Haggin Marketing deals out tips and trends from the forefront of multichannel marketing
Daily Routines shares the scheduling habits of writers, artists, and other big thinkers. Winston Churchill ate breakfast and worked in bed—including dictating to secretaries standing at his bedside—until 11 a.m. Truman Capote also took things pretty easy:
I am a completely horizontal author. I can’t think unless I’m lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch and with a cigarette and coffee handy. I’ve got to be puffing and sipping. As the afternoon wears on, I shift from coffee to mint tea to sherry to martinis.
Whatever your habits, you’re sure to find some great minds that operate in a similar manner.
Dan Ariely, behavioral economist and author of Predictably Irrational, made a highly enlightening and entertaining presentation on the flawed nature of the human decision making process. Using examples ranging from magazine subscriptions to organ donor registration forms, Ariely shows how the wording, selection, and arrangement of choices can have a massive influence on the outcome:
The old saying “You get what you pay for” might affect us on a subconscious level. Jonah Lehrer, author and big thinker on all things neuroscience, keeps a close eye on the relationship between price and perceived quality. In an article for The Boston Globe, he points to a wine tasting study conducted by scientists at CalTech and Stanford as a prime example of price tag bias:
They provided people with cabernet sauvignons at various price points, with bottles ranging from $5 to $90. Although the tasters were told that all the wines were different, the scientists were in fact presenting the same wines at different prices.
The subjects consistently reported that the more expensive wines tasted better, even when they were actually identical to cheaper wines.
The experiment was even more unusual because it was conducted inside a scanner - the drinks were sipped via a network of plastic tubes - that allowed the scientists to see how the subjects’ brains responded to each wine. When subjects were told they were getting a more expensive wine, they observed more activity in a part of the brain known to be involved in our experience of pleasure.
What they saw was the power of expectations. People expect expensive wines to taste better, and then their brains literally make it so.
To further exemplify the power of perceived value, Lehrer cites a Columbia University study where subjects were jolted with electric shocks with and without a placebo pain-relieving cream:
When people were told that they’d just received a pain-relieving cream, their prefrontal cortex, a brain area normally associated with rational thought, responded by inhibiting the activity of brain areas (like the insula) that normally respond to pain. However, when the same people were informed that the cream was “ineffective,” their prefrontal cortex went silent. Because people expected to experience less pain, they ended up experiencing less pain. Their predictions became self-fulfilling prophecies.
So when the competition is screaming “SALE!” in a race to the bottom, perhaps you should confidently address the quality and value of your product. Focus your mind on the full article here.
In his analysis of research from Carnegie Mellon on the persuasive power of confident individuals, Robert Dooley of the fantastic blog Neuromarketing makes a strong connection to the world of business. From the source:
“I’m not suggesting that we develop false bravado to manipulate others. Rather, we should use time-honored strategies to develop our confidence. Salespeople should truly believe in their product. Every persuader should achieve mastery of the facts. Confidence will flow naturally from these. And, of course, we should resist the tendency to waffle or spend too much time discussing alternative possibilities - this will leave the audience confused and doubtful.”
Some excellent thoughts for marketers to keep in mind when figuring out how to speak to their target. Makes me think of the Albert Einstein quote: “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
While history has given us countless examples of what can go wrong when a confident communicator gets reckless, Dooley chose this video of CNBC’s Jim Cramer as a cautionary tale:
Be sure to check out the paper database of the Carnegie Mellon Center for Behavioral Decision Research. It’s an absolute gold mine of insight on consumer behavior.
Give up? It’s the production department. They tinker away on their machines deep into the night, turning concepts into reality. They make it fit. They make it play. They make it smooth.
Creativity magazine put together The Integrated Production White Paper [PDF] that consists of notable case studies as well as interviews with the department heads at CP+B and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Great to read about this often overlooked yet super critical department.
Raise your hand if you think analyzing response data to measure the effectiveness of online advertising (or any DM channel) is a new idea.
Nobody?
That’s what we thought.
Now raise your hand if you think this idea has been around in some shape or form since, well, let’s just call it A REALLY LONG TIME.
There we go, all of our loyal readers, with their hands raised high.
This article, titled “Put Ad on Web. Count Clicks. Revise”, was published just a few days ago in the New York Times (yes, we double checked, ‘cos we too thought maybe it had been written ten years ago) posits that advertisers and their agencies are only just now “putting numbers to an industry that’s never had numbers before.” That is an actual quote from Darren Herman, president of Varick Media Management located in Manhattan.
