by on October 31, 2009 Leave a Comment

The incredible potency of place and personality

“Wow”, said she.

Exacto.

Kay Farrell, owner of Malaga Bike Tours, isn´t merely curating a dream. In 18 short months her company and ethic has inspired dozens of people to scribe frantically and euphorically about two-wheeled tour of the city.

And the result? Team Kay (consisting of she, Ingrid, Anastasia and Bill) is riding high as Tripadvisor´s number 1 attraction in all of Malaga.

Such effusive word of mouth referrals are magic bullets for companies like Kay´s. The emerging stars, the niche and boutique that epitomise everything that´s good and true about the Long Tail.

The Alcazaba, a majestic Roman theatre standing sentinel over the city, has taken 1,000 years to win silver on the influential travel site. Malaga Bike Tours has made gold in less than 2.

It´s down to two magical ingredients. Focus on the customer and passion for the product. The genius of Malaga Bike Tours is in melding the constituent components, jaw-dropping edifices like the mentioned Moorish castle and glorious Malagueta beach, together to bring guests together on a meandering and masterful four-hour stop (emphasis on this) and start tour of the metropolis.

Customer focus, and passion for the product. Sound familiar? Kay´s unreservedly unrestrained in her devotion to the Spanish city and talks of her Hispanic ´mother´ with unmitigating joy her eyes. Yet Kay is from Widnes, and mama is her first landlady in Malaga.

So Kay is southern European in everything but birth. The history degree tells me enough to know that her system of slavish research for the tours runs in the blood, rather than a forced effort.

Product knowledge, then, is boundless. And as the bikers ride with her, and Bill, and Ingrid (Anastasia is champion of the bike store and a damn fine artist to boot, having mapped the route for marketing collateral), they all contribute to the living feast that is the tour.

Because of this, no itinerary is ever exactly the same. And guests get an ever-more impressive experience. Feedback begets action begets refinement of the product. Begets client contentment.

Let´s consider afresh that focus on the customer. In Barcelona, bike tours cater for groups up to 20. In Malaga, it´s a maximum of 10. Any more and there are two guides to cater to individual questions, to provide that extra level of attention.

Tours here are in English, Spanish, German, and a remarkable fusion of dialect that is borne from Kay´s penchant for travel resulting in her Merseyside drawl being usurped by Canadian, Scottish and a tinkle of Basque. Come one, come all.

Marketing is next on the hit list. The Costa, home of the urban sprawl and a splash of decadence courtesy of Puerto Banus and its floaters, is missing an alternative diversion in these days of experiential lust. As Malaga contends to be European City of Culture 2016, Kay´s bike tours should certainly be one of the city´s conduits for global attention.

Malaga Bike Tours

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
by on October 30, 2009 Leave a Comment

How to delight your customers

In business, it’s easier than ever to punch above your weight. The internet creates a level playing field for businesses of all sizes.

I mean that. And I’d stake my reputation on it.

Time and again I see fledgling entrepreneurs succeed beyond the comprehension of others, in a way even the achiever failed to envision.

And most of the time the alchemist of these previously unquantifiable levels of success is the internet.

The internet

  • reduces time to market
  • challenges (and redefines) distribution conventions
  • acts as your shopkeeper day and night
  • keeps your customers happy

Being in the business of creative communications, I want to address the fourth point in this post.

I’m a firm believer that customer service is the bedrock of any successful business. More important, that is, than anything else including the product or service itself.

You can adopt a customer-centric behaviour at any point during the evolution of your company – but it’s much easier to start with customer service stage centre on your operations manual.

How does the internet make customer servicing easier than ever before? Put simply, it builds meaningful and effective relationships.

And what do meaningful relationships add up to? Greater profits!

Now we’re talking bottom line, it’s a good time to highlight your end of the bargain. It takes two, baby.

To start any relationship – personal or professional – the interests of both parties must be addressed.

Yours is the success of the business. Your customer simply wants to receive a good service, functional product, and be treated like a person. A real, live, person. None of this ‘numbers on a balance sheet’ lark. We’ll leave that to an ancient and carp television series set in Portmeirion (which today, incidentally is a marque lauded as offering some of the best customer service in the glazed pottery business).

