Customers
My Experience at Apple Store on iPhone 2.0 Day
Friday- July 11, 2008
I'll make this quick. Overall, not the best experience in the world, but I didn't go in expecting much.
• Got to store at 5:30AM, was about 20th in line.
• Apple Employees came around about 7:30 to show off new phone, offer juice and make sure you were eligible.
• Store had the capacity to handle about 10 or so people at a time.
• Apple employees have to put in all your info in on those little handheld devices. Whoever thought of that is a damn fool.
• Number successfully ported over at about 9am, but activation through iTunes hung. Employee said I was his 4th customer and 1st were he got all (most) the way through.
• Credit card handhelds in store crash about 9:10am.
• Wait, Wait, Wait on iTunes to activate - nothing
• 10am, they say we can go home and activate them through iTunes
• Line didn't move for about an hour or more, people were getting restless outside. Employees at a loss about what to do. Head guy on the phone.
• iPhone still not officially hooked up to iTunes, but I am getting calls on it now.
ping me @onehalfamazing on Twitter if you have direct questions or concerns. I'll do my best to get to them all.
• Got to store at 5:30AM, was about 20th in line.
• Apple Employees came around about 7:30 to show off new phone, offer juice and make sure you were eligible.
• Store had the capacity to handle about 10 or so people at a time.
• Apple employees have to put in all your info in on those little handheld devices. Whoever thought of that is a damn fool.
• Number successfully ported over at about 9am, but activation through iTunes hung. Employee said I was his 4th customer and 1st were he got all (most) the way through.
• Credit card handhelds in store crash about 9:10am.
• Wait, Wait, Wait on iTunes to activate - nothing
• 10am, they say we can go home and activate them through iTunes
• Line didn't move for about an hour or more, people were getting restless outside. Employees at a loss about what to do. Head guy on the phone.
• iPhone still not officially hooked up to iTunes, but I am getting calls on it now.
ping me @onehalfamazing on Twitter if you have direct questions or concerns. I'll do my best to get to them all.
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Is Your Website Doing It's Job?
Saturday- May 10, 2008
3 Things to Learn from Netflix about Customer Service
Wednesday- March 26, 2008
Here's a great example of what to do (right) when you mess up. Netflix had some problems with their shipping system recently and instead of the usual corporate spin, they turned it into a positive. They (1) gave a sincere apology, (2) admitted fault quickly and (3) made it up to the user. Take a note, wheather your business is offline or on, people want to be treated fairly and will remember memorable experiences.
Free Trade Ideas - Using Twitter/Pownce/Dodgeball to Advertise to Your Best Customers
Wednesday- September 19, 2007
This post is the first in a series I like to call 'Free Trade Ideas'. To give you the shortened overview; I post idea an idea that I've been tinkering with and if it's something that you like, then you are free to use it as your own. No string attached, no gimmicks, no restrictions.
Why would I do something like this? In simple, the idea part is easy for me, its the implementation that I find hard to overcome. No, I'm not worried about someone taking my idea and turning it into a billion dollar business. My main concern is to strengthen the quality and quantity of my ideas and to better communicate them within this community. Ideas and innovation are meant to be free. It serves no purpose trying to hole them up within some Moleskine notebook anymore.
The Setup:
Blogs and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are all the rage within the business community. Every business should have some sort of communication platform in which they can reach out to their customers and fans. If you're still trying to get to this level, then maybe this article isn't for you. But, if you're ahead of the curve and have had a blog, Facebook, MySpace page, etc and are looking to capitalize on new ways to reach your customers, then this should be right up your alley.
Twitter is a micro-blogging service which allows its users to send updates to both their personalized homepage and other users or 'followers' who have signed up to receive them. Messages are sent through SMS (text messages), instant messages or e-mail and are capped at 140 characters. Twitter's service revolves around one simple question: "What are you doing?"
There are legions of followers within microblogging services such as Twitter, Pownce and Dodgeball, so I wholeheartedly believe that somehow a business model must come out of it.
The Idea:
An experienced and trusted Twitter user that merges, captures and translates real time data from these microblogging services and marries it to an advertising partner. Not simply showing an advertisement or spamming the community, but rather starting true conversations and solving problems for both the community members and their advertising partners.
For an example, lets say your client is a small business coffee shop in Manhattan. You (the trusted Twitter user) setup a script or notification through a proprietary service or use something like Search Twitter with a set of keywords you plan to target. Through your feed, you receive instant notification when user AngieAnn (who happens to live in Manhattan) is disappointed in the coffee her roommates left on the burner.
Your service relies on speed so you quickly comment on her Twitter page, introduce yourself and offer her a discount on her next drink at your client's coffee shop. She can use the coupon code you've just left for her and your client can then measure the effects of this.
