Monday, November 22, 2010

Is this better or is this?

A modern day scenario in desperate need of personalization: I took my wife to the optomitrist this past weekend. We've gone to this doctor/storefront for a number of years because they have a great selection of frames. The process of getting lenses (is this good or is this better?) with one's doctor hasn't substantively changed in decades. Nor has the process of selecting a new eyeglass frame with prescription in hand. Many years ago, I went frame shopping with a girlfriend (way before I met my wife) who couldn't understand why I had to try on so many frames to find the 'perfect' one. She had never worn glasses. I told her that if she had to wear the same shirt everyday, she would spend some time making the selection as well. She nodded, rolled her eyes and wandered away to shop for something else.

So back to trying on eyeglasses... The process starts with just scanning frame candidates, trying them on, and looking in a mirror. Never mind if you are terribly near or far sighted and can't see yourself clearly in a mirror without your prescription glasses. Tedious, at best.

Wouldn't it be great to introduce some modern day personalized technology to this process? Could I upload my straight on head shot to screen with some basic measurements (space between eyes, etc.) and then have the frames appear on my face. I could spin through multiple frames a minute and see how I would look. Then narrow it down to a handful to actually try in front of a mirror to check for fit and proportion. This would be great in a storefront or even better on a website. Somebody make this happen, please!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Where's the 4th dimension?

Most folks consider the 4th dimension to be Time. When we look at the online experience, depth is really metaphorical for an onscreen medium, but by 'depth,' we ask does it have gravitas or substance. By 'time,' I mean--does it make me come back. Does it have stickiness. Is there a retention strategy to make me come back and find it useful and relevant, time after time.

So, looking at the OMMA list of Web Award Finalists in their September edition, it was curious that there we no (or at least explicit) sites that had a prolonged usefulness. Most seemed to be a 'one and done' type of experience--albeit a beautiful and rich experience. It would be great to have a category in addition to Beverage, Automotive, Blogger(?!), and Financial Services which sought out rich experiences that served as an enduring resource and not just a one time, ooh-ahh experience.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Salesmen emulating salesmen

One of the cliches about online personalization is that the customer experience on your website should emulate your best salesman. This is a salesman who has met you, gotten to know you, and can, through explicit questions and inferences, tailor his or her message to you.  It is this promise that some personalization companies give to prospective clients.

As anyone who has attended a conference will attest, you talk to a lot of vendors who are eager to do business with you. I work for a Fortune 100 company so I was prime meat. So we talked--some short and some longer conversations; exchanges business cards; and I assumed there were be a follow up.

Lots of types of followup ensued. Some were quick, others taking 2 to 3 weeks. Some were personal emails; others were generic emails which were quickly trashed.  Some requests to talk or meet were so dogged, I felt like was being stalked. If this were an online relationship, I'm leaving the site and never coming back.

Here's my quick guidelines for after conference follow up. These work well for any online relationship too:

1) Get to know me. The best opportunity is the initial conversation. Ask the right quesitons and remember it.
2) Follow up. Not too fast and not too slow. And don't stalk me or we are through.
3) Offer me something of value. Why should I talk to you again? What do you have that is relevant to me?
4) Come prepared. OK, I will meet with you. When I do, let's not rehash what I already told you or someone else from your company.
5) Ask permission to nurture the relationship. Unlike a typical transactional relationship online, getting your solutiono inside my company will take time. Let's discuss how our relationship will go. I'm open and honest. If there isn't a future, it's only honest of me to say so. Let's not waste each other's time.

If you followed these guidelines while talking to me offline or online, we might have a long term relationship.