04.18.07
Internet Pioneers on “What Not to Do”
Internet Pioneers on “What Not to Do” which we think that can be applied to making your existing online outfit smarter.
Some of the highlights:
Craigslist
Don’t do what users don’t ask you to do. If you want to control your own future, don’t accept outside money, like from VCs. Don’t do marketing or advertising. As a startup company, those are some of the costliest things you can do. Those can chew up an enormous amount of money.
(** Unless you are doing some very extraordinary or VIRAL by nature, We suggest you better do some marketing and advertising. After all, there’s only one craiglist.com in this world. Here’s a good list to start submitting your website to. **)
Paypal
Focus matters — don’t lose sight of your core capabilities. PayPal has been successful by staying 100 percent focused on payments and carefully building its expertise over the last seven years.
Netflix
Don’t believe that you understand the whole business model from the beginning. Plan to fail inexpensively and early. We built stuff quick and dirty, then left a lot of stuff up to customer service reps on the phone.
Don’t have a bunch of promotion and marketing fluff on your page. Just saying you’re the best doesn’t mean you’re the best. Customers want to know how much it’s going to cost, how long it’s going to take to get to them, and if they’re going to get good service. Don’t make them click too much or make it too hard to find products. If they don’t find what they want from the home page, they’re going to click to the next site. They’re expecting convenience. Make a compelling offer, because customers on the Internet are expecting a deal.
Expedia
Don’t assume your customer shops like you do. You need to be sure to look at everything from your customers’ perspective – to understand the consideration factors and the decision process they go through, as well as what tools, information, and services they need along the way.
Travelocity
Don’t forget the human element. Part of our revival was promising consumers that there are real human beings on the phone, in case they needed help. The human trust and expertise — we layered that onto online software.
(** Don’t you just hate dealing with the monotonous Automated Voice Response, which is designed to waste your time and discourage you from calling them!? That’s why we will never install such system in our office! The best solution is hiring a friendly lady with a sweet voice attending to the call! **)
