November 2009 – Change Meme

25 November, 20095 October, 2018 Louise McGregor Business

Magazine Revolution

A new home design magazine was launched last month, brand new format too. Lonny is an online magazine with embedded advertising, which takes it’s name from London and New York. It’s stylish, high-end content; lovely to look at.

There’s a lot of speculation on the future of newspapers and magazines, in the new online/social media world. Newspapers have tried all sorts of subscription models, with moderate success in specialist markets and very little success in general markets.

Lonny gives the visitor a traditional magazine experience, down to the sensation of turning pages, and a zoom-in feature. Both ads and content contain embedding links allowing you to click through and order the beautiful fabric or extraordinary vase. From that point of view it’s an advertiser’s dream.

The magazine’s owners have also started a facebook fan page, and a twitter account although with just two tweets it’s a fledgeling account at this point.

It is being hailed as a new model and a great example of what can be done online for a small amount of money – Vanity Fair states that the first issue had production costs of around $11,000 most of which was on photography and content. As the production uses standard technology provided by issuu technology costs should be kept very low. Surely these costs are less than the production and distribution costs of a “real” magazine, and given the revenue potential from advertisers this could be a good model.

There are a few things to be ironed out, the drive to keep the magazine in magazine format means they’ve forgone on a few things that are huge advantages online.

crosslinks; on seeing the contents page I wanted to just click on the title of the article and go to the page of the article, but all I got was a zoom in.
navigation; there’s no consistent navigation, and with close to 200 pages of content it’s not that easy to scroll through and back to the contents page. There is a “jump box” on the upper right to let you jump to a specified page, but I still find it a bit awkward to use.
text; the text is produced in the same size and density as in a print magazine, there is a zoom function, but this is the hardest format to read online.
updates; the current issue was launched on October the first, the next issue is due in December, which follows the magazine publishing expectation. But in that time Apartment Therapy will have had around 600 updates.

The facebook fan page has more than 8000 fans, and Twitter has more than 1o00 followers, but by not using these advantages of the web Lonny makes it harder to engage an audience longterm.

I’m sure they’ll learn a lot from the first issue – they’ll see viewing data on time spent on the site, and what people hung around and actually read. I suspect they’ll make some changes, I suspect they might at some point decide to deliver content more frequently. In this format they could deliver a 25 page magazine every week, with less text.

I’m also curious to see how long they stick with the “magazine experience aspect”, and whether that maps to reader’s needs. I often read magazines on public transport, and this doesn’t offer a mobile version, and given that the content is one big flash element I think it would be a lot of work to develop a mobile version.

On a more personal note; I also like to read magazines in the bath, but I don’t think I’ll be doing that with an online version.So will I visit Lonny again? Sure, I’ll dip in occasionally, but it won’t replace print magazines for me, and it won’t replace the “home design fix” that I regularly get from Apartment Therapy.

Still there’s potential there for a content model that might work for advertisers, I’m curious enough to follow Lonny for that reason alone.

image Bathtub Computing /Paul Irish/ CC BY 2.0

24 November, 20095 October, 2018 Louise McGregor design

Usability in Action; Banks

Years ago, more than 10 years ago, I withdrew my rent money from an ATM, as my automatic payments hadn’t been set up. I got the receipt but not the money. Obviously I was a bit concerned, but the bank happened to be open so I went in to try to solve this. The teller told me that it was a Good Thing I’d kept the receipt because it helped them track my transaction, but they wouldn’t be able to do anything until they reconciled the machine’s balance at the end of the day.

Well eventually it was resolved and since then I’ve always chosen the “with receipt” option when withdrawing money.

The process of cash withdrawal at ABN Amro

That’s probably more than a thousand receipts. Think of all that paper. And the only reason I’m doing it is just in case the machine doesn’t give me my money. (Never had a problem since but I’m still cautious).

Well ABN Amro’s machines here in the Netherlands have made a very simple change to the process of withdrawing money. They now ask you whether you want a receipt AFTER you’ve taken the money. Now I choose no. No more receipts. I bet others do the same.

It’s one of those blindingly simple changes to a process that helps the customer, saves money and saves the environment.

I think we should all look at design, including process design from the user’s perspective. We should ask ourselves not just what we want the user to do, but what does the user want out of each step. In this example someone at ABN Amro has worked out that a lot of people get the receipts “just in case” the machine gives them the wrong money. So they’ve moved that step to after the cash step.

We need to take time to re-examine a lot of processes, I bet there are more smart ways to improve design of machines, objects, websites and processes.

image ATM

23 November, 20095 October, 2018 Louise McGregor Communication

Reason to love TED #53983

They have a wonderful way for you to rate videos.

