Imaginary Landscape Buzz

Marketing trumps user experience, again

2010-03-16T10:45:00.005-05:00

I was recently searching for a new dehumidifier since our old one stopped working. I finally settled on one from a local appliance store, Abt.

For those unaware, Abt has been a Chicagoland staple for many years. People will travel distances in order to shop there. I have bought many appliances there over the years. I like the store.

I'I find my dehumidifier on their Web site. Delivery is free, which was unexpected and nice - no need to go to the store. And so I go about ordering.

I'm not a big fan of registering on sites, unless there is a clear value for me to do so. I have so many user names and passwords to track and I try not to add to that list. As a result, when I make online purchases from a vendor infrequently - like Abt - I prefer to do so without registering.

Abt, it turns out, doesn't allow that.

After I select a dehumidifier for purchase I am presented with a login screen that contains the following option:

I admit I didn't actually read the second sentence, only the first. But, as I reread it now, the wording is confusing. However, my scanning eyes skipped it and away I went through the purchase funnel.

Eventually I reach the money page:

Entering the credit card information is easy enough and as expected. The problems begin with the Billing Information. I checked the box to use my previously entered Shipping Address as my Bill To Address, but why isn't it showing? Is "Bill To Address" the same as "Billing Information"? Are these fields actually required if I checked the box?

Moving down the screen, it asks for and requires "Phone Number" and provides some helpful microtext to explain what the number is, but not why it is needed. It then asks for Daytime Number and explains that both numbers will help them process the order and may be needed for delivery.

I certainly want my order to be processed. How will a Daytime Number help with that? What if the numbers are the same, will that hinder the processing of my order? How might it be needed for delivery? Should I give my cell phone here?

The form requires me to add an email address. Why? Is it for shipping notifications? What if I don't want to be notified? They don't require an email address when I go to into the store.

The form then requires a Password. When you click on the Help icon it offers friendly advice like,

If you are a new customer, create a password here so you can:
Checkout faster on future visits
View your order history
Track your order through our website

But I don't order enough for the first two to matter and I trust that my purchase will arrive just fine without me stalking it.

The help text is trying to convince me to make a decision that the company has already made for me. I try to proceed without adding a password, but it fails. It would seem I must register or abandon my cart.

I don't want to abandon my cart, but now I'm wondering what it means to "checkout faster on future visits." Does that mean they are keeping my credit card information on file? Certainly it means they are tracking me and my information in a way that I neither need nor want. And there is no online ability to un-register.

All I wanted to do is buy a dehumidifier. I shouldn't need to drive to the store to do so anonymously.

I sent the following email to Abt customer service:

Date: Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 1:09 PM
Subject: Comment about the online purchase experience
To: customerservice@abt.com

Dear Abt,

I would like to call your attention to an aspect of the online
purchase that was problematic for me. Specifically, I think requiring
a customer to create an account is inappropriate and probably causes
customers to bleed away at the point of purchase.

The checkout process begins with the following:

"You don't need to have an account to check out - just click "Continue
Checkout." An account will be created once your order is complete."

But what if I don't want to create an account? I think you should
allow me that option. For me, it's another account and another
password I must track. It is personal information that you now retain
indefinitely. All this for your marketing benefit, not mine.

All I want to do is purchase an item from you. As an organization
that prides itself on customer service, you should rethink this
requirement.

Brian Moloney

To which I immediately received the following robo-response:

From: customerservice@abt.com
Date: Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 1:10 PM
Subject: Auto: Comment about the online purchase experience

Thanks for contacting the Abt online customer service department.

Your email message is important to us and is currently being processed.

You should receive a personal response within 24 hours.

48 hours and counting. No response.

Funny call-in from a direct mail piece

2010-02-25T16:23:00.002-06:00

Last fall, I wrote an article for Forum magazine, published by the Association Forum of Chicagoland. Since that time we've been chugging through a couple direct mail campaign to local associations to extend that exposure.

One of the campaigns was a series of illustrated greeting cards with a humorous tone. The most recent features an illustration of someone shouting from the top of a building:

"Okay, Web team ... your 4-minute lunch break is over. Now back to your cubes! And no stopping at the bathroom, Bernie!"

Lo and behold, I just received a call from someone named Bernie who works at a local association.

"Yeah, so I've been getting a bunch of people bringing this card into my office and giving me strange looks."

Apparently, several of his co-workers who received the mailing thought it funny that I would call him out personally for his bathroom habits.

"So, is this some kind of personalization?"

After we both had a laugh, I assured him that it wasn't targeted specifically to him and that the name Bernie was coincidental.

Not exactly the type of call-in I'd hoped for from the mailing, but it gave me a good afternoon laugh.

Bernie too.

It's America's Cup time

2010-02-03T13:14:00.002-06:00

A couple months ago, I wrote about the current state of the America's Cup yacht race. Since that time, the process has been moving forward, closer and closer to an actual racing event. That event is now upon us.

Most of the past couple months - really most of the past couple years - have been immersed in legal battle after legal battle. Rich folk with too much time and money on their hands. For anyone paying attention, the process has damaged this once unique sporting event.

After numerous legal battles, the starting gun will fire at approximately 3:00am Central time on Monday, maybe. I say maybe because the starting date, starting time and starting weather conditions have all been subject to legal proceedings. It is a best-of-three-race regatta.

So, what networks are covering the race? What should you point your TiVo to? Nothing. As of today, there is no broadcast partner in the US.