How does the internet ensure your customers are individuals? By starting a conversation and listening to their voices.

Numberless examples and case studies exist on the internet showing that a pithy 10% of customers with complaints or problems, actually voice them. In many industries it’s far lower. A definitive book to read if you want to learn more about the lassitude of customers in delivering feedback is John Goodman’s definitive Strategic Customer Service.

So we know customers will generally only respond when triggered to do so. And we’re not talking a squawky call to action at the bottom of an eNewsletter (necessarily). Unless that newsletter is adding value – creating a meaningful relationship, rather than just selling, selling, selling.

You nurture. You love your customers, though not in the biblical sense.

In my mind the best way to do this is to provide them with an access-all-areas pass to your business. Make them part of the family.

But before you go rushing for the Chubb locks to barricade yourself in, fear not. There’s an easy way to be transparent and welcoming, without giving guided tours of the factory on the hour.

You write. You talk. You listen. And you repeat, time after time. Through fine and believable copywriting; by blogging developments, ideas, charitable gestures; by podcasting your news and talking to others about your industry, and interesting things your customers can benefit from (contact me to discuss this in more depth).

And you never forget to use your one mouth and two ears in the ratio that God gave them to you.

We all love the sound of our voice – it’s humanity’s biggest failing. So how do we listen better?

  • Spend time in a non-business setting with your customers. Hear their concerns. Be a friend.
  • Use technology. Twitter tools like the web-based monitter and Seesmic Desktop let you keep an eye on what people are saying about you. Create Facebook Pages so customers can reach you in as many ways as possible. Unless you’re unleashing news of a product launch, big change affecting customers or simply an industry issue to spark debate and feedback, be sparing in your use of announcements on Twitter or Facebook, and let your customers do the talking.
  • Keep an eye on your competition. Find out what they’re doing and how they interact with their clients. Meet and listen to them!
  • Read customer service books and websites. One of my favourite proponents of customer service excellence is Kevin Stirtz – and you can find him at Amazing Service Guy.

Too many businesses, even those fighting to survive in volatile environments, overlook the critical nature of effective customer service. Fewer yet go beyond their clients’ expectations and deliver genuine delight.

To summarise, the future of your business depends on two things:

  • Providing quality communications. Invigorate the customer relationship with value-add website content. Encourage your visitors to leave feedback, however they interact with you. And make sure, above all, that responses are acted upon to enhance and develop your core proposition
  • Understanding the individuality of each customer. Don’t preach; don’t even go down the hard-sell route unless you can reinforce it with a genuine offer they cannot refuse. With information from you, and research from the internet at large, the customer will decide through their own volition whether to cross your palm with silver.

Fulfil your obligations on both points and you’re on the way to developing a robust operating strategy to endure the economic climate, whatever the weather.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , ,
by on October 29, 2009 2 Comments

So many questions…

  • How do margins really work? I speak with reference to me throwing thousands of pretend dollars into the wishing well and just getting splashback when I discovered the margins had cleaned me out. I don’t get it!
  • How does leverage work? I can kinda see the logic to this, but in layman’s terms (affecting those who trade, specifically) – what’s it all about?
  • Why are the guys at Trading Metro so philanthropic? I mean this: after being scalded on a few folks who I thought were charitable with their ideas and advice, I really can’t see a negative to the TM folks! So big props to you!
  • When will it all start making sense?
  • Is there a place on the web that kinda has a ‘conference in a box’ on stock trading 101s? If not I’m gonna fix one up. A day of presentations guaranteed to take your trades to the next level, culled from various video sites like YouTube, etc.

That’s quite enough for now.  I have stuff to read!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:
by on October 28, 2009 Leave a Comment

£20,000 down ALREADY!

Ok so it’s not quite as alarming as it sounds. It’s funny money, courtesy of a Barclays’ Spread Trading demo account.