Most rating systems for events rely on a simple matrix, giving you a series of statements which you rate according to how much you agree with them on a 1-5 scale. Despite it being a common methodology it does throw some interesting conundrums;

which way should the scale go? is 1 best or is 5 best? I always thought five was best until I got to the Netherlands and found that my performance is graded 1-5 with 1 being “you’re exceptional, and you’re in the wrong job” and 5 being “you’re a loser and you’re in the wrong job”
when you work with a multinational audience cultural differences come into play. The Dutch are more likely to use the whole scale, and North Americas tend to only grade across the top three scores
it doesn’t help people like me who always want to score things at 0.5 of something, so 3.5 or 4.5 but never a round number

TED does something that gets past these issues, and still returns useful assessment data. Their system is very simple and very appealing – especially for those of us whose brains are wired for words rather than numbers.

They give me selection of words and let me choose three, or the same word three times if I want.

The data collected still tells them what people thought of the video, you can label it as persuasive, funny, obnoxious or just OK. By giving a selection rather than open fields it shepherds the viewers towards useful responses.

The way the data is presented it also very cool, and very simple. A tag cloud lets me see that most people rated this talk as fascinating. Beautiful, informative and inspiring were also common ratings. Just a few people found it confusing or unconvincing.

We’ve just added the “amazon star” rating to some of our content, it was a big deal for us. But this is a whole other level, and it’s giving me more ideas.

Postscript: Sadly this rating system has been abandoned by TED

20 November, 20091 October, 2018 Louise McGregor Innovation

TEDx Amsterdam

Subtitle; What I wish I was doing today

TEDx is an independently organised event in the style of TED, and today there is a TEDx running in Amsterdam. They’ve got a fantastic line up including Kevin Kelley, who is one of the most intresting thinkers on future of technology and our use of it. They bill it as “In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.”

It’s enormously popular so that the 450 seats at the Tropen Museum are filled (and were already filled by the time I heard about it), so there are at least 4000 people who wanted to be there and can’t. TEDx set up various simulcast venues, those closest to me are also filled.

So I have the laziest option of all. I’ve picked up the streaming video site. I’m at home on the couch, watching TED. What a great Friday.

19 November, 20095 October, 2018 Louise McGregor Innovation

For Everyone who has ever had an idea killed

A set of cartoons from someone called Scottie – who I can’t track down.

This seemed familiar.

And this is my current reality.

11 November, 20095 October, 2018 Louise McGregor Communication

Remembrance

Today is Remembrance Day, the day the UK, Belgium and France commemorate the end of World War 1 and honour those who died in all wars. With growing numbers of dead, and controversy about foreign involvement in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq it seems particularly poignant this year. Or perhaps I’m just growing old. My great uncles fought in and survived World War 1. I remember photos and certificates in Uncle Gavin’s house, and a musty uniform in the garden shed. There’s a photo somewhere of me wearing his army hat.

This year Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier of the British Forces to have fought in the trenches of the Western Front, died; perhaps the last “living link” to WW1.

I’ve been listening to BBC World and two items connected to memory particularly struck me.

One was an item about the rather amazing Wootton Bassett, the corteges bearing the repatriated bodies of soldiers who died at war pass through this town on their way to the cemetery. As they pass the church bell tolls and the locals stop what they are doing and line the streets for the passing of the hearses. There is no official plan for this, no rule, no ceremony; just a very humble showing of respect for the men and women who died and their families. It’s powerfully moving in its simplicity.

The second item was part of the Witness series and was about Remembrance Day (the podcast is available here). According to historian Peter Parker the very first “remembrance”, in 1919 was also unplanned and spontaneous. It was also largely focussed on the widows and orphans, and honouring their loss. It was only the following year that it became a formal ceremony following the building of the tomb to the unknown soldier.

Similarly the people of Wootton Bassett are resisting attempts to formalise or change their town. Someone has proposed that the main street be renamed “Avenue of the Heroes”, but the town is resisting. As one person said “we’d like it best if we did not have to do this any more and could return to normal.

Harry Patch, who called the formal celebrations of Remembrance Day “just show business”, might agree.

Thanks to technology we can still hear the voices of the survivors, it is a step removed from a living history, but it is more than any previous generation has had. However there is something important about the very human response to memory shown by the people of Wootten Bassett. Part of its impact comes from the spontaneous nature of their act, and I think part of it comes from the ephemeral nature. When it’s no longer needed it will no longer happen. It only has meaning in this time.

images poppy, and my own image of a memorial in London

9 November, 20091 October, 2018 Louise McGregor social media

Bank Mashup

I was looking for mashups of google maps by financial services – beyond location of ATMs and I found this one by Standard Bank, it neatly displays deals, accolades, and news from around the world for the company. Clicking on the “thumbtack” opens a call out with a short explanation and an invitation “let’s get the conversation going”.

