In this case, they do what we tell all of our clients to do: focus first and foremost on the true product—in this case, the hotel experience—and then worry about making the website match it.  It’s clear that a somewhat sub-par online experience isn’t dissuading you from talking their brand up, though if their offline experience wasn’t quite so boss, you might be thinking differently.

I went and checked, and Hotel Allegro is booked solid tomorrow night (a Wednesday), so it’s clear that their website isn’t having trouble keeping the rooms filled.  So having a better website only furthers user goals by prompting a few more “warm fuzzies” in the user’s experience of the place. 

Warm fuzzies are obviously important to them, but making an awesome user experience isn’t something they’d know how to do coming from the hotel business, so I don’t really blame them. 

At some point, they’ll hear comments like yours from enough people, and decide it’s worth the investment to make the online user experience match their offline user experience, and they’ll look for help.  They’d be a great client, because they get why it all matters.  Hopefully, they’ll find a web shop that gets it too.

Take United Airlines for example (I’m a consultant and end up needing to talk to these guys far more than any human wants to): Seven different categories, with around seven different sub-categories each.  Admittedly, they’ve improved things a lot (I swear they used to have 20 categories), but I’d love it if they were able to look at me as a logged-in user, see that I’m a frequent flyer of a certain status, and tell me: Call us here: xxx-xxx-xxxx.

http://faq.ua2go.com/display/4n/kb/optional/index.asp?tab=opt1&opt=1&r=0.5263438

Terrible customers simply kill your ROT - return on time.  In 4HWW Tim Ferris basically gives his toxic customers an ultimatum to do things on his terms or get lost.  According to him, its one of the best things he ever did.

Nice case study.

Here is the concern with personas though - a persona, such as 21 y/o “Jack” preparing for his internship etc., can have many additional underlying traits(i.e. family wealth), which would influence his purchasing tendencies.  You could construct an offering for a persona that leaves out a fundamental trait and when you release it into the market, you will probably hear crickets because you’ll have missed the target.

I am sure you guys have used this technique effectively before though.  So here is the question - at which level of persona specificity do you say “okay, this is the target customer” so you can avoid developing either an overly generalized or specialized offering?

2 years ago my identity was stolen and I lost access to my yahoo email.  Besides the fact that my life sucked enough because somebody in Morocco was having a field day with my pay pal account, it was WAY too difficult to to get some help from yahoo.

To this day, I don’t have access to that email and I lost some valuable business because of this.

I understand that huge companies want to avoid speaking to customers at all costs, but for christs sake, give me a 900 number or a one-time $10 case fee if I really need help and stop making me jump through hoops.

I think the reason why products like Firefox succeed is that they not only prove to be a better product in the long run, but they also combine that increased functionality with other efforts. Firefox has a very good holistic marketing image (logo, website, etc.) but also fosters a large community of developers and such with Add-ons, something Microsoft never did.

When you abstract it away from comments on blogs, I encounter it to a significant extent when working with potential clients on new ideas.  We’ll talk with traditional businesses that have a legitimately good idea that involves some social aspect, but they fear that people will abuse the system and make them look bad if they don’t moderate.

I think a lot of sites or projects with this strategy actually get built or launched, but we more seldom hear about them because they completely fail to pick up any steam.  They’ll spend a few weeks as a ghost town, only to be taken down.

I am thinking this young man probably assumed he would get in trouble or that he would be reprimanded for recommending a different store.

It’s a cool analogy you mention. What’s even more interesting about the relationship between poker and business is the way that playing poker makes you look at making profitable decisions. Some poker moves are profitable while you wouldn’t expect them to be at first sight. Calculating these kind of odds makes you think out of the box, also when it comes to non-poker related issues like business. Cheers!

Kaarten

Brian - I definitely agree that the small guy is protected in a way by keeping the conversation public. I would go further and advise entrepreneurs not to even worry so much about the big guy stealing there idea until it’s already a success. Big companies are by their nature slow to respond. Let’s say in my example, an employee at Hershey’s were to find out about BonBonBar. It’s not like they would be likely to copy the idea until it was significantly impacting their business - which is so big, it probably won’t happen.

If I click on a contact page of a standard company, I’m usually satisfied if I can find an email address in addition to a form, a phone number (in real text so my iPhone can find it), a real address, and preferably, a Google map if the web site is of a company with a physical location.

While in some instances this isn’t necessary (i.e. Amazon.com for example), it’s frustrating how infrequently I find such information…

I find skills that you learn in poker can be applied to the real world in so many different ways. Good post!

Josh—Do you mean Clickable is a website that uses callouts well or that it’s a great tool to understand effectiveness of any site’s callouts? 

Nick—I can see how analyzing a path with Google Analytics and whether or not that user converted with Google Website Optimizer would be a phenomenal way to determine which callouts work on what pages, then adjust so they work on *all* pages, ideally.  Having this kind of data is always crucial to helping clients prioritize what works and get the most bang for their bucks. 

Thanks again!

Preach it. Seven corners is a user experience nightmare.

Sometimes people can feel like that’s pushy...but it’s not bossing people around; rather, people are just interested in finding what they’re looking for and calls to action help them do so effectively.

