A contact in the retail leisure sector recently asked me ‘Do customers really need to login to a restaurant site? Surely all they want to do is make a simple reservation’.

I was momentarily flummoxed. Our ‘less push, more pull’ philosophy, by implication puts the customer in control and by doing so encourages action. For retail leisure clients this means we provide the ability for customers to login to manage their brand relationship (including reservations, personal details, email marketing preferences), and whilst it’s a bit more hassle the first time they do it, for subsequent visits it means that the form time is reduced by over 50%.

Just consider the amount of data needed when making a reservation; personal details including name, age verification (if it’s a drinking establishment), phone and/or email and that’s over and above the details needed for the reservation itself; time, date, number of guests, any special requests.

What about emails though to manage everything? Consider this; I received an email from my local pub, run by Geronimo Inns, the eflyer said ‘email us to make an enquiry’ – I did and since then I haven’t heard anything back. My email is probably now long forgotten and I’m not chasing it up, and that’s the point, by having somewhere online where you can go and see the status of your relationship you can obtain reassurance that everything is being handled as you’d hope.

On reflection, the real issue my contact highlighted was the login process itself. Having to remember a password is annoying, people tend to forget their details and when they’re at the point of action they’re forced to do a password reset before they can proceed. Alternatively, people use the same password for every user account they have, negating the security of each site if one is hacked.

Who’s going to hack a restaurant website though? Well, whilst a retail leisure website may not hold any secure transaction data, a hacker could use the data obtained as a stepping stone to other nefarious activities. If the password is only 4 digits for example, then many people’s first thought is to use their bank pin code as it’s something that they’ll easily remember. If this account were hacked then the customer would potentially expose their address, email, phone number and bank code. It’s easy to see the implications of where this may lead.

Over the years there have been numerous attempts to overcome the login issue, from Microsoft Passport to Open ID. None however have reached the tipping point of mass take-up from people, because they’re yet another layer of hassle or are too reliant on a partisan third party to enjoy objectivity.

Facebook has now arrived on the scene and thrown their war chest into the ring. Whilst not appropriate for all, if you’re a brand that is targeting online conversant customers then it is likely that those customers will be registered. According to Facebook there are now 24.5 million Facebook users in the UK (http://cot.ag/ch23vp), whilst it’s safe to assume that not all of these accounts are active that’s still a lot of people using the one platform.
Using the Facebook API (Application Programming Interface) it’s possible to link an account at a website with a Facebook account. This means that when the customer visits your website they can login with their Facebook details, or if they’re already logged into Facebook that they’ll be automatically granted entry. The benefit of this is that customers are more likely to remember their Facebook account details as they login to it frequently. There is another option, whereby a customer when signing-up simply provides their Facebook account details, but this is a more dangerous path as it means that all emails to the customer are routed via Facebook who will add a footer to the message and may obstruct it should they feel fit.

If the job of a login process is to make it easier and friendlier for a customer to access the website then the Facebook API shows a lot of promise. Although there are the well commented upon privacy issues with Facebook, and future use of the API which whilst free now may not always be, it seems to me that the benefits are obvious; making it easier for customers to login, displaying greater integration with the leading social media platform and the ability to think beyond your website to the Semantic ‘joined-up’ web.

Back in 2007 I wrote a blog post about the importance of influence for brands online. The research, published by OMD in late 2007, showed that amongst our European neighbours, Brits are the most likely (63%) to offer an unprompted opinion online and we are also the most likely to pass a negative comment (26%). Back then, the report stated that 38% of UK online purchasers take other customers’ opinions into account before purchasing.

It would be interesting to see what impact the intervening years have had upon customer behaviour. My ‘reasonably’ well informed hunch is that the importance of influence is growing exponentially, and with it, the power of the websites that gate-keep the user reviews.

