Conversion Crazed

AHH Forbes.com AHH!!

OK let me preface this by saying that there are a lot of horrible websites out there, truly. That said today I ran across something that stopped me in my tracks. I guess I have been completely dependent on RSS feeds lately that I had not been to Forbes.com lately, so when I did to read an article (Jane Goodall talking about email communications? how could I not be at least a little interested) I had to take a minute to find the article!To the left here is a screen shot (click to enlarge) of the entire page where I have highlighted the article in red.

Honestly folks, this is just embarrassing... can you fit another banner, sponsored ad, navigation element, etc onto this page? the worst part is that the Fisher Investments ad actually started playing with audio and everything.

What could Forbes.com possibly be getting out of this. There is no way users are being responsive to all of these ads and clutter. What's crazy is that the content on the page, which is what's actually relevant to the user, completely takes a back seat to Forbes.com's interests. The article is squished to and wraps around non-relevant content. The additional related topics are found well below the article, and should I want to do anything with the article I would need to find those links up top fairly disconnected from the article itself.

So here's how I look at this, not only does it look like they have taken a "and the kitchen sink" approach to managing their site it certainly appears they have missed the most important thing... content sites need to be about the content. I know what you're saying: "Thank you captain obvious!" but seriously how many sites have you seen that are driven by content but put that same content in the back seat. Users come to the site to interact with the content so why not have every element be building on that content, that's what the customer wants.

The key thing to realize is that the experience should meet their expectations and foster further interaction with the content and the site, after all that should be what these companies want more people doing more with their sites. If you do need/want to have advertising then at least make it relevant and engaging.

Anyone who needs help with this there are tons of resources out there but the one's who really got it from the get go are FutureNow, Inc., check out their Persuasion Architecture, and their Blog always has good tips.

(By the way, I had to put the entire screenshot because I was laughing when I saw how long the page was, the content stopped halfway past the first page but the ads keep going and going, hysterical... wouldn't want to be one of those advertisers)

Update:

Evidently others feel the same way, check out ClickZ's blog post about Forbes.com.

The Onion: I'd Love this Product Even If I Weren't a Stealth Marketer

I'm a sucker for good satire and The Onion hits one out of the park with: I'd Love this Product Even If I Weren't a Stealth Marketer

CommerceBank: It's a Party!

Last weekend I was in New York City. Sunday I was hanging around mid-town and stumbled across the 5 Boro Bike Tour going up 6th avenue. First off seeing 30,000 people riding bikes through the city is always cool, but pedestrians beware :).

I was walking to the corner of 6th and 55th and started noticing something right away. New York isn't quiet and wall to wall people aren't quiet, but right away what filled the entire areas was the sound of the CommerceBank Cheer Squad. We are talking 12-15 people and a steel-drum/carribean sounding rock band.

They were absolutely incredible, the tour hadn't even started and they were cheering, screaming, laughing. The band was blaring Hot, Hot, Hot by Buster Poindexter and other reggae dance songs. The most incredible thing was it was only 10-15 employees. Now I don't know if or what they were paid to be there but it looked like they were having a great time. More importantly everyone in the area was having a great time with them probably 1000-2000 bikers laughing and cheering with them, and I found myself hanging around the area smiling and being a part of the "good vibe".

It's becoming incredibly hard to have your brand break through the noise these days and I'm always fascinated to see the result when a company tries to make splash. So, I was sitting back enjoying this and thinking to myself: 1) how cool is it that CommerceBank and their employees really got into the event like this (beyond just being the title sponsor) but 2) how much mileage are they going to get for this. And just as I was thinking that a group of bikers were walking their bikes behind me laughing and one of them said "Oh man, I've got to open an account with those guys, they like to party!"...

Well done CommerceBank... well done.

PS: normally I would have tried to talk to one of the employees but attempting to wade through the intersection to get to the other side wasn't even an option :)

You Don't Know Me At ALL!

Fair warning ranting ahead...

I know... I know... don't blog angry but I'm sitting here at the end of the day after three sales presentations by three different companies about three different technologies and I'm annoyed as hell.

Attention Sales People: You and I are part of the same marketing family but you are making us look bad. So listen up: if you don't understand who you are talking to and what they need before you have the sales call don't have the freaking call!

