I read a really excellent article over at Marketingprofs.com and it really struck a chord with me. I have always like the idea of a Product Experience, or a user experience tied to the use of a product. But many companies seem to miss the point.

They focus on “userability studies” and have a slew of technical tests. But these are simply technical measurements that does nothing for the user unless there is an overall experience tied to it.

The article was about “How Packaging Your Offering Enhances Your Brand” by Anthony Cirillo and it really is about why some companies are able to sell their products/services at a “higher price”.

Those who understand the concept of “selling the experience”, understands that when you purchase a product or service, it is not just the here and now or the physical product that you hold in your hands. You see, when you buy an ice cream, it is not just the brand you are buying – Is it the flavor? How about because you liked the kid behind the counter?

As you walk down the street, which ice cream stall would you stop at on a hot summer’s day? Heck, which one will you stop at in winter?

As Anthony mentioned in his short article, the overall experience that a user has with your product will determine his overall satisfaction. You may have the best brand, the best flavors, the most attractive booth and the lowest price; but if your staff give service with a snarl, how long do you think your ice cream stall will be there?

It is no longer enough to talk about Product Marketing, but we need to be aware of Experience Marketing and how the overall user experience factor into your product. I know of companies who rest on their “product excellence” laurels and fail to understand this. Don’t be one of them.

Here is a very interesting thought for all of us. If you ask anyone if they thought “customer service” is important, the answer would be an emphatic “yes”. After all, you don’t want to lose your job, or your customers.

Now, the interesting question is this: “How sincere are you about serving your customers?”

There are plenty of sites and blogs that talk about “lousy customer service” or “excellent customer service” and so, I will not even want to go there. But I would like to present a case study here, and you be the judge – is the company sincere about customer service.

Actually, it is not just a company. It is almost an industry practice. The example I want to bring up here pertains to the very hot, very popular online massively multiplayer games industry. Some background for those not familiar.

The MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) market is one of the few successful online revenue models (other than eBay and other strictly eCommerce stuff). But with games at this level of scale and complexity, one of the biggest headache would be bug fixes. Not only that, but improvements and tweaks are a constant.

Here is the scenario that you see repeated from the early days of Asheron’s Call, to World of Warcraft and even to the latest Warhammer Online. When the game is launched, almost daily there are what is known as “down time” where the servers are taken offline to be patched (fixed). This goes on quite intensely for a while, then slows down to a patch every week or so.

Nothing wrong with this. The problem is quite subtle. You see, what do gamers want to do most? Play the game. What do companies want to do most? Retain customers. In this case, that means keeping the gamers happy.

You keep gamers happy by making sure you fix the bugs, upgrade the gamer’s experience and constantly keeping the game content fresh. Hence, regular updates, patches and enhancements. Now, when should you do this? You see, games are created by programmers. Game companies employ an army of people who understand gamers to make sure they are happy. Community managers, game masters, and of course, customer support. But who runs the servers?

Engineers. Management.

Here’s a pop quiz: “When is the best time to bring servers down for maintenance?”

Here’s the clincher – “When no one is using the servers.”

So, this leads to: “When will there be “no one” using the servers?”

And here’s the obvious answer (to some people): “Why, after office hours, of course!”

Well, that will work with your office mail server. Your file servers. Your huge and really nifty databases. But stop to think, please. When do gamers play games? During office hours? Which office do you work in?

So, they play AFTER office hours. But you see, most MMO servers are updated in the “traditional” manner. Some companies have figured it out. So, the more enlightened companies are now shutting down their servers DURING office hours to patch. Hurrah. Problem is, such games are now international. So, morning to you is night to me and you say to-Mah-toes and I say to-Meh-toes.

The irony of it all is this, even when they split the servers into North America, Europe and Oceania, they still down all the servers at the same time. Hence, peak gaming hours in Oceania and Europe is…? You guessed it, office hours in the good ole United States.

What would you do?

It is not often that you read about a customer being served. Well, I mean, legally served. Actually, the customer was arrested.

Our friend Kailani had this terrible experience which she talked about in her blog: Some People Just Shouldn’t Drink on Flights.

