Link Post (weekly)
Posted on January 23, 2012
Filed Under Blogs |
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» Consumers are social, Customers are personal ProjectVRM
the gist… stop treating customers like demographic groups. Customers are people first, their behaviors map not to trends but unique traits that exist at the intersection of values and needs.
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The Secret To Pinterest’s Astounding Success: A Brilliant Sign-Up Process You Should Copy
- What newsrooms should learn from Kodak | yelvington.comLot’s of experts like to point to Kodak as a case study for business disruption, what is missed in the analysis is that Kodak did exactly the right thing, they shifted from film to digital and became a leader in the point-and-shoot market. What makes Kodak unique is that the company was disrupted twice in a very short period of time, first with film to digital but then again when camera phones exploded. I’m not sure any company could have survived this set of circumstances.tags: blog
- ‘Badges’ Earned Online Pose Challenge to Traditional College Diplomas – College 2.0 – The Chronicle of Higher Educationgood… higher ed needs shaking up.tags: badges blog
- Online Survey Software – Create Surveys, Polls, and Questionnaires | FluidSurveystags: blog surveys
- SurveyGizmo – An Online Survey Software & Questionnaire Tooltags: blog surveys
- 10 New Year’s resolutions for designers | Feature | .net magazinetags: blog design
Gadgets – Cuisinart Soup Maker and Blender
Posted on January 22, 2012
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Despite having a well documented affection for the kitchen, and being a geek at heart, I do not have much of a gadget streak when it comes to kitchen appliances. In fact, it’s safe to say that I am a skeptic when it comes to kitchen appliances and have a pretty high bar to overcome in order for something to show up in my kitchen.
I have had the same blender for about 15 years and decided it was time to retire it while upgrading my capabilities. I wanted something with more capacity primarily and when I took my wife shopping yesterday I made a trip into Bloomingdale’s appliance section, finding a pretty nifty blender and soup maker… basically it is a blender with a heating element built into it. Very clever.
First question I had was about clean up because a lot of appliances are great to use but a pain in the ass to clean up and stow. I think juicers pretty much all fall into this category… with food processors and blenders not far behind. The heating element on the Cuisinart is a sealed unit that is embedded in the jar, it achieves a connection with 3 sealed pins that mate with a receptacle in the motor base.
Today I used it to make some roasted red pepper soup and the results were nothing short of great. I heated olive oil in the mixer jar, adding diced garlic and shallots to achieve a saute in about 6 minutes. The heating element is very powerful and it preheated the oil in less than a minute. Next I added roasted red pepper and thyme, cooking it in the blender jar for 15 minutes, then simmering for another 3o. When finished I blended it for 3 minutes and what came out was a perfectly pureed red pepper soup steaming hot.
Combining a blender with a heating element is highly logical, I’m surprised that it hasn’t been done (in the mass market) before. I give high marks to the appliance and look forward to using it again… I have some acorn squash that I think will work nicely in a soup with sweet potato and curry.
PS- The glass of wine in the background is a 2008 Karcher Gewürztraminer that paired perfectly with this soup.
The Creeping Utility of Camera Phones
Posted on January 18, 2012
Filed Under Uncategorized |
I remember the first time I saw someone take a picture of a whiteboard, thinking at the time how clever it was but also how it rendered the expensive whiteboard printing devices we had utterly useless by comparison. Over the years the creeping utility of the camera phone has permeated so many aspects of my day to day life that it’s hard to imagine life without one.
Tonight I was involved in an accident, the driver of the other car ran into me at a stoplight, while I was stopped, and did some pretty significant damage to my vehicle. Almost immediately I began snapping off pictures of the 2 cars and location, and when it came time to swap information I took images of his drivers license and insurance information.
When I arrived home I took a couple of minutes to capture a Google Maps image of where the accident occurred, and I sent my images straight from my camera to my insurance agent, with a bullet point list of what/when/where/how details.
The entire process was so different than if I had been in a similar situation even just a few years ago, and for bonus points I used the flashlight application on my Samsung Galaxy S II to inspect the damage before attempting to drive home…
Flash Sale Sites On a Roll in Retail
Posted on January 18, 2012
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Gilt Groupe was one of the pioneers… the concept is simple, create scarcity for highly desirable merchandise in a time or unit limited online sale that relied on social channels for promotion. Wham. Slam dunk. It’s been all the rage in online retail and shows no sign of abating.
Gilt has expanded into multiple categories…
HauteLook quickly followed (and then got acquired).
Amazon launched their MyHabit site with sales starting at 9am PST every day and quickly selling out of the most popular sizes.