The commercialization of the ‘influence marketplace’ brings threats as well as opportunities. Take, for example, Yelp.com, the leading user review website in the USA who are being sued by a small veterinary practice in California. Greg Perrault, who runs the Cat’s and Dogs animal hospital is suing Yelp because when he asked them to remove an outdated, negative review from their website they retorted by saying that they would, if his business would advertise with them. If he agreed to advertise with Yelp.com, then not only would the aforementioned negative review be removed, but in the future all negative reviews would have reduced visibility and be hidden from search engine results.

Whilst one may hope this is an isolated case, the law firm representing Mr Perrault, has indicated that they have been contacted by scores of other businesses that have been approached similarly and that there could be many thousands of businesses affected.

What this case shows, aside from possible commercial malpractice, is the power of the review sites in controlling the flow of commerce, brand reputation and customer opinion.

To some small degree we have experienced the frustrating power of review websites with the web’s leading App store where we have a client smart phone App featured. The App in question is in a highly competitive marketplace. Obviously you can’t hope to have all great reviews, but we’ve begun to see what we believe are suspicious reviews. Many just say ‘Don’t use this App, use this one instead’, whilst others provide feedback about services that the App doesn’t even provide.

At the App store there is a link alongside each review allowing you to contact the authorities to request its removal. This feature is similar to the OS crash reporting mechanism ‘Your word processor has stopped responding, would you like to send us a notification?’ In a vain hope that the action may have some affect you submit the form into the ether, never to be heard from again.

So, the negative, truth impossible reviews continue to appear at the App store. At best, this is simply frustrating for us as we’re left to rely on the positive reviews and the good sense of new customers. At worse though, the lack of proper moderation is indicative of a wider trend of abuse in the user review marketplace.

If this is true then we’re likely to see flame wars between competitors in the ‘no mans land’ of the review sites, with those with greater brand reach not only applying their own resources but also leveraging their army of brand advocates to flame perceived rivals. In this scenario, the innocent public will lose faith in the review mechanism as a reliable source of influence and revert to other means to communicate their opinion and many, many more legal cases.

I was told recently via a very reliable source of an extremely wealthy private equity player, one of the richest people in the UK, who had a despairing experience at the worlds best restaurant.

El Bulli, in Southern Spain is held by those in the know as the world’s finest restaurant. The sort of place where when you ask for a reservation they’ll tell you the date, sometimes months away, when they’ll fit you in, regardless of your social or financial status. The story is that the private equity player wanted to take some long-term clients to lunch at el bulli. Now, as you may expect when dealing with people of this stature, there is an awful lot of planning, airplane hiring, helicopter scheduling, diary management and triple checking. This private equity player has three secretaries who handle his various diaries and activities.

They had followed the due protocol and had made a reservation for el bulli. One of the secretaries was tasked with double checking to see if everything was confirmed with the restaurant and duly rang them up to be told that there was no record of the reservation. When told of the restaurant’s abject failure to undertake one of the central, and most basic functions of a decent retail-leisure establishment he hit the roof. He was heard shouting ‘Those F**@King amateurs!’ . Somehow I don’t think he’ll be returning to that particular restaurant, or telling his friends about how ‘great’ it is.

All too often organizations and websites, forget about getting the basic operational elements right before they leap ahead into peripheral esoteric marketing and branding messages. From the customer view they really want to get to the end destination, if the website becomes a hurdle on the journey then they’re less likely to convert to the action point that actually delivers business to the organization.

I’m a big fan of Basecamp, the online project collaboration tool plied by 37 Signals out of Chicago. We started using this ’software as service’ ten years ago and have kept with it as our company has grown. We’ve found it to be a reliable and friendly tool that clients can easily get to grips with, and it’s proved invaluable in helping us to manage multiple projects, milestones and disparate team members. Over the years Basecamp has become assimilated into the daily life of the business and assumed a higher status than the phone system, which to be frank, has become principally a vehicle for recruitment agencies to cold call us.

A few weeks before Christmas a letter arrived with a Chicago franking mark. It contained a hand-written personal letter from Jason Fried, the CEO of 37 Signals, thanking us for using the service for ten years. ‘Wow!’ I thought, I’ve never received anything like that from a business before. Impressed, I posted about it on Twitter as we passed the letter reverently around the office. Also included were the personal business cards of Jason and his head of marketing so I could contact them should I so wish.

