The Interactive Technology Radar

“If you had to choose social media* or 100% engaged employees for your brand, which would you choose?” I recently asked that on Twitter and the responses were pretty interesting. The question for...  Read more...

“If you had to choose social media* or 100% engaged employees for your brand, which would you choose?”

I recently asked that on Twitter and the responses were pretty interesting. The question forces a choice, which many of the people who responded had a hard time making. One person even called it down-right ’silly.’ Generally, people wanted both - engaged employees who use social media. Fair enough, but not a singular answer the question begs.

If you’re having a hard time with the answer, this might be a good gut-check.

You see, the answer gets at a deeper question - what is the most valuable asset that your business has?

We’re not denying that social media can have massive influence for a brand, or even that it can add to a brand’s bottom line if wielded correctly. But I am saying that we would bet on a business with engaged employees and no communication through social media over a business with mountains of online ‘influence’ any day of the week.

Why?

It’s pretty simple: one of the foundations of a good business is an amazing customer experience. And employees provide that experience to customers. And 100% engaged, passionate employees do that in a way that turns customers into loyal fans. So if we had to choose between an online communication tool and people who’s hearts beat to turn customers into loyal fans, the choice is clear.

This post might not be a wise move but I never claimed to have a perfect batting average in the wisdom department. David probably shouldn’t tick off Goliath in general. In this case, when it comes t...  Read more...

This post might not be a wise move but I never claimed to have a perfect batting average in the wisdom department. David probably shouldn’t tick off Goliath in general. In this case, when it comes to selling books, Amazon is clearly the 800 lb gorilla in book sales. Maybe I shouldn’t write this post.

On the other hand, how do you effect change if you don’t express your dissatisfaction with the status quo? Not by silence. What the hell…I’m going for it.

Why I’m Miffed

The source of my disgruntlement is Amazon, but not as a customer per se. I’m writing as an author and one not happy with its customer service. I’m particularly miffed at the time that it is taking Amazon to post my book videos to the main page of each. The two in question are:

• the second edition of Why New Systems Fail
• my new book, The Next Wave of Technologies

By way of background, Amazon has been allowing authors to post audio or video content on their book pages on a limited basis. For a few examples, see Chris Anderson’s Free: The Future of a Radical Price or my friend Scott Berkun’s latest Confessions of a Public Speaker. Both of these have informative multimedia files attached to their book pages, allowing would-be readers to watch or listen to the authors talking about their books. I can’t help but think that each “extra” makes it more likely that visitors will buy each book, something that benefits everyone: the author, the publishers, and ultimately Amazon.

In my case, both of my publishers (Cengage and John Wiley & Sons) are allowed to submit videos for Amazon’s approval and did. I could understand any difficulties if I didn’t have proper publishers, but that’s not the case.

Customer Service at Amazon

Here’s the vexing part of the last few weeks. Amazon has amazing customer service. Take a look at BusinessWeek’s customer service rankings. Amazon is routinely high up on the list. On a personal level, I buy items from Amazon very often and, for books, almost exclusively. I have zero complaints with regard to shipping, its return policy, its selection, and the overall experience. That’s why I keep coming back. I’d argue that customer service and pro-consumer offers such as free shipping have allowed Amazon get to be so big, so powerful.

Possible Reasons for the Delays

Now, I could understand the problems if I had filmed long videos or if they were of questionable quality. However, neither of those arguments holds any water. I didn’t go all Blair Witch on these.

Don’t believe me? Judge for yourself.

• Why New Systems Fail Video
• The Next Wave of Technologies Video

I’ve been gently asking my publishers about the nature of the delays over the last six weeks. I truly believe their responses: they’re doing everything that they can do make this happen. Evidently it’s very hard to talk to a “person” there to expedite things–or at least understand what’s going on.

Questions

This makes me wonder about a few other things:

• Why does it take Amazon more than a few weeks to enable “Search Within Book?”
• Is customer service different for customers and authors?
• Aren’t authors and vendors customers in some sense as well?
• Is this the beginning of a sense of complacency at Amazon?

What do you think?

Related posts:

1. Technology Today: Heather Meeker on Open Source Software
2. Si Chen on Cloud Computing and Open Source
3. The Author’s Perspective: A Podcast with Rich Wilson

It’s no surprise that the increasingly social web have enabled customers to be heard while helping to improve the very products and services they’ve purchased. As millions of people continue to sear...  Read more...

It’s no surprise that the increasingly social web have enabled customers to be heard while helping to improve the very products and services they’ve purchased. As millions of people continue to search online for the product they need and the service they want, do you know how the recession has impacted your customer’s value perception?  How are you going to improve the customer experience to optimize your products and services?