American Express launched VentePrivee, which is probably better described as a joint venture between Amex and VentePrivee.
Bluefly recently launched Belle & Clive, which is interesting because of what it isn’t… exclusively devoted to high volume fashion brands densely packed in pixel packed pages, instead focusing on streamlined design in the Gilt template that included mainstream brands but also high end fashion brands, so if you want to buy your significant other an Hermes angora robe coat for $3,300, this is your site.
Ideeli.com is another popular flash sale site, as is RueLaLa.com.
I’m surprised that Net-a-Porter.com, a high end fashion retailer with a mens focused site called MrPorter.com, hasn’t launched a flash sale site, although they do have a site called OutNet.com that mimics many of the attributes of a flash sale site.
Look for retail sites in all categories to get in on this, and what is interesting is that these sites are not necessarily the lowest price options available online. If you look at the positioning closely what you find is merchandise selection, private sale exclusivity (brick and mortar retail has used the notion of private and pre-sale for years, this is not a new thing), shipping and return convenience, and yes, good prices all forming the differentiating factors that separate flash sale from traditional online retail.
When Fraud Detection Hinders Rather Than Helps
Posted on January 9, 2012
Filed Under Uncategorized |
I’ve had a long relationship with Patelco Credit Union, they were the first financial services company I became a customer of when I first entered the work force and even though my needs have exceeded the services they offer I do rely on them for a credit card that I use almost exclusively. I like the idea of community banks and have tried to support them over the years.
A few months ago I started having problems with my credit card where transactions were being declined and only after calling the bank did I learn that a fraud block had been placed on my credit card. After having this happen a handful of times, with vendors that have repeat transactions in my history and therefore should not have triggered any alerts, I asked the customer service agent what was going on. I learned that Patelco had replaced their existing fraud detection service with a new vendor, almost precisely when I started having problems.
Here’s the thing about fraud detection on credit cards… it doesn’t protect you as a consumer, it protects the credit card issuer. Fraudulent transactions on anyone’s credit card can be disputed and reversed by the card holder, therefore fraud detection services are designed to protect the bank from excessive exposure as a result of disputes that are unrecoverable from merchants who are as much a victim of fraud as the cardholder.
After having experienced, if I recall correctly, the 8th incident this morning (weekend purchases seem to be the culprit) I have had enough. Patelco needs to work with their vendor to fix what are some obvious weaknesses in their system because I my patience is at it’s limit and my relationship with this institution will end if improvements are not made.
To add insult to injury, the most ironic aspect of this running saga is that I recently was the victim of real credit card fraud and it was me, not Patelco, that discovered it… so their track record is 8 false positives, zero legitimate alerts, and 4 missed actual fraud events. This is not a record they should be proud of.
Bizarre World
Posted on January 4, 2012
Filed Under Off Topic |
I was stopped at a traffic light tonight and saw police lights a few intersections down the road, tending to an accident. I commented to my wife that this was the third fender bender I had seen just today.
As soon as the words left my mouth a Prius rear ended a new Rolls Royce in the intersection immediately in front of us. That alone was amusing enough, little did I know we would soon be witness to an edition of Bizarre World unfolding in technicolor glory.
The Rolls Royce started to pull away and while the car was moving the passenger door opened and a shirtless man with a mullet rolled out gesturing wildly at the Prius. The Prius stooped and a rather bewildered driver stepped out… Keep in mind that this is on a busy 3 lane road filled with traffic moving at 40 mph… and the guy in the Rolls left his door wide open.
After moments of wild gesturing that I was certain would lead to a fist fight, the tone shifted to semi backslapping and the Prius guy gets in his car and drives away leaving shirtless mullet Rolls guy in the middle of the road with a damaged rear bumper.
I can only imagine Rolls guy preferred to not have any legal entanglements… only in Florida, maybe Los Angeles.
Just One Thing Management Dynamics
Posted on January 3, 2012
Filed Under Uncategorized |
I have a unique background among small company (I’m loath to write “startup”, Get Satisfaction is more substantial than that) executives in that I have venture capital, and very large company to very small company experience. I don’t think this makes me more or less prepared for the daily challenges, it just gives me a different perspective than most people and it’s something I have been reflecting on over the New Year break (I’m still on it with my family).
There are few overnight successes in this industry, which sees the rare success among a sea of failures as a result of a thousand incremental developments and course corrections. The worst thing, I am convinced, that any executive can say to the market or his/her team is “if we just do this” because a single product feature or customer win or positive review or key hire will not make a company.