Certainly, the customer is always right. However, once you violate the “higher laws”, you are no longer considered a customer, but a criminal. The most common of course, is the shoplifter. He is certainly not a customer, though he started as one when he first walked in. Another very interesting customer is the one who pays his bills with a bounced check.

In many countries, willfully issuing a bounced check is actually an offence. Many people are not even aware of this. To them, it is just a “clever” way to stall the payments a little while more.

In the world of sales and marketing, customers are our life blood. But as small business owners, we also have to realize that sometimes, that person might not be a customer. It would serve us better not to have anything to do with them.

Robbery is a crime, but most people don’t even blink an eye when they refuse to pay their advertising agency their fees. Think about that.

I would like to wish all readers and visitors to this blog a very Merry Christmas and a FABULOUS New Year ahead!

When Vista was launched a year ago, there was a lot of talk about how it (the launch) paled in comparison to Windows XP. Well, about a year on, and Vista is still struggling. Microsoft is a technology company. But it is better known for its marketing finesse and its many litgations.

Just saw this article about how Linux was going to benefit from Vista’s struggle to gain acceptance. Frankly, I doubt it. One of the key lessons we all learn early on in our lives as marketers, is the fact that marketing cannot make up for the shortfall of a product’s core capabilities.

Sure, Vista has its challenges. It requires hardware that make it more expensive. It has a slew of options that confuse the heck out of normal, everyday users. It has numerous problems with legacy devices like cameras, digital players and so on. But most importantly, it has not demonstrated its superiority to Windows XP in any clear, convincing manner. So of course, Microsoft is going to kill XP, just so that this new kid on the block is guaranteed a “bright” future.

But Linux is not the golden brick road to computing freedom either. There are enough flavours of Linux out there to make even the most enthusiastic supporter scratch their heads in confusion. But more importantly, Linus has failed to cater to the needs of the everyday computer user at the most important level – ease of use.

So, on the one hand, we have a new operating system that places a heavy demand on hardware expenditure and on the other, we have a contender that does not seem to allow the mere mortal a chance at learning it easily. Doesn’t this make you long for the days when “the customer is king”?

Technorati Tags: microsoft, windows vista, linux

This is getting scary! Yet another toy recall. What is worse, the problem this time is not only about toxic substances, the chemicals in question converts in to the “date rape” drug GHB (gamma-hydroxy butyrate) when ingested. That, on a child’s toy?

I found out about this when both Charlene and Marcie blogged it. In fact, it got me so stressed, I was quite happy to find a stress reliever that really works!

Technorati Tags: toys, toy recall, aqua dots

For all the marketing folks out there, here is one way never to launch a product. Read on for the low-down on the fun and games. Not.

The product in question here is a computer game called HellGate London. It was a much anticipated product and had a rousing response to its launch. However, it did a few critical things wrong which has made it go from hero to dog in something less than a week!

- Product was extremely buggy (bugs are things that make the game hang, or interfere with the game play)
- Communications with the community was patchy
- There was no in-game communications (this is critical, especially for an online game)
- Action was taken with no consideration to user inputs

Many users felt that the company simply took their money under false pretense. This is really bad. Now, bear in mind that the game is indeed an excellent game. I think what happened was a mis-management of communications, customer service and worse of all, plain, lousy product management.

You can read a funny “review” of the situation here: When There Is No Room In Hellgate, The Dead Shall Inhabit The Bargain Bin

Unfortunately, you cannot view the ire of the gamers unless you can log into their forums. Both the US/Europe and the Asian forums are hot with irate gamers. Bearing in mind that this game is based on the incredibly successful “Diablo” franchise, it is really surprising. Yet, again, if you think about it, it is not that surprising. Ego, Arrogance and Greed. If not, there is no other explanation as to why a company so experienced and with such a strong history, can screw up a launch so badly.

With products and services, a launch should never take place before a product is ready to go. The skill here is to be able to tell the difference between a critical bug and a non-critical bug. When “management” takes over or “marketing” takes over the product management process, the fiasco of HellGate proportions happens. This is not the first, and I doubt if it will be the last. Another famous example would be the Tribes2 launch by Dynamics (now gone) where the “auto update” was defective and could not update itself at launch!

