Marketing

Sarah Worsham / Apr 28, 2009

Social Media is Already Affecting Business As We Know It

In his post yesterday, The Future of the Social Web: in Five Eras, Jeremiah Owyang summarizes a larger Forrester report on how the social web will impact businesses for the next fear years. Of particular interest to me are the 5 eras and how they are defined:

The Five Eras of the Social Web:

1) Era of Social Relationships: People connect to others and share
2) Era of Social Functionality: Social networks become like operating system
3) Era of Social Colonization: Every experience can now be social
4) Era of Social Context: Personalized and accurate content
5) Era of Social Commerce: Communities define future products and services

Forrester has era 5 starting around 2011, but I don’t think the eras are so clear-cut. Many companies are already tapping into the social web to define future products and service (era 5) through the concept of co-creation. Through it’s Nike+ iniative, the company engages runners and uses information and feedback to produce products they want. Brother has tapped the social web for hobby sewers to provide products and services for both its customers and for its dealers – leading to more sales of its high-end hobbiest sewing/embrodiery machines. Comcast has famously used the social web to improve customer service. I believe there is quite a bit of cross-over in the eras, with business leaders already jumping into the 5th era. The nice thing about the social web is that any sized company can jump right in, without the need for expensive research tools. I do believe, however, that the social web will also force these eras to happen and businesses who have not entered the fray will be left behind.

(photo by cloudzilla)

Technorati tags: social media, strategy, social media strategy, business, marketing strategy, marketing

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Sarah Worsham / Apr 22, 2009

Want People To Fill Out Your Forms? Stop Annoying Them

flowerskaatjevervoort1

How many more leads and sales could you be generating from your website if your forms were designed properly? When forms annoy people, or things aren’t where they expect them or don’t work properly, they’ll just leave. I don’t know about you, but I end up filling out quite a few forms on websites – when I’m researching products, looking for information for clients, signing up for services, and purchasing products or services. It annoys me to no end when web forms aren’t designed properly, especially since it’s not that difficult. Good usability and design principles for web forms have really been around for longer than the Internet, even if they’ve been updated somewhat.

Here are some ways to improve the forms on your website:

Next or Submit buttons on the right – think about turning a page in a book.
Clear or Cancel buttons on the left.
Fields with enough space – Make sure people can give you all the information you need and see it without having to scroll the field.
Be flexible – If you want a phone number, let people enter it however they want. Use background processing to format it the way you want for your database or CRM. For example, 2485556758 can easily be turned into 248-555-6758 or 248.555.6758 or however you want to see it.
Be clear – If you absolutely need something in a certain format, make sure it’s clear and obvious right next to the field. The same goes for any maximum field lengths.
Keep it simple – Only collect the minimum amount of information you need. While it’s nice to collect information for statistics and marketing purposes, you risk not gathering any information.
Required fields clearly marked – Need particular fields filled out no matter what? Fine, just make sure it’s obvious which fields those are. Making them a different color will help them stand out.
Quick feedback – If a field was missed or wasn’t filled out properly, try to let people know before they click the submit or next button. This is pretty easy to do with javascript.
Clear feedback – However you give feedback, make sure its obvious what field you’re specifically talking about and what needs to be fixed. Putting messages at the top of the page and marking the field in question are best.
Do the heavy lifting – Need information in more than one place? Pre-fill it in if the person has already typed it once. Need some calculations made? Do them with backend processing and present them to the person to be confirmed.
Allow people to edit – People make mistakes. Let them go back to change what they’ve entered. This means your forms need to be able to handle the back button on the browser and still have all the information that was already entered available.
Test in multiple browsers – It may be hard to believe, but not everyone has a PC running Windows with Internet Explorer. Make sure your form works for the major platforms, operating systems and web browsers. If you accept file uploads, make sure they work across platforms. Soon you’ll also need to worry about mobile platforms.
Confirmation – Let people know you’ve properly received their information. On your website is best. Following up with an email if they’ve provided an address is also nice.
Thank them! – People are busy. Thank them for the information they’ve provided or the purchase they’ve made.

What did I miss?

One of the easiest ways to design forms properly is to try to use them yourself. Then ask a few friends to try them and give you feedback.

(photo by kaatjevervoort)

Technorati tags: customer experience, customer-centric, experience centric, business, usability, design

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Sarah Worsham / Apr 21, 2009

Making Strategy Work – Be Transparent & Speak in Plain English

fearvincepal Do you have a strategy for your business? Do your employees and other stakeholders know what it is? In order for a strategy to work effectively, everyone in the company needs to be working towards the same goal. How can people help implement a strategy if they don’t know what it is? I’ve come from companies without clear strategies and goals. It makes it very difficult for the employees to know what they should be working towards. So everyone just works on what they think they should be working on. Individual thinking is great (and needed), but it won’t help you get where you need to be unless everyone is aligned.

Enter the current economic recession. Many companies have cut costs and laid off employees. Current employees are scared that they are going to lose their jobs. Everyone keeps their heads down and works. No one acts out. No acts of brilliance. No innovation. Nothing new. While many companies may think that cutting costs and just trying to make it through a recession is the way to survival, it will probably only work if they have deep enough pockets to survive for long enough. Who wants to go through life in fear and just surviving?

Figure out what makes your company different. What are you good at? What benefits can you offer your customers? How can you not only survive in this economy, but actually strive. When you figure it out, make sure everyone in your company knows. Keep goals and language simple so everyone understands where you want to go. Employees will be much happier if they can work towards a goal and if they know what the future holds – even if there is some risk, at least they understand what it will be. Not knowing breeds fear – and that’s not a good strategy.

(photo by Vincepal)

Technorati tags: economy, recession, strategy, business, marketing

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