The race will be streamed live on americascup.com. In addition, it will appear on espn360.com. I'm not familiar with ESPN360, but it appears to be some online hub for the online broadcast of obscure sporting events. It's free to use if your cable provider is on their list. I use Comcast, and it is on their blessed list, but there were instructions about using my Comcast login and I lost interest in further pursuit.

On the quality of coverage, cupinfo com offers the following:

Given the two to three race nature of the match, and current economic conditions, it is hard to speculate on the degree of investment that a broadcaster might make to provide coverage, or how the scope of the production might compare to previous America's Cup regattas.

So, even if you are able to view it, the coverage will suck. Great.

The whole thing is so unfortunate. Pathetic, really. This pissy legal tug-of-war is the very worst of the sport. It fulfills everyone's caricature of the super-wealthy, ascot-wearing, litigious yacht club folks. (Although my dark humor side got a chuckle out of the legal proceedings surrounding the use of friction-reducing fluids and whether they can be released into the water to help increase speed).

I think the America's Cup should be retired, the Deed of Gift put in a museum. (This is the original 19th century governing document of the race, quaint by today's standards and drafted in a more gentlemanly time). Instead, there should emerge a new regatta to take its place. One where the rules are modern, one that includes more than two boats at a time (because match races are boring to watch). One that is accessible to less affluent participants.

In short, pretty much any regatta held at pretty much any harbor or yacht club around the world. Really, anything is better than the current America's Cup, sometimes described as the "pinnacle" of the sport.

More the abyss, I think.

How cool is this?

2010-02-02T10:04:00.003-06:00

Recently I read that the current group of astronauts occupying the the International Space Station is direct Tweeting. Specifically Colonel T.J. Creamer is floating around up there and Tweeting when he can.

This morning as the Moloney family went through our get-ready-for-school/work routine, I was checking my Twitter feed. My 6 year old was over my shoulder and saw a Tweet from Colonel Creamer. Drawn by the NASA logo he asked, "What's that?"

I explained that Colonel Creamer was up in space inside the International Space Station. Because NOVA is an "allowed" television program at our house, Ian knows about the ISS.

"He's up there right now?"

"Yes."

"That's cool."

"Yes it is. Would you like to ask him a question?"

"Really?"

"Sure, why not?"

After a couple false starts, Ian said, "Ask if space is like riding a roller coaster."

Brian_Moloney @Astro_TJ My 6 year old Ian thinks it's "cool" that you Tweet from space. Wondered if zero gravity feels like going down a roller coaster.

Then it was time for school. I cautioned Ian that Colonel Creamer has thousands of followers and probably wouldn't have the time to reply.

But, then I returned home from drop off to this:

Astro_TJ @Brian_Moloney Say hi to Ian for me & if the roller coaster is going down fast enough, then yes, a little bit like that.

How cool is that? I want to print it out, run back to his school and hand it to him right now! But, it will have to wait until this afternoon.

Technology rocks (You too, TJ)!

Weighing in on the great New Trier debate

2010-01-21T15:04:00.004-06:00

An item of very little interest outside of my home town is the upcoming vote on whether to spend $174 million to renovate the local high school. I’m a proud alumnus of New Trier Township High School, class of 1983. As such I have fond memories of the place. And now that I am fortunate enough to once again live in the district, I am excited at the prospect of sharing an alma mater with my children.

I confess to paying little attention to the matter so far. However as the election season heats up, I’m beginning to get robo-calls about renovation of the school. The pro-renovation crowd is vocal and tends towards the dramatic - if you’re not in favor of this you are against educating our children, against apple pie and the like. Besides, they say, it will only add $250 or so to your $10,000 tax bill.

My mom remembers when the district built the West campus in 1965 in response to high enrollment rates. Then, she reminisces, a vote against West was a vote against educating our children and apple pie. Same then. Same now.

Of course West closed in 1981, just 16 years after it opened. I wonder if someone involved in the process back then ever said, “Hey you know, judging by district birthrates, this campus will be obsolete in 16 years.” If so, I wonder if they ever found the body. But I digress.

And so I am receiving input about this issue – from phone calls, letters and yard signs. But I don’t have a real feel for the issue. I would like a place to go for an evenhanded accounting of both sides. So I turn to the Pioneer Press.

[begin Pioneer Press rant]

It’s hard for me to say this – I wrote for the Pioneer Press for many years – but it disappoints in this regard. The New Trier referendum is shaping up to be a pretty major vote (you know, educating our children, apple pie). Don’t you think the Pioneer Press would offer a guide or an easily accessible index of articles? Nothing of the kind.

On the Wilmette Life homepage today, I get this:

Top Story – Wilmette Resident Recounts Quake Horror. Granted, this is a good story, a local angle on the Haiti disaster. Then I look at the News column.

Facility looks to raise funds with casino night
Mount St. Joseph, a 132-bed intermediate care facility in Lake Zurich, is holding a casino night Feb. 20 at Millrose Restaurant Banquets & Country Store in South Barrington to try to garner funds for building renovations.

Scanning the other small-print headlines:

Kildeer officer receives laurels from the FBI
Two charged in thefts of gutters in Wilmette
Wilmette resident recounts quake's horror
St. Francis marks school milestone
Big ticket items included in new spending plan
O'Neil's Sunnyside-Up Kobe Burger sizzles
Guest Essay: Presidents weigh in on New Trier
Endorsements: Keats for county president
Endorsements: Preckwinkle for president

Community Updates

Haiti Build-A-Thon at French Institute
Sacred Heart families enjoy movie night

The only item related to the renovation is a Guest Essay, a full-page pro-renovation advertisement masked as news. Very disappointing.

