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Will AT&T Rot Apple’s iPhone?
Author: Luis Serpa
July 26, 2007
As expected, what really stands out about the new Apple iPhone isn’t the multitude of features squeezed into it, but rather its usability and the overall Customer Experience it, and Apple, provide.
Apple understands the importance of superior usability to enhance the Customer Experience and has done an excellent job of this since rolling out the first Macintosh. Their approach has created a strong community of believers—and that’s the whole point! Apple doesn’t have customers, they have Evangelists! When Apple receives a negative review, their customers fight to defend the company and their products. If this doesn’t prove the importance of Customer Experience I don’t know what does.
Apple’s commitment to Customer Experience is why, from my perspective, their decision to enter the wireless market and partner with AT&T is so risky. I am very curious to see how the marriage between Apple and AT&T will play out from a customer perspective, as both companies have very different ideas about what constitutes a good Customer Experience. Apple is a shining example of a company that creates passionate users by providing an excellent overall Customer Experience. While AT&T, like the majority of wireless providers I have tested, boasts about their customer service, but often fails to meet even the most basic customer expectations.
Will Apple bring AT&T up to their level or will AT&T’s poor customer service leave a permanent scar on Apple’s Customer Experience reputation? Only time will tell…
Different Metrics for Different Sites
Author: Mike Hartman
July 24, 2007
Nielsen//Netratings recently announced that they will start ranking pages by the time spent on the site over page views as the key metric. I understand that total page views aren’t the perfect metric, but I would also argue the spending more time on every site isn’t necessarily a good thing.
For example, Google drops from third to fifth in popularity when ranked by time spent on the site instead of page views. I think that’s good news for Google. I don’t want to spend more time on Google. I want to use Google to find what I’m looking for so I can get on with it. Or what about an online quoting process for an insurance company? Isn’t it desirable to move through that process as quickly as possible so you can purchase your policy and get on with your day? Sure, if you’re running a social networking or gaming site, you want to engage your users for as long as you can but if you’re weather.com or traffic.com you are serving your users better by getting them the information they want and getting them on their way asap.
On the other hand, The Nielsen Group (Jakob Nielsen’s consulting group not affiliated with Nielsen//Netratings) is conducting eye-tracking research that seems to contradict Nielsen//Netrating’s philosophy. The study suggests that cleaner layout and design allow people to navigate a site faster while retaining more information. To me this suggests that spending a lot of time on a site could be a sign of poor design and/or usability and not necessarily of a more engaging site.
Who says marketing can’t be a free ride?
Author: Michelle Dash
July 6, 2007
Scion doesn’t spend their advertising money on TV commercials and print ads; they send scouts to check out urban markets in their target demographic. When they find a good location, they make a deal with a local business to hand out $15 gift cards (it is part of their business strategy to avoid corporate franchises).
The Scion team then sets up a Scion-branded trailer and a small tent on a busy street and offers a gift card, t-shirt and key chain to anyone who takes a ride around the block in the new Toyota Scion. Scion doesn’t want you to see their car; they want you to experience their car. Riders must fill out a survey about the car in the Scion trailer, which is equipped with computers set to the Scion website. You can hang out in the trailer and customize a car by “building your own Scion” online.
This is a great marketing tactic because it is a win-win situation. Scion has a consumer’s captive attention during a short drive where the passenger likely to ask questions about the car. They also constantly collect feedback about the car and information about their target demographic. Consumers enjoy the free prizes.
Does it work? Toyota’s youth-market division enjoyed a 10.6% sales increase in 2006, despite a virtually unchanged product line. Scion’s unique strategy promotes word-of-mouth marketing. Curiously, while I was reading The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen, my friend called to tell me how he got a $15 dollar gift certificate across the street from my apartment. 10 minutes later, I had a gift certificate, too!