When she then redeems the offer, the coffee shop staff is in on the promotion and asks AngieAnn to become a follower of their feed. Through your Twitter profile, you can then offer the coffee shop's best customers (those that have signed up as followers) discounts, free products and exclusive offers. Followers feel special and privileged, your client has customers for life and the effects of your promotion may even cause a Twittermob.
Therefore, the benefits you can present to your advertising clients are;
Concerns:
Its important that you establish yourself first within these communities, that's another reason why a middleman who already has a expertise in this can excel. Ensure that your clients don't get a case of Twitterhea or want to overwhelm their customers with messages. Encourage them to really get to know their customers and slowly begin to slow value within the community.
Additional Resources:
Twitter
Pownce
Dodgeball
Twitter Search Engine
Beyond Madison Avenue - Apparently, Twitterers are Morons
Why would I do something like this? In simple, the idea part is easy for me, its the implementation that I find hard to overcome. No, I'm not worried about someone taking my idea and turning it into a billion dollar business. My main concern is to strengthen the quality and quantity of my ideas and to better communicate them within this community. Ideas and innovation are meant to be free. It serves no purpose trying to hole them up within some Moleskine notebook anymore.
The Setup:
Blogs and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are all the rage within the business community. Every business should have some sort of communication platform in which they can reach out to their customers and fans. If you're still trying to get to this level, then maybe this article isn't for you. But, if you're ahead of the curve and have had a blog, Facebook, MySpace page, etc and are looking to capitalize on new ways to reach your customers, then this should be right up your alley.
Twitter is a micro-blogging service which allows its users to send updates to both their personalized homepage and other users or 'followers' who have signed up to receive them. Messages are sent through SMS (text messages), instant messages or e-mail and are capped at 140 characters. Twitter's service revolves around one simple question: "What are you doing?"
There are legions of followers within microblogging services such as Twitter, Pownce and Dodgeball, so I wholeheartedly believe that somehow a business model must come out of it.
The Idea:
An experienced and trusted Twitter user that merges, captures and translates real time data from these microblogging services and marries it to an advertising partner. Not simply showing an advertisement or spamming the community, but rather starting true conversations and solving problems for both the community members and their advertising partners.
For an example, lets say your client is a small business coffee shop in Manhattan. You (the trusted Twitter user) setup a script or notification through a proprietary service or use something like Search Twitter with a set of keywords you plan to target. Through your feed, you receive instant notification when user AngieAnn (who happens to live in Manhattan) is disappointed in the coffee her roommates left on the burner.
Your service relies on speed so you quickly comment on her Twitter page, introduce yourself and offer her a discount on her next drink at your client's coffee shop. She can use the coupon code you've just left for her and your client can then measure the effects of this.
When she then redeems the offer, the coffee shop staff is in on the promotion and asks AngieAnn to become a follower of their feed. Through your Twitter profile, you can then offer the coffee shop's best customers (those that have signed up as followers) discounts, free products and exclusive offers. Followers feel special and privileged, your client has customers for life and the effects of your promotion may even cause a Twittermob.
Therefore, the benefits you can present to your advertising clients are;
- Challenging customers with information that provokes a response. Customers want to take action.
- Speaking with them on theirr own turf. You are tailoring your conversation to them and not trying to sell them items they don't need. You are starting two dimensional questions in which the user feels engaged.
- Customizing the experience to that specific user. No where else in the world is someone getting the same attention.
Concerns:
Its important that you establish yourself first within these communities, that's another reason why a middleman who already has a expertise in this can excel. Ensure that your clients don't get a case of Twitterhea or want to overwhelm their customers with messages. Encourage them to really get to know their customers and slowly begin to slow value within the community.
Additional Resources:
Pownce
Dodgeball
Twitter Search Engine
Beyond Madison Avenue - Apparently, Twitterers are Morons
Marketing and Public Relations 2.0
Sunday- August 19, 2007
I recently ran across an interesting article in Business 2.0 highlighting the work of South African winery Stormhoek who distinguished their product in a crowded market by using blogging, crowd surfing and viral marketing. I thought it would be good to compare Stormhoek (new-age) with the PR that your company (stone age) is probably doing.
In short, Stormhoek, hired Hugh MacLeod to promote their products through his site, GapingVoid.com. Stromhoek believed that MacLeod's following of tech geeks would be the perfect match as they shared the same single-minded passions as wine enthusiasts do. MacLeod offered a free bottle of the wine to any blogger who asked so long as they were of legal drinking age and had been blogging for a minimum of 3 months. Bloggers were asked to write a post on the Stromhoek wine experience without any obligations. The post didn't have to mention the name of the company or even reflect a positive review.
