Link round-up (3/12/07)

• Accessibility matters to…
• Control is Evangelism’s Kryptonite
• Why We Need to Rethink the Way we Look at Customer Service
• Why Employee Satisfaction Is Also Your Business
• The Attention Economy: An Overview
• Using social media sites for reputation management
• Experimentation and Testing Exposed - Optimization Approach #1
• Not trapping users’ data = GOOD
• The Swinging Pendulum of Business Theory
• Offending Experts and Pleasing Everybody

• Accessibility matters to…
  

  “Accessibility, in many people’s eyes, only matters to pernickety web designers/developers. I thought it would be interesting to give some reasons why it matters to many (if not all) people. The list isn’t exhaustive, but a good taster.”

• Control is Evangelism’s Kryptonite
  

  “But the loss of control kills the customer’s enthusiasm for the product and the brand. Which leads to less efficient marketing, as companies have to spend more and more to reach customers that they don’t understand as well as their evangelists do/could.”

• Why We Need to Rethink the Way we Look at Customer Service
  

  “Over the course of my career in marketing, I worked very closely with a number of highly skilled and universally loved customer service reps. […] It never ceases to amaze me how hard it is for organizations to structure their business in a way that will let these people shine while they do what they do best.”

• Why Employee Satisfaction Is Also Your Business
  

  “While there still is a correlation between job satisfaction and compensation (which is also, not coincidentally, correlated with age), employees typically list other factors as a cause of dissatisfaction. As it turns out, much it is simple, good old-fashioned appreciation, which I believe is best demonstrated when a company utilizes an employee’s strengths.”

• The Attention Economy: An Overview
  

  “When information is abundant, the false positives are very costly - they are basically deal breakers. Consumers happily leave sites, knowing there are a ton of alternatives out there. Unfortunately, this becomes a lose-lose situation, because if consumers rarely find satisfying experiences then retailers won’t get consumer dollars. The idea behind the Attention Economy is to create a marketplace where consumers are happy, because if they are shown relevant information - then retailers are happy too, because happy consumers spend money!”

• Using social media sites for reputation management
  

  “You need to be securing the proper usernames and URLs on these sites and you need to do it fast. Just like there are domain squatters there are also squatters for the best profile names on the most popular social media sites. The problem with that is you don’t want someone else using these sites to rank for your brand name or any other phrase that could jeopardize your reputation.”

• Experimentation and Testing Exposed - Optimization Approach #1
  

  “Testing is a “white box” approach that offers confidence and transparency. When done thoughtfully, it gives feedback you can trust about what your consumer actually responds to. […] And frankly, knowing what the customer responds to might be one of the most strategic parts of marketing.”

• Not trapping users’ data = GOOD
  

  “When users get what they want from you quickly and easily, they’re more likely to come back next time. (Shh. Don’t tell anyone else this vital secret.) Part of that is feeling that they aren’t “trapped”–that they can leave you behind if they want.”

• The Swinging Pendulum of Business Theory
  

  “What bothers me about much of the innovation talk is the undertone that you can simply apply certain methods and approaches and voila — you’ve got innovation. […] I’m not advocating against methodologies such as user-centered design — I just don’t think it (or any other approach) succeeds without talent — talent to innovate in a way that is meaningful, not gratuitous.”

• Offending Experts and Pleasing Everybody
  

  “products designed to map closely to the needs of experts are often turn-offs to beginners and intermediates. Users who come across features that reveal not just the complexity but also the specificity that experts need often quickly decide, “This isn’t for me.” Rarely will a beginner find herself delighted as to how well a product has been designed to map to a skillset she doesn’t yet have.”

~ by chrismoritz on March 12, 2007.