[end_rant]

Back to the issue at hand, I lean slightly in favor of the vote. Mostly because I have young children and they will be the beneficiaries of the new facilities. I asked my wife, who leans slightly towards opposing the referendum.

“I went to high school in Connecticut at a school that didn’t have 1/20th of the resources or facilities of New Trier and I received an excellent education. New Trier will remain an excellent place to receive an education, whether or not the basketball court is replaced.”

Of course there is more to the renovation than a new basketball court, but the gist remains. Pro renovators want the quality of education tethered to the container.

In a feeble attempt to take the opposing argument, I say, “But it will only cost around $250 for each $10,000 tax bill.”

She looks at me like my head just morphed into a donkey’s. Even as I said it, I felt ass-ish.

“So that’s your argument? We pay high property taxes so what’s a couple hundred dollars more?”

Well, if you put it like that…

Now I’m leaning slightly against the referendum, but still uninformed. I don’t fully trust the partisan arguments of the entrenched. I’m also not interested in spending a lot of time hunting down the issue.

Here's an idea: How about we tear down East and subdivide it into residential housing – some of the most expensive residential housing in the country. Then take all that money and pour it into West to make it the single district high school location. Because it’s about the education and not nostalgia, right? (btw, I have no idea whether this is a feasible idea nor do I know if it was considered).

Regardless of the vote, I will remain a committed fan and forever shout “Go Indians!” (because I still don’t know what the hell a Trevian is).

Lunch tip awkwardness

2010-01-06T14:29:00.003-06:00

Fresh start to a new year and a fresh rant.

I had lunch recently at a quirky pizza place called Barnaby's in Northbrook. It's quirky because it is a sit-down restaurant that requires two separate transactions in order to eat.

First you have to go up to the food counter and give your order and pay. Second, you have to go up to the bar to order beverages and pay there as well. Sometimes there is a wait at both. When your order is ready, your number is announced over the PA and you go fetch your food.

My rant relates to paying by credit card. When your credit card is processed, they hand you the receipt for signature like every place. However, this particular receipt was only subtotaled with an expectant tip and total line left blank. This tip line was unexpected and nearly went unnoticed.

Look, I'm all for tipping wait staff for, you know, waiting on me. But in the case of Barnaby's I walked up to order twice, paid twice and walked up to gather and deliver my own meal twice. I'm pretty sure I earned the tip.

The real problem with the tip line is that it requires an awkward action to not tip. You can't leave the receipt with a blank tip and total line - not unless you want to fund a night out for the cook staff. So standing there at the register, in front of the cashier and with people in line behind me, I have to make a quick decision. That decision is to put a big zero in the tip line and copy the subtotal to the total line.

And for some reason it feels somewhat - I don't know, cheap? - to put zero in the tip line. I'm so used to tipping that it makes me think I'm being a jerk for not. Granted it is only a momentary and passing thought, but I resent it all the same. Perhaps the establishment counts on those less jerky than me to turn that awkward moment into some fast cash.

I've seen this phenomenon and a few self-serve and carry-out places and I find it inappropriate. A quick search for "carry out tip" on Google produced a maelstrom of passionate opinions. Some say absolutely not, some say absolutely. Some say 5%-10%, some say it's depends on the restaurant. There is no consensus.

My suggestion is to remove the tip line from the receipt and put a tip jar next to the register. Then if I want to, I can drop some cash in without awkwardness.

Do you hear me, Barnaby's?

A great ecommerce confirmation message

2009-12-17T09:23:00.004-06:00

It's the bottom of the 9th for online shopping. Even though we've been buying stuff for the past three weeks, it's still crunch time.

One of the items on our list was a silly kids music CD. We had borrowed it from the library and the kids listened to it...over and over and over again. I was thrilled when it was time to return it. However, they really wanted one of their very own for Christmas. Alas, the sacrifices of parenthood.

And so, we are the proud owners of The Hobo Nickels: Cooper County, purchased from CD Baby. Upon purchase, CD Baby sent the following confirmation email:

From: CD Baby Loves You <orders@cdbaby.com>
Subject: Your CD Baby Order!
Thanks for your order with CD Baby!
The Hobo Nickels: Cooper County
Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow. A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing. Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, December 16, 2009.
We hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. In commemoration, we have placed your picture on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Sigh...We miss you already. We'll be right here at http://cdbaby.com/, patiently awaiting your return.
--CD Baby, The little store with the best new independent music.

It's fun and silly and made me laugh. So often, email confirmation messages are formulaic and uninspired. This confirmation email is a great example of using this "free customer touch" as an opportunity to reinforce brand and voice.

chicagodjango.com: lots of fun to make

2009-11-03T13:47:00.003-06:00

Today, Imaginary Landscape launched chicagodjango.com. This is a microsite that allows us to promote our use of a specific Web development technology. Specifically, the Python programming language and the Django Web development framework.

Granted, the idea of a technology microsite isn't really a barrel-of-monkeys kind of thing, but we have had a ton of fun with it. The reason? Mascots.

The mascot for Python is, as you might guess, a snake. The mascot for Django is a pink winged pony.

Really.

With the specific purpose of having fun, I sifted through the Web in search of two stuffed animals - a stuffed python snake and a stuffed pink winged pony. Of course, I found plenty. One I bought through Amazon and the other through a purveyor of stuffed animals.

[Of note - I may have to create a new Amazon account. The purchase of a pretty pink pony really messed up their suggestion engine.]

Besides providing some design levity to the new site, we plan on creating a series of photo galleries with Python and Pony candids throughout Chicago and elsewhere. Staff has already requested to "borrow" them for road trips.