But it so very easily could have been. I completely misconstrued the nature of placing orders. All this talk of margins and leverage – I thought I had it covered. But when the Ryanair Rolling blew up in my face big time after I chanced (yes, I say chanced because that’s where I’m at presently in my unknowing state) £10 a point after hearing the company was on the cusp of announcing Transatlantic routes.

Anyway it turns out my liabilities for this and a couple of other duff orders including a random trade on Yahoo! Rolling totted up to about £20,000. Or possibly £30k because I see I’m actually £20k+ in debt despite a starting balance of £10k.

I think it’s time to go back to the books.

To be completely honest, this has been a great learning lesson:

  • Don’t rush in. There’s a reason a phrase rallying around this heading also mentions ‘fools’. I’m giving myself at least three months of intensive learning before I waste even a solitary penny on the market. Because waste it would be. I’m starting this from scratch. In many ways I’m more green than Nicoll when she began. I haven’t attended a single trading seminar (save for the 60 minutes I mentioned right at the outset) and I intent to be 90% self taught. Foolish in itself?
  • Master the markets – don’t let the markets master you. It’s all glitz, glamour and rock and roll when you first set your eyes on the flashing numbers. I got sucked in. I wanted to test it, trade it because it looked so exciting. But the fact of the matter is you need to be totally in control, with caution in moderation. Hoping the markets to be a metaphor for the fruit machines of my childhood, I rattled the coins into the slot with scant consideration for the big league of gambling/trading/speculating I was letting myself in for.

Sharp, short shock.

Andy, my mentor (he doesn’t know it yet) runs a site called Financial Spread Betting – A Trader’s Guide and I plan to squat there for quite some time to soak up his knowledge. It’s quite staggering how one man can accumulate so many smarts.

He’s one of few internet characters who wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn’t go out of his way to make you pay for stuff. There’s another guy out there that does the same – some radio creature I’ll try and find more details out about and pass on to you.

I’m quite aware there’s an abundant collection of trading-focused blogs that all aim to recruit paid newsletter subscribers in exchange for a mighty stash of bucks (the number of UK blogs offering premium services seems to be rather low).

I think free resources will have to be a focus of a dedicated post or podcast in the future. For there are many out there; maybe not of great use to the intermediate/experienced investor but for someone of my lowly level, they offer sound advice.

My partner in crime (of the entirely legitimate ‘not-crime’ type) has started her blog on financial trading too. Unlike me she’s snagged a Wall Street tour next week which I am obviously hugely jealous of since I think aside from YouTube the only way you can really get a feel for what it’s like down on the floor is to be there.

Talking YouTube, I’ve come across a bit of a star. DayTraderRockStar to be precise. He’s making a great fist of deciphering the charts and letting us into his secrets. I really admire and appreciate the work of people like this. It’s hard enough making a living but to demonstrate fiscal altruism on this level recruits firm praise from this corner.

As a n00b it’s the chart side of things that befuddles me most, and I’m looking at a book investment right now costing the sort of money you’d expect to spend on a house next year (if Ron Coby is to be believed!).

Thomas Bulkowski’s Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns (2nd edition) is a magnum opus, apparently. Five star reviews all round. I’ve checked out a few pages and it looks fantastic – with loads of real-world examples of the charts at play – and players using the charts.

Someone with a great deal more experience than me wrote: “[This is] An absolutely outstanding book that covers the whole breadth of chart formations. It is a rarity amongst trading books in that whilst most other books are content to give you a view as to whether something is ‘bearish’ or ‘bullish’, this book actually tells you what percentage of formations are likely to be successful.”

£63.99 is small potatoes in the world of trading and I guess technical analysis has to be part of the investor’s armoury. I think this is a Christmas present. Probably for myself!

I’m saving a chart-related post for later in the week since I’ve noticed I’m rambling on already. You can sense my excitement for spread trading, right? I’m enthralled!

Discover the Upside of Down seems an overly pessimistic start to my spread trading career, but I’m ploughing on regardless.

In a few days I’m meeting with a woman who has already seen pretty good gains resulting from her entrance into the world of spread betting. I’m curious to see whether it’s all hot air or there’s genuine substance. Whether it’s speculation, or investment, on her part.