I’ve found Clickable to be a good example of clear, concise calls to action that add value.

Thanks for the post.

@Brian: The quotes you posted could suggest without spontaneity you will fail. So, my question is this: Do you have to stumble upon your community in order to achieve success? Or can you intentionally look for them? If the latter, does actively searching kill the spontaneity thus killing the success?

@Marko: Maybe I’m in the minority here (I hope not), but I would want my employees to disagree with me when appropriate.  In my view, the best idea should win, regardless of whose idea it happens to be.  Offering up your best judgment in a constructive way should not only help you (and your boss) create a better product, but should also show your value as an employee.

Of course, there are sometimes constraints to work within that may limit your potential, and you have to pick and choose your battles, but a well-reasoned, well-timed, and constructively-presented suggestion should rarely be a bad thing.

As for business...I started my own web development company and for now I don’t risk to much. I will though when the situation will feel right and when I’ll have some backup in chance I don’t make it.

I have a lot of experience about web design and development...surely a lot more than my boss. But I’m wondering if he has any personal motives about his decision.

@Kevin: First to market is key when you’re putting out a great product.  However, if the first to market is a marginal product or doesn’t really solve the problem, there’s a big opportunity to not only do a better job, but to take advantage of the fact that a potentially large audience was exposed to the concept by Company A and is now looking for something better.  In those cases, and in your examples, being best to market beats first to market.

Thanks for the comment.  Val Kilmer is king.

I guess that’s what management recognized with The Doors—that they fell prey to flashy marketing tactics (having all their friends show for the audition set), but at least the PRODUCT was quality enough to keep management from pulling the plug on the emerging band’s music.

But you’re right—at the end of the day, quality speaks for itself.

This reminds me of a post I read recently by John Moore regarding Whole Foods.

Basically, it asserted that getting your product placed in Whoole Foods is incredibly difficult; but once you do, it’s sort of a golden ticket.

Why is it a golden ticket, you ask? Because Whole Foods has stringent quality standards and they pride themselves in selling only the best products. No amount of flashy marketing will convince Whole Foods that your product should be sold in there stores.

Here’s the quote from the aforementioned post that reminded me of what you’re discussing:

“Everybody wants to walk into Austin [headquarters], have a meeting with a buyer and get placement within every region,” said former Whole Foods Northeastern area grocery director Tim Sperry, who’s since gone on to found Wellesley, Mass.-based Sperry Group. “You need to have patience and a longer view. It might mean you start on a coast and work your way through. If you’re a small company and you want to get your feet wet, going one store at a time is an option.”

Content is king...and so is Val Kilmer.

I’m thinking that a CEO wants to be as connected with his customers as his time allows, so he asks people who are getting complaints and praise to forward along the one or two best/worst cases per week.  Maybe per month.

I’ve heard stories of Steve Jobs intervening with a customer who had a poor experience getting her Mac fixed.  I’ve heard of Ken Chenault (AMEX CEO) getting involved in certain cases of a disputed charge.  I’ve heard of these same types of guys sending thank you letters to praise the company received now and again.

I’m sure it doesn’t happen often, but I’d bet your average CEO at least wants to feel like she is connected to her customers, and this is a reasonably good way of doing it.

And also to Ryan’s post on how companies are leveraging social media to listen to their consumers (with the challenge of acting upon good ideas—that are within the company’s vision—to keep the dialog going, I say...)

James, great point about gaining perspective from people outside your specific industry. As far as your startup, I don’t think you ever necessarily need to throw in the towel. As long as you’re continually adapting to the changing business climate, there’s always a chance of future success.

On the one hand I’m a big fan of Keith Cunningham who professes “it is not what you do - but how well”.  If you are the best in your sphere you should find some success.

So how have I made my decision?

By developing options.  Luckily - the big difference between poker and building a business is - in poker - you only get one hand.  In the real world you can get a few extra.  Consider what you’ve learned - how your competitors have been successful (or not) and look for inspiration outside of your own ‘sphere’.  I’ve found it personally extremely helpful to break out of my narrow network of contacts (which were all telecom and techie) and into broader groups.  By comparing with others you get a great insight into you really are on a hiding to nothing or onto something truely great - if you can just work hard enough to achieve it.

When you’re running a start-up, though, you’re largely in control, and in control of a lot more variables that you can adjust to try to make things successful.  There’s still a right time to quit and try the next one, but I admire a entrepreneur that keeps plugging away at a vision until it works—even when the going gets really tough—a lot more than I do a poker player who blows his savings at the table in one night.

Offline communities aren’t nearly so much in the wilderness, because a little goes a longer way.  On the web, you typically need thousands of folks to get involved to be successful.  In creating a local community, seven regulars might really be all you need.

It’s much easier to get to step four offline, because you can leverage the personal and professional relationships you have built with people and rely on them to be successful.  That often doesn’t cut it online.

Keeping people coming back offline probably does have a lot in common with online communities, though.  Listen to what they want, and provide them with a consistently great experience.  For RTT, this might mean having more design-centric talks, having more intermediate to advanced content, or just making sure there are drink specials at the bar after the event.  Listen, act, and then listen some more.