Besides the travels of Python and Pony, the site provides a canvas for us to dig deeper into the technology side of the Web - more so that we can within our general site. In the coming months we will be using it to discuss our use of these technologies and how they can benefit clients.

If you have a minute, drop by chicagodjango.com.

Online fraud protection goes to Sillytown

2009-10-21T16:33:00.006-05:00

Imaginary is sending out a large marketing mailing. We have hundreds of small boxes being sent first class mail. Since we do not have a postage machine and I did not want to affix 4 separate postage stamps to each box, I signed up with Stamps.com.

The account requires a credit card in order to pre-purchase postage, so I put down an American Express and proceeded to purchase about $900 in postage.

Stamps.com only allows accounts to hold $250 in total postage, so it required several purchase-print-purchase-print cycles to get all the postage I needed. I started with $100 and printed some postage. That worked, so I bought another $200 and printed some more. I then attempted to buy another $150 and was denied with the unhelpful message, "The charge was unsuccessful. Check your information and try again." I did and was denied again.

A couple minutes later I received the following email message:

Dear Brian,

We were not able to process the following transactions(s).
You may continue to print postage with the funds currently in
your account. Please follow the instructions below to process
your recent purchase.

DATE DESCRIPTION PAYMENT METHOD AMOUNT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10-21-2009 07:56 PDT the credit card charge is refused American Express $150.00

Your payment was not authorized by your issuing bank, and
Stamps.com was not able to charge your credit card. Please
contact your credit card service or bank, and confirm the
following:

- The credit card is activated and in good standing.
- Adequate credit is available on the account for this transaction.
- The account does not have an Internet or phone order block.
- Non-travel related transactions are allowed on the account.
- The bank does not request voice authorizations for any Stamps.com
transactions.

The email indicated that AmEx denied the purchase. I figured that AmEx saw a series of online charges in rapid succession and activated some safeguard. I called, spent some time on hold and finally reached a human.

"There is no hold on your account. We only received two charges from Stamps.com and approved them both."

I was confused, since the email clearly stated it was a problem with my credit card. I called Stamps.com customer service, spent some more time on hold and finally reached a human.

Stamps.com did indeed put a lock on my account because my account was new and the charges were large and in rapid succession. After I verified myself, they happily removed the lock.

I thought I would be helpful and let them know that their notification email was wrong and should be corrected. That's when the world turned upside down.

They said the error was on purpose.

"Our email message specifically points to the credit card company, even though the lock came from us. In the case of a stolen card, this message gives the impression that the card is no longer useful, causing a thief to stop using it. If we had communicated that the lock came from us, a thief would know the card was still valid and continue to use it elsewhere. We apologize for the confusion, but it is for your protection."

This is both flawed and irritating. It is flawed because in order to truly protect me, a thief must have stolen both my credit card as well as the email account that received the notice. It is irritating because it specifically, and with pre-meditation, sent me on a wild goose chase.

A wag of my finger to you, Stamps.com.

Predicting Internet addiction in adolescents

2009-10-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

The October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. a publication from the American Medical Association, contains an article entitled, Psychiatric Symptoms May Predict Internet Addiction in Adolescents. In it, the authors contend that adolescents with certain pre-existing psychiatric symptoms are predisposed to develop an addiction to the Internet.

The pre-existing psychiatric symptoms include social phobia, hostility, depression and ADHD.

The authors conducted a study of 2,293 Taiwanese seventh graders to determine the predictive value of these psychiatric symptoms in Internet addiction. Not surprisingly, the study concluded that these symptoms are indeed predictors (the study discovered that hostility and ADHD were most significant).

In an accompanying editorial, two US-based researchers contend that Internet addiction may in fact be a 21st century epidemic.

This seems to be somewhat alarmist. Internet addiction is not a recognized psychiatric disorder, as measured by inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Nor is it clear exactly what it is, other than excessive and inappropriate use of the Internet. According to the Internet Addiction Disorder entry in Wikipedia, it has subgroups that include excessive viewing of pornography, excessive online gaming, blogging, shopping, and inappropriate social networking.

Digging deeper, I found the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, online of course. It has a 20-question Internet Addiction Test to check your very own addiction level. I chuckled at several questions and laughed out loud at this one:

"How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing thoughts of the Internet?"

(Mmmm...soothing Internet...)

Happy to report that the results of my test show that I am an average user with "control over my usage."

As someone who is immersed in the Internet and Web, I don't hold much stock in IAD (the spiffy three-letter acronym for Internet Addiction Disorder). It might be a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder, who knows. I just don't think it warrants its own TLA (three-letter acronym).

I gotta go. The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery has 6 additional tests that I must take.

RIGHT NOW.

Stark example of poor user interaction

2009-09-25T15:07:00.000-05:00

Today, I was searching for a specific product which I found on eBay. I confess to not using eBay very often - in fact I don't remember when I last used it, but it has been many years.

And so, I proceeded through the purchase process. The site gave me the option of logging in or buying as a guest. I chose the latter, since I have no idea what my login credentials are.

I went through the purchase process and into the checkout process when the site presented me the following error message:

"This email address is already registered on eBay. You may have registered on eBay with this email address or if you share an email account with someone, they may have registered on eBay using your shared email address."

That was it. No suggestion, no path, nothing. The error message was patently unhelpful by presenting a circular argument (this email is already registered because you - or someone else - has registered it).

In this case, one or two suggestions would have been really helpful. Such as:

"This email address is already registered on eBay. You can try another email address or click here to login. If you don't remember your username or password, you can click here to retrieve them."