Hey, enough from me: now it’s your turn…

  • Have you got any YouTube stock trading video recommendations?
  • Any insightful free resources you use in the course of preparing to make a trade/place an order?
  • Stock trading software – can the open source/free applications really offer an alternative to the hugely expensive variety?
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,
by on October 26, 2009 Leave a Comment

Don't bet on the unexpected

It basically amounts to this: I had heavy duty intentions to grasp some more of Discover the Upside of Down today, but these here things below decided to take precedence:

  • Writing and producing the HMO Radio podcast for my good pal Matt Moody
  • An unexpected but hugely privileged few hours with mum and dad
  • A keen email despatch to the Spanish tourist office about my imminent trip to Malaga/potential travel feature opportunity. This would have been quick had I not used the message to vent my spleen about the Malaga office deleting my mail to them without reading it. I should probably disclose I’m also a travel writer, see;
  • A sudden and inextricable addiction to the notion the rest of my time should be spent listening to podcasts…

Yet peculiarly it’s the last one that helped me learn more about the art of trading. After auditing my podcast subscriptions I decided to lurk in the small business podcast arena; then personal finance; and finally, trading. Oxymoronically my heart wanted me to start with the last subject, first; my mind had other plans.

After listening to some very US-centric fiscal advice from Money Girl and taking the plunge on some high-brow but unmissable personal development tips from Manager Tools “Basics”I happened upon Steve Croft’s Mind of a Trader. We’re up to episode 93 apparently; and each one looks like audio gold, discussing the relative merits of the trader psychology and how to harness yourself with the traits for success.

I’m loving it so far. Incisive, inspiring stuff. Everything that a podcast should be. And I’m a paid-up member of the podcasting brigade!

So one spread betting silver lining from an otherwise fabulous day of schmooze and snooze.

And back to the books tomorrow. Learn, I need to.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,
by on October 25, 2009 2 Comments

Start spreading the news, I'm trading today…

I’m going to thrill you with my failed prowess in the world of spread trading…

So what if I couldn’t even count the number of tourists in the horse ‘n’ trap ride by the Mersey on this most breezy of Sundays. In the world of spread betting, you leave the counting to the computer. The real money is made in the interpretation.

That’s my theory.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am beginning an education. The education that should be taught in schools. The theory of money. How it is made, and how it is lost. With personal experience (one hopes) more in the former camp. Although from here, anything may and probably will, happen.

I’ve been considering a potter in stocks and shares for a while. Leaving a nice, comfortable job in October last year to discover India and myself, I also left behind the benefits commensurate with serving a large-scale employer – bonus, healthcare, pension contributions, etc.

You don’t generally get this stuff when you’re working for yourself. So after about a year of helping others, contributing thousands of hours to altruistic projects and generally being the invisible good guy, I’ve decided to ‘do a Brown’. As in eschew real life to bury myself wholly in the world of finance and ultimately become quite good at it. Or if not, at least pretend I am to all intents and purposes. However this time, I’m going to turn down the job of PM.

Jean Jones of JJ Wealth piqued my interest in spread trading (or when my mum isn’t reading, spread betting because that’s precisely what it is; trading has some semblance of order about it, which this money making strategy certainly does not) when she delivered a quite impressive 60 minutes on the topic at the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.

But in actual fact it was simply a case of a well-timed reminder. A happy accident. Since discovering my broadband prospects here in the city (the European City of Culture 2008, natch) were not in sync with the demands I would need sated for my Conversaction business known as Word And Mouth, I needed another outlet for my creative and commercial gearing.

So where am I at right now? I’ve been reading Bets and the City by Sally Nicoll. Totally on-the-button, candid introduction to spread betting. And pretty nicely written too (although the other half scotches me for my praise since she has discovered a typo on page 176).

I was disappointed after reading the Nicoll book to see that a. she has discontinued her blog on Finspreads’ site, and b. Finspreads no longer let the idiot savant beginner lose just 1p a point on their foolish trades. Inflation here is even worse than in the real world; at 1000% the 10p/point incentive is insufficient to drag me into its lair of longs and shorts.