A couple of weeks ago another letter arrived, this time from Tampa, Florida. This letter had a dinosaur (T-Rex) sticker on the back of the envelope and inside was a handwritten note from a developer at Wufoo (the online survey supplier) introducing himself and personally thanking us for using Wufoo. Not quite the CEO but then we haven’t been customer’s for a decade.

Perhaps these two letters indicate the emergence of a new trend of personal notes thanking customers personally for their business; the power of the handwritten note trumping the less-than-personal, manufactured emails that are automatically churned out by eCRM systems the world over. Will we soon get thank-you notes from the likes of BT and London Electricity? Will it extend to the shadow-faces at HMRC thanking us for filing their coffers every year? Some how I doubt it, but in an age when we’re constantly pushing the digital boundaries it is great to see that those leading the online revolution are the ones reverting to good old pen and ink.

I used to work for a publishing house, producing a number of monthly magazines and annual handbooks. We found that it was relatively easy to hold to the rate-card when selling ads for new publications or features but when it came to renewals the situation was much reversed. One of the main issues was that although a publication is essentially a form of localised marketing, the ability to measure response accurately was not available, meaning that there was no leverage for re-negotiation. We face a similar issue now when choosing the (if any) print magazines for advertising Aardvark Media, we approach them with a high level of doubt simply because we’re accustomed to the online accountability of advertising campaigns.

Although we’ve been in business since 1996 I remain constantly amazed by the ability of online marketing at a local level to return dramatic, measurable results for client marketing.

A client of ours, who are a major player in the bar and club sector, was opening a new bar in London’s theatreland. Usually for the opening night they operate at capacity and like to have a healthy queue of people patiently waiting outside to join the party. However, on this occasion, with less that 36 hours before the opening they needed to find over 1,000 people to add to the guest-list. We sent an email to their registered customers with a simple ‘click here and we’ll add you and a friend to the guest-list’. This approach meant that people didn’t have to go through the hassle of logging in or remembering their password. Within 2 hours we had added over 1500 people and within 12 hours the number on the waiting list had grown to over 2,500.

At a local level, efficient online/email integrated marketing really does have a proven dramatic effect on customer behaviour. Because of this, whilst I like print media as a tactile medium, I remain unconvinced about it’s long term prospects as an effective tool for response driven marketing. Amazon’s Kindle and other ebooks are an interesting mid-way between print media and online and I’m following their take-up with interest.

This year we holidayed ’staycationer’ style in Cornwall. Rock, to be precise, where the large gull wing houses remain unsold amongst the debris of the banking crisis. This being peak season we thought that it would be a good idea to organise an online shop to coincide with our arrival. The only online store that delivers locally is Tesco.com. Admittedly the night before leaving London probably wasn’t the best time to visit Tesco.com, there being a myriad of items that needed to be packed carefully into our Volvo jalopy to ensure fun could be had by all regardless of the weather.

To be brutally frank we don’t normally shop normally at Tesco, our location in Battersea means that we’re in a black-spot, out of their reach. However, I had used the site many years ago when I was a bachelor. How difficult could it be? I logged in and happily clicked immediately to the grocery section, omitting to read any of the notifications on the home page (in the same manner as most men disregard all technical documentation supplied). This was my first big error, having spent just under an hour faithfully adding products to the basket I decided to proceed to the checkout to pay. I needed to book a delivery slot though, the address shown for the delivery was wrong as it displayed my bachelor pad. ‘There must be a simple way to change this’ I thought optimistically. No such luck, going into my profile and adding the new address meant that the entire contents of my basket were lost. My wife looked bereft and began muttering about the benefits of shopping local. So, we tried again, spending another 40 minutes dutifully adding products to the basket, ‘all done’ I chirruped to my harassed wife packing in the hallway. My good luck ran out when I tried to book a delivery slot, not only were they all gone for the day that we were to arrive but there were none to be had for three days either side. Biting my lip I explained the situation to my incredulous wife, who swore that she would never, ever use Tesco.com again.

