Today Google announced that it was enhancing it’s search results with more options to pare down your results. The options are definitely quite interesting. You can now…
…filter results by videos, forum-mentions, and reviews.
…filter results by recency.
…show more text and pictures along with their normal search listings.
…see related searches more easily through text links and their “Wonder Wheel”.
…and filter results by a timeline of news.
Phew! A lot changes for the dominant search player. It seems like they are trying to get ahead of the search game before real time searches (like Twitter) and natural-language searches (Wolfram Alpha) become more popular? Perhaps their recency filter might eventually incorporate real-time conversation like Twitter or Facebook’s feed or their Wonder Wheel will help people find what they are looking for faster.
One thing is for certain is that web developers might have to think in different ways in order to get as many eyeballs still on their site. If you can filter by results that have been indexed or changed within the past 24 hours, will your first result first page search result still always be number one? Will you need to manage your forum mentions more closely in order to protect your brand now that its conveniently packaged with the touch of a link?
Would love to hear your thoughts on how this might impact the future of natural search listings and how you might design things differently going forward.
Cyber Monday, albeit with conflicting statistics, seems to have outperformed 2007. comScore has stated that sales were 15% better. Nielson claims that shopping sites within its retail index saw 10% increased traffic from last year. It did say that top 500 retail sites were down 1% of traffic though. Among the winners seems to have been Amazon, which saw a 21% year over year growth in traffic, and according to Hitwise had 10.77% off all US traffic on Cyber Monday.
So is the 2008 Holiday retail sales doomed as predicted or has Cyber Monday shown a silver lining? I don’t envision death to retail but then again I also don’t see a Holiday season of anything better than flat growth. According to comScore, the Holiday Shopping is down by 2% overall including Cyber Monday. As consumers become more Internet savvy, I’m really not surprised that overall internet traffic has picked up. But I think most of this traffic growth is due to media’s influence of reporting huge deals by struggling retailers and consumers willingness to scour for deals and coupons.
Most of the deals this Holiday season seem to be 20% or 25% off with free shipping for Internet retailers. There seems to be a proliferation of these deals that are being remarketed as something new every week. Not a bad option for those new 2009 clothing lines, sporting goods, or small electronics. However, if you are in the market for anything larger, like the flat screen TV that I’m waiting for, I would be holding tight and waiting for the January clearance.
Following up on my posting of a Creative Brief for Gatorade Tiger, this is what Gatorade did for its first commercial. I’m not a big fan of the sci-fi slant and slight hokeyness of the commercial. I think Gatorade would have been better served focusing on the winning aspects of Tiger much like the “Be Like Mike” Nike campaigns of the early 1990s.
I came across a great article today on ClickZ on how Zappos is using customer service to create Word of Mouth advertising. The main idea is that by creating great service, customers are happy. Happy customers become evangelists for your company and products. Evangelists tell their friends about how great your company or product is, which in turn creates new customers. Your new customers also become happy through your great service and the cycle continues on and on.
The benefits of creating great interaction points with your consumers is not only repeat business but the ability to spend less on advertising and other promotions to gain awareness or trial. The premise is simple but many companies overlook how important being customer focused is in all aspects of their business. It’s not only about having a great service staff but also having the customer focused attitude and beliefs throughout your organization.
My former company, Aplia, did a great job of using customer service to its full advantage. We believed in giving 24/7 support for our professors (customers) and students (users). Our internal goal was to reply to each support email within 1 hour. Often we replied back to our users within minutes. It wasn’t only our support teams that had our customers in mind. Our product development process was always customer focused. Our goal wasn’t just to produce a great product but how we could support the needs of our users better. We spent alot of time using customer feedback, usability studies, and sales force intelligence to gain insight. We took the time to listen and our customers loved us for it. We always overdelivered as an organization and it became a competitive advantage for us.
Great nostalgic commercial for Pontiac’s new G8. Pontiac used the popular 1980s game Spy Hunter as the theme of the advertisement. It’s definitely something that I played as a kid. Here’s why I like it:
The music and imagery is unmistakable. If you hear or see the ad playing, it’s engaging and attracts immediate attention.
Spy Hunter hits the target market of the Pontiac G8. People in their late 20s and early 30s will remember playing it and recognize it immediately.
It creates positive associations for the Pontiac G8. Most people will probably remember Spy Hunter as being fun and cool. It is also reminiscent of their youth. These all create emotions that is positive for an emotitional decision like purchasing a vehicle.
The advertising shows off the Pontiac G8’s handling, power, and styling.
The commercial broke through the clutter. I was engaged enough to look up the car and the commercial. I would not have even put the car in my consideration set before.