At the end of the 6 month experiment, nearly 100 bloggers posted related items or comments. MacLeod capitalized by using his online celebrity to organize "geek dinners" for the bloggers in Britain, Spain, France and in the United States. Stromhoek's sales have jumped nearly six-fold over that time. They expect to push about a million cases annually within three years, up from their 50,000 cases a year worldwide now. The total cost of the campaign over the 2 years came out to about $40,000 which is remarkably cheap considering the amount of publicity and sales conversions the promotion added. To top off the success, Ad Age named the Stromhoek strategy one of the top 50 marketing campaigns in 2006. Not bad for a bunch of bloggers.
How does the promotion and strategy that Stromhoek pulled off differ from your company's plans?
Stromhoek - Gave their small niche audience something to talk about. On a volunteer basis, their customers chose to read their advertisements and PR. They had the permission of each person they came in contact with to market their product to them.
Your Company - Force your story and splatter your advertisements across as many mediums and over as many people as you can afford. Yes, some of the crowd may already know about your product and yes, you may gain a few new supporters in the process, but the probability and conversion rate is very low. You don't engage your customer or find out who they really are which in turn costs you more money down the line as well.
Stromhoek - Created a true grass-roots / word-of-mouth customer program. They were transparent and clear with their intentions. They asked permission from their customers. They didn't interfere or do the song and dance to get attention.
Your Company - Fakes a grass-roots campaign. You have a lackadaisical MySpace or FaceBook page (so does everyone else), but your customers can see right through your futile attempts.
Stromhoek - Built a marketing strategy on-line and off. They correlated and had a similar function and feel to them.
Your Company - Lucky if you can get the group that develops the online collateral and marketing plan in the same room with the group that is responsible for the print pieces.
Stromhoek - Let their customers be their guinea pigs. They tested outside of the lab and gave free samples. They took their customers advice and made changes as necessary.
Your Company - Test, test, test in the lab, but still end up being surprised when your product fails in the market. You know what your research tells you. Customers don't know what they want.
Additional Resources:
Mixed Media courtesy of mgwinc
Seth Godin - Permission Marketing
Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
In short, Stormhoek, hired Hugh MacLeod to promote their products through his site, GapingVoid.com. Stromhoek believed that MacLeod's following of tech geeks would be the perfect match as they shared the same single-minded passions as wine enthusiasts do. MacLeod offered a free bottle of the wine to any blogger who asked so long as they were of legal drinking age and had been blogging for a minimum of 3 months. Bloggers were asked to write a post on the Stromhoek wine experience without any obligations. The post didn't have to mention the name of the company or even reflect a positive review.
At the end of the 6 month experiment, nearly 100 bloggers posted related items or comments. MacLeod capitalized by using his online celebrity to organize "geek dinners" for the bloggers in Britain, Spain, France and in the United States. Stromhoek's sales have jumped nearly six-fold over that time. They expect to push about a million cases annually within three years, up from their 50,000 cases a year worldwide now. The total cost of the campaign over the 2 years came out to about $40,000 which is remarkably cheap considering the amount of publicity and sales conversions the promotion added. To top off the success, Ad Age named the Stromhoek strategy one of the top 50 marketing campaigns in 2006. Not bad for a bunch of bloggers.
How does the promotion and strategy that Stromhoek pulled off differ from your company's plans?
Stromhoek - Gave their small niche audience something to talk about. On a volunteer basis, their customers chose to read their advertisements and PR. They had the permission of each person they came in contact with to market their product to them.
Your Company - Force your story and splatter your advertisements across as many mediums and over as many people as you can afford. Yes, some of the crowd may already know about your product and yes, you may gain a few new supporters in the process, but the probability and conversion rate is very low. You don't engage your customer or find out who they really are which in turn costs you more money down the line as well.
Stromhoek - Created a true grass-roots / word-of-mouth customer program. They were transparent and clear with their intentions. They asked permission from their customers. They didn't interfere or do the song and dance to get attention.
Your Company - Fakes a grass-roots campaign. You have a lackadaisical MySpace or FaceBook page (so does everyone else), but your customers can see right through your futile attempts.
Stromhoek - Built a marketing strategy on-line and off. They correlated and had a similar function and feel to them.
Your Company - Lucky if you can get the group that develops the online collateral and marketing plan in the same room with the group that is responsible for the print pieces.
Stromhoek - Let their customers be their guinea pigs. They tested outside of the lab and gave free samples. They took their customers advice and made changes as necessary.
Your Company - Test, test, test in the lab, but still end up being surprised when your product fails in the market. You know what your research tells you. Customers don't know what they want.
Additional Resources:
Mixed Media courtesy of mgwinc
Seth Godin - Permission Marketing
Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die