I managed to get some small revenge in the local Tesco in Wadebridge where the staff were dressed in beach outfits for the day whilst the rain lashed down outside. The lady at the till looked at me when I rolled up with my trolley full of exotic goodies and asked if I would like help packing it? ‘Yes please’ , I smirked as she muttered under her breath about shandy drinking Londoners whilst I chatted merrily on my phone…

It being the summer hols my family have decamped to less urban climes with the car, whilst I continue to run the gauntlet of the Kings Road on my bike.

At the weekend I took the train to Yorkshire to be reunited with them.  I tried to buy my ticket at the website on Tuesday evening last; ‘ah ha’ , I thought, a nice slick website with all the prices and options clearly shown. I chose the train I wanted at a welcoming cheap price but was stopped from the purchasing it because there were no seats available.

This is a web issue that I find regularly and it’s not only frustrating, it’s downright misleading as they’re saying that it’s for sale and if that’s the case then I want to buy it. Online clothes stores do this regularly as well, showing me items of clothing that I can buy, only when I try to select any size they are all mysteriously ’sold out’ – like the maitre’d at an empty restaurant telling the unexpected man in the bad suit that ‘no sir we have no tables free this week’.

Eventually I purchased a ticket, I went for a first class option as it was only £4 more than the standard fare (though their dynamic pricing strategy is neither here nor there as far as this tale is concerned) and looked forward to traveling in the comfort of the executive class. I am proud to say that I am a big fan of trains and I have had the great pleasure of traveling on some of the greatest train journeys around the world. When Joseph Pine says that ‘Work is Theatre and Every Business A Stage’ he really hits the nail on the head as far as the train is concerned.

When the conductor makes his rounds there always seems to be someone near me who has a problem; losing part of their ticket, just having the email confirmation or not having the correct ticket. Always, after pleading and sometimes tearful negotiation the customer is forced to buy a new ticket at the full price. On this occasion a young lady had used the website incorrectly and had purchased 2 young people’s tickets and her companion was not with her. Thus she had 2 useless tickets. The conductor listened patiently to her story and explained that he knew the website had a problem and that it had happened before. He then professionally charged her the price for a new full price ticket.

Shortly after all our white paper table covers were removed and replaced with blue ones; with a cup covering each corner. The old ones crumpled and thrown into a bag of rubbish. An attendant soon followed with a rubbish bag and filled it with copies of the Evening Standard that she had previously distributed. When I asked if there was a policy for re-cycling she said there were plans to bring in a special trolley to undertake that task.

Whilst the staff were not to blame for these events they are symptomatic of an organisation that is out of alignment with it’s values. Why isn’t there a mechanism for telling the web people that there is a problem with the logic of the site so avoiding customer angst? Why doesn’t the business build on it’s environmentally sound basis to deliver a customer experience that they could be a positive re-enforcement of their values?

If their business is a theatre, it would be like a performance of the Krankies at the Albert Hall, beautiful but bloody annoying.

I’ve had my email since 1996 and I’m subjected to a torrent of spam. Friends have said to me that I should just get a new email address and be done with it but to my mind that indicates defeat. Of course, the work email has spam software but it only acts as a series of breakwaters over which the relentless surge of mindless drivel will eventually find a way. Frequently, at the end of a day I’ll have a look at my spam folder to find over 3,000 junk messages from that day alone. Importantly, whilst I could be driven to the point of insanity by having to delete swarms of spam emails I am also interested in some of the messages that come my way, for example when friends complete a form at a website that generates an email campaign that is sent to me.

As a business, we look after over 1.5 million customers for leading brands. All the brands are now using ‘Forward to a friend’ strategies to organically grow their database (a friend recommended is the most likely type to convert to being a real customer), combine this with the number of ongoing campaigns and the recognition that you really don’t want to turn possible customers into enemies through spamming them and you have a tinderbox to handle.