I ended up abandoning the checkout path, navigating my way back to the main eBay page and hitting the forgot login link. Which led me to the reset password link.

I was able to log in and find the item again, but this time I received an "account locked due to inactivity" message. This required me to initiate a robocall to the phone number they had on file for me, which was outdated. Again I abandoned the purchase path and went to update the account information and then go back through the robocall process to retrieve a PIN to enter and complete the unlocking procedure.

Then I found the item for the third time and was able to finally purchase it.

So, that's 25 minutes I'll never get back. But it is a good example of poor user interaction. Even the big guys drop the ball.

On cell phones and riding the Metra

2009-09-24T19:15:00.000-05:00

Occasionally, I take the Metra to work. Earlier this week, something curious happened when I rode the train home.

Now, if you've ever ridden the Metra, it's nice but it ain't no library. The air is full of commuting sounds. There are the friends and co-workers having lively conversations. There are the occasional poker games. There are the machinery sounds of doors opening and closing, steam-powered brakes and the incessant clanging of that bell. There's the conductor floating through the car requesting and issuing tickets (and looking suspicious when I say the other conductor already punched my 10-ride card).

Mixed in with this clamor are the cell phone conversations. In this tapestry of sounds, they are not particularly bothersome to me, but man, they certainly are to others.

Case in point, there was a gentleman who received a call across the aisle from me. He was somewhat of a loud talker and his conversation lasted several minutes. Had I been interested, I might have been able to pick out a sentence or two above the din.

As the train pulled into the next station and people began gathering their belongings and lining up, someone passed by the gentleman and loudly (and quite rudely) yelled, "Hey, thanks a lot for sharing your God damn phone call with us." I found this to be far more disruptive than the offending call.

And so, to the guy who got his boxers so knotted up that he felt the need to make a scene and yell at the "rude" caller, I say this:

"Lighten up, Francis."

A small example of viral Twitter

2009-09-11T13:42:00.000-05:00

Last year I was reading through a variety of industry writings and came upon the widely-held assertion that "less is more" when it comes to Web-based forms. Specifically, how requiring users to fill out many form fields results in less submissions.

However, I was unable to find any data to support this. It seemed like a fairly easy thing to test, so I decided to test it on our Web site.

At the time, the Imaginary Landscape contact form was 11-fields long. It was filled with fields that I did not need but instead just wanted. Fields like Fax Number and How Did You Hear About Us?, Street Address and so on.

So, I tamped down my marketing instinct to ask everything and looked at what was necessary within the context of a contact form.

This reduced the number of fields from 11 to 4.

I replaced the large with the small form and tracked the difference using Google Analytics. The results were interesting, if predictable, and fairly scientific. I wrote up the process as well as the results in a spiffy white paper and plopped it in our online Library.

Fast forward to last week. Germany-based Web development magazine Smashing Magazine announced on their Twitter account that they were looking for content and if anyone had something that might be interesting to their audience would they please email it to them.

So I emailed the white paper. They didn't appear interested in publishing it in their magazine, however they offered to tweet it out as one of their many daily tweets about things Web related.

The white paper existed only as a PDF within our online Library. So I quickly transformed it into a Web page (including a link to the PDF version), sent the link along to Smashing Magazine with a "thanks for posting."

Last Friday morning, Smashing Magazine tweeted the following:

Fewer fields in a contact form
sharply increases conversions
- http://bit.ly/3lwPxQ

At the time, Smashing Magazine's Twitter account had 69,485 followers, which in itself was cool. Then the retweets started.

There have been 51 retweets, some with brief editorial comments. Some of my favorites include, "amen brotha" and "das sage ich meinenm chef schon so lange" which translates into something like, "I've been telling my boss this for years."

The retweets add another 18,981 combined followers, bringing the total to 88,466. Retweeters came from throughout the US as well as Venezuela, Belfast, Budapest, New Zealand, UK and Finland.

There has been a predictable spike in traffic to the Library, to the tune of 1,980% increase comparing the week prior to the week of the tweet.

So, in the span of a couple days and with about 20 minutes work, I've put relevant content along with Imaginary's name in front of a potential audience of nearly 90,000 people worldwide and brought many (many) people into our Web site.

Now, if they'd just fill out a contact form!

Django/Python as the basis for a new market

2009-09-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

As a company, Imaginary Landscape has had great success aligning ourselves with industry verticals such as hospitals and associations and financial institutions. Although we have been deeply involved with the technology side, most clients - quite frankly - couldn't care less about the technology. They want their Web site to do certain things and look a certain way. Whether that means a SQL or Access database didn't matter. Open source or Microsoft...whatever, just make sure the site does what it's supposed to. For most clients, the purchase decision for Web comes from marketing and their focus is more on the ends than the means.

Recently, we have increased our visibility on the technology side. For the past two years, we have sponsored PyCon - the largest conference dedicated to the programming language we use to create Web sites - Python. This year, we are sponsoring DjangoCon, dedicated to the popular Python-based framework that focuses on Web development.

Our goals in sponsoring were three-fold. One was to demonstrate our continued support of the open source community. Second was to search for talent. Third was to experiment using tech-to-tech as a marketing strategy.

The tech-to-tech marketing strategy was a bit of a stretch, but we believe the decision and evaluation pendulum is swinging back towards technology and we wanted to see how best to occupy that space. So, our message at the past two PyCons was:

"Because it's better when your Web site speaks your language."

During the events themselves, this message was met with indifference. But slowly, we began to get inquiries about our Python and Django expertise. I layered on an AdWords program and we got some more. Many were kicking tires, but in the past 6 months we have signed two large and one small client based solely on this platform of technology.

