I’m having problems with the following approach:
From ‘Reclaim Your Life: A Two-Week Challenge to Help You Regain Time’ by Stuart R. Levine
Consider the way new technologies come to market. The major software and electronics companies cut down on time and costs by putting products on the market before they’ve been completely debugged. Not only does this save the consumer money in the long run; consumer feedback teaches these companies more in a month than they’d discover through years of in-house testing. Sure, some users might grumble at flaws in the early models or releases. But by now, most consumers are aware of the practice and know to wait for the updated version.
This manifesto is available from ChangeThis.
My problem is the easy conclusion about on “some users that might grumble at flaws”. These early adopters are the ones that feed the companies with worthwhile feedback. In forums online. On ‘Company-X-sucks.com-websites’. At the callcenters etc. Based on this feedback the product/service is then updated. The calculating masses wait for this moment. But the engaged few that paid the big bucks are not ‘paid’ for their effort. In my opinion, they will eventually stop being this ‘helpful’ (read: exploited). Thus: no quick fixes, no updated products, no lower prices. And hence: no critical mass to make your profit on… Just a thought.
Satisfaction of call centre customers may be going down hill. While the Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report 2006 highlighted that contact centres were putting call centre customers first by addressing service levels as a priority. The preliminary findings for the 2007 Benchmarking Report cast doubt on this commitment.
The 2007 report indicates that there has been a significant decrease in the levels of customer satisfaction, regardless of location, with the overall score down to 68.3% from 82% in the previous report.
The highest decrease in satisfaction was in Asia-Pacific where satisfaction fell from 84% to 61.9%, a staggering 22.1%. North America didn’t fare much better with customer satisfaction levels falling 21.1%. In Europe customer satisfaction levels fell 8.6%, with the lowest fall being recorded in Africa and Middle East with a 7.7% decrease in customer satisfaction. The same report also shows that a good 60% of all companies look at their contact/call centers as fee-burning activities. So: all word and no play? The truth is: you can actually learn from customers that make the call. And then acting upon that knowledge might save one or more pennies in other departments…
Nice new idea to stretch the AXE-concept even more. Stickers to be placed at the well known emergency-exit signs we see everywhere. The idea is from Julie Bosteels (copy) and Ad van Ongeval (art) from Lowe in Belgium.
Adobe Systems plans to launch mobile technology today that could revolutionize how we watch video on our cell phones. The company is making it possible to put Flash Video technology — used by the likes of YouTube and Google to create easy-to-view Internet pages — on the company’s updated Flash Lite software for mobile phones.
The technology -expected to be available by this summer and by the name Flash Lite- will give webdevelopers a chance to transfer their video inventions to mobile phones and could eventually make it faster and easier to watch games and animation on your cell phone. The phone will become a miniature version of a computer, eliminating the need for the flat wireless access points, or WAPs, that have become familiar to mobile users downloading Internet sites.
(source: MercuryNews)
Dutch classified-site (and EBay-owned) Marktplaats, introduces ‘Mapview’ today. This is interesting because apparently people want to see what is offered locally. First sites like this gave us transparancy in all offerings on a wide geographical scale. Now we get inspired by things we did not (yet) know we might need (pun intended!), simply because the seller is nearby. There is also an interesting social component to this: I, for example, didn’t know my neighbour is selling his rather new Mercedes-Benz for only € 40.000! Now that’s a story at the schoolyard tomorrow!
I do not know if it’s a problem in other countries, but when travelling in Europe you cannot ignore it: SMS Spam! Mainly by all the different telecom-operators that give you a truly hartwarming “Welcome” on their network. Including a commercial message. Imagine this (based on a true story): travelling by car from The Netherlands to Austria for a short skitrip. Four men in one car. All equipped with their mobile phone. Crossing the Dutch/German border… Four mobiles start beeping like hell. And after a few minutes two recieve another ‘Welcome’-SMS. Then again while crossing the German/Austrian border. Did I mention the SMS-messages within Germany? Anyhow, this will come to an end.
Because CM Technology presented their SMS Firewall yesterday on tradefair 3GSM in Barcelona, Spain. There is only one problem… Read the official launch-text:
The patent pending Regulatory SMS Firewall monitors every text message that is sent by companies to consumers and checks whether these message comply with all legal rules and regulations. Messages that do not comply, will be blocked for the recipient. End users of operators that have implemented the system, will no more have the nuisance of unwanted spam at their mobile phones.
You see: “End users of operators that have implemented the system….” Fact is, that 99% of SMS Spam comes *from* the operators… I’d like a SMS Firewall that is user-configurable. Pretty please?!
No risk, no gain. That’s what guerilla marketing (also) is about. On the website of specialist agency Interference Inc. we cannot (yet?) read about a recent campaign that went wrong: for Cartoon Network’s show ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force‘, the agency created a campaign that included ‘electronic advertisements’ in public places. In Boston one was mistaken for a bomb. Subway stations, part of the Charles River and a highway were closed for hours after dozens of the devices, which resembled Lite-Brite toys powered by batteries, were found in and around Boston.This was January 31st, 2006.
In the meantime, Turner Broadcasting (owner of Cartoon Network) and Interference Inc. offered to pay $2 million in restitution and other costs for the inconvenience and panic the stunt caused. Now, Jim Samples, President of Cartoon Network resigns due to the bad publicity the campaign caused. Guerilla marketing can indeed be of high impact, as Interference Inc. says on it’s website…
It seems a new trend: as products come and go, why should shops that sell products stay forever? One fresh example of a so-called ‘pop-up shop‘ is the 3 shops American candy-brand Altoid is launching just before Valentine’s day (February 14th). New York, Miami and Chicago will see shops that open doors especially for people who are sick and tired of the whole Valentine-circus. According to Springwise, not only the ‘pop-up shop’-trend is to be discovered here. In the shops guests can sample the newest Altiods-candy (Tryvertising). And the appeal to a collective disgust towards the über-commercialised Valentine-hype seems to tap into Sympvertising. Guess everything can be a trend…
