User Voice

I've long been a fan of "voice of the customer" technology. I've blogged several time about Dell's IdeaStorm project, where customers get to suggest improvements to Dell's products and services and the customer community gets to "vote up or vote down" ideas submitted by the community.

I'm really excited by a brand new web service called User Voice. This web service easily allows any company to start up their own customer conversation. The service comes in several different "flavors". The feedback tab you now see on the left hand side of my blog, is an example of the free version.

I'll leave this tab here for several weeks and encourage any readers to post blog topic ideas of their own and vote on those ideas submitted by others.

The application is very easy to set and use.

The toughest part of the entire process will be for User Voice customers to summon up the courage to actually begin an honest conversation with their customers!

Interesting Googlism

A talk with our Web stats provider revealed that now more than 50% of Google searches are unique and contain 4 to 6 words in the search string.

What this means is that not only does the "Long Tail" exist, it's thriving.

Recently we were trying to determine why our site visits were increasing, while our keyword rankings were staying relatively stable.

To test the theory, we tried a bunch of long tail searches for our products and found that our websites were always ranking at or near the top of the results pages.

We're blessed to have VOLUMES of well tagged information on our websites and blogs, but this little gem came as quite a surprise.

What did we learn?

Provide loads of valuable content (especially in blog form) and you'll be found on the web.

Buy the ink and we'll throw in the printer for (almost) Free

My Dad doesn't know it yet but he's about to be a guest blogger. Here's an email I received from him yesterday...

Hi Guys,

Thought that I'd bring you up to date with my latest bargain.
My little HP printer ran out of black ink so I went to Zellers to get another black cartridge. It would have cost $30 but I went for the bargain -- both colour and black for $69. It doesn't sound like a bargain but they came with a Lexmark 5495 which will handle photos, scan, make copies and fax with its own built phone. It even has auto feed for copies etc.and slots for all the photo media sticks. It is amazing the extras they give away with their ink!

Dad

Bright, Bold and Ambitious

I have always been a fan of big ideas and bold initiatives. I discovered Shai Agassi thanks to Garr Reynolds' blog Presentation Zen. Shai Agassi was incumbent CEO at SAP software (we won't hold that against him) when he discovered his new calling - ridding the world of it's dependence of oil for our transportation needs.

This is the kind of out of the box thinking that is bold, ambitious, and after listening to this TED presentation, entirely achievable.

I love great new ideas, clearly and passionately expressed. Shai Agassi doesn't disappoint.

Mixed Message

I just received a webinar invite from Ziff Davis entitled "Can You Be Safe Without Vista?"

It's designed to promote the additional security features that the Vista operating system provides, but I'm not certain that's the message they are sending.

The problem is that the webinar is co-sponsored by Microsoft.

So, let me get this straight.

The very people who wrote the operating system you're likely still running (XP, for most of us) are telling their customers that our legacy operating systems, also written by Microsoft, aren't secure.

Imagine if GM sold you a crappy car, then invited you to an open house where they spoke about why you needed to purchase the newer model because the old one was so unsafe?

You wouldn't expect GM to close many sales.

Microsoft shouldn't either.

Sending and Receiving

Back when I was Director of Marketing for a B2B catalog company, I constantly battled our Product Managers over the catalog content and layout. Let's call it having a "creative difference".

The product managers would always want to load up the copy with every conceivable benefit and feature. They were looking to make the presentation as comprehensive as possible - to cram their entire story on a quarter page.

Now don't get me wrong - attention to detail is a good thing. As long as all the work you're putting into sending the message is being received by the customer. If we were lucky, a customer might spend as much as two seconds looking at a product page. What really mattered in getting readers to linger, was great page layout design, a compelling headline and a fantastic photo.

Think about how you leaf through all the advertising that comes in the Sunday paper. Is it the compelling copy that gets your attention? Probably not.

Taking a day to tweak copy for a product that gets a fleeting glance may not be the best use of your time. Understanding that just because you send the message, doesn't mean it's being received as you'd like it to be.

Don't believe me? Take a look at this designer who radically improved newspaper circulation by dramatically improving it's design. Same columnists, editors, just a different design.



First, you need to capture attention. THEN, your message has a chance to be received.

New Rule

In hommage to one of my favorite comedians, here's my New Rule:

New Rule: If you plaster my email inbox with advertising I have NOT asked for, you must stop it immediately if I opt out.

Kohl's has recently been sending me a ton of email advertising. I have opted out of this advertising several times. The note they display during the unsubscribe process is that it can take up to two weeks to actually take effect.

That's fine...

As long as Kohl's is okay with me shopping at your stores and leaving without paying, as long as I promise to come back in a couple of weeks or so to settle up.

Expectations

Setting an expectation is a double edged sword.

On Saturday morning, if the paper isn't delivered, it can ruin the start of your day. We like predictible. Same is good.

A visit to your favorite restaurant, when the chef has an "off night" can wreck your evening.

Recently Seth Godin celebrated his 3000th blog post, IN A ROW. Daily, for almost a decade, he's been sharing his thoughts each morning.

For anyone, this is a Herculean feat.

Delivering fresh throughts on a daily basis, without missing a day is unheard of.

This morning, when I logged on and checked my RSS Feed reader, there was nothing from Seth.

He didn't meet my expectations. I was disappointed.

Now Seth didn't promise me that he would post every day. He never committed to posting before 7 am. In fact he made no representations whatsoever. But based upon his record of daily insightful posts, he set an expectation.

Or rather I "assumed" an expectation.

Today's post may arrive in my RSS Reader as I'm writing this, but it's already too late. I'm already feeling a little let down.

That's the trouble with fans. We're fanatical.