It's not a watershed, but it is worthy of strong consideration. How might we position ourselves within this technology market as a go-to organization? What is the best scenario for this book of services? Who is the buyer? What do they need?

As DjangoCon 2009 comes to a close, we are beginning to assemble a market profile for a new Imaginary practice area based upon the Django/Python technology stack. The profile is encouraging and includes the following parameters:

Organizations that are currently using Django/Python are philosophically similar to us in that they are strongly open source.

They have an established IT department with strong technical leadership.

Much as they might want their own staff to work on new development, they have their hands full with the day-to-day.

They have considered - possibly even contracted with - a freelancer and have been concerned about response, quality or timeliness.

As our latest group of clients has demonstrated, there is need for an organization like ours to supplement and extend the technology already in place. How large that market may be is yet to be determined. But with the increasing popularity of Django and Python, it is growing.

Hey, even NASA is using it. [insert rocket scientist joke here]

Keeping the children safe from tyranny

2009-09-08T13:19:00.000-05:00

Silly time.

There has been an assault to the senses of late - especially common sense - as it relates to political attacks. Here are a couple instances where this assault has crossed my path this past weekend.

This business about boycotting the president's speech to school children seems especially silly. That his words will somehow indoctrinate children into...well, I don't know what...perhaps the evil Democratic party. I've seem my share of mothers quoted and interviewed widely across the press on how they will pull their children out of school rather than subject them to such mind-bending rhetoric.

Twice in the past few days I received email letters from our school district. Each one was super careful to be completely non-offensive and cater to everyone's needs. The last one started, "We have been reflecting heavily as a leadership team..." It left me wondering how much administrative staff time went into this reflective time and carefully parsed prose.

Succumbing to political pressure, the Obama administration pre-released the text of the speech yesterday and I read it. Do your homework. Set goals for yourself. Don't quit. Listen to your parents and teachers. The future is bright.

Such inflammatory rhetoric. Let me be the first to "indoctrinate" my kids into that.

On Sunday, we stopped by Treasure Island in Wilmette for hot dog buns. There on the sidewalk outside the store were two people with signs and pamphlets. I didn't think much of it until I read the sign, which was something like, "Stop Obama's Nazi Healthcare Plan." I was bemused by the incendiary nature of the sign and then laughed out loud when I read the fine print containing the name Lyndon LaRouche. That's who is representing the opposition outside the Treasure Island. It would be hard to fine a bigger whack-a-doodle.

Then there are the email chains. One from a friend who blasted it out to his entire address list. The one with 48 statements of fact about the health bill (factcheck.org reports only 4 are factual). Another email forwarded to me (and an address list full of people) is about how the president referred to wounded veterans as whiny and they should pay their own healthcare costs. Again, completely fabricated.

All this silliness has a serious side effect. These waves of spectacularly false statements and offensive imagery is drowning out any reasoned argument that might exist. All that I'm seeing is the buffoonery of the crazies.

I guess it makes for better TV.

Anyone remember the America's Cup?

2009-08-05T12:21:00.000-05:00

It was back in 1983 - a full 26 years ago - that Dennis Connor did the unthinkable and lost the cup. On a whim, fledgling ESPN licensed a helicopter feed of that final race and saw ratings soar. ESPN televised the 1987 cup live from Australia to see if Connor could win it back (he did 4-0). Because of the time difference, bars were staying open all night to broadcast the races live. The popularity of the obscure sport and cable network soared.

And then, the lawyers took over.

After a laughable 1988 race in San Diego that pitted a large catamaran against a gigantic "dingy" that was prompted and challenged by lawsuits, the popularity of the sport plummeted. Because, really, who wants to see a group of fabulously wealthy brats spat over such things?

And now it's deja vu, all over again. After a flurry of recent lawsuits, here is the latest America's Cup Frankenstein:

Location
Ras Al Khaimah, one of the United Arab Emirates.

Field
After many legal wranglings initiated by team BMW Oracle, the cup will consist of a single defender (Alingi) and a single challenger (BMW Oracle).

Boats
New rules have eliminated most of the strict one design restrictions so Alingi will be using an enormous catamaran and BMW Oracle a similarly large trimaran.

Format
Three races only, tentatively set for March 2010, maybe.

It is such a shame that this grand event has been squandered by the elite. Imagine how a popular cup could increase interest in the sport and provide a shot in the arm for local sailing programs. Instead, we get this. I wonder if ESPN will bother.

Sad.

The arrogance of design

2009-08-04T10:19:00.000-05:00

Two small but irritating design issues have been reducing my limited capacity for irritation of late. Yesterday, the reservoir spilled over.

One of the irritations is part of my beloved TiVo unit. I have a Series One Tivo, nicely pimped by my friends at dvrupgrade.com. Now I have no complaints with the resilience of the unit itself - this unit has been a workhorse for many years.

My complaint is the lack of a power button, let alone a reset button. It's as if the original designers sat around a table saying, "our product is so good and so stable, we don't need to clutter it with a reset button."

I think of this every time my unit freezes. In order to reset it, I have to get on the floor and blindly reach into my entertainment center behind the unit for the power cord and gently nudge it out, but not so far that I lose track of where it goes back in. How easy it would have been to put a damn reset button on the front of the unit.

I have the same issue with my iPod. Again, no power button and no reset button. Again, my vision of designers patting themselves on the back saying, "this thing is so cool and so stable, it will never freeze up." In fact, the reboot procedure is so complicated that I had to save the instructions to my phone so that I can reference them. I have a protective cover on the unit as well, so I need to peel that back before I can execute the absurd process.