Which is where it starts to fall down in my view. When you click on that you are taken to a standard web form and told “tell us who you are and we will contact you”. I’m not sure what I expected but this wasn’t it.

That’s the tricky thing with corporates adopting Web 2.0, we’re not really naturally equipped to take it on, and it tends to either languish in a web team or be taken up by a Facebook fanatic in marketing.

Really effective use of Web 2.0 requires more than that, Harvard Business Review identifies five areas that businesses need to consider when establishing social media programmes; Integration, Governance, Culture, HR, Measurement & ROI.

I would add Risk and Technology as issues for large companies.

Effective use of social media requires clear policies around its development and use internally. It requires technology teams that understand and create solutions that deliver to business – rather than shaking their heads and pointing to risk. And risk teams that understand the technology and the business benefits. The organisation also has to support a culture of openness and knowledge sharing. Any move into social media also needs to consider the impact on business – does inviting people to a conversation imply a direct connection to chat? Who will be on the other end, and what do they need to know?

I think there are several reasons big corporations aren’t quick to adopt social media, and the biggest is probably the cost and difficulty of integrating strong social media programmes into the business.

It’s understandable, but not sustainable. Businesses have to figure this out – be smart and start small.

image map

6 November, 20091 September, 2018 Louise McGregor Buzzword

The Customer is Always Right

This is, as you might expect, something of an American saying. It was probably started by Marshall Field in the early 20th century, as his philosophy in running department store in Chicago. It’s true that Selfridge (of Selfridge’s fame) had a similar philosophy and Cesar Ritz declared that the customer was never wrong. So the sentiment was not unknown in Europe, however it’s the American service industry that has taken this expression to extremes.

It was probably meant as a way to empower employees to treat customers well, but in some cases it’s become a mantra empowering customers to behave badly.

For example the famous video of the woman who missed her flight at Hong Kong airport, she’s a customer so, according to this slogan, it’s right that she behaves like child and throws a major tantrum? I don’t think so. I get that she was upset but an adult throwing a tantrum? And the staff had to deal with that!

Not all employers are buying into this slogan any more, there has been a rash of “fire your customer” mentality but that’s going too far the other way. Although there’s a lovely, and possibly apocyphal story of Herb Keller of South West Airlines doing just that.

The story goes that when a customer wrote one too many letters of complaint and stumped the customer service team who work hard to answer every enquiry they pushed the letter, and the folder of previous letters up to Herb Keller, then CEO. He answered it in three words “we will miss you”. (read the story here, scroll down).

Whether the story is true or not it does indicate that we recognise a line across which the customer is not right – or at least perhaps those of us who’ve worked in customer service, and genuinely tried to serve customers, know that it cannot always be true.

image office people via pixabay

4 November, 200929 September, 2018 Louise McGregor Marketing

Social Media Metrics

I’ve had some difficult discussions about how to measure the value of our web presence, and some even more difficult discussions on how we should measure the value of social media.

I don’t think visitor traffic says that much, our peak traffic days in the last year have coincided with announcements related to the current financial crisis. We’ve had assistance from the Dutch Government, a new CEO, and most recently an announcement that we will be splitting the company. On those days our web traffic soared even if our shareprice didn’t so clearly traffic does not equal value to the company.

For me there are two ways a site can generate value for a company; reduce costs or increase revenue. Social media programmes need to show the same kind of benefits, and there are plenty of examples out there, the DellOutlet twitter is perhaps the clearest example – where followers can benefit from offers from the dell outlet store that otherwise wouldn’t get much publicity.

I’m not the only one lamenting the lack of sensible thought within companies on measurment and ROI for web/social media; Jay Baer points out that we might be “cherishing the wrong trophy” when we chase facebook fans and twitter followers. David Meerman Scott dislikes ROI (like any good marketer) but still pushed for thinking about “creating buzz” and business impact in a recent presentation.

But the hands-down best, winner-takes-all explanation of why and how ROI matters in social media comes from Olivier Blanchard in this presentation.

Two items that particularly pleased me;

the acknowledgement that it will take time, as in months, to realise the financial impact of social media (slides 28 & 60)
the reference to those easy-to-get web metrics as “non-financial impact” (slide 34)

Aside from that there’s a certain genius in the use of images in this presentation – it’s worth a look for that alone.