Archive for July, 2008

The Value Of Perception

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Rich Schefren recently interviewed Dan Ariely.

The recording is freely available online here. In the call Dan highlights how companies can increase perceived value and get their customers to spend more by creating a decoy offer, which is discussed in the first chapter of his Predictibly Irrational book.

The decoy marketing offer introduces false choices to make another choice look more appealing. We have a hard time valuing offers, but are relatively good at valuing relative deals. The example Dan uses to discuss the decoy is the pricing of The Economist.

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How Effective Is Your Website As A Salesperson?

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

I just finished reading Jason Lee miller’s terrific post on Web Pro News “24 Ways to Get and Keep a Customer“.

In it, he references a Future Now’s 2007 Retail Customer Experience Study that every business owner with a Website should be aware of.

The study states that a 2007 Forrester survey revealed, “only 26% of online consumers were simply satisfied with their shopping experience. This suggests a whopping 74% - three-quarters of online shoppers - weren’t even satisfied. And what of the remaining 26%? They weren’t delighted. They were merely “satisfied.” In other words, the shopping experience was, at best, adequate.”

Twice recently I was personally reminded of how bad some Website shopping experiences can really be-as well as what a stellar shopping experience is like. In the course of one day, I had shopping experience that ranged from frustrating, to great, to near perfection.

Let’s start with perfection… (more…)