And so, about once a month I'm doing the blind TiVo powercord unplug/replug and once a month peeling back my iPod cover while referencing the reboot instruction on my phone - a three-handed process. Yesterday was one of those special days when I had to do both.

I'm left wondering what the designers were thinking. Did they really believe these two electronic devices wouldn't freeze? Could they be that dimwitted? Or, did they think their minimalist design was so cool and important that it simply couldn't support a small reset button?

Stupid or arrogant, take your pick.

Choose your Tweets (and landlord) wisely

2009-07-29T14:22:00.001-05:00

According to a Chicago Sun-Times article this week, a renter named Amanda Bonnen Tweeted some trash talk about her landlord:

"Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay."

This was mixed with an unremarkable stream of Tweets that included:

"All of these people eating McDonalds is making me want to hurl."
"I can tell I'm on the right flight for fort meyers, the average age tends to be about 70."
"We may not win games, but we ALWAYS win at drinking and looking damn good."

Mashable did a story that went into a little more detail, showing a screenshot of the now defunct Twitter account. Ms. Bonnen had 20 followers.

Horizon Group Management LLC, the landlord, filed a defamation lawsuit seeking $50,000 in damages from Ms. Bonnen. Mr. Jeffrey Michael of Horizon is quoted in the Sun-Times article saying, "The statements are obviously false, and it's our intention to prove that."

However, the best part was his response when asked why the company had not contacted Ms. Bonnen directly about the Tweet or asked her to take it down.

"We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization."

As one might imagine, that quote stirred up quite a storm. So much so that Mr. Michael turned it into a teaching moment with help from a PR firm.

"I would first like to take this opportunity to apologize for tongue and cheek comments that were made previously regarding our approach to litigation. This statement is not in line with our philosophy towards property management and was taken out of context."

I bet.

I suspect the bigger concern is the number of plaintiffs lining up to sue Ms. Bonner. McDonald's, the City of Fort Meyers, septuagenarians, ugly drunks. Perhaps the line is as long as those seeking an apartment from Horizon.

Perhaps longer.

Political influence in admissions? I'm shocked.

2009-07-27T15:49:00.001-05:00

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

This famous quote from the 1941 film Casablanca - uttered by Claude Rains' character Captain Renault just before being handed a pile of cash - is the kind of laughable outrage that continues to dog the University of Illinois. And I thought that Michael Jackson's death was the news story that won't stop, but it doesn't come close to this confection.

To wit, the Chicago Tribune provides a convenient "Watchdog Report" on its Web site that chronicles all their coverage on the subject. The first story listed - Clout goes to college - was published on May 29th. Since that day, the Tribune has published 43 stories about the topic. Forty-three.

I live and work in Illinois. I live and work in Cook County and I work in the City of Chicago. These are three of the most corrupt governments that exist, and the Tribune has chosen to flog this dead horse. And flog it. And flog it some more.

Is anyone really shocked by this? Anyone? Let me try to distill 43 feature articles into a couple sentences:

Should clout matter when it comes to admissions? No. Does it? Of course it does. Clout is the universal currency.

The Tribune reports, "Since 2005, about 800 undergraduate students have landed on the clout list for the Urbana-Champaign campus." That equates to roughly 200 per year. The Trib goes on to report that 77% of those clout listed were admitted (vs. 69% of the unclouted).

Applying the difference between 69% and 77% of the 200 on the clout list means about 16 undergraduate students got clouted in this year. The 2008-2009 undergraduate enrollment of the Urbana-Champaign campus was 31,181. I just now tried to calculate the percentage, but it is so small that my calculator reverted to scientific notation.

And so here's a question for all those outraged (and at this point I think that audience is limited to the Tribune newsroom). If your child was on the fringe of admittance and you knew a person of influence, what would you do?

Answer that question honestly and you might need to save some outrage for yourself.

Apple vs. Microsoft, Microsoft vs. Apple: It's just so tedious

2009-07-21T10:38:00.000-05:00

In an article from CNet News last week, it seems like someone at Apple called Microsoft COO Kevin Turner and asked him to stop running those nasty "Laptop Hunter" ads. You know, the ones where they give someone $1,000 and ask them to go into a Microsoft store to see what they can buy? This was a highlight of his keynote speech at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.

Anyhow, apparently someone from Apple's legal department called and told Mr. Turner to stop running the ads. "This is a true story," affirms Mr. Turner. I wonder if they also asked about Prince Albert in a can.

Another highlight of the speech was the announcement of Microsoft's plan to open retail shops located...wait for it...next to Apple retail stores. And it would seem that the tech world is most interested in what the Microsoft stores will look like.

I, for one, am tired of these geek spats reminiscent of a grammar school playground. So, I think everyone should just download the latest iPhone app and "improve your quality of life."

Keep masking passwords, for now

2009-07-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

I always find Jakob Nielsen's usability columns interesting. I rarely disagree with his mostly common sense approach, however I found myself at odds with a recent Alertbox column, entitled "Stop Password Masking."

In a nutshell, he believes the common practice of displaying dots or asterisks when typing in a password to be unnecessary and a usability problem. He says that it causes users to make more password entry errors since they can not visually verify what is being typed. I agree on both counts.

He says that because password entry errors are more likely, users therefore feel less confident. I disagree.

Password masking is pervasive. It is quite literally everywhere. I can't think of a single instance where a password isn't masked. It is because of this that I believe its absence will be jarring to users. Worse, it might lead a user to actually question the security of a Web site. In essence, the absence of masking would cause users to feel less confident.

