convinced that the world would prefer that I just butt out.
Pitting UX against IA is like having your toolbox pick a fight with your wrench. UX is a cognitive container for a variety of skills.
How come “altruistic” is never a value word for companies? Sometimes you’ve gotta do stuff simply because it’s the right thing to do.
Words of wisdom: Don’t burn your bridges before you come to them.
Looking for statistics to confirm my fear that the idiots now officially outnumber those of us who know what we’re doing.
I’m frustrated that there are so many folks in the UX business who are famous just for being famous, not for any work they’ve ever done.
Call yourself an expert? Do you really have 10,000 hours of experience, or just one hour, repeated 10,000 times?
Are you passionate or provocative? Passion comes from the heart. But most provocation seems to stem from ego.
Rules are created when people take advantage of that which is unwritten.
If content is king, is context the kingdom?
Bailouts have become the back-button of the financial industries.
How long is “new media” new? Are we now working with “middle-aged media”?
Jakob Nielsen talks about designing his tweets: http://bit.ly/KLmzf. This is what most people call “editing”.
The blogosphere is the Gong Show of Generation Y.
“Thought leadership” means thinking about a community of practice, not thinking about leadership.
No discernable correlation between your popular searches and your popular pages? You have a serious information architecture issue to solve.
Never judge a book by the taste of the binding.
If you want to be a thought leader, it’s best to start your career by fine-tuning your thinking, not your PR.
“Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer.” But does that really mean you have to put up with their silly twitter-chatter?
Words to live by: be nice to the people you meet on the way up. They’re often the same ones you meet on the way down.
The biggest threat to the future of the web is the neighbor’s kid, who is programming crap sites for legit businesses using FrontPage.
Maybe we designers ask too many questions. Maybe we threaten potential clients. Maybe folks don’t care if their website contributes to their business.
I’m seeing incredibly incompetent shops getting web work while really talented folks are out of work. What are the idiots doing right?
Responses to yesterday’s Twitter denial of service attack lead me to believe that some folks have serious addiction problems.
Ultimately, insistence on formalized processes and standardized deliverables strives not to collect answers but to obliterate questions.
The sooner our pitches reflect the fact that most business decisions are made emotionally and not rationally, the sooner we will get rich.
Political correctness is just another way to hide prejudice behind euphemism. I far prefer straight talk and honesty.
UX certification? Reminds me of Groucho Marx’s comment: “I wouldn’t want to be a member of a club that would accept me as a member.”
Gonna take flak from the American consultants…but…IMO ”It depends” is just an unnecessary click in the verbal clickstream.
Mashups can be SOOOO ugly. Here’s a new acronym: TIDE (Tight Integration of Diverse Experiences) Goes nicely with AJAX.
Amateurish SEO drives me mad. Keyword density is the worst fairydust of all time. Fact: you cannot bore people into buying something.
Again, if you like these, please follow me for a couple of weeks @elreiss and see if I continue to live up to expectations. If not, that’s cool – I’m not really out to build a huge follower base, but to experiment a bit with the “content is king” notion. And please remember to “unfollow” if my tweets don’t contribute in some useful way to your own life and work.
Hey, you can also comment right here! Let me know what YOU think about Twitter.
Denmark is a small market for advertisers – about 2.2 million households. And with the general cutbacks in advertising budgets due to the financial crisis, the TV channels are hurting. The result is that we’re seeing a lot more badly produced ads from companies that have never used television as an advertising medium.
But let’s not excuse crappy ads strictly because of low budgets. The fascinating thing is, organizations that can afford decent advertising are spending their money unwisely (i.e. the return is less than the cost). I sometimes think that many advertisers are economizing by bypassing the expensive creative department at their ad agency and going directly to the film producer.
Result? Nice films, lousy messaging. Don’t think that “all advertising is good advertising”, the Schlitz Brewery, once America’s second-largest, actually reported a downturn in sales among people who could remember their advertising.
Here are seven methods guaranteed to deliver unacceptable results.
1. Irritate viewers For some reason, this is an incredibly popular technique in Denmark right now. It seems advertisers think that if you yell, scream, and do stupid things, people will love your brand/product. Sorry. Most of you are actually suggesting that your brand or product is as stupid and/or irritating as your spokespersons.
My current “favorite” in this category is the jerk who advertises for the food-chain, Spar. I can’t find the more absurd ads on YouTube, but this is the one in which his character is introduced. The basic premise is, that this guy loves his supermarket so much that he decides to “help” the store owner by creating absurdly stupid advertising gimmicks. In this case, it’s a new version of the Danish birthday song. Even if you don’t understand Danish, you can’t help but wish this idiot would disappear:
Message: Don’t assume that “dumb” is necessarily entertaining. You cannot irritate people into buying anything. And you may get people to actually boycott your brand! (Ariel, I’ve still not forgiven you for your awful Helle Virkner ads).
2. Overestimate your brand recognition When you’ve built a brand, it’s easy to convince yourself that the whole world knows what you do. This is dangerous. The following ad is a classic example of this. The production values are high, the story piques ones curiosity (is she Princess Diana?). But unless you know the brand, the advertising is actually useless.