The long hard slog to a product that can deliver compelling customer value and withstand competitive attack is what successful companies are made from, and while it sounds a whimsical and naive when you consider all of the shitty products that are commercially successful for reasons that have nothing to do with customers, I’ll still take it.
Coming from a big, very big, company I always resented the fight against inertia that resulted in all but certain late arrival with the next new thing. Big companies are slow because of the number of people that have to be brought into alignment to do anything… an abundance of resources that are already committed to other things which would likely be affected by something new and different.
Another asset and liability for large companies is the large customer bases that they already have, customers which generally dislike disruptive changes to things that are perceived to already work. Sure you have all those captive customers to sell to but what you end up selling them is a compromise controlled by what you would like to abandon in the quest for new and better.
Ironically, small companies have a similar inertia problem but it is the reverse image with the same effect… instead of having an abundance of resources that are unavailable and a customer base that resists change, you have to fight an abundance of resources that are unavailable because of company focus and capital constraints, and a customer base that, generally, demands more progress than you can deliver.
This is where the “just one thing” argument comes into play. The Run Like Hell startup management culture creates a really complex dynamic where you are constantly balancing multiple outcomes and all too often the desire for singular focus as an antidote to complexity results in people saying “if we just do this” when in fact the one thing they are proposing just leads to a new “just one thing”.
Complexity is the other demon that small companies fight but it’s misguided to thing that stripping away complexity will result in something that is inherently more appealing. Things are not complex because someone set out to make it that way, complexity is quite often the result of things just being, well, complex; stripping away of things that are not considered “core” or “on model” may sound great in a powerpoint presentation but for the people who are facing customers and prospective customers every day this often results is something that is a lot less compelling and appeals to a much smaller audience.
As I go into 2012 I am striving to take on new challenges with a holistic attitude. If I start with putting what is best for customers first, team stability and accomplishment second, and avoid saying “if we just do this one thing…” then I think I will be able to close out 2012 with a sense of success that I can feel proud of.
What is Gamification?
Posted on December 22, 2011
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Gamification… the buzzword is all the rage and one thing I can’t help but observe is that it means different things to everyone you talk with, even though the core concept of creating incentives for users of an app or service to do specific tasks is pretty well accepted.
Here’s what the functional breakdown means to me. This is not a complete list, please add as you see fit by posting a comment.
Challenges: Defined missions to complete or goals to accomplish, with awards or virtual items earned upon completion.
Points: Basic virtual currency. Points can be spent on virtual items or simply accrued.
Avatar System: When people create something it’s uniquely theirs and it expresses their individuality, which reinforces their connection to the app or service. Avatars are the most basic mechanism for doing this… and are a virtual good that can be acquired with points or currency.
Avatar Catalogs: Enable a user to buy virtual goods and customize an avatar.
Trophy Case: Show a user all the available awards, the ones that they’ve completed, and their progress.
Levels: Enables users to earn defined experience or level status and attain rankings to demonstrate their status within the community.
Leaderboards: Enables the app or site to keep track of, and publicize, the activities of end users based on statistics determined by app.
Canvas: Enables users to place graphical assets in a 2D space and customize a virtual representation or space, such as an avatar, or virtual room.
Groups: People like being part of something bigger than just themselves, and competing with small groups of individuals or as teams. Group activities compliment individual activities and can be used in combination in order to achieve new level status.
Competitions: A way to allow users to compete against each other, and mini-challenges that users can create and send to each other.
Gifting: Enable users to buy each other gifts for their avatars, digital canvas (virtual spaces).
Trivia: Embed a multiple-choice game widget into a site, and spin up new games on any topic you like. Slideshows are another example, increases clicks and drives simple engagement with content submitted by users.
Friends: Encourage selective participation and promote. Friends have denote strong and weak connections to other users on the system, inform group participation, and provide audience for user submitted contests and challenges.
Social Network Connectors: Enables users to enable/disable posting to, for example, Twitter and Facebook from your site, and displays “missions” for users to complete on respective social networks.
Star Rating: Enables users to rate pieces of content and see the average rating by other users.
Comments: A comment wall on your User’s profile pages. Asynchronous communication gives users additional reasons to check back to see how the conversation is evolving.
News Feed: Enables a continuous feed of the actions of various end users.
Notifier: Provides feedback and notifications to end users, such as to alert users to points that can be earned or, challenges that can be undertaken, or site features that should be investigated.
2012 Predictions
Posted on December 20, 2011
Filed Under Uncategorized |
It’s the time of year when predictions are thrown out left and right, so in keeping with the spirit I have put together a list of things I would like to see happen in the year ahead.
