Five tips for a successful product launch
Posted by: benjamindyer on: March 8, 2010
I have recently been spending a lot of time thinking about product launches. My employer, Actinic , is a few weeks away from rolling out a major update to one of its ecommerce software products. While we have the advantage of an existing user base, many of the fundamentals for launching are the same whether it is an existing product or something completely new.
1. Understand the Unique Value Proposition
If your product is sat on the launch pad I would hope by this stage you know what it is that makes your offering different from the rest. The importance of your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) cannot be understated; it’s the lifeblood of any product launch. Review, discuss and research until you are totally convinced you have got it right; you only get one launch window.
2. Talk to prospective customers
Get out there and talk to the very people you want to sell your product to. Discuss your plans for the product, both now and in the future. Get their feedback; it could be you missed something.
3. How are you going to sell and market?
Choosing where to market your product can be difficult. Make informed decisions based on research. It might even be a good idea to run several small pilot schemes to see where you get the most success. However prepare to be ruthless if you’re not seeing the results. It’s easier to make decisions before you have spent the entire budget on something that’s not working.
4. Make yourself heard
Find out who the influential people are in your space and hustle, annoy and pester them. That is until you get a chance to demonstrate why your product is the best. Nothing is better than a personal recommendation regardless of the product or service. Go to events, chat to people and network, network, network!
5. Bring the whole team on the journey
A successful product launch requires commitment and understanding throughout your organisation.
When President Kennedy visited NASA in 1961 he came across a cleaner, and asked him what his job was. The cleaner replied “My Job is to put a man on the moon, Sir”. Now that probably is the greatest launch of all time.
Are you ready for mobile commerce?
Posted by: benjamindyer on: March 1, 2010
If you’re anything like the typical ecommerce merchants I talk to, you’re probably obsessed with site statistics. Within the space of a few years Google Analytics has turned rational thinking retailers into stats-aholics.
I recently spent a day with a merchant who could tell me everything about his customers: where they lived, the browser and ISP they use and most importantly the paths customers take through the site. However, the one fact he couldn’t tell me was how many people visited his site from an Apple iPhone. Come to think of it he wasn’t sure if iPhone users could even use his site.
Mobile commerce is hot business and (stats junkies in the room please note) the data backs it up. Yahoo reports that there are 48 million total mobile users in the UK and that leaves out all of the people with more than one device.
During 2009, IMRG reported that one per cent of all UK ecommerce sales were conducted via a mobile. The US reports similarly small numbers with three to five per cent being the consensus level. However in the more forward-thinking markets of Asia, the front-runner Japan scores 30-40 per cent of all transactions via a mobile device. Impressive stuff.
Is your website mobile-friendly?
So, how do you get your site mobile-ready? Well the really good news is that in some ways it probably already is. Apple led the touch phone revolution with large glossy devices with plenty of screen estate. Suddenly it has become possible for RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) to be displayed in their full glory.
According to Apple’s 2009 fourth quarter results, 7.4 million iPhones were sold in a three-month period. That’s a massive 34.3 million units since launch, and that’s just one device! Looking at the road map for all the major devices, they all are planning a similar path — from the excellent Google Nexus One to the Blackberry Storm 2 and Nokia 900 series. Screen estate is in, cramped browsing conditions are out.
That’s not quite the end of the story. Small screen, low-tech devices are not going away. In fact only 14.1 per cent of the 48 million mobile devices reported by Yahoo are classed as smart phones. However the expectations that you can do everything from your mobile are going up, so this is an opportunity for retailers, not a problem.
Do your research
Making your site mobile-ready is no different to any other web project; it’s all about the demographics. Questions you need to be asking include:
- Who are you trying to reach?
- Where and how are they visiting your website?
- What does the typical visitor do at your site?
These may sound like simple points but they are crucial if your mobile site is to be a success.
Answering the “who” is fairly easy — with one in five of us now regularly using mobile devices to surf the web there is a very good chance your customers are already looking at your site via their phones. A great first step is to analyse this data, look for trends and make that the basis of making the mobile experience better. Thankfully getting your hands on this important data is fairly easy. Most mobile web browsers now have the ability to run java script meaning Google Analytics can track mobile usage.
Worst case scenario
Discovering the “where and how” is a little harder. People use mobile devices in so many different ways and in so many different places; the long-standing mantra has always been to make your site usable under the worst conditions possible. Now this may not sound particularly appealing but your mobile site needs to work on both fast WiFi and the slower GPRS signal. It’s the same with screen estate and input devices: cater for both large touch screens as well as smaller devices that may require a stylus or keyboard.