Brand Republic recently commissioned Eversheds (the law firm) to review a recent landmark ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/910951/new-rules-viral-marketing/). The ASA objected to a forward to a friend campaign for a film called Shifty, the email address of someone was provided to the campaign site by a friend without the consent of the recipient. The campaign site sent an email to the friend saying that they were at risk of criminal prosecution for drug use following a tip off. They were directed to follow a link which open a website saying that they had been ’stitched up’ .

Marketers are responsible for any unsolicited marketing messages they send which do not comply with the data protection rules. Guidance from the Information Commissioner stresses that the customer who passes a friend’s details to the advertiser must confirm that they have the friends consent to do so. Marketers should also check that the friend is not already on a marketing suppression list and should tell the friend how they got their details. If the friend objects they should be able to have their email address suppressed for future campaigns.

It’s also important to note that if the campaign is marketing led (i.e. it has a creative or hidden element to generate interest) it is important that it is clear what it’s purpose is and that it is truthful in it’s delivery.

When compared to other forms of database growth, the viral engine of forward to a friend campaigns show excellent low cost returns. However, they need to be handled carefully and correctly to ensure that they don’t result in potential customers disliking the brand before they’ve even tried it.

I’m seriously thinking about attending this year’s TED Conference in Oxford. In case you don’t know, TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conferences bring together an eclectic mix of speakers and attendees, questioning perceptions and encouraging discussion of new ideas. Whilst looking through videos of past speakers I came across Joseph Pine, who has an interesting take on customer experience and the search for authenticity.

In short, Josephs proposition (as I understand it) is that in economic history we kicked off by trading commodities like wheat, meat and cotton, we then progressed by processing the commodities to make goods that enabled us to achieve added value. Over the last twenty years we have seen the commoditisation of goods that has lead to greater price competition over and above other product attributes. In order to achieve competitive advantage organisations need to now rely on customer experience as the primary differentiator, but importantly what prospective customers are looking for is authenticity.

So what does Joseph mean by authenticity? Essentially it is that what customers get is what they’ve been promised, however, importantly it is necessary for the organisation to be fully aligned with the delivery of the experience in order for the maximum effect to be garnered. Joseph cites the example of Disney Land as a great example of the delivery of authenticity, because the experience delivered is exactly what’s been promised and the employees and organisation are all pointing in the same direction.

What does this mean for online experience? By focusing on the holistic experience of the website and less on individual experiential items an organisation can achieve greater success. For many websites, it’s recognising that online is a step on the customer journey and not the end destination, if a website can help a customer on their journey and encourage more of them to stay than go with a competitor then it can say that it has helped the experience achieve authenticity.

The thoughts expressed here are my own and do not have anything to do with Joseph Pine who I am sure will have his own take on what’s been written. If you’d like to find out more about TED please visit www.ted.com

Back in 2000, a couple of researchers tested the theory that if we’re provided with too many choices then we end up making none at all. They set up a booth at a posh supermarket in America and posing as employees of the shop, displayed an alternating number of products to the shoppers. Half the time they displayed 6 jars of jam, the other half they displayed 24 jars.

As you might expect, with 24 jars laid out, far more people stopped to take an interest, with 60% of shoppers stopping to take a look against only 40% for the 6 jars.

What is interesting is that of the shoppers that stopped to look at the 24 jars, only 3% made a purchase compared to 30% who made a purchase when there were 6 jars on the table. In cold hard cash the difference amounted to 12 total purchases for the 6 jars half, versus only 2 total purchases for the 24 jar half. This means that the total sales for the 6 jar half were 600% greater.

Whilst there are no benchmarks that I am aware of for the optimum number of products or calls to action that should be shown on a web page it is a cornerstone of maximising the conversion funnel not to over complicate the sales process, part of this is necessarily to not have too many products on the page. On the other hand, having too few can also act as a deterrent as it doesn’t allow the customer to make a conscious choice in their selection. Only by monitoring user behaviour, page layout and the conversion funnel carefully and manipulating the process can you maximise sales.