- The Business of Social Networks: We have seen a coalescing of business models form around social networks and not surprisingly the vast majority of them are evolutions of advertising models. This will work but as companies demand more (see next prediction) the ad driven model will evolve in ways not previously seen. What that will be I do not have a clue but sponsored tweets and ad campaigns simply cannot be anything more than a starting point.
- Brand Marketing Meets PPC: In most companies marketing exists in two forms, brand management and promotional marketing. On the latter we have seen a revolution in how companies advertise, increasingly around the notion of pay-per-click (PPC) that provides immediate and detailed performance metrics upon which ROI can be calculated. This level of performance management has not existed on the brand side but it’s coming because brands have an inherent desire to manage brand metrics to the degree that they measure online campaigns, and social factors into brand benchmarks as much as campaign objectives.
- Social as a Service: If you are a SaaS application there is an increasing portfolio of services that you can plug into your application to bring social capabilities as a layered service. There is another very nuanced view of this that speaks to the increasing sophistication of analytics services that measure social activities that contribute to application success in the market.
- 3 Mobile Form Factors: If you follow the mobile space you have no doubt paid attention to the rise of the super-size smart phone with 4.3″ and larger displays. For app developers there will have to be a standardization around template sizes and simply saying “tablets and smartphones” isn’t adequate. My view is that 10″ tablets, 4.3″ smartphones to 7″ tablets, and sub 4″ smartphones will co-exist as separate UX development paths.
- Integration Layers Matter: When it comes to social and SaaS applications a big challenge for consumers and developers alike is integration of activity streams and social services across platforms. Somebody will figure this out and deliver, to developers first, a service layer that normalizes and routes social activities across services based on rules and contexts.
- Customer Support is (increasingly) the New Marketing: Okay, this one is self-serving but dovetails nicely with some widely held views about how company-to-customer engagement is driving more than just customer sat but also revenue. Leaders in every business segment are figuring out that competitive leadership is directly linked with how they sell more stuff to the customers they already have.
- Loyalty Programs and Virtual Currencies: Everyone is familiar with the concept of loyalty programs, and their shortcomings. Virtual currencies are gaining in awareness and consumption inside games but there is a convergence happening with loyalty programs whereby points exist as just another currency with an exchange mechanism.
- SoLoMo: Social Local Mobile is on for 2012. The proliferation of location aware mobile devices and a service layer that enables mobile apps to take advantage of these capabilities is creating an entirely new technology segment that valuable companies will arise from.
- Messaging Explosion Continues Unabated: With Facebook giving companies a private messaging capability to reach fans we see yet another vehicle through which people-to-people and company-to-people communication will take place. If nothing else what this suggests is that people like talking on a phone less than ever.
- People Will Buy Stuff Through Facebook: Actually this prediction speaks very broadly about how retail is moving outside of a purely web experience. Facebook commerce is going to be a big deal, and mobile already is so there is no reason to expect that retail channels will consolidate… the opposite is more likely, multi-channel retail will become mega-multichannel.
Link Post (weekly)
Posted on December 17, 2011
Filed Under Blogs |
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The gloating is easy to understand. After all, nominal wage rigidity is the driving assumption of the Keynesian model. Unemployment is just a labor surplus; since wages are the price of labor, the fundamental cause of unemployment has to be excessive wages. And as long as the wage rigidity is nominal, you can neutralize it by printing money or otherwise boosting demand.
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Schumpeter: University challenge | The Economist
Popular anger about universities’ costs is rising just as technology is shaking colleges to their foundations. The internet is changing the rules. Star academics can lecture to millions online rather than the chosen few in person. Testing and marking can be automated. And for-profit companies such as the University of Phoenix are stripping out costs by concentrating on a handful of popular courses as well as making full use of the internet. The Sloan Foundation reports that online enrolments grew by 10% in 2010, against 2% for the sector as a whole.
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“Social Customer” Segmentation: Case Study in Tablet Market | CustomerThink
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Google Maps Potential As Geographical Archive Highlighted With Japan Earthquake
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Twitter Brand Pages: How the First 20 Brands Are Using Them (Full Gallery) | The Realtime Report
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How Valve experiments with the economics of video games – GeekWire
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Top 10 reasons why Darth Vader was an amazing project manager – GeekWire
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THE SKINNY SLEEVE MACBOOK AIR designer MacBook Air laptop sleeve
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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About
My name is Jeff Nolan and I write Venture Chronicles. I am the VP of Product Marketing for Get Satisfaction and I write about a range of topics that interest me, including public policy, technology, entrepreneurship, finance, and global issues.
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