More on that topic, from the article:
Mr. Herman had run 27 ads on the Web for his client Vespa, the scooter company. Some were rectangular, some square. And the text varied: One tagline said, “Smart looks. Smarter purchase,” and displayed a $0 down, 0 percent interest offer. Another read, “Pure fun. And function,” and promoted a new T-Shirt.
While we all know that this is called a test plan, where one tests formats, offers, headlines, etc., we are astonished that this concept is considered new to anyone in marketing.
By the way, we don’t want to pick on Mr. Herman, or his clients, just because they had the misfortune of being quoted in this article, so please if you’re reading this, don’t take it personally.
The article leaves us with this thought:
Don’t assume that your clients, your colleagues, your research partners and vendors, your boss, or your direct reports are familiar with the age-old concept of measuring marketing effectiveness. Assume that it is your job to be the analytics evangelist! Whether you are an account executive, a creative, or a strategist your first question should be “how are we going to measure the success of the marketing?”
If you want some inspiration, please visit the excellent site of web analyst extraordinaire Avinash Kaushik. You will not only get fired up, you will also understand why I have a web-crush on him.
With over one billion iPhone apps downloaded to date, it’s no wonder brands are itching to get facetime with consumer smartphones. Tom Martin, President of Zehnder Communications, wrote an article for Ad Age that asks a critical question: Should these branded apps be toys or tools?
While the safe and obvious answer would be “both”, Martin takes the stance that practicality should trump novelty every time. From the source:
Toys (read game-type applications) don’t really do anything to sell your product. And in the case of those silly Facebook apps that let me toss a sheep or buy someone a beer, my total interaction time with the app is mere seconds. Is that really helping to convert me or reinforce my loyalty to your brand? I think not.
Martin goes on to explain that tools don’t get tossed aside. People don’t get bored with tools. They provide solutions, not distractions.
Take the highly practical Bank of America’s ATM locator. Or Kraft’s iFood Assistance app, which sold for 99 cents and made the iTunes Top 100 Paid Apps list. And let us not forget the infamous Burger King “Whopper Sacrifice” Facebook app, which turned out to be one of the most controversial (and innovative) coupon delivery methods of all time.
While this all sounds well and good, the life expectancy of apps is still frighteningly short. According to a report earlier this year from Pinch Media, only 5% of those who downloaded a paid app were actively using it 20 days after purchase. The fall-off was even steeper for free apps. Add an incredibly crowded app marketplace to this consumer finickiness and odds for success start to drop.
So brands are left wondering whether they are “sinking the boat” on bad bets or “missing the boat” by letting opportunities pass by. I say build something practical and let the market tell you if it’s a tool or just another toy.
We attended a webinar today, with the scary (but motivating) title “Get Ready For Combat This Holiday Season - Winning The Battle For Market Share In A Ruthless Economy”. Sucharita Mulpuru, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research doled out some recommendations for getting your eCommerce act together for holiday ‘09.
These included:
Site Experience - Your site availability should be above 99% (during 2008 holiday season, the average hovered around 96%), key content should load in 3 seconds or less, language should be the language that the consumer uses (not internal widget-focused language, as good as that might make you feel), and “add to cart buttons” should be prominently displayed. In summary, your site should be available, fast and easily understood by the shopper. Sounds like a no-brainer, but how many times have you been flummoxed by looking for the “add to cart” button?
Shipping - We can’t really talk about online holiday shopping without talking about shipping, right? According the Ms. Mulpuru’s data, shipping is one of the biggest cues for consumers, highly correlated with conversion rate. And the prediction is: this year more than ever, since consumers are going to be extremely concerned about value. So get that shipping cost down, even if it means raising the cost of products to offset the cost of shipping. Further, expose the cost of shipping early and often in the shopper’s session. One of the biggest reasons for shopping cart abandonment is “surprises” at the end, like shipping costs.
Check-Out Experience - With shopping cart abandon rate 50% and higher, there’s lots of room for improvement. A good recommendation: test your check-out flow i.e. single screen check-out vs. multiple-screen. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you know we’re gigantic fans of “data not assumptions”, so get your test on while you still have time to optimize before the holidays.
While we’re all basking in the afterglow of the Memorial Day weekend, it may seem too early to get started on holiday site planning. But it is never too early to implement tests, check your basics, and make a plan for improving on them. Any one of the three things above could eat up most of your time between now and the start of the holiday shopping season in October.