On my to-read list of quite bulky tomes I have:

and for fun I’m reading Cityboy by Geraint Anderson, an enjoyable romp through the delirious lives of the City’s most odious characters.

My list of RSS feeds is compact but psyched. At my fingertips and updated often on the HTC Magic I have:

To kick things off technofunctionomically I have:

  • started a demo trading account with Barclays
  • downloaded a demo of ShareScope Plus. Right now it looks like a bunch of graphs and text that may somehow be linked together. But at this foetal (or earlier; to be honest I haven’t even had sex with a share yet, it’s that early doors…) stage it just looks like The Matrix.

On a hunch and a wing and some prayers I’ve placed some trades/bets on the Barclays platform and all, save for a Japanese punt, have performed as miserably as Jack Dee at a funeral. I’ll regale more about specifics once I’ve done more research than my ‘stick my finger in the air and see if it falls off’ technique which isn’t subscribed to by your average proficient day trader.

I’ve not actually spunked any cash yet. Having said that I had a feeling in my water that Liverpool would avoid their biggest losing streak for 56 years by beating Man U 2-0 today but I failed to capitalise despite passing William Hill at precisely the right moment. That doesn’t bode well for my ‘sponaneity’, an asset necessary to capitalise on the volatile market conditions we have here today. But it also means I won’t find myself making any risky gambles until I’m properly conditioned to do so.

Stop losses and bear markets here we come. It’s exciting stuff. Watch me funk it all up!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,
by on October 20, 2009 Leave a Comment

How to seduce social media sceptics

I just wrote a spanking piece for bytestart, my favourite site for small business development advice on the whole of this ‘ere world of webness. I want to reproduce it here in part since it relates directly to you, my wonderful friend.

When it comes to marketing on the web, size really doesn’t matter. You can be a corner shop or multinational titan of commerce – on the internet it’s a level playing field for everyone.

The best news of all is you can get ahead of the competition for free!

All you need is some smart thinking and two simple tools:

  • Blogging
  • Podcasting

That’s the bytestart stuff out the way for now. You can read the rest by clicking on the link above.

I want to take you on a slightly different journey from here since you’re already muchly acquainted with the potency of Conversaction. I want to take you deeper.

Since I wrote this article I’ve heard from slightly larger clients that they have on occasions hit stumbling blocks with their social media strategies courtesy of the boys and girls at the top of the corporate tree. As you know I firmly believe that Conversaction should play a fundamental role in the social media functions of any SME.

But there’s indubitably resistance from the naysayer brigade to integrating any form of electronica into the customer service channel. I think it’s lack of knowledge that strikes fear into their quaking corpses.

Help is at hand, however. Here:

  1. If you come across over-burdening sensitivity to the opportunities that Conversaction will bring to your company, find a way of making it their idea. Leading questions will help you achieve this. “How can we reach out to the customer better; cheaper?” “There must be a way we can gather more intelligent insight into our customers’ needs…” “We really need to connect to our customers in a new and exciting way. A cost-effective way. [Pause for dramatic effect; gasps] Imagine if we could really do this!”
  2. Selling tangible benefits is key to any convincing business ‘argument’. The facts are there for everyone to see – social media is both inexpensive and hugely successful when a strategy is in place that is tailored to your company’s exacting requirements.
  3. If your competition is using a social media, Conversaction-style strategy, focus on it. Pick out the salient points, reveal them with great drama to your superiors. There’s a millisecond of cerebral computation between the revelation and realisation in this process. Covet it and deliver the killer line as the penny drops: “… but we can do better!”
  4. Quantify the values of both having a social media strategy, and NOT having one. How much more business comes in through Facebook, Twitter, referral etc. vs. how far does the stock drop when someone with a broken guitar makes a video on YouTube? You also need to propose strategy for control, so the sensitive leaders won’t feel like the interns are posting as the face of the company. These days, a consumer company without a social media presence doesn’t really exist in the public’s eyes. But one also needs to have some control over what is the official voice of the company, and what isn’t.
  5. Get the C-levellers to do some Twitter searches on the product category. The results will amaze. You can set up automated alerts using the search URL from search.twitter.com and inserting it into Google Alerts. You can also find out from this how many people are searching for those keywords. Awesomeness. It’s a deadly way to win approval for social media strateginess to kick off in your organisation.