I have a lot of marketing experience my specialty is online conversion, testing, and online customer acquisition strategy, humbly, I would have to say that I'm pretty darn good at it. On each of these calls today the reps have started off the call by trying to build me a business case telling how online conversion works or what A/B and multivariate testing is. In a moment of compassion I have decided to keep these companies nameless (and they are all names you would recognize) but my favorites quote from today is (and I kid you not):

"well see the results in the right hand side of Google search results are paid and since you pay for every click the better conversion you can get the lower the cost to acquire a customer through those links will be"

Oh well thank you Captain Obvious! I never realized thats how that worked... or another one today as someone pitching an ecommerce system was spending all this time talking about the "robustness of the cataloging feature that allows for easy navigation of thousands of products" and the "inventory/warehousing feature that allows for real-time inventory".... HELLO don't you know that our project is an online service and there are only about 7 permeations  (max 50 in the future) that one can buy and there is no physical product (although I think our founder would love to "sell out" of the lowest priced package most days :) )

I'm not saying this isn't valuable information, it is for the right audience, but in all these cases a simple fact check, interview, etc. before the call could have set them up right. Instead I, the potential client, am sitting back frustrated/patronized looking at my already slammed schedule listening to someone tell me in excruciatingly pedestrian terms the basics of online marketing 101. What's equally frustrating is that they are usually not familiar with the subject and are reading off preprepared scripts. Tip: don't quote me the eMarketer study unless you had read the follow-up study a year later adding more clarity to the point and can have a valuable exchange on the subject.

Oh ,and don't you think I would grasp the value of the service if I called and asked for the demo? Why don't focus on why you are the best at delivering this value? I don't walk into an auto dealership to hear "have you ever driven? it's incredible! you can get places fast, go long distances, carry lots of things and people. do you get the value of driving?"

So I'll say again Sales People: Know your audience and know their needs, before the pitch. There are a ton of great free resources out there to help understand the audience you are pitching. A source that seems to really get it is: www.raintoday.com, highly recommended.

Thanks for the rant time. I feel better... still not buying "DysfunctoCorp's Conversion Creator-o-Rama 2007 v10.6.3 w/toaster and detachable sunroof" but I feel better.

Utah Culture Quirk

Very few images embody aspects of Utah culture as well as this one... trust me if you're from Utah you are probably laughing right now:

Historical Monuments Will Be Around Forever? You Had Better Bank on it.

I love a good campaign. I should share more of these as I come across them. This is a great one out of Germany. The campaign is trying to get donations for a foundation setup to protect German national monuments. The campaign features pictures of the building and superimposes German bank notes highlighting the same monuments. Headline: Germany's historic monuments need help. Donations: Account No. 30 55555

Credits:
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Germany
Creative Directors: Simon Oppmann, Peter Roemmelt
Copywriter: Peter Roemmelt
Art Director: Simon Oppmann
Photographer: Hana Kostreba
Photo Editors: Hana Kostreba, Robin Ebener

Make a Splash

My sister sent this to me and I had to pass along. Been to any auto shows lately? If so you might have seen Jeep's waterfall. The jets of water are programmed to show random designs, road designs, the Jeep logo, and names of the car lines. Pretty ingenious way to draw attention to the booth both from the visuals but also the sound of the splash of the water.

What a Long Strange Trip it's Been

Time flies when you’re having fun, and William Shatner always looks like he’s having fun. Did you know that he has now been the priceline.com spokesperson for nearly 10 years. It really has been that long.

Thinking about the last 10 years and I have to wonder if what attracted priceline to Shatner in the first place is hurting them now. He really is his own brand… recently his revived “music” career and his larger than life characters on shows like Boston Legal have created a powerful recognizable force. Most of priceline’s ads pander to Shatner's brand and the question is: where is priceline in all of this? Does priceline take such a back seat to Shatner that they are overshadowed?

Consider the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f1CgJXkcUQ 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s_5dg3FNXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9NnSuLtFbQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wDM_g0aHN4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT1heZBxsFY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBNL9xx3Ie0 

Customer Service vs. Customer Satisfaction

I'm on a Southwest Airlines flight, something I vowed I would never do again but I didn't really have a choice. It has reminded me of all the things I hate about Southwest, notable exceptions being seat and leg room. It also has me thinking about customer service again... here's my latest thought: Is good customer service obtained by accomplishing the task where as good customer satisfaction is more about how the task is accomplished?

In other words focusing on customer service is getting someone to a satisfactory conclusion where as customers satisfaction is more a function of the journey, the how, you get someone to a satisfactory conclusion.

Take the example of my Southwest flight. Did they meet their obligations? Yes, I got to and from my destination on time. However, the staff appeared unprofessional both in action and attire (again) the flight was oversold (again) lack of seat assignments caused boarding to take twice as long (again), etc. etc. etc. So while the function of taking me from point A to point B was accomplished the poor way with which it was done has reinforced my commitment to never fly them again (unless it's out of my control)

Just musings, I think I'll need to think more about this to decide if this has merit or not. Comments or thoughts?

Social Conscience Cont. Banishing Trans Fats

See what did I tell ya, social conscience: Starbucks Drops Trans-fats

Before you go skeptical on me think about it... with nearly 40 MILLION!! customers weekly this could have an impact.