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Analytics & Optimizer: A Dream Team to Achieve Business Objectives
Written by Saleh Tousi on January 10, 2011
Collecting analytics data about your site visitors is a good thing. The theory behind collecting information is that if you have some sensible data, you can better plan when executing business objectives. But, like most good things, there’s a catch.
You need a way of testing all this wonderful data against your theories of what works. If you don’t, you will be left with a big blob of information that doesn’t do your organization much good except supply icing for colourful reports.
For example, how useful is it for you to know that, on average, your website visitors spend 40 seconds on your landing page?
Or, what intelligence do you get from knowing that your customers drop out at the third step of a registration process on your site?
You can get all of this data from analytics, but so what? How does that translate into implementing changes to your site to help achieve results? If only there was a way to use this data to help achieve business objectives…
Enter Optimizer. Read more…
A Tale of Two MP3 Players
Written by Martin Wong on December 17, 2010
You need an army of third party developers and partners if you want your product to succeed in today’s marketplace.
Two weeks ago, I decided to upgrade my SensaClip MP3 player to something a little bit more powerful. I wanted an MP3 player with A-B repeat so that I can play the same French phrases over and over. After doing a lot of research online, I found the perfect model: the Sony Z Series Video MP3 Player. I immediately drove over to Future Shop to get my hands on it.
And then the nightmares began.
The sales rep who was helping me could not find a proper fitness armband that fit the Sony. “We don’t really carry any accessories for non-iPods.” he explained, “Maybe you should just go with an iPod nowadays. That’s what everybody else has. Or maybe try Best Buy?”
To make a long story short, I ended up driving to FOUR different Best Buys and Future Shops across town. I even tried a few street vendors. Here’s a summary of what I encountered:
- The Sony armband was such an unpopular item that there were discrepancies between their online database and the actual inventory. Both Best Buy and Future Shop were sure that they’d have stock “somewhere” in the lower mainland. But because their staff had shoved aside most non-iPod accessories to make room for more iPod accessories, they just didn’t know where they were.
- Staff members at all four locations told me they too preferred the Sony MP3 player because of its rich features and compatibility, but that the lack of compatible accessories is a real problem.
In the end, I chose to return the Sony MP3 player. I could have ordered the armband over the Internet and waited a week for it to arrive. But as one of the blue shirts at Best Buy put it, “If you are having so much trouble getting a simple armband for it, what kind of support do you think you can get when you need a new accessory in a year?”
I was ready to become a Sony evangelist. I was ready to be different. But unfortunately, my passion was killed by a simple lack of accessories for an otherwise very solid product.
Image credit: Rojer /cc
An Englishman’s Perspective on Business in Vancouver
Written by Adam Jones on December 9, 2010
Being an Englishman living in Canada, I continuously find myself asked the same questions:
“Do you like it here”?
“How does the weather compare to London”?
“What is the queen really like”?
“Do you really eat baked beans for breakfast”?
Ok, so the last two may not be quite as common. It may be my stereotypical, satirical British humour shining through, but just in case anybody reading was wondering, to me the queen is just a very rich old lady with a shiny hat and a big house. And baked beans are a delightful snack that can be eaten at any stage of the day.
But enough about menial cultural discrepancies. The topic of my blog post today is to discuss the differences that I have noticed in the business culture between here and the UK. And I was wondering if local Vancouverites also felt the same way.