Your customer may have already shifted their spending in favor of private label brands over name brands or reduce the quantity or frequency of buying altogether.  Perhaps the freemium business model has become the new standard to get your customer to try your product. Whichever way you look at it, consumer’s perceptions of an interaction are influenced heavily from their purchasing experience, by how they research to who they trust.

To understand and improve customer experience, companies should first research their customer’s natural behaviors, and then seek opportunities to influence those behaviors through targeted strategies and niche offers.

According to a recent Nielsen analysis revealed generationally shopping habits that reflect diverse lifestyle preferences and economic habits.

Naturally, Boomers have the highest earning of any group, followed by Gen X, then Millennials and finally Greatest Gen.  What’s interesting is that according to the study, “Millennial and Gen X shoppers favor mass supercenters and mass merchandisers over more traditional formats like grocery or drug stores which remain a draw for the Greatest Generation and Boomers … Millennials today represent the largest population segment—over 76 million strong—just slightly larger in number than the Boomer segment. The two groups together represent half of the U.S. population.”

From these data, marketers should apply behavioral economics to further understand the minds of their customers.  Once you understand the patterns contributing to buy and not buy, you can craft highly targeted campaigns and behavioral tracking techniques to connect with customers. Couple that with direct customer research such as surveys or focus groups, you will end up with a customer segmentation metrics that can help you define how changes of an offer can influence the way people react to it.

However, it’s critical that a more systematic approach to behavior targeting is used when defining your customers.  This will help to make irrationality more predictable in an attempt to understand the behavioral economics of your customers.

Here are some questions you should consider to help you improve customer interaction:

• Where does your customer go when searching for your products and services? Online communities, offline advertising, word-of-mouth, search engine, blogs etc.
• How and where did they obtain the knowledge necessary to make a purchase?  Do they know how to find what they need?
• When and how do customers gain access to your products and services?
• What kind of lifestyle and overall financial situation are they in?
• What does value mean to them? Where is the line drawn between getting a bargain vs being cheap?
• Who and what influence their buying decision? And why?
• What conversations are generated around the ‘benefits’ of your product and services?
• What are some of the potential barrier to purchase? Lack of knowledge, confusion in the market, price points, product features etc.
• Who are your competitors and how are they perceived in the customer’s eyes? What other options do they have if they don’t buy from you or your competitors?
• In your vertical, does you customer look at brands first or price first? Is the service or support more important than the product itself?

You may consider paying for research from companies such as ComScore, Ipsos, Harris Interactive, TNS Group or Hitwise just to name a few. If you’re not ready to pay for research, you can always conduct direct customer survey yourself or simply start gathering free data from sites like Consumer Reports, MarketingCharts, Pew Research Center or eMarkter on a regular basis.

Here is an example from the Compete Online Shopper Intelligence study that provides a high-level overview into the complete online shopping experience.

Often times, paid research firms will provide complete free report as well, you just have to keep an eye on it or subscribe to their newsletter.  Here is one focusing on eCommerce from ComScore: State of US Online Retail Economy in Q3 09

State of US Online Retail Economy in Q3 09 –

You can also search on sites like Docstoc, Scribd or SlideShare to find more supporting data.  Keep in mind most of the data on those sites may be dated but you can still use them to investigate current trends or form your own insights.

The take away: Because of the many factors contributing to consumer’s buying pattern and media habits; there is no silver bullet to improve customer experience. Instead, the goal is to minimize wasteful spending while learning to invest in the drivers of customer satisfaction from desirable customer interaction. Do you know what makes your customer tick?

Related posts:

1. The Long Tail of Trust in New Media Marketing
2. Good Design: Part 2 – The User Experience
3. 5 Keys to Incorporate Social Media in Your Business

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Even when high-tech alternatives are available, low-tech approaches sometimes work best. And a combination of the two may be the most effective option of all. Witness the internal social networks, virtual environments and other high-tech  Read more...

Even when high-tech alternatives are available, low-tech approaches sometimes work best. And a combination of the two may be the most effective option of all. Witness the internal social networks, virtual environments and other high-tech

Twitter went on the offensive this week to stop phishing and other malware. The popular microblogging service launched a new link-screening service. The new service includes a new Twitter tool to shorten URLs so users will see some links in email notifications and direct messages from users written as twt.tl, the microblogger said in a blog post. "By routing all links submitted to Twitter through this new service, we can...  Read more...

Twitter went on the offensive this week to stop phishing and other malware. The popular microblogging service launched a new link-screening service. The new service includes a new Twitter tool to shorten URLs so users will see some links in email notifications and direct messages from users written as twt.tl, the microblogger said in a blog post. "By routing all links submitted to Twitter through this new service, we can...

