Hot answers tagged marketing
82
Users generally do prefer targeted ads to untargeted ones, all other things being equal. However, there are other important factors which explain why user reaction is mostly negative overall:
Users don't spend all their time purchasing goods on the internet - often they are doing different and completely unrelated tasks, sometimes at the same time. Most ...
39
Buyer's remorse is a defensive mechanism broadly associated with cognitive dissonance. You'd typically expect to find it where a purchaser had misgivings about their purchase for some reason - either they had difficulty choosing between multiple options, or they weren't sure about some other aspect (the trustworthiness of the seller, the necessity for the ...
32
A few of my guesses:
Numbers are harder to anthropomorphize - we've reached a point with our understanding of computers where we regularly refer to the computer as another being we regularly interact with. It's much easier to give this creature some kind of name vs. a number, especially given that numbers are often used to "dehumanize" things and make them ...
31
One might think of them as a progressive enhancement. As long as the QR code doesn't replace a traditional call-to-action, I don't see how it could do any harm.
Theoretically, a QR code that points to a web site should be accompanied by a printed URL. Those who know how to use the QR code would be spared the trouble of typing in the URL. Those who don't ...
19
At least one part of it is that stories sell.
Andrew and Jenny, like many people in digital marketing, ran some
sites on the side to get a little extra cash. They were sitting in the
pub one day and chatting about how they were each doing.
"I've just made the final payments on my car," beamed Andrew, "and
it's all down to my side project".
...
18
Marketing = UX…
There is a remarkable amount of overlap between modern marketing and UX. Marketing is more than advertising and sales. It also includes market research, which identifies what would be useful, valuable, and desirable to consumers. Modern marketing also participates in developing the products themselves, ensuring they meet their target “value ...
15
This has something to do with a shift in emphasis from push to pull advertising/marketing.
There is loads of evidence to show that people's favourite way to learn about new things is by word of mouth - they ask their pals or read reviews from trusted sources. In fact this has turned into a whole branch of marketing (WOMMA).
Permission Marketing is another ...
14
The reasons for the popularity of a "thing" is hard to determine and I believe the boffins that are into this sort of thing are still teasing out the details. I think it has less to do with good marketing or usability and more to do with human behaviour; particularly human "herd" behaviour. Some products or services are marketed with energy and money behind ...
14
These are some UX factors:
(human factors as well as marketing reasons)
Names are more "human friendly" than numbers. ("Windows Vista" feels friendlier than "Windows 3.0")
Names can be conveyed in more intuitive way than numbers (I just got Ice-cream Sandwich on my phone)
Names/Things can be something people feel passionate about. ("I like Lion" feels ...
14
In my previous job, a big part in recruiting new employees was to test their business sense. We got a lot of UI and UX designers that wanted to focus on the new and nifty, rather than the true and tested aspects of the web. When faced with questions where they would need to make a choice, the ones that stood out most were those who were able to get over ...
10
Human brains function as if all interactions are with live people.
If browsing the internet is like asking a group of people questions and having them give you answers, what would you feel if a stranger butted into the crowd and kept interrupting to ask if you wanted to buy something?
Even if it was something you were interested in, it'd be very annoying.
10
I am going to break this response down into two parts :
Following design principles : The fact that you are redesigning your own personal website allows you creative freedom with regards to how you want to convey information or content. However you must note that your website is often used as determine your design skills or even your UX skills with ...
9
I agree with Patrick McElhaney on this one. As long as they don't replace the standard call to action, they can be leveraged - but the thing is, they're not really new in the US. They've been around for years and just never really caught on.
The infosec weenie in me stresses over the (eventual) abuse of QR codes (if they ever catch on enough to make it ...
9
Honestly speaking from personal experience,the only time I would bother to answer the question is I was applying for a job and I felt that selecting "employee referral" (provided I was referred by an employee :) ) might get me an interview or atleast get my resume in front of a recruiter.
That said,every additional field that you require the user the fill ...
9
Seeing targeted ads highlights the fact that your browsing habits are being checked and logged. Many people see this as snooping (who by doesn't matter) and an intrusion on their privacy.
For example, you may idly search for some information on something slightly salacious and then get presented with ads for "adult" material when you show your wife/boss ...