He goes on to offer a compromise for scenarios where someone might actually be peering over your shoulder, by offering a checkbox choice to mask the password. I believe this is a poor compromise.

I am quite stingy when it comes to adding fields to a Web form. We did a study last year where we proved the conjecture that fewer fields leads to higher completion rates. Therefore, I strongly advise clients to remove all but the most necessary fields. Adding a checkbox alongside the password field flies in the face of this.

I am a big fan of the books "Don't Make Me Think" and "The Inmates Are Running the Asylum." Each talk about the importance of removing cognitive friction - ambiguities that cause you to stop, think and wonder. I believe the presence of a masking checkbox (and its associated label/description) would add cognitive friction to a form.

I do agree that password masking is a relic of the past and should eventually go away. However, in this case, our best recommendation is to keep masking in place for the time being.

Financial crisis? It's the University of Chicago's fault

2009-06-19T11:50:00.000-05:00

I was watching Chicago Tonight on PBS the other week and they had a segment about the current financial woes, featuring a professor from the University of Chicago.

It seems that the blame game has included the "Chicago School of Economics" which gained international acclaim largely thanks to Milton Friedman and his Nobel Prize. As summarized by the commentator, the Chicago School leans heavily towards free markets and away from regulation.

It is this philosophy that has come under fire - that the current banking and financial market fiasco was caused by too little regulation. That this demonstrates the Chicago School does not work.

The professor predictably disagreed, but his reasoning was quite interesting.

He pointed out that banking and financial services have historically been highly regulated. This high degree of regulation leads to excessive risk taking around the edges of the regulations. This excessive risk taking is what produced the exotic financial instruments at the core of the collapse.

I found myself thinking more and more about this and how it intersects with human nature and wonder if there is a deeper explanation.

In the absence of rules, individuals have no choice but to be guided by their own iternal compass of right and wrong. Does the presence of rules relieve individuals from having to make these right/wrong decisions?

Could it follow that if a specific rule prohibits an action, then the absence of that rule makes the action acceptable? Would this be exasberated in industries that are heavily regulated already?

Perhaps those in the financial services industry simply surrendered their right/wrong compass to the regulators and spent all their energy finding and exploiting the complex and unsustainable loopholes.

Ponder that all my fellow dime-store psychoeconomists.

An app in search of a name

2009-06-03T15:35:00.000-05:00

We have recently created a nice Web application that assists clients in building online forms. Most forms are simple tools and do not need to be custom crafted, just so long as they handle the back end properly. Forms are such a ubiquitous feature on Web sites that it becomes easy to forget that there can be some complicated maneuvers required under the hood. Because many of our clients handle sensitive information through their sites (hospitals, banks), we needed to layer in some simple-to-use yet industrial-strength security.

Of course, I could go on about how spiffy the app is, but that isn't the reason for this post. The reason for the post is, we can't figure out what to name the damn thing.

We are skilled at mapping things out, specifying them and creatively solving online problems. We kinda suck at names.

So far, here's what we've come up with:

FormBuilder
ForMaker
FormCreator
FormBundle
FormScaper
FORMulate
FORMulaic

Not particularly demonstrative of creative minds at work. Then it quickly gets silly:

Formidable
Formulary
FormalWare
Forment
Formication
Formaldehyde

Internally, we started calling it FormBuilder. Some now call it FormBundle. I've heard it referred to as The Form Thing. Undoubtedly there are other code names floating around Imaginary, most unsuitable for a general audience.

I entered this naming process believing it to be trivial. Now that I'm immersed in it, I shall never again mock the latte-sipping branding crowd (okay, that's probably not true). But I will pause to remember how close we once came to creating a product called The iFormScapeCreatorBundle.

Resolution to absurdity

2009-05-22T10:18:00.000-05:00

In the final installment of the three-part "False Alarm" story and its intersection with the Chicago Police Department and Court System, here now is its conclusion. (If you are new to the story, part one "Caught in the jaws of the absurd" and part two "Update on absurdity" will provide the appropriate context).

When we left off, my feelings of frustration had been mitigated by a visit from an apologetic sergeant who offered to pen a letter to accompany us in our mandatory court appearance. And, indeed said letter arrived. The letter was four paragraphs. Excerpts include:

"My investigation shows that the [citation] was mistakenly issued to Imaginary Landscape..."

"The officer erred in citing Imaginary Landscape as the respondent for the false alarm..."

"Imaginary Landscape should be determined to be not liable in this matter. The undersigned would have requested cancellation of this [citation] had it not already been processed."

It was a clear and thoughtfully written mea culpa.

With letter in hand, I sent a staffer to court advising her to seek out the clerk or similar person of authority and show them the letter in the hopes of being the first on the docket. No such luck. It took a little over two hours of time before the case was called, following a stream of dog licensing issues. Once called, it was quickly dismissed.

I'm left with mixed feelings. The fact that we still had to blow an afternoon in court remains absurd. However the fact that my expectations were confounded by the quick, thorough and apologetic Police response leaves me with a glimmer of...hope?

A Tribute to Trek

2009-05-04T16:46:00.000-05:00

This Friday Star Trek opens. To honor its legacy we are making it a special day at Imaginary.

We are closing the office at 3pm and drinking Romulan Ale (aka beer, dyed blue...although someone might forget the dye). Then we are all transporting ourselves to the Metra and riding to Evanston, where we have tickets to the 4pm showing.

Sure, you can make fun of us - work that whole Trekkie (we prefer Trekker) stereotype, call us geeky. To those who would disrespect us in this way, I have but one question...

What will you be doing at 3pm on Friday?