Experience Engineer

AOL's focus on ad serving starts rewarding

In June of 2011 I wrote how AOL was re-aligning itself and becoming more focussed. It's proven business model of ad serving and collecting media outlets that bolstered that model was to set a base of ad serving growth.

And it has.

As VentureBeat reports:

Fourth quarter 2011 highlights:

AOL grew global advertising revenue by 10 percent — its third consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.
Total revenue decline was its lowest rate of revenue decline in 5 years.
15 percent growth in global display revenue — AOL’s fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.
AOL reported the lowest rate of search and contextual revenue decline in approximately 3 years, due in large part to growth in search revenue on AOL.com.
Dial up subscription revenue declined 18 percent (lowest rate of decline in five years), with a monthly average churn of 2.2 percent year-over-year.
AOL’s Adjusted OIBDA expensess, excluding Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC) and an $8.5 million legal settlement were $360.4 million, down from $391.3 million and $368.0 million in Q2 and Q3 2011, respectively.
AOL’s operating income and Adjusted OIBDA grew $46.2 million and $37.4 million sequentially. Both declined year-over-year due to lower total revenue, strategic investments and an $8.5 million legal settlement. Net income declines year-over-year also reflect the gain on sale of AOL’s investment in Brightcove in Q4 2010.

Nice job staying focussed AOL.

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Marketing is not in line with Social Business

I subscibe to a newsletter called SmartBrief on Social Media. It's a great collection of what's going on in social media packaged and sent on a daily basis. And that's where I saw this headline:

"Social media still isn't well-aligned with marketing goals, survey finds" (article here)

I'd like to take this a notch up. Social Media might not be aligned with marketing goals, but even worse. Marketing is not alligned with Social Business practise.

Let's start putting Social Business back to the core of where marketing stems from. Instead of asking: "How can marketing highlight/communicate the best qualities of our product?" ask:

"How can marketing make out product better?"
"How can marketing give the customer a better experience?"

In the spirit of alligning Social Media, Marketing, Social Business, and Customer Experience. What questions do you ask yourself?

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How coffee made me a brand evangalist

I was traveling through Europe and was introduced to a great place to have coffee by my friend Joost in Amsterdam. According to Joost this place, Two for Joy, served an incredible coffee. It was clear that I wasn't the first person he had brought to this place as he raved about it as a true evangelist. The whole experience at Two for Joy was awsomly aligned. The interior, music, food and beverage all presented a relaxing, cohesive athmosphere.

Having done all the basics right the true remarkable differentiator was it's focus on coffee, and the manner in which it was brewed. If you check their website you see all the different ways they finish their home ground coffee, but the true remarkability was in the Syphon method of coffee brewing.

What a remarkable contraption. For coffee laymen as myself this syphon filtered coffee was a memorable and remarkable way of experiencing coffee. I won't go into the details of how it works, you can watch the video below instead (btw. The video was not taken at Two for Joy bus is merely present to give you an indication of what the process is like).

So what is so great about this?

Here you see that a business made sure that they had their basics alligned. This strong foundation gives them liberty to have something sharable and remarkable.
The owner who helped us out with the syphon method explained the coffee history and how the syphon works. He did this in a story format which made it an entertaining and memorable experience.
It is different. It takes time. It is remarkable.

I have already told all my friends. What's remarkable in your experience?

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How the smallest misalignment ruins your customer experience

Sad Tim

At the post office the other day, a guy wearing a beautiful handmade scarf finishes his transaction and starts away from the counter.

A small nail holding the molding apparently isn't hammered in all the way. It catches the scarf, pulls the threads and ruins the scarf. The man turns to the counter, looks at the postal worker who took his money and says, "There's a loose nail here, it just ruined my scarf."

Tim, the postal worker, beaten down, tired, given up, stands behind the counter and barely makes eye contact. "Oh."

End of interaction.

When you allow (yes, allow) all humanity to be stripped from your day, all day, then what?

via sethgodin.typepad.com

You have a beautiful retail show room, cafe, hotel, airport.
You have thought out every little detail and connected it to be an efficient yet rewarding and transforming experience.
You have seen a wealth of customers follow the track you laid.
You have seen them leave as a happy and loyal customer.

Then something unexpected happens, a customer complains to you.

Something in your customers experience is out of sync. Perhaps it was the wear and tear, maybe it was something completely random, in any case, it affected your customer in a negative way. What do you do in a situation like this? There are two problems here. The nail, the ruined scarf, and Tim. How do you deal with these?

The nail is the smallest problem, literally and figuratively. It can happen, it's possible that some of your equipment malfunctions, it's natural and expected. Just don't let it happen to often, and create a system that keeps an eye out for these misalignments.

The ruined scarf, ah well, this one is tougher. Is the post office to blame for the scarf being ruined? Yes and no. In the end the post office is responsible for the experience including the small nail. Should the post office offer to replace the scarf? No. But that is not what this situation is about, this situation is about Tim.

Tim is tired, he is overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated. To the point where he has retracted into his own little world without real consideration or connect with whomever he interacts. Prevent this.

Hire staff which are intrinsically motivated by human contact. There are people who like to connect and people who don't. Choose the right ones.
Allow staff to be themselves. Often even extrovert staff are beaten down by rules and regulations. Guidelines are there to standardize the technical and liberate the interaction. Check out ACE hotels if you need an example.

Staff are not your asset, they are your company, threat them as such.

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Blog : BatesHook

Superior customer service doesn’t always mean eye contact, smiles and a human connection. Superior customer service sometimes just means help me get my task done quickly. And let me go my merry way without some brand blah blah, handshake and efforts to sell me more.

via bateshook.com

True, this means that you need to realize what you customer wants (easy right!?). Consumer centric organizations don't push their brand for brand pushing sake, they integrate the brand in the most desirable experience for their customers. Think about fast food, think about Jiffy Lube, think about any store with an express counter.

Speed and no frills can be part of the experience, brand this carefully without weighing down the experience.

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AOL's focus on ad serving starts rewarding

Marketing is not in line with Social Business

How coffee made me a brand evangalist

How the smallest misalignment ruins your customer experience

Sad Tim

Blog : BatesHook