This is a problem. Creating stand-alone sites for different browsing conditions could be costly and frustrating. The internet is littered with lots of advice on how to tackle this, but there is little consensus. While it’s technically possible to detect the conditions people are browsing in and redirect them to specific sites, my advice is to go back to the research, pick a battle and win it. Choose the device or screen resolution that’s most popular and make sure your site is optimised for that experience.
Understanding how your customers will use your mobile site is also critical. Are they using their mobiles to purchase goods, check prices or simply looking for store information such as an address?
A tale of two sites
As an example let’s look at two very different mobile experiences, Amazon and eBay. Amazon knows the vast majority of customers come to its site to browse then purchase, and the decision-making process often isn’t made until the user is on the site. This is reflected in the design and layout where immediate, uncluttered access is given to products and product categories. There is clever use of recommended goods based on previous purchases and clear calls to action. The whole experience is about browsing quickly and efficiently and then making it easy to purchase.
eBay is a little different. Unlike the typical Amazon user, eBay customers generally come to the site already knowing what they are looking for. This is reflected in the site design as its search features are central to the user experience. There is very little product on display until you have at least entered some core information, but the whole process is very sleek.
Both Amazon and eBay have done their research into their user base and the results are impeccable. Interestingly, both are reporting mobile commerce as their biggest growing market.
Mcommerce is on the rise and to understand who, what and how, you need to do your research. Think like your customers. Put together an action plan. What are you waiting for?
Productivity Tips for Nomads
Posted by: benjamindyer on: March 1, 2010
In the old days life was fairly simple. You had a place of work; which probably had a desk and all the essential office equipment: desktop computer, phone, calculator, Spice Girls calendar, etc. However, roll forward a few years and its amazing how that model has changed. Thanks to technology and a certain amount of liberalisation, most people can work anywhere.
I am one of those people. Armed with my laptop, 3G stick and mobile phone I tend to work wherever and whenever it suits, on the train, in the office or at home.
However there is a disadvantage to this nomadic lifestyle; keeping everything in sync can be difficult. Having a process is essential otherwise things fall through the gaps, and quickly.
While I haven’t perfected it, here are my three essential productivity tips for nomads:
1. In-box zero
After years of fighting, this has become a bit of a revelation to me.
The principle is simple; the only things in your inbox should be the things that need your attention. To achieve this you need to learn to love your delete button. Like me I am sure you get tons of email and most of it, including (shock horror) things from colleagues only need our attention for a short space of time. My mantra is read, action, delete, or file if you think it might be important.
2. Task lists
I have started to become really obsessive about task lists; there is nothing worse than forgetting to do something. Use Post-it notes, scraps of paper, some smart software, whatever works for you, but it is essential to keep a list. However here is the thing most people forget, for a list to be useful you have to look at it regularly!
Personally I consider myself in the upper echelons of the world’s note takers; I have ‘to-do’ lists everywhere. However I am terrible at reviewing them. To solve my conundrum I turned to Google Tasks. It works well for me and basically annoys me into submission.
3. Presence
Most of us work in some sort of team and there is nothing more frustrating than a team member going AWOL. My third tip is about presence. Set up a simple way of letting everyone communicate their availability. At Actinic we tend to live in Skype chat, so there is always a constant stream of information going between the team members, but we also use an internal message board for keeping each other updated. Why not try something as simple as an open diary allowing people to log their week?
While all of these tips may sound obvious, keeping all the plates spinning can be difficult. As nomads, our effectiveness in these areas defines us to our colleagues. While some of us are fastidiously organised, there are just as many of us that would forget our head if it wasn’t screwed on. There are lots of ways of achieving the three points above so I recommend finding something that works and sticking to it.
What works for you?
5 Marketing Disasters
Posted by: benjamindyer on: February 26, 2010
In our media savvy age, advertising, marketing and brand strategies have become so ingrained into our culture, that I would argue there is no better barometer of public mood or confidence. I am sure we can all name a TV advert instantly. However, for every well executed marketing campaign there is probably an equally memorable disaster.
In this article I want to look at the top five marketing disasters that have caught my eye. I’m sure that you have your own favourites and I will look forward to hearing about them in your comments.
Viral campaign fail: Starbucks
A confession, I am a huge Starbucks fan. It’s almost bordering on obsessive so it pains me to put my favourite brand into my top five marketing disasters’ list. Unfortunately, it’s justified.