I have much more to say about this, but I would like you to visit their website first and view the ad they’re currently showing on CNN and other international channels. This will open in a new window, so when you’re done looking at the ad, come back and read on. Do not explore their site (yet):
Blank line. Don’t read ahead until you’ve seen the ad.
Another blank line.
Gosh, how many blank lines can we afford? Seems like such a waste…
Right. Now that you’ve seen the ad, tell me what does this company do? Can you remember the name of the brand? I couldn’t. And since the ad airs so infrequently, I didn’t get a chance to have the name hammered into my conscious mind. (in the ad biz, we talk about OTS – Opportunities To See).
Because I know Paris, I recognized the Place Vendôme (with Napoleon’s copy of Trajan’s Column in the middle). In the film, this monument seems to be right next to this shop. But no joy. I even used Google’s street view and could not find the red awning. All I could remember from the ad was that the brand name started with an “H” and the bags were red.
Searching for luxury brands didn’t help either. I was stuck. (and yes, this had become a slightly obsessive quest at this point)
This was my experience. But perhaps you know this brand. What would your reaction be?
Anyway, if you now return to the Hediard site, you’ll find that they sell fine foods. And they’re on Place Madeleine, just next to another of Paris’ fine food shops, Fauchon. No wonder they mislead with the Place Vendôme reference.
Basically, this ad could have been made much more effective simply by adding some shots of luscious displays within the shop and writing a better narration. It appears, though, that this ad may be an offshoot of an artistic installation produced by Comité Colbert (http://www.ccolbert.fr/), which aims to promote 70 French luxury brands, but doesn’t seem to know much about advertising. It also looks like they ripped off a concept developed for the Texas-based photographer, Matthew Mahon, whose site is well known in Flash communities (http://www.matthewmahon.com/).
Message: don’t assume everyone knows and loves your brand. Telling a story is good. But telling a story that communicates your brand essence is much, much better.
3. Use ineffective sales arguments Some arguments work, some don’t. Some arguments that used to work no longer do. Car safety, for example, is no longer a brand advantage or product position (e.g. Volvo), it’s now a prerequisite for all car manufacturers.
These days, there are a variety of anti-smoking campaigns running. Horror and disgust are often the creative keys. Alas, Jerry Bruckheimer’s CSI and Navy CIS feature so many gory, computer-generated journeys through bullet holes and other bodily damage that it’s tough to scare or disgust folks these days. Particularly hard-core smokers. We’ve seen it all before.
The University of Missouri claims that these scare campaigns work (see http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/11/17/scare-or-disgust-work-best-in-anti-smoking-ads/3360.html). But this is not entirely true. Although Napoleon rightly said that fear and self-interest are the two levers with which one can set a man in motion, the scare campaigns are only effective when people have already decided to change their behavior; in fact, the “Smoking Kills” message on cigarette packages has actually created a boomerang effect in some markets and increased the number of smokers - the forbidden-fruit-is-attractive syndrome.
In short, if you want people to stop smoking, there are more effective ways than scare campaigns. And I speak as a 27-year veteran of the non-filter brigade (Camels, Senior Service). Why do most hard-core smokers finally quit? Because it pegs you as a social loser – the habit is no longer glamorous. It prevents you from getting promotions, it hampers your social life, it makes you stand outside your office building 20 times a day instead of staying inside, exchanging gossip at the water cooler. Most importantly, it signals “stinky and boorish” rather than “suave and sophisticated. Yes. Times change. Check out Allan Carr’s Easy Way to stop smoking for a far more effective method.
Message: If you want to effect behavioural change, don’t preach to the choir. Moreover, threats only produce short-term results. True long-term behavioral change comes about by providing a positive alternative to the current situation.
4. Practice pseudocreativity
Sometimes lack of brand promise or genuine product/service advantages encourages advertisers to disguise the lack of message (or lack of a creative idea) behind an artsy-fartsy facade. The folks promoting Abu Dhabi are doing this right now.
We see a fellow in native Arab garb piloting a Mercedes through a Middle-Eastern city. The voice-over was written by a wannabe-poet-turned-copywriter: “As night crackles electric, a million promises are held.” The effect is hypnotic, but the commercial message is unclear. In fact, there is no brand promise whatsoever.
In the final frame, we see the name, “Abu Dhabi”. Alas, this only appears for a second and almost immediately whites out as the “Abu” in the text blends into the desert background.
What does the UAE want me to do? Should I visit this city? Invest? Shoot a feature film? Complain about their crap advertising on a blog?
Here’s the clip. Judge for yourself:
Message: Art is fine, but are you out to entertain or communicate? As advertising guru Rosser Reeves once said, “Do you want art, or do you want the goddam sales curve to go up?”
5. Switch media in mid stream
We all know this scenario: we’re watching TV and an ad tells us to visit a web address. No other explanation, only a URL. Or we’re reading a magazine and a full page ad displays nothing more than a URL.
Big mistake.