8
A few choice excerpts from the CAN-SPAM act and the caveat that making it harder to opt-out of the e-mail than it would be to report the e-mail as spam should be enough to convince any business person with a decent head on his or her shoulders that it makes far more sense to make opting out easy than it does to deal with constant spam complaints and getting ...
8
There's a lot of marketing chatter on this topic but there is one main thing to consider; which sounds like the more attractive deal in your * specific case*?
There's an interesting Donut Hole graph from Dealicacy Showing how both can offer better value to the consumer:
The relative (%) benefit remains constant, while the absolute benefit ($ off) has a ...
7
If you can design for emotions, you can design for which type of emotions you’d like to have. Taking a look at what game producers do and you have the answer there. All the games are designed with emotions and some games even react to the way the gamer is playing. All the emotions like guilt, sadness and remorse is a part of the overall gaming experience for ...
7
Mixing opt-in and opt-out is totally bad UX as it leads to a lot of confusion. The meaning of both lists should be consistent, so there should be either opt-out or opt-in for both groups:
Do you want to receive information from us by:
[]post []phone []email []SMS []
Do you want to receive information from our carefully selected
premium ...
6
I'd say use the Hijri format which would be appreciated by the Muslims in the Arab countries; there are many sites that offer APIs for that.
Avoid excess skin if you have pictures of people.
Everything needs to be aligned right to left with the text. Actually don't just swap an English intro page to an Arabic one. Put some effort into it; it'll feel more ...
6
This article on landing page best practices has these UX-related recommendations:
Ensure the primary headline of your landing page matches the ad visitors clicked to get there.
Make your call to action (CTA) big and position it above the fold.
Use directional cues to direct attention to your CTA.
A landing page should have a single purpose and ...
6
Depending on what the app does, more creative solutions may be found. As @Peter said, nagging every 5 minutes is extremely annoying and it makes users hate you, right at the point where you most need them to like you. How about nagging them only on startup? Or inserting a waiting period on startup, similarly to what rapidshare et al are doing? It may grow ...
6
I'll start this answer with a quote from Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent Smoothies (the fruit drinks):
"90% of our marketing strategy goes into the bottle."
Innocent is not a digital company though - the point is that they invest a lot into the product quality.
Marketing is way more efficient (aka delivering better conversion rates) if the promise ...
6
My best answer is that it's easier to market, especially since it exacerbates the difference between different versions. It only really works for products where the newer version is always better/improved over the previous version, and generally only where the product stands alone/doesn't have substantially different variations (e.g. Windows XP, which had ...
6
The only way that you are going to realistically test a headline is to A/B test it with your target audience. You could have focus groups (which is what book publishers usually do) but that isn't feasible for most web publishing due to the hight cost and turnaround time.
Another solution would be to have an automated A/B test for different headlines. This ...
5
One approach you've not mentioned and might work for you is something I've seen VisionApp do with it's latest versions:
Provide the full application by default. There is no "lite" version. But then there is a free version that has fewer features. Customers get the full version effectively on trial for n-days, then after that time they can either pay for the ...
5
Are you planning that light version anyway? If not, don't bother, give everyone the 30 trial, and then ‘lock’ the application until they pay (have a big “Buy” button) or quit.
If you're planning that light version, let them use it for as long as they want, and make sure the full version has enough meat to make them buy it.
Nagging me every 5 minutes is the ...
5
People use products because they are perceived to have a positive cost-benefit tradeoff in the user experience. Usability –making a product easy to use –lowers the cost but is not itself a UX benefit. User will put up with low usability and other costs like loss of privacy and annoying advertisements if they think the benefits are worth it. Marketing (by ...
5
I'm not sure about affective (did you mean "effective"?), but we can definitely identify a common, even standard, design pattern for one-product websites.
Here are a few examples: Square, Doxie, Feedly, Highlight, Dollar Shave Club.
As far as I understand, the main principles for one-product websites are:
Product in front - These websites use big images ...
5
This might be helpful. I'll remove it if it breaks the rules.
I once converted a long and gruelling sign up form and chopped it up into wizard-like steps and compared them A/B style. In both cases there was a "Where did you hear about us?" field (I failed to get stakeholders to allow me to drop it).
In both cases it was an optional step and I found that ...
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