Back in the heady days of 2002 the coffee giant quickly learnt that viral marketing campaigns can back fire, and spectacularly. Starbucks issued a free coffee coupon via email to a few of its staff. The suggestion was that they “mail it to a friend”. It turns out on the internet we are all friends. Several coupon boards and photocopiers later Starbucks were in trouble.
One Starbucks employee described the scene at her local store as “utter murder”. Coffee shops all over the world were literally besieged with customers claiming their essential Venti House Blend. Unfortunately for Starbucks the voucher omitted an expiry date. A few days later they had to issue numerous statements that they would no longer honour the deal.
Starbucks of all people should have known that getting in the way of someone’s first cup of Jo in the morning is a dangerous sport. The company were not only heavily criticised, one angry customer even tried to sue Starbucks for over $100m. The real winners were the enterprising competitors such as Café Nero that opened their doors to disgruntled Starbucks fans by honouring the coupon, but only for a day.
Product placement fail: James Bond, Die Another Day
A trip to the cinema is a golden opportunity for advertisers. In the old days it started as soon as you walked into the foyer, extended into the 30 minutes of ads but stopped once the film commenced. These days however the movie itself has become the platform for advertising, known as “product placement”. Some brands even offer up to half of the production cost to make sure the hero swigs from their particular brand of cola while saving the world. I have no problem with it… when it’s subtle. In the case of the less than brilliant Bond film “Die Another Day” it was completely over the top.
Bond movies have always been about material objects, the car, the watch and the gadget. However, in Die Another Day it went into intergalactic warp drive. By the end of the movie I knew which brand of Vodka went into the Vodka Martini; what life is like in BA first class; and how the perfect sweeping second hand of an Omega Seamaster could win the Oscar for best supporting actor. I would like to say that it ruined the movie but the acting, direction and script take that particular plaudit. However it felt like an exercise in brainwashing. Critics branded the movie “Buy Another Day”. It wasn’t MGM’s finest hour.
Ad fail: MPAA, Movie Piracy
The anti-piracy lobby makes my list for being so out of touch with its audience it’s laughable.
It’s targeting the wrong people, as if you’re seeing the ad you probably rented or bought the movie. In addition, it must be the single most irritating thing that an industry has inflicted on its own paying customers. If I previously thought piracy was wrong, I had second thoughts after watching their ad, with skip disabled, for the two hundredth time. The only good news is the genius of the parody videos.
TV appearance fail: Bill Gates, Windows 98
In my book there are two golden rules of television appearances. The first is to have a compelling reason to be there, the second, if you are selling the virtues of a product, is to be sure that it works. Poor old Bill Gates failed on both counts during the launch of Windows 98:
Bill looked uncomfortable in the first place but his discomfort got worse as his flagship software product crashed live on TV and the whole world got to see what a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) looks like. It could have all been laughed off, but the real-life experience for millions was of the same blue screen.
Microsoft doesn’t really have a great TV track record:
Spokesman fail: Brylcreem and David Beckham
Sometimes when brands need a little helping hand the answer can be found with celebrity endorsement. The logic is sound; we live in a celebrity obsessed age and success by association can definitely work. Sadly as many brands have discovered, celebrities are a fickle bunch. Just ask Tiger Woods’ sponsors.
My final example of how brands can get it wrong, goes to Brylcreem and its man of the hour, David Beckham. All the ingredients were in place for a happy marriage. Brylcreem as a brand was stagnant, its products generally associated with WW2 fighter pilots and anyone else over the age of 70 that had managed to cling onto their hair. Golden Balls on the other hand was on the way to the top, and the number one male icon in Brylcreem’s target market. To make things even better, his hair was an even hotter topic than his football.
Sadly the marriage didn’t even last a year. To sell the product, the single pre-requisite required Beckham to have some hair, which he had decided, very publically, to shave off. Brylcreem were in trouble. The advertising campaign had just got into gear, the company was stuck with pre-bought air time, and to make matters worse every kid in the country was following Beck’s advice and opting for the more streamlined look.
Conclusion
It took me a long time to distill this list. The problem is there are far too many examples of brands getting it wrong. During research for this article I asked the question on Twitter “what is the worst advert on tv?”. I had over 100 replies, each one with a different answer. However, it did strike me that the bad campaigns were often the ones that we best remember. So one final thought. Is an awful marketing campaign such a bad thing, or is it true that the only worse thing than being talked about is not being talked about?