Ohio Casualty Introduces New Learning Center for Appointed Agents Insurance Journal Professional development courses include general insurance topics, sales, product, office productivity, consultative selling and agency management ... Ohio Casualty™ Introduces Agent Learning Center Insurance News Net (press release) all 3 news articles »   Read more...

Ohio Casualty Introduces New Learning Center for Appointed Agents Insurance Journal Professional development courses include general insurance topics, sales, product, office productivity, consultative selling and agency management ... Ohio Casualty™ Introduces Agent Learning Center Insurance News Net (press release) all 3 news articles »

Cybercriminals have a new method to their madness. They are targeting the online bank accounts of small and medium sized businesses at unprecedented rates. A new survey by the Ponemon Institute and Guardian Analytics identified just that problem. The survey results found: 55 percent of businesses reported experiencing fraud in the last 12 months, with 58 percent enabled by online banking activities. 80 percent of banks...  Read more...

Cybercriminals have a new method to their madness. They are targeting the online bank accounts of small and medium sized businesses at unprecedented rates. A new survey by the Ponemon Institute and Guardian Analytics identified just that problem. The survey results found: 55 percent of businesses reported experiencing fraud in the last 12 months, with 58 percent enabled by online banking activities. 80 percent of banks...

... ruv Sr. Sales Manager, Information Technology and Cloud Computing - SADA Systems Inc. - North Hollywood, CA. iggykin Webciety and Enterprise 2.0: A snapshot of today's social computing conversations | Enterprise Web 2.0 | ZDNet.com ...  Read more...

... ruv Sr. Sales Manager, Information Technology and Cloud Computing - SADA Systems Inc. - North Hollywood, CA. iggykin Webciety and Enterprise 2.0: A snapshot of today's social computing conversations | Enterprise Web 2.0 | ZDNet.com ...

Now, we proudly announce our next project, PEOcompare.com. Once again, the site will be owned and operated by industry experts. Anthony Kelly and Carolyn Stoll have, between the two of them, over 20 years of experience within the PEO industry.  Read more...

I am very proud of the results achieved with CompareHRIS.com and fully believe that the knowledge gained from this endeavor can easily transfer to new website ventures.  CompareHRIS.com, which has now seen over 100k visits, has mostly worked because my 15 years of industry experience helped me provide the detail needed by those who are researching HR information systems. We are not the only HRIS comparison website on the web but, to my knowledge, we are the only site that is owned and operated by someone who directly sold, supported, and implemented HRIS/HRMS systems before creating a comparison site. In my opinion, and probably most of those who have compared these types of sites, that’s what makes our site the best. I’m not done yet.

Now, we proudly announce our next project, PEOcompare.com. Once again, the site will be owned and operated by industry experts. Anthony Kelly and Carolyn Stoll have, between the two of them, over 20 years of experience within the PEO industry. PEOcompare.com is not the only site available for comparing and researching PEO’s but, as with my site, to my knowledge it’s the only site being run by industry experts. I’ve known Anthony and Carolyn for 15 years and they have been a real delight to work with on this project. If you like what CompareHRIS.com offers but are looking for information on PEO’s or HRO’s, PEOcompare.com is where you should start your research.

Here are a few of the exciting features and tools offered on PEOcompare.com:

• PEO Services Selection Tool
• PEO Quick Compare
• PEO & HRO Buyer’s Guide
• PEO Library
  • Health Care Reform – Five Reasons to Begin Working with a PEO today
  • 6 Things that an Employee Leasing Company can do to help the Employer
  • Why PEO’s help in an Uncertain Employment Environment
  • 5 Tips for start up businesses (and even those that have been around for a while….)

Again, Congratulations to Anthony and Carolyn. I look forward to working on this exciting project with the two of you. I’m equally excited that the PEO industry, and those who are researching these types of services, will have a comprehensive research site to utilize.

Or perhaps rather letting people share their story when interacting with technology. I recently read this post, ' Mad Libs Style Form Increases Conversion 25-40% ', on the LukeW Ideation and Design blog. The main point of the post, which is short and an easy read, is that by altering a typical 'Request for Information' web form asking for Name, email, address, subject of inquiry, etc., to a 'Mad Libs' style form that...  Read more...

Or perhaps rather letting people share their story when interacting with technology. I recently read this post, ' Mad Libs Style Form Increases Conversion 25-40% ', on the LukeW Ideation and Design blog. The main point of the post, which is short and an easy read, is that by altering a typical 'Request for Information' web form asking for Name, email, address, subject of inquiry, etc., to a 'Mad Libs' style form that...