All posts by jamesyourmumux

Multichannel marketing = choosing the right tool for the job

In answer to Craig’s post about Cadbury’s Creme Egg I thought I would add another dimension to the debate.

Historical facts

In early 2002, marketers, who had been picked up and carried off by the wave of excitement created by early web developments, suddenly realised that instead of the millions of people they expected to ‘hit’ their websites they had in fact signed up 4 users. The magical hits promised by the agencies of the time did not appear and this led to the dot.com crash and burn that we all saw.

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by jamesyourmumux on May 10, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by jamesyourmumux on May 10, 2011

http://yourmumux.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/multichannel-marketing-choosing-the-right-tool-for-the-job/

iPad touch screen makes me feel dirty

Before I start, I must caveat that the following diatribe may be largely down to my own OCD and the panic attacks I have when I see something without straight, clean lines.

That said, smudgy touch screens do my head in and this is the sole reason I have not yet invested in an iPad.

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by jamesyourmumux on November 9, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by jamesyourmumux on November 9, 2010

http://yourmumux.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/ipad-touch-screen-makes-me-feel-dirty/

Gmail Priority Inbox – it’s not broke so don’t fix it

I’ve just written an email that’s going out to all of our clients regarding the introduction of Google’s Gmail Priority Inbox function.

What is Gmail Priority Inbox?

Put simply, it’s new-fangled filter that determines what emails are less important to you, based on your viewing habits. If you don’t look at emails from a certain sender very often, it will automatically file them under “not important”.

Google say they are the first to do this but it will no doubt be adopted by other webmail providers.

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by jamesyourmumux on November 3, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by jamesyourmumux on November 3, 2010

http://yourmumux.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/gmail-priority-inbox-its-not-broke-so-dont-fix-it/

Dare to be different

I was thinking recently that we humans do not like change; the trait manifests itself with alarming regularity…

  • In our car park, people always park in their ‘usual’ space to the detriment of using the available space and to the distinct annoyance of others
  • Cars travel up the middle lane on motorways because it’s an easy option even though the law states you should drive on the left unless overtaking
  • When we go into a hotel dining room we always go back to the same table, for breakfast, as the one we sat at for supper the night before
  • Premier league footballers always buy Range Rover Sports

Wouldn’t it be fun if Wayne Rooney drove an Audi Estate?

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by jamesyourmumux on October 28, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by jamesyourmumux on October 28, 2010

http://yourmumux.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/dare-to-be-different/

Have your say (if you can be bothered)

Out and in the pub last night, Craig and I spotted a blackboard stating the legend “Have your say!” We read on and underneath was written something along these lines (had a few glasses of shandy so may be slightly different):

“Text XXX (to protect the innocent) to 241514 and include your email address followed by two back slashes and we will send you a questionnaire to fill in and send back to us”.

“Gosh”, I said to Craig – “that seems a tad longwinded”,
Craig replies “Yes, James; I agree that only a nincompoop would do such a thing”

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by jamesyourmumux on October 21, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by jamesyourmumux on October 21, 2010

http://yourmumux.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/have-your-say-if-you-can-be-bothered/

Flash my arse

How many rubbish agencies does it take to bugger up a website and ruin the user experience?

Answer: One with a copy of Flash (“hey, I’ve got Flash – I must animate!”).

I’m not saying Flash is completely pointless but I have always had this thing about agencies who build sites entirely in Flash. You know the sort of thing:

  • Endless “50% loaded “ screens
  • Nothing to see if the Flash plug-in is disabled
  • No SEO because all the content is hidden from SE spiders
  • Can’t easily copy, bookmark or print the content with standard browser tools
  • Browser back button doesn’t work as it’s supposed to

I could go on, I’m sure you have a dozen more gripes of your own.

In this context, Flash is great if you’re a fly with a three second memory and the only thing on your to do list is “bump into windows and light bulbs” but not so good if you want a simple to use and easy to find website.

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by jamesyourmumux on June 22, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by jamesyourmumux on June 22, 2010

http://yourmumux.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/flash-my-arse/

Poor user experience strikes a chord

I talked about good user experiences in my last blog post – but today I will talk about a bad one. Why, when you have searched search for a product, would you want the first twenty items in a list of results to be items that are not available to buy?

Well, I’ve found a major high street book retailer who do just that. You search for your favourite author, in their ebooks section, and you are shown titles that are pre-release only!

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by jamesyourmumux on May 19, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by jamesyourmumux on May 19, 2010

http://yourmumux.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/poor-user-experience-strike-a-chord/

What makes for a good user experience?

There is a much subscribed-to discussion raging over on LinkedIn about what makes a good user experience.

I think good user experience is like dark matter. We can’t always quantify what it is, but we know it’s there when we find the opposite of all the bad user experiences.

We get a warm, glowing feeling because “it just works” , but we are none the wiser for why it works. There is a reason for this – positive experiences don’t usually stop us in our tracks, so we don’t always notice the detail.

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by jamesyourmumux on May 17, 2010  •  Permalink
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Posted by jamesyourmumux on May 17, 2010

http://yourmumux.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/what-makes-for-a-good-user-experience/