When we become myopic

It’s easy to see things the same way, through the same lens, from the same perspective time and time again ...

And for that reason, it can be extremely difficult to improve these things because we simply overlook them, or take them at face value assuming they can’t be changed.

But, it’s the innovators that look at something most of us take for granted and see an opportunity.

An example? The toilet. Apparently this critical daily friend has been in existence since 1596 due to Sir John Harington. And, since that time … not much has changed. Until now.

You may have been reading the news and noticed the hullabaloo pertaining to our modern convenience. If not, skim Fast Company’s article: The Toilet Of The Future Will Turn Poop Into Power. Yes, you read that title correctly. Charcoal, salt and water might actually become the waste we do want!

And because the need for improved toilets is massive, so is the money funding this project by the Gates Foundation. However, (because there is a lesson in all of this) marketers don’t need $42 million to rethink and innovate. We simply need to constantly question: Is there a better way to reach, appeal and bring value to our customer.

Another article, What CEOs Can Learn From Siberian Teenagers, also featured in Fast Company, provides a less altruistic story than saving our world’s poor from disease, but the concept behind finding the right solution for the right “consumer” is still applicable. Author Martin Lindstrom describes his party-like stay with Russian teens to better understand their buying decisions towards vodka.

Did you know (because while I am a lover of vodka, I was unaware of this tidbit) that there are approximately 3,000 different brands of this aqua vita. That makes it a commodity in my book. So how can a commonplace item (that has a permanent home above my sink) become unique and different? You rethink and innovate. You understand the needs, wants and desires of the consumer/audience and you only do that by looking at it with fresh, open-minded eyes.

So as you are driving home, from your long day of work and are zoning out, letting the familiar scenes pass you by as you have hundreds of times before - pull over instead. Get out of your car. Take a look around and really see that panoramic view versus your usual glance at 60 miles an hour.

You may just see an opportunity.

No-nonsense Customer Surveys

Part two of Ann’s look at customer surveys: Time to take your temperature! ...

Do you ever take your customers’ temperature? I’m not talking about the 98.6˚ human body temperature, but your customers feelings toward your brand. Are they feeling good, great, overjoyed? Or, has a recent bad experience left them boiling hot?

I’m talking about a customer satisfaction survey.

Me, I’m usually a SurveyMonkey™ kind of girl. I love digging into a brand new set of survey data, analyzing and cross tabulating until I extract every yummy morsel of feedback. So this morning, when I ran across a survey tool claiming to be a “one click, real time customer satisfaction survey” I was completely thrown off balance.

The tool is called Customer Thermometer and is self proclaimed to be designed for the “service-obsessed.” You can upload a survey email list and add your own branding. But here’s the kicker, it is a one question survey, with no comments. At first glance, the product seemed like a survey geek’s worst nightmare, but I am starting to warm up to it … slightly.

On one hand, it’s quick. It really is like a temperature reading. A hair salon might use it to email new clients to measure how much they love their new dos ex post facto. A mechanic could follow up on how a new set of tires is performing. Still, the survey is missing one very important thing: the why. If you only know your customer is satisfied or unsatisfied - but you don’t know why – how does the information help your business?

Feedback welcome (no pun intended).

Forget something? Not to worry, Google’s got your back.

In this post, Tyler takes a look at how Google affects our lives, and our way of life...

For my first blog here at Blue Door, I decided to write about a topic that has piqued my interest for some time now.

Back when I made a living as “techie,” I came across an article entitled “The Tacit Dimension of Tech Support.” The article describes how we all use tacit knowledge in our daily lives, rather than just simple memorization. I hung on to it because it answers a question I heard quite often – “How do you remember all this stuff?” As the author explains, the answer (for the most part) is simple: I don’t. If I could, I’d have won millions by now on Jeopardy. What I do know is how to find the information I’m looking for, and I can usually do so rather quickly. I’m not alone, however. Each of us uses Google to some degree, and more and more of us are using it as an extension of our own memory.

The other day, I came across another article that touched on that very topic, entitled “Google Searches May Influence What People Forget.” This piece references a study in which a control group is told to write down a piece of trivia, and then told that the information will be deleted. Another group is told to do the same, and that the information would be saved. The folks that thought the information would be deleted were more likely to remember what they had written.

How did this happen? Why Google? More importantly, why didn’t this happen back in the late ’90s? Part of the answer may be that only in the last few years have smartphones become mainstream, and literally given everyone the knowledge of the world in their pocket. Now we know that we don’t even have to have a PC in front of us to access information. So we become less reliant upon our own built-in data storage systems, using them now to store paths to data, rather than the data itself. We also know that Google gets us to our information the quickest. When was the last time you used an encyclopedia? Your average 15 year old has never even heard of one. Your average 55 year old probably still has a set, albeit a little dusty.

It is clear that the paths to information have been dramatically changing, and will continue to do so. These changes not only affect what we know, but how we know it, and have a tremendous impact on us as a culture. To quote the authors of the study, “It isn't clear what the effects of being so "wired" will have on people over time.” What do you think? How do you think our relationship with the internet will continue to evolve?

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