Link round-up (2/22/07)
• Image Blocking in Email Clients: Current Conditions and Best Practices
• Designing for Content
• Making Meaning to Customers, Employees
• “If you know the exact cost and the exact schedule, chances are that the technology is obsolete.”
• One Out of Four Consumers Use Preview Panes; 59% Block Email Images
• Permission starts at home(page)
• Seven steps to remarkable customer service
• Does Your Copy Hold Up To A Quick Glance?
• The Compassionate Creative: Calling for Advertisers to Let Empathy and Insight Drive Design
• Five weeeeeeeeird tips for great meetings
• Are You Ready to Radically Trust Your Consumers?
- Image Blocking in Email Clients: Current Conditions and Best Practices
“Many people, either by email client defaults or personal preference, are blocking images in the HTML-formatted messages they are accepting. And then there are a small number of people who block HTML entirely. As David Greiner points out, according to a study by Epsilon Interactive 30% of your recipients don’t even know that images are disabled. In any case, it’s logical for recipients to block images and good practice for us to prepare for this scenario.”
- Designing for Content
“Even the longest journeys begin with a single step. The redesign of this site is just that—one step. It isn’t meant to be revolutionary or flashy. Instead, it’s meant to enable and focus on the creation of better content.
” - Making Meaning to Customers, Employees
“Below are the fifteen experiences that emerged most often in their research. […] This list may come in handy when you’re developing new products, briefing creative materials, or in an examination of your brand. You should apply this both inside and outside your organization.”
- “If you know the exact cost and the exact schedule, chances are that the technology is obsolete.”
“… and if in fact you do know the exact cost and the exact schedule, chances are that the technology is obsolete.”
-Joseph G. Gavin, Jr., discussing the design of the lunar module that landed NASA astronauts on the moon.
” - One Out of Four Consumers Use Preview Panes; 59% Block Email Images
“If you send email to consumers and/or small businesses, you may want to get with your email designer as soon as you’ve reviewed Sherpa’s new study data. 1,323 online consumers over age 18 just told us how they view their email. Turns out 26.6% use preview panes (instead of look at your whole email) and 59% routinely block images. Here are more details, including four exclusive data charts, five screenshots of how email appears in preview panes and two what-to-do-next hotlinks”
- Permission starts at home(page)
“Your sign up page on your website (or even offline) can answer a lot of questions in the minds of potential subscribers.
- Why should I sign up for this email?
- How often will I get emails from you?
- When will I get the first one?
- How can I get off the list?
- What else will you do with my email address?
- What will it look like?
”
- Seven steps to remarkable customer service
“When customers have a problem and you fix it, they’re actually going to be even more satisfied than if they never had a problem in the first place.”
- Does Your Copy Hold Up To A Quick Glance?
“For the purposes of web design, think of your writing as a series of visual cues designed to turn scanners into readers. As a dedicated scanner myself, I can attest to the effectiveness of these methods—some of them I even found myself using whilst searching for information for this article.”
- The Compassionate Creative: Calling for Advertisers to Let Empathy and Insight Drive Design
“We tend to customize our research approach based on how much a client feels they already know about their customers. But we will not skimp on persona development. The persona itself can take many forms, from a single sheet of paper to a video biography to a set of physical artifacts. […] I find that our focus on empathetic research is moving us away from the techniques of traditional marketing (typically focus groups and other consumer panels) and closer to the realm of user-centered design, particularly disciplines like product design and environmental design.”
- Five weeeeeeeeird tips for great meetings
“If we really want fun, positive meetings, where all participants can speak their mind, where new ideas are generated and developed and where the time is used as efficiently as possible, we need to go beyond the usual advice and try something slightly weird. This blogpost presents some ways you can do that.”
- Are You Ready to Radically Trust Your Consumers?
“
Let me say it again: Consumers have no reason to trust you - particularly in conquest. That we even call it “conquest” should be an indication as to why we’ve never really earned trust in the first place.
”
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