Technorati Tags: hellgate, bad service, poor marketing

I would like to protest a discrimination. You see, every time I see an advertisement on dieting or liposuction, they always seem to speak only to the women.

Liposuction is for me! I mean, I have a spare tire around my middle that is interfering with my tying of shoe laces, if you get my drift. So, why am I excluded from the communications?

Like this company that is advertising its superior liposuction procedure, the MYA clinic, they address only the women. What about poor old me? I too would like to know about procedures that are safe. I too would like to know about the most effective procedure for me. I mean, I hate exercising and I love food; and to top it all, I like to look good. Does that not make me the ideal customer?

So, rather than me walking blindly into any clinic and getting swindled or worse, damaged by supposed doctors and slimming technicians who know nothing, I would really like to know when there is a good, reputable clinic around that provides great slimming services.

Here is a message for all slimming clinics – talk to us! We are sometimes shy to walk into a slimming joint because all the posters and images seem to tell us that we, the guys, are not supposed to be there. How about that? A ready, willing (desperate even) customer who is actually given a message that this is not the place for him. So sad.

Remember, guys want to look good too!

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Technorati Tags: liposuction, fat reduction, diet, exercise

Some time ago, I reviewed a shopping cart solution that was pretty comprehensive and professional. I liked the fact that it had a free trial where you could actually use the shopping cart for 10 days, which should be enough time for you to figure out if this is a solution for you.

But more importantly, when I re-visited the site, I noticed that they have revamped the look and feel of the site. But the one thing that made me smile was the addition of a Live Sales & Support button! This is fantastic! I do not know if you have ever experienced buying stuff or services online, but one of the biggest headache is always access to support.

In the “real world” that we live in, support is a phone call away; or we take the train and bang on some tables. But online, it is sometimes tough to get a hold of anyone when you need help. Features aside, this one single button says to me that this is a really serious company that is committed to helping its customers.

That, is good enough for me.

Technorati Tags: shopping cart, ecommerce software, shopping cart software, online store

Here is something that you can think about. Many times, when we are in marketing, we promote stuff. We use hyperboles and we cajole and flatter. We paint pictures with words and convey meanings with pictures. We communicate. Sometimes, we do smoke and mirrors. Sometimes, we distract. Sometimes, we mislead…?

Take a look at this post by Charlene about “Crocs and Escalator Dangers” and you tell me whether you think that what the Crocs company is doing is a load of crock or clever marketing.

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Technorati Tags: crocs, crocs shoes, crocs accidents, marketing

There are different types of marketing and the approaches used can be so varied. But without a doubt, one of the most challenging and invigorating is marketing to the top end of the market. Sometimes called “high net worth marketing”, “luxury marketing” or name it by any other name; this is the ultimate segment for any business.

It is not easy. The luxury sector is not only a crowded sector, but the beau monde set are so pampered, even simple gifts like diamond earrings can be a complex and involved process. “Talk value” is of utmost important. If you see how whiteflash.com does it, each piece is almost wholly custom created. You are taken through a 3-step process where you define the size, color and clarity; followed by the cut you like; and finally, choosing the setting.

Short of walking into a High Street jeweler, this must be as good as it gets online. Passion has no price, and the premier marketer who understands and applies this online will ensure long term customers who will be their biggest promoters at major events.

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Technorati Tags: fine jewelery, diamond, diamond studs, loose diamond

What is this world coming to? With all the advances in sciences, why are we still facing issues of lead levels in toys? Now I am seeing this problem that Fisher Price is having toys recall due to excessive levels of lead. I mean, those toys do cost a lot, can’t they just use lead-free paints? This is coming so near after we talked about how Thomas the Tank engine had to be recalled. For those who are concerned whether you are affected, do check out Marcie’s post where she talks a little bit more about the Fisher Price incident and also lists the affected toys.

Technorati Tags: toys, fisher price, thomas the tank engine, sesame street