Topics, Trends and Techniques from Brooks Bell Interactive
37 Varieties of Ranch Dressing: Decision Paralysis
I was listening to a report on NPR earlier this week.
A correspondent had just returned from a long tour in China and he was steadily re-acclimating to his life in the states. On a recent trip to the supermarket with his family he was struck by the vastness of the aisles, the bounty of groceries and the 37 varieties of ranch dressing that the mega-store offered.
He thought, “37 varieties?! How can someone choose?”
The decision was paralyzing.
Decision paralysis is an all-too-common barrier to entry that we combat every day at BBI. Clients often feel the need to communicate ALL of their benefits to their users. It’s understandable. They believe that a campaign with 10 offerings will outperform a campaign with one. So often they will ask us, “Be sure to mention this,” or, “Can we add that?”And, “I just found out we are offering this other thing – can we squeeze it all in?”
Well, we can.
But we shouldn’t.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 AT 9:51 am
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The Fallout of Going Viral
Going viral. Ever since the dawn of the Internet as we know it today, it’s been one of the holy grails of online marketing. The most successful of viral campaigns find their way into news articles, television references, and even our day-to-day conversations. So how about that Old Spice guy? You know, the man your man could smell like?
Anyway, the point is, going viral is often a thing for marketers to aim for. However, a recent event suggests that there is a line with going viral that should not be crossed.
I Know Who You Are (pretty much)
The Wall Street Journal is in the midst of an extensive series called “What They Know.” In it, they are investigating the latest tracking technologies that allow marketers to monitor (some would say spy) on what Internet users are doing for the purposes of future marketing efforts. All of these technologies essentially use cookie data and highly sophisticated modeling algorithms to make educated assumptions about what individual web surfers will do/need/buy in the future, all while maintaining anonymity. But just how “anonymous” we all are in this hyper-tracked world is increasingly becoming a point of contention.
In short, marketers like me are gaining the ability to decide whether or not you’d be a good customer before you tell them a single thing about yourself. Different visitors hitting the same website can have vastly different experiences based on split second analysis being done as that user enters the site – one fifth of a second to be exact. Freaked out yet?
credit: WSJ.com
Above the fold or you’re dead?
There are certainly a lot of case studies that show having a strong call-to-action (CTA) above “The Fold” is a key component to higher conversion rates. BBI has many.
I learned this in MBA. If you’re not 100% sure, the correct answer is always – “It depends.” I really believe that the effectiveness of the CTA above the fold depends on the test you are running.
Here are the things to consider and I’ll walk through an example:
1) What is your overall goal (metric) for the email/landing page?
2) How did the users get to the landing page?
We just finished running a test for a newsletter. The end goal was to drive traffic from the email to either a landing page or a log-in page for users to log-in to their accounts. The overall goal was to drive more click-throughs and get users to log-in to their account.
6 Things My Dog Can Teach You About Online Consumers
You may be thinking, “What can a dog teach me about online consumers? Doesn’t she chase her tail, bark at herself in mirrors, and sniff butts?” The answer to those questions would be yes; however, she has much more to offer. First off, look at that widdle face! But seriously, take a seat; you’re about to learn something from my dog, Reese.
She is playful – Online consumers love to play/interact. This is becoming more important because overall web knowledge is increasing. You don’t necessarily need to slap a game onto your site, but try and make the mundane tasks more engaging. Try presenting your customers with personalized services, encouraging interaction with other users, or creating interactive widgets. Interactive elements are a way to create a positive customer experience.
She responds to treats – Who wouldn’t drool over a Milkbone? Reese may prefer treats of a different sort, but the fact still remains: Everyone likes treats! Offering an incentive is a wonderful tactic that online consumers react to. By offering an incentive you can increase traffic, collect data, strengthen customer relationships, build hype about a new launch, and much more.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 AT 9:05 am
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