Of course there are many, many more ways to inspire your bosses to take the next step. You need to create excitement, because that’s in a nutshell what social media is all about. It’s instantaneous – anything real time is guaranteed to stir the minds of even the staunchest of critics. Check out:

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,
by on October 15, 2009 1 Comment

Why blogging and podcasting works

You probably want some real-world examples of how blogging and podcasting is making a difference to companies.

So I tapped the collective intelligence of seven people I know well, who each benefit from the mighty blog and/or podcast as businesses or customers.

Enough of me. Let the people tell their stories:

  1. We are using a business blog for years now and really enjoy the interaction it enables us with our prospects/clients by opening up the comment box to questions. Double whammy really: the wording used in the questions add to the keywords (some of which we would not have thought of otherwise) and sometimes a question and our answer turns into a completely new post.
  2. I live in a small village in England. In my village there are two shops that sell newspapers and sweeties for the children. I use Gordon’s shop. Why? Because when I go there he chats with us, he tells us what’s happening in his shop, his life and the village. He doesn’t push products or sell to us. He just makes us feel welcome and keeps us in touch. The other shop waits until I’ve made my choice of purchase, then takes my money and thanks me politely. That’s how business blogging helps a business. Engagement. Making your customers feeling a part of your enterprise. It isn’t to get people to buy more, that’ll be seen through as marketing. It is to ensure that when people buy, they do it from you, not your competitor.
  3. Podcasts help create a closer emotional connection to your prospects. Having someone’s voice come directly to your earbuds is a very intimate connection. You start to feel like you know them, and therefore you start to trust them. Also, podcasts are portable in a way that blogs are not: you can listen while doing other things. So if you’re trying to reach a mobile workforce, a podcast may be better than a blog, or an important supplement to it. Ideally, the two complement one another, and in any case most podcasts are published through blogging platforms, and should have fairly detailed show notes both to assist people in finding them (direct audio search is still pretty iffy) and to help people decide whether to listen and which parts to listen to if the show is long and their time is limited. For me, blogging is both a way to demonstrate expertise (since I’m in a service business) and to demonstrate writing skills (since I’m a writer). I release recordings of presentations I’ve given as podcasts, as well as producing occasional purpose-made shows (I’d make a poor podcasting consultant if I couldn’t produce a show for myself). And don’t forget the value of *reading* blogs and *listening* to podcasts for your business. You can get quite an education in marketing and make a lot of connections that help your business that way. WAM: I gotta say the idea of blogging and podcasting on intranets and for employees is inspirational. More on this soon.
  4. It makes sense to include video or audio podcasts as often as possible to add compelling content to back up an opinion or demonstrate an example. That’s why I’m immediately drawn to podcasts in blogs, especially if they’re from trusted sources. I ignore the daily drivel on YouTube, but the blog format allows me to monitor my RSS feeds, again from trusted sources, and get the best video/audio blogs as they are published. I don’t think the written word will ever go away entirely, but a combination of video/audio plus text is certainly gaining ground in the blogverse, and for good reason.
  5. I highly encourage the use of blog articles, podcasts and online video both as resources that are free and to provide additional streams of revenue for premium content. In particular if you publish content that not only indicates the ‘what’ but also ideas about the ‘how’ of what you teach or the products and services you offer this can help you establish trust with your customer/potential customer. My experience is that if your content is congruent with you and your companies expertise, it can also help the customer make a decision of whether to work with you.  And providing additional content perhaps in a members/customers only part of your website can help you continue that relationship adding value to them over time and they may even become a strong advocate for you and your company and a great source of referrals.
  6. Five years ago a static website with all your information was a great virtual business card for your business. Today, that won’t cut it. The bare minimum is a blog along with the business website where people can get a better feel for your business.
  7. We publish new content everyday. We create articles that are helpful to our best customers that they may be specifically looking for on the web. For example, we write about marketing tips, social media for business, lead generation, etc. As part of our blogging strategy, we create a live video podcast and post the episodes on our blog. By offering helpful and searchable content, people find us on their own through search engines and social media. On every blog post, we include a call-to-action with targeted content. This brings the person to a form on a landing page. If the person decides to fill out the form (and they’re a good fit for our software), they become a lead. It’s self selection and completely organic! WAM: Good point. Blogs aren’t just self-sustaining – they can generate sales via enewsletter sign-up forms, or other CTA elements that feel soft-sell but do the same job as, but better than, a direct mail campaign.