Yes, online/offline convergence is critical in any modern media plan. But when I’m sitting comfortably in front of the TV, don’t expect me to boot up my laptop – or even write down the web address. Granted, it’s reasonable to let me know where I can go for supplemental information (e.g. the web) . But don’t make your address your primary message. Make your message your message!
Message: Make every medium self-sufficient when it comes to stating your case and selling your product or service.
6. Upstage your message
If you’ve got something to say, say it. Make sure it comes across in clear, unmistakable terms. Unfortunately, a lot of advertisers get so wrapped up in the story they’re trying to tell that they forget to give us viewers a concrete call to action. They create scenaria that are so fascinating that the message is pushed to the background.
We’ve already seen how Hediard and Abu Dhabi blew their budget on ineffectual advertising. In both cases, the message was clearly upstaged by high production values and an artsy-fartsy story. But here’s another example that takes things in a decidedly lowbrow direction.
The leading Danish telephone service, Teledanmark – TDC – has introduced two characters in their television ads. They are named Klaus and Britta and are nudists (does TDC thinks nudists represent a core market?). The ads are fascinating, primarily because Britta is played by a well-known male Danish comedian. And Klaus is played by a well-known female comedian. Cross-dressing nudists? Hell of a campaign concept. But the rubber suits are fantastic. See for yourself:
Message: Make sure people remember what you’re trying to tell them from a branding/product/service point of view. If they remember your commercials, but not your message, you’ve lost the battle.
7. Rely on spin and lies No product or service can rely on one-time sales. You can con folks into buying almost anything once, but you won’t get them to buy your stuff a second time. Moreover, the service-industry gurus estimate that every time you have a good experience with a company, you tell three people. But if your experience is bad, you’ll end up telling 17.
Right now, L’Oreal is being sued by the Swedish Consumer Protection Agency for their smooth presentation of an anti-wrinkle cream. Dan-Sun, a Danish producer of solariums, is being chastised in the press for making health claims that can’t really stand the light of day. And almost all of the Danish banks are working hard to tell prospective customers that they are solid, honest, and are willing to extend credit. Incredible…
Message: Don’t lie. Good advertisers don’t. Only the amateurs really believe ”all advertisers lie”.
New Year’s is a time of reflection. In my case, I pondered the many and varied ways we can promote the cause of information architecture. And I think I’ve discovered a completely untapped opportunity: professional wrestling.
Amazingly, there is not a single professional wrestler with an IA background! I’ve considered making this career move myself, but my wife thinks I look dumb in a Speedo (then again, who doesn’t?). So since my plans seem to have been vetoed, let me share my thoughts with you – perhaps someone else will enter the arena to make this bold, long-overdue move.
The name’s the game First, professional wrestlers have a catchy name. I’ve considered the following:
Leo the Librarian (famous for the “Shssh of Death”)
Doctor Depends (never looks you straight in the eye)
The Terrible Thesaurus (a magical, yet misunderstood creature)
Getting a move on Next, all wrestlers have “signature moves,” so I think I should have a couple, too. For example, Hard-Boiled Haggerty is famous for his “Shillelagh Swing.” And Cowboy Bob Ellis has “The Bulldog Headlock.” Well, here are some ideas I’ve been tossing around.
The Polar Bearhug
Perfect for tackling large-scale opponents
The Wurman Whirl
Create anxiety through the deadly use of information overload
The Dewey Decimator
796.8 ways to send your foe back to the stacks
The Barbed Wireframe
Box in your target no matter where he happens to be.
The Berrypicking Brainbuster
A shrewd combination of the very best moves available at any given time.
Michigan Leg Swirl
Prevail by degrees (this move is known in the industry as an “MLS”)
The Morville Mindbender Become completely unfindable in the ring!
The Dublin Corner Trap your opponent in a maze of metadata
Full Nielsen Use statistics to pummel your adversaries into submission.
Defining the Damned Thing A horrifying manoeuvre from which there is no apparent escape.
Moving forward I have to confess, throughout my years as a professional information architect, I’ve had a secret mentor. I’d like to share his identity with you now:
People are always looking for something good to read over the holidays. So here are 12 books that I’ve recently read (or revisited). You probably won’t find many of these on the usual “best seller” lists.
Just to clue you in, my interests tend to focus on:
- good mystery stories
- 20th century history
- entrepreneurship
- stuff that helps me understand other cultures
- stuff that’s just plain entertaining
And I always read stuff that’s been recommended to me.
I hope you find something that fits your tastes. And there’re no particular order to these books – I don’t feel like playing librarian today.
I really like these 12 books. I hope you will, too.
Paris to the Moon
Adam Gopnik
Random House, 2001
Gopnik is a sensible, well-educated American who writes for the New Yorker. In 1995, he and his wife moved to Paris – simply because the city appealed to them. The book is a fascinating journey of discovery that moves the perception of “the artist’s Paris” beyond Hemingway, and demonstrates the enormous cultural gap between North America and Europe, even for people who are sensible and well-educated. Really, one of the most interesting, well-written books on ex-pat experiences I’ve read in many years.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
Bill Bryson
Black Swan, 2007
Bryson is my age and grew up in Iowa. I grew up a couple of hours away in St. Louis. We watched the same TV shows as kids (Sky King, Lone Ranger, etc.) and share a frightening number of quintessentially Midwestern experiences (like meeting Stan Musial). And like me, he spent most of his adult life in Europe (Britain counts as Europe unless you’re British). This particular work is a kind of memoir. But Bryson has a dozen other books out there that are equally good. If you don’t know of him, you really should pick one up.
Memories of a Pure Spring
Duong Thu Huong
Picador, 2000
Once one of the most popular novelists in Vietnam, Ms. Huong’s books have been “withdrawn” in that country. This is a wonderfully poetic, yet emotionally intense trip through a nation emerging from three decades of civil war. Struggles with the modern bureaucracy, plus flashbacks to the “American War” can put a lot of things in perspective for those who experienced the war first hand, and those who only know Vietnam as a holiday destination. The only minus is that my edition “feels” translated – unfortunately Asian literature frequently does.
The Vicious Circle Mysteries and Crime Stories from the Algonquin Round Table
Fall River Press, 2009
Back in the 1920s and 30s, New York’s Algonquin Hotel played host to the cream of American literati, who lunched there every day. These luminaries included George S. Kaufman, Howard Dietz, Robert Benchley, Marc Connelly, Alexander Woollcott, Dorothy Parker, S.J. Perelman, Edna Ferber, and Ring Lardner. Each of these brilliant writers has contributed a short story to this entertaining compilation.
Twitterville Shel Israel
Portfolio, 2009
@elreiss Great book by a guy from my generation who really understands social media and doesn’t just play it lip service: http://is.gd/5tSkN
(and yes, that was EXACTLY 140 characters)
Business Stripped Bare Richard Branson
Virgin Books, 2009
For an entrepreneur like me, reading about Richard Branson’s exploits is as magical as Harry Potter. In fact, if I’d known about this fellow 30 years ago, I’d have moved to England and swept the floors in his office just to get to know him personally. This book shows you how much fun you can have when you like to build things rather than just buying expensive toys with the money you’ve made.
American Lightning
Howard Blum
Crown, 2008
A crime novel that is actually a history book. It’s about one of the early terrorist acts in the United States: the bombing of the Los Angeles Times on October 1, 1910. Curiously, the careers of William J. Burns (America’s foremost detective), D.W. Griffith (Hollywood’s industry-shaping filmmaker), and Clarence Darrow (America’s leading legal mind) intersected at Los Angeles’ legendary Alexandria Hotel at this time. Blum tells their story in a way reminiscent of Capote’s In Cold Blood.
The cover bills this as “Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century.” Howard Blum nailed them all. Great stuff.
Music and Silence Rose Tremain
Vintage, 2000
Here’s the story of King Christian the Fourth of Denmark. He sits in his summer residence, Rosenborg Castle, pondering the fate of his nation while listening to the music that permeates the building via ventilation ducts leading to a string quartet kept out of sight down in the basement. Not only is this a great read, it was suggested to me some years by the young Australian girlfriend of the Danish crown prince. Today, she is H.R.H. Crown Princess Mary. Interesting recommendation from someone destined to become Queen of Denmark.
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian Marina Lewycka
Penguin, 2005
The first paragraph reads: “Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukrainian divorcée. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface a sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside.”
I haven’t laughed so hard in years. This is a fabulously entertaining book.
Bing Ted Dewan
David Fickling Books
Bing is a stuffed bunny, who is helped by his friend Flop (also stuffed, but difficult to identify zoologically). They paint, they play, they bake, they make incredible messes. And they’re hugely entertaining. There are a bunch of Bing books – all great reads for kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and folks like me.
I met Ted Dewan when he spoke at EuroGel in Copenhagen a few years back. We both do road happenings in our respective cities (Ted’s from Oxford) and it was like meeting a long lost brother. You’ve simply got to check these out!
Why Architecture Matters
Paul Goldberger
Yale University Press, 2009
No. This isn’t another history of architecture. Rather, it’s an erudite review of how and why architecture affects us emotionally and intellectually. For anyone doing design work, this could be the most exciting book you read this year (or next). Why, for example, have the utilitarian boxes of Walter Gropius survived the test of time, whereas the utilitarian boxes of Iron-Curtain-era Europe are being torn down?
Now that we’ve spent years figuring out how to build usable, utilitarian websites, it’s time to figure out how to make them both utilitarian AND exciting.
Three Trapped Tigers
G. Cabrera Infante
Harper & Row, 1971
An Argentinian friend of mind recommended this book to me about 20 years ago. I read it every year or so – for the language, for the history, for the entertainment, for the pathos. Infante was the son of Cuban revolutionaries and headed the Cuban Film Board after the rise of Castro. But Che Guevara (yes THAT Che) sent out a hit squad and Infante fled to London.
Three Trapped Tigers is the story of late-Batista-era Havana. The nightclubs, the girls, the vice, the graft. An altogether unforgettable story. It’s Lawrence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy meets the Tropicana Tiki Bar. And when the United States opens up legal tourism to Cuba again, this book is going to rocket to the top of the N.Y.Times bestseller list. Although the English translation is brilliant, if you can get it in the original Spanish, you’re really in for a treat.
For about a year now, FatDUX has been sharing the following article with business leaders and potential clients around the world. The feedback has been tremendously positive. We’d now like to share it with you. Happy holidays.
Feel free to use this in your own work. Here’s an easy-to-distribute PDF (25 kb):
The 10 dos and don’ts of website development (that every CEO should know)With the current economic downturn and significant layoffs among sales staff, the web has become more important than ever as a means of communicating with customers/clients/membership. But I have yet to meet a CEO who likes website development. It makes business leaders uncomfortable. The web experts speak in a cryptic language – CMS, KM, XML, CSS. The site seems to take forever to build, costs more than expected, and invariably provides less value than the organization had hoped.
No one likes signing a big check without some idea as to what they’re getting. So if you’re a business leader, here are a few basic, non-technical tips that will significantly increase your chances for online success. And they let you do what you do best – lead.
1. Don’t confuse marketing with communication
Most marketing efforts are concerned with gaining the attention and interest of a particular target audience – often quite aggressively. But on the web, your audience has come to you voluntarily. So, lighten up on the promotional hype. Yes, your site can become an important sales tool, but it should do so in straightforward, conversational language. Don’t let an eager salesrep talk you into blinking banners on every page. Instead, regard your website as part of your service mix first and your marketing mix second. It’s about creating a valuable experience for your site’s visitors, about starting a dialog with your customers (and potential customers). Therefore, make sure your web team represents a good cross section of disciplines in your organization.
Do: View your website as part of your customer-service package.
2. Don’t view your website as a software development projectCreating and maintaining most informational websites is no more a “software project” than publishing your annual report. You write reports using a standard word processing program; you publish to the web using a standard content-management system. There are dozens of superb systems available, and hundreds of excellent add-ons (survey systems, social networks, video channels, wikis, etc.) so don’t let anyone talk you into building one from scratch. That’s also why this activity shouldn’t be handed over to your IT department. Granted, a site with very sophisticated functionality will probably require special programming, but don’t count on your in-house skills as being enough.
Do: Whenever possible, purchase standard software from a single-focus vendor (Microsoft will probably not be on your shortlist).
3. Don’t couple unrelated initiatives
Just because one project concerning computers and customers is in the works, you won’t necessarily create synergy by tacking on other initiatives that also involve computers and customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a frequent sinner. But unless you have a huge budget and sophisticated needs, both your website and your CRM activities will be far more successful (and much cheaper) if you tackle them one at a time. Keep your intranet development out of this, too (although you can probably use the same publishing software used for your website). In other words, don’t let HR take over the project either. And don’t turn your website into a software development project.
Do: Deal with your website – and just your website. Then take care of the other stuff.
4. Don’t be afraid to set measurable goals for your websiteYour website can be an active part of your business plan. In fact it should be. Don’t just view it as your extended business card or think that a graphic redesign is going to help you attract new customers/clients/members. Your website should be assigned targets just like every other department in your organization. And don’t just go for easily measurable numbers. Merely increasing the number of visitors is a poor goal. Shortening the sales process is better. Increasing your conversion rates is great. Streamlining logistics is a good goal. Reducing manual intervention in a sales or service process is a good goal, too. And there are dozens of others that have a direct effect on the bottom line – even for companies that don’t run an e-commerce site. So get your web team to tell you which needs they have identified, the goals they have set, and how they intend to achieve them. Since most in-house teams have limited experience in web development, this is one of the key reasons for hiring an outside strategic consultant.
Do: Insist that your website become an integrated part of your company’s business activities.
5. Don’t confuse your needs with those of your visitors
You may want your website to communicate your company’s values, service offerings, products, or something else entirely. But visitors to your site will have their own agendas. Your web team needs to identify these needs and address them with relevant content and functionality. The simple truth is, unless a site fulfills the needs of its visitors, it will never fulfill the needs of the site owner. Give your web team the time and budget to do their homework and actually talk to potential users. Very few companies truly understand how their customers use the internet.
Do: Encourage research. Accept surprises that go against your basic assumptions.
6. Don’t view your website as a fixed-term project
Your website is a process, not a project. Unlike a printed brochure that might have a useful lifetime of a year or so, your site’s content should be reviewed regularly (even daily) so that it remains accurate, interesting, and dynamic. For the most part, maintenance only takes a few minutes a day. But someone has to keep the process going, studying the statistics that tell you who has visited and what they did, and adjusting the content so that it becomes even more compelling. And that means you need to allocate resources to this critical task. Your website needs to be included in your annual budget each and every year.
Do: Once you start the process, make sure to keep it going.
7. Don’t confuse print design with web design
You probably have an ad agency. For them, “concept” means look and feel. But on the web, the “concept” is what your site can do. Your brand consists of how your website “acts” just as your brand is affected by how your employees act. Don’t let an old-school art director force you to sacrifice usability for the sake of a design guide developed for printed communications.
Do: Acknowledge and embrace web best-practices that run counter to your design guide.
8. Don’t let personal opinion cloud your focus
When it comes to websites, everyone has an opinion. But don’t just assign tasks to the people who are most enthusiastic or most vocal. Instead, find people with proven expertise and then do everything you can to help them do their jobs efficiently. And as the project progresses, try not to let your personal taste get in the way either. The only opinions that really matter are those of your website’s visitors – not your friends, family, or the well-meaning wife of the chairman. Ask yourself: “Do I want to get my way or do I want to get rich?”
Do: Seek out proven experts and support their work.
9. Don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions
There are no stupid questions. And no one should make you feel like you’ve asked one. But be prepared to remember the answer – asking someone to walk you through the same subject six times is bound to create friction.
Do: If in doubt, ask. Always.
10. Don’t hide in your office
Your active support for a web project can make the difference between success and failure. Make sure everyone on the team is pulling their weight – particularly those who are responsible for writing and updating online content. Make sure the team leader has access to you when policy questions arise. That said, don’t become a micromanager – hire the best and let them get on with it.
Do: Demonstrate your active support for the project. Keep the whole team inspired.
My thanks to the dozens of CEOs who have critiqued this piece. You’ve all contributed valuable information. Thanks for sharing with me so I can share with others.
As a guy in charge for our Zagreb office I’m thrilled and happy to share some news with you. First of them is our little anniversary – today marks exactly 2 months since we have been incorporated and established our first office here in Zagreb, Croatia.
We are the youngest FatDUX office worldwide and as such we see ourselves as an important part of the overall corporate success. We will embrace this blog as well as our Twitter accounts more actively in the future so for this first, introductory post, I’d like to introduce you to our office, our team.
But most importantly, I’d like to celebrate the fact that despite this global economic downturn that is hitting southern Europe and the New Europe countries especially hard – we are thriving, adopting to our client’s needs and, oh well, we are being innovative as much as we can.
Often it is being said that necessity is the mother of innovation – apart from that being just too often cited – there is actually truth in that. Also, one can argue that this current downturn and climate certainly affects the ability of the companies to stay ahead and innovate in a negative way. However, it is also serving as a catalyser for change, opportunity to rethink your mission, your business and your overall business values.
It is challenging – for sure
When I’ve left the Microsoft Development Center in Copenhagen where I used to work as part of a really great and international user experience team – I was filled with mixed emotions. Leaving the Microsoft where I used to work and collaborate with for years (counting my Microsoft Croatia experience) and starting the new business from the scratch was huge endeavor. Truth be told – in my personal contacts, over Twitter and even via Facebook bunch of people were saying that I should accept the offers and stay in Denmark with Microsoft or some other company but just few said that I should return back home and start a new business with my team.
And here we are today – two months after official incorporation, after months of prep work, market analysis, team gathering and consultations. I’m bold, proud and thrilled to say that we are here and we are here to stay!
Our team
Our core team in Croatia is rather small but we are utilizing the broad network of our local and international contacts. Antun Debak is our creative director and our youngest employee – may that not fool you – he is extremely talented guy with years of experience working for some big names as a freelancer, Darko Čengija (pronounced as cheng-ee-ya) serves as our external consultant – he is employed at the Poslovna učionica not by FatDUX (though we treat him like he is one of us) and I (Vibor Cipan) am serving as a CEO of the FatDUX Zagreb office.
Three of us have meet several years ago and worked together and collaborated with Microsoft Croatia and their partners on various projects – from design, product development, coding, project management, copywriting… After all these years – it was quite natural for us to start on something together.
After my first meeting with Eric and Søren in Copenhagen while I was living in Denmark, I knew, intuitively, that one day we will be part of our FatDUX family. Months of negotiations, discussions, talks – and we had our deal. Today we are proud part of the FatDUX global family contributing to our client’s bottom line and their success.
How the sayin’ goes: We work hard and play hard. I know it is braggin’ but heck, we went to Rammstein concert for our first team building few weeks ago. Life is fun at FatDUX Zagreb and we love it that way.
Keep in touch
As I’ve mentioned – we will keep in touch on a regular basis now – utilizing this blog, Twitter and all other services we can thinks of. Yes – I guess you can get a clear picture that I’m a pretty much a huge fan of social networking and interaction – significant part of our local business and corporate communication strategy is being shaped by direct contact with. And yes – we love to talk. English, Croatian, Czech and virtually any other language (with a little help from our friends) works for us…
That being said – here is how to keep in touch with us and contribute. We sincerely want to include you in this conversation.
Antun (@adebak) is on the Twitter – you can follow him there. He is also on LinkedIn. Darko is on LinkedIn too (trying to convince him to join the Twitter) and you can reach me on Twitter (@viborc), LinkedIn and my personal blog – UXPassion.com.
Hi Eric –
Bad news. I’ve been laid off due to cutbacks. That said, the company just hired two new people in my division and our profits are the highest ever recorded. In fact, my division now has sales of EUR 35 million. So let’s assume there are other reasons for letting me go.
I still need another year and a half of salary to make ends meet, so I’m desperately looking for a new job. Now most folks think it’s impossible for a 67-year-old to get a new job, but as you know I’m used to dealing with impossible challenges. I’m looking for something either in Denmark or abroad that lets me use my marketing talents, and maybe even do a little Flash programming if need be. Even jobs that only last a week or two are welcome.
If you hear of something, I hope you’ll keep me in mind.
Cheers,
S
Damned right we’ll keep him in mind! Here’s some background on this fellow:
The incredibly narrow-minded management of this company has never really liked my pal’s out-of-the-box thinking. So each time he’s built up a profitable new business area (he’s created several), they take away his department and send him out to do something else. Recently, to get him away from headquarters, they packed him off to China. He taught himself Chinese and built up a multi-million Euro business selling his company’s products in a completely new market segment! When he needed interactive marketing materials and was denied a budget, he taught himself to program Flash (and he’s pretty good at it).
I’ve worked with this man for almost 20 years on a variety of marketing projects. He’s a real gentleman, his professionalism is exceptional, and he’s a seasoned innovator who produces measurable results. Not surprisingly, we’re going to try and work him into the FatDUX family. But in the meantime, if you hear anything, let me know and I’ll pass the word along.
Three service experiences from a recent trip to Miami, FL.
At Whole Foods in Pinecrest Me: “Hi. I’m looking for vermouth.”
Whole Foods: “That’s like beer, right?”
Me: “It’s like a strong wine.”
Whole Foods: “This is the wine department.”
Me: “Yes. I know. Where do you have stuff like port?”
Whole Foods: “Which port? Is this something you got on a cruise ship?”
At Macy’s in Dadeland Me: “Hi. I’m looking for black, canvas tennis shoes.”
Macy’s: “Canvas? Is that a kind of leather?”
Me: “No. It’s heavy cloth. Like what they make sails out of.”
Macy’s: “Like nylon? We have Docksides. But they’re not made of nylon.”
At Staples office supplies
Me: “Hi. I need an At-A-Glance calendar refill.”
Staples: “What year?”
Me (biting tongue): “2010″
Staples: “But that’s next year.”
Me: “Er…yes…I need a refill for my current calendar.”
Staples: “We don’t carry that brand.”
Me: “You have an At-A-Glance display over there, but there’s nothing in it.”
Staples: “That’s a mistake.”
Me: “That you have the display or that it’s not filled?”
Staples: “Yes. Sorry we can’t help you.”
And we web designers wonder why folks can’t fill out online forms…geez.
I have the most wonderful bed in the world, a Select Comfort bed. It has two air chambers zipped into a padded quilted mattress cover, and attached to a pump with two controls. Each sleeper can adjust the firmness of the mattress to his own preference with just a button. We’ve had it for over 15 years.
Its only flaw is that every two or three years one of the air chambers inside the mattress starts to leak, and pretty soon it mostly deflates every night. The only thing to do is to get a new one shipped out from the company.
Because it was my side of the bed this time, I was pretty motivated to solve the problem. I went to the Select Comfort website, found their customer support contact page. It was late, outside of their call center hours, so I decided to get the process going by email. I chose my problem from their dropdown list (“Previous purchase questions”), entered my name and address and phone number and email (all required). I also entered a description of my product and my problem. Oddly enough, this was not a required field. I unchecked both the “o please send me more promotional material!” boxes and submitted the form. Immediately in my inbox was an automatic confirmation that they had indeed received my email, and would gladly get back to me within two or three days. And that if I wanted to call them, they’d take my call right away.
Rule No. 1 – Respect your customer’s mode of communication.
If you’re going to offer email customer support, it should be at the same level of service as phone support. A real response should come by the end of the next business day at the latest.
Two days later I got a nice email from the customer support specialist telling me that my name and address wasn’t in their database, and asking me if I could send any other names or addresses that might have been used. I did, and shortly received an autoresponse thanking me for my interest in their product and informing me that they would be sending out the DVD package that I had requested right away.
Rule No. 2 – Listen to what your customer says, and remember it the next time you speak.
I had already provided them with a description of my problem AND a backend database code for their use by selecting “previous purchase question” as my subject. And remember? I had also unchecked both boxes asking them to send me more promotional literature. (I’m still getting it; the DVD arrived in less than a week, and I’ve gotten follow-up postcards every three or four days so far.)
I replied that I didn’t want any DVDs, but that I did want a new single-port chamber for my dual queen size bed and inquiring how I could go about getting one, just as I had in my original email to them. I got another immediate autoresponse telling me that they had received my email and that they would gladly get back to me in two to three days.
In a couple of days another nice customer service rep gave me instructions on how to confirm that the problem was indeed in the air chamber and not in the pump, and asked me to get back in touch with them after I’d verified the problem. I was pretty sure that the problem was with the chamber, but I followed the directions and confirmed it for them by email: definitely the chamber. After getting the expected autoresponse from the customer service ‘bot (2-3 days!), I then got an email from the support staff that said that it sounded like I needed to replace the chamber, and that I should order it from Customer Service. They gave a toll-free number. They also let me know that they couldn’t find me in their database.
Rule No. 3 – Respect what your customer knows.
Not only did I already know what the problem was with the bed and what I needed, I also already knew that I wasn’t in their database, and I already knew that email responses were running at 2-3 days’ response time. A full week was wasted with this back-and-forth.
Meanwhile I’m sleeping on stacks of pillows every night because I start out with a bed full of air and by 3am it is nearly completely deflated, my butt on the slats of the bedstand. I can’t pump it up in the middle of the night because the pump makes a heinous racket to which the DH for some reason objects most obstreperously. My neck and shoulders and lower back are all killing me. And then fall rolled into Los Angeles, and I found myself at the mall, looking for sweaters. And there, across from the Build-a-Bear was a Select Comfort retail store. So I popped in, spoke with the nice man there. He listened to my story, looked me up in the database (“Yep, you’re coded as a prospect!”) and surreptitiously gave me a queen dual chamber that he had lying behind a big cardboard display. I took it home and pumped it up, but it turned out to have a leak as well.
I was at the same mall a few days later and returned it to him. He gave me another one, but while he was digging around looking for it, another customer in the store who was purchasing a bed and some accessories asked me if I liked my bed. O how I did wax prolific on the wonders of the bed. I truly love it. At least fifteen years of slumbering bliss on this bed. A testimonial, dear brethren! After this, the nice store manager gave me the chamber. I asked him, “If this one doesn’t work, can I come back here and order it from you?” No, he said, I had to order it from Customer Service.
Rule No. 4 – Empower your service workers to provide service.
There was a customer sitting at the counter while I was there, checkbook in hand, ordering a bed and accessories. We all of us there in the store know that orders can be placed through the retail store. Why can I not get the replacement item I need from the nice person I’ve now got a relationship with? Why can the email support staff not take my order?
I got the second replacement chamber home, and it leaked even worse than the first one. I’m not too upset, because I didn’t pay for either of them. I girded my loins, picked up the phone, and called Customer Service’s toll-free number.
It was busy.
I called again. I got a recording that said, basically, that they were too busy to take my call, and I should call back later. Click.
I called three more times and it was busy.
The fourth time I got put into the queue, after selecting the most likely-sounding option from the voice menu. After about 10 minutes I was connected with a lady who asked me briskly for the name on my account. I gave her my name.
“I can’t find you in my database. What’s the phone number that might be on the account?” I gave her that.
“I can’t find you in my database.” I tell her what I want to do, to buy a replacement chamber. She begins to go through what I recognize as the troubleshooting script, the one I have already been through with the email folks. I stop her and start to say that I’ve already identified my problem, and that I just want to order the replacement chamber.
“I’m trying to solve your problem!”
“You haven’t even asked me what my problem is yet.”
Rule No. 5 – The customer’s problem is the one that needs solving.
So far my primary topic of conversation with these people, across ALL their modes of communication, has been about their database. Now I didn’t call them up because I’m not in their database. I’ve got a bed that deflates every night. I just want my good nights’ sleep back. I called them up because I need a single port dual queen replacement chamber, stat.
I tell her that I’ve followed directions given by the email team and have confirmed that I need a new air chamber. “Well you can’t buy that from me!” She says she’s going to put me in the database and then connect me with the right department. I give her all my information (again) and she enters it all into the database, and she gives me a customer number (2275984) that I can give to the next rep so she can pull up my record. And then she transfers me.
After a few minutes on hold I am connected to a new person who promptly barks, “Name on the account?” I give her my name and, she says, “I can’t find you in my database.” At this point my weasel is pretty steamed. I tell her that I have just gone through this exercise with the previous rep, and that she had put me into the database. “She even gave me a customer number so you could find me.” She asks for it, and I give it to her. She tells me, “I can’t find that in my database. You’re not in our database. What did she use to give it to you?”
“Her voice,” I said. “And I wrote it down with a pencil on paper.”
Rule No. 6 – Don’t ask the customer for any of your internal codes or identifiers.
How are the customers supposed to know which of your internal systems were in use? At this point I’m pretty sure that I am in all of their databases and that customer number 2275984 is CSR-speak for “Give this customer some serious hell!”
She begins the troubleshooting script. I stop her. “I’ve already done that.” After a fair amount of wrangling I force her to take my order NOW for a non-returnable $200 item. I ask for the name of the VP of Customer Service and she gives me the name and mailing address of the CEO.
And since it had been such a <sarcasm> pleasant </s> experience overall, I replied to the last email that I had finally managed to order the replacement chamber from customer service, and that I’d be grateful if they could let their VP know that he could expect me to pitch him soon for some business process redesign work. A few days later I got this response:
My replacement chamber did finally come, and it has worked very well. I still love my bed, and I’m sleeping great again. But I am afraid that any recommendation I make for Select Comfort’s product in the future will have to be tempered by serious reservations about their service. And in the 21st century, is there any difference between the two?
