Think For A Moment

How To "Not" Optimize The Search Experience

I searched Google last night on the term "SAS reporting tool". The first "sponsored link" was for a company that I was not aware of, PivotLink.  I clicked on it hoping to learn more about the company and its offerings (read: potential customer).  Here is what I saw.

Allow me to summarize what I was presented with: generalities, not information nor answers.

• "unify all of your data"
• "move beyond spreadsheet reporting"
• "ease of use"

If you were to look at this company's competitors you'd see the same promises and language.  I was hoping to move beyond that, to look at the product, to see a demo maybe. And yes, I could see that information... only if I give my personal information (name, email, phone, etc.). Or if I clicked on the logo in the upper left corner, but that's clearly not something they are promoting, now is it?

Let's compare this experience to someone whom simply types in the company's address in their browser:

Hmmm.... products, solutions, demos, the whole enchilada. This is what I was hoping to see in the first place.

Making an interested party give personal information prior to granting access to desired information may be a good way to create a leads database (internal focus) but it is a poor way to create a customer experience (external focus) with the exact people you want to attract.

While this in indeed enterprise software and not a household product, I ask you, dear reader, to imagine how you'd feel if you were to be asked for this type of information if you were to want to browse shoes or books at a site you'd never been to but indicated that it had what you wanted (via search results).  You'd do exactly what I did: you'd immediately bail and go to a less intrusive site.  And you'd be likely to never consider the company again, knowing you have other options.

 

Just Plain Silly...

From a friend in London comes this story about Ocado, an online grocery business (home delivery) who made some poor choices for a particular customer. In essence, when the groceries were delivered (later than promised), the loaf of bread had an expiration date of the following day. When probed about it, the Ocado customer service representative was anything but apologetic. Worth a read.

Reminds me of my own issues with the Grand Hyatt New York last summer.

What Do You Want Me To Know?

This was in this week's issue of Time; an advertisement from Bridgestone.  Notice I did not write "an advertisement for Bridgestone" as I am not sure what the tire company wants me to think.  Take a look at the ad below.

 

We see the name "Bridgestone" in the upper left (not integrated, stand alone), embedded in the imagery ("It's Bridgestone Or Nothing"), on the prepaid credit card, and in the url in the footer. Clearly, this is from Bridgestone.  But then there's this other word that seems like they want me to notice it- POTENZA. What's POTENZA? Is it a line of tires? Is it a service committment?  I can guess but do the marketers at Bridgestone really want consumers guessing?

Yes, I see the copy above that talks about "performance" and has imagery of fast cars and attractive people- I get it.  But what does Bridgestone want me to think?  Here is my assumption- Bridgestone has a line of high performance tires called Potenza.  Was that clear? No.  The only use of the brand name "Potenza" is at the lower left of the page and not tightly integrated into the 5 tires above it which is the only real indication that the word "Potenza" is a line of tires. It's almost as if it were an afterthought.

Time magazine is not cheap.  We're in a recession so my assumption is that high performance ANYTHING may be suffering at the registers of America.  And Bridgestone wants to promote something other than clarity?  Best of luck.