Wherever you are with your customer relationship strategy, it’s obvious you need to be playing with at least one of these tools.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:
by on October 15, 2009 Leave a Comment

Woop woop Woopra.com! Real time web analytics ahoy…

[audio:woopra.mp3]

I fear a coronary resuscitation may be needed momentarily. Two times in as many days I’ve been blown away by some fantastic revelation or other.

Yesterday it was the lightbulb moment/official convergence of Word And Mouth services into Conversaction.

Today it’s Woopra.com, and I’m screaming inside with unabashed delight.

Woopra, you see, marks what I believe will be an epiphany in helping the everyman understand website effectiveness.

I discovered Woopra via the TechCrunch RSS feed. Man, I gotta love NewsRob on the Android mobile phone platform – it’s brought me no end of inspirational geek stories…

Anyway, Woopra’s just come out of beta which means latecomers to the next-gen web analytics party can finally have a play.

It’s incredible.

  • You can see how visitors are interacting with your site in REAL TIME!
  • Start a live chat with individual visitors with no extra software needed
  • Get an Event Notification when some action takes place on your site – first visitor to a page, or someone making a purchase, etc

It’s all facilitated by a desktop client that works pretty well right now, but is about to have a quasi-makeover to make it even better come November. The powers-that-be inform me personally that there are some more fab features in the pipeline too.

Now I know there’s no substitute for experience and knowledge of analytics and how to convert the figures into actionable insights; that’s not in doubt.

But Woopra goes a long way towards helping the layman get to grips with what’s happening on their website.

One of the things I find challenging about Google Analytics (GA) is correlating activity to campaigns. There’s an app out there whose name eludes me, that allows you to ‘tag’ dates in tandem with key events in your website’s evolution; Woopra goes one step further by integrating an easy to reference calendar in the desktop app so you can easily tally what happened, when, against your marketing schedule.

I’m in no way suggesting we have a Google Analytics-beater on our hands – I’m far too sceptical and patient a journalist to make a judgement call at this early stage in Woopra’s life. But what I can say is the dev team have gone about their testing phase in exactly the right way. The Woopra blog shows they respond to the needs of customers, and they’ve had a long enough beta to make sure that things are working across all platforms. So no missing out whether you’re Linux, Mac or plain ‘ole Windowsy.

And it will hopefully pave the way for people to stop obsessing over worthless ‘hits’ and deep dive into data with relatively little understanding of statistics. In fact if you want to grow into a role that includes being able to report with integrity on website data, this could well be the platform that facilitates your development.

To get in on the act right now you need either an invite (wink, wink – for free use up to a certain number of pageviews) or to sign up from $14.99 a month. It’s worth it, believe me.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,
by on October 14, 2009 Leave a Comment

Conversaction – a new way to build business success

[audio:conversaction141009.mp3]

I’m really excited. This wouldn’t normally affect you, but today it does.

Today marks the launch by Word And Mouth of Conversaction.

Conversaction turns conversation into action and sales.

Conversaction is a three-step process that…

  1. Engages the customer with passionate, dynamic business blogging
  2. Impels meaningful, consistent two-way conversation through podcasting that adds value to the customer relationship
  3. Instigates sales by projecting both actions in unison.

While the elements of Conversaction have always been at the heart of everything we do at Word And Mouth, it’s great to have solidified our aims and objectives into a simple, measurable concept. One that will work wonders for your business, now and into the future.

Start the Conversaction today – drop us a line for more information.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts