Say hello to some cool companies that are creating meaningful experiences for their customers alongside their product experience.

Plus One Movement

Canadian pet food maker, Darford International attaches an extra meal to every box of treats or food it sells and provides collection hampers for consumers to share that extra meal for dogs in need.

Happy Blankie

This Ohio–based company offers four lines of animal blankets, available in puppy, pig, frog and teddy bear. How fun! For every blanket sold, another is donated to a hospital or orphanage. Best part is that the buyer gets to choose where the second one goes by following the instructions on the blanket’s “giving is cool” tag.

RememberMe

Ever walk through a second hand clothing store and wonder why the clothes ended up there? People who were donating to a store in Manchester were asked to record their stories. The audio clips were linked to an RFID tag and QR code then added to the shop’s stock. Visitors could use their smart phone of a bespoke RFID reader to listen to the stories as they browse.

Bolder

California-based Bolder teams up with businesses issuing a new challenge to consumers each week for a chance to win rewards. Users simply log in and post a tweet-length story as their submission.

So what companies can you share that have been doing a bang-up job in creating experiences that help causes? Please share.

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Embrace opinions.

In March 2010, the Neilson Company conducted a survey called the Global Online Shopping Report, polling more then 27,000 Internet users in 55 markets from Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North and South America to audit how consumers shop online: what they intended to buy, how they use various sites, the impact of social media and other factors that come into play when they are trying to decide how to spend their money.

One of the great things about shopping online is the ability to read and submit reviews – empowering the customer. Consumers seem to think this is especially relevant when it comes to purchasing electronics – 57% of online respondents consider reviews prior to purchasing and 40% of online shoppers indicate that they would not even buy electronics without consulting online reviews first.

We’ve helped our clients integrate powerful systems like Bazaarvoice’s Ratings & Reviews and Stories into their websites to enhance their product browsing experience and provide a channel through which their voices could be heard. But even more importantly, how they could improve products and customer service.

It is fantastic when customers are boasting positive things about your product or service. Brands need to also consider the negative rippling effect of the online voice. It has been said one unhappy customer will tell nine others. Neilson’s Global Online Shopping Report states that 41% of consumers are likely to share/tweet a negative experience. Ouch.

And make no mistake; while we briefly touched on consumer products above, customers are also sharing experiences about business products and services online, as well. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It is a matter of intelligently aligning the community, business and technology.

Start listening. More. Seriously.

Maria Ogneva recently published the article “HOW TO: Better Serve the Social Media Customer.” Customer service doesn’t exist JUST as an email. Or JUST as a call center. Customer service exists in a global space online and offline. She states, “It is not uncommon for the social customer to use several communication platforms at a time in order to get the help she needs, and the company must ensure that if several reps talk to the customer through several channels, they are all working from the same customer record and updating that record dynamically.”

That seems like a lot of people power might be needed. In today’s weakened economy, many businesses have seen declining revenues and declining budgets. This inevitably leads to reduced staff levels, which leads to diminished services. But in reality, companies should be putting even more focus on the retention of loyal customers through better customer service.

One way we have found success in auditing customer service needs is through social media monitoring for our clients.  We have a team that uses a number of tools including Radian6. Putting this into play first allows our clients to see what their customers are saying and where they are saying it. Professional stalking? Maybe a little . But what better way to head off a product engineering issue before it becomes an issue or uplift that brand advocate. Monitoring threads right into customer service.

Service the hell out of your clients.

Establish your customer service lead and let them lead. Then, after you’ve listened a lot, you are better able to create a blueprint for success. By understanding customers needs and desires, you can better develop your products and services to meet those needs rather than putting products out there and hope that they sell. As a brand that listens, you will become more credible and customers will want to share their experiences. Create outreach programs. Connect to the brand advocates you found through monitoring. Embrace and build your communities. Start small and think big. Taking on all the social properties that exist in customer service at once could prove to be foolish. Be awesome on a small few. I say this one cautiously – automate as much as you can. One example is customer service videos, which can automate answers to often-asked questions so your live customer reps can focus on improving one-to-one relationships. And give customers the attention they need on their time. Here are some customer service videos we’ve produced for La-Z-Boy.

lzb customer service videos

No matter how powerful your brand is, if your customer service isn’t leading the way today, you will be in trouble. The good news is all you have to do is listen to your customer. And there are many ways through which you can successfully do that.

What kind of customer service issues are you facing?

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Key Responsibilities:

• Create stellar, intuitive, useful visual design solutions, working from a creative brief through conceptual design and design production.
• Communicate with clients to understand their goals and sell the resulting design solution.
• Execute design cut-ups and efficiently prepare designs for delivery through multiple channels
• Communicate with the project team throughout all stages of design.
• Work within a process and keeps all work organized according to team standards.
• Focus on increasing skills and knowledge.
• Contribute to and support a development team in the fulfillment of multiple ongoing projects.
• Participates in creating thought leadership to internal and external teams through social media channels
• Optimization of web video – working alongside our video teams for web delivery
• Meet all project deadlines without exception.

Position Requirements:

• 3-5 years of experience as a designer in an agency environment
• Expert knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite
• Adobe Flash animation experience
• XHTML/CSS Hand-Coding and an understanding of Web standards
• .NET, ASP and/or PHP experience
• Strong knowledge of designing and developing for social media – WordPress, Facebook, etc.
• Understanding of designing and preparing rich media ads
• Strong knowledge of Javascript, JQuery and/or AJAX
• Knowledge of streaming media
• Keen understanding of quality control and quality control standards
• Excellent communication skills
• Possesses a “take charge attitude”
• Remains on the bleeding edge of technology

Bonus Points!:

• Advanced knowledge of XML in Flash
• Intensive knowledge of all versions of Actionscript

If this sounds like you, please supply your resume, cover letter and link to online portfolio here.

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Our social media team is growing and we are looking for that guru that lives and breaths in the spaces. The Community Moderator will serve as an integral member of the Hart Associates team, monitoring and managing an individual’s or organization’s online presence, reporting and providing insights on the results. They will report directly to and fully support our Social Media Strategist. This is an entry level position with huge potential for someone who has a passion for digital and an analytical mind.

Key Responsibilities:

• Supporting comprehensive social media strategies for our clients’ brands and specific programs
• Assisting Social Media Strategist in identifying specific methods to generate awareness
• Social media monitoring and reporting
• All aspects of engaging, responding and communicating within communities

Working closely with Hart’s public relations and interactive teams, the Community Moderator
will help manage social media activities for channels and branded communities to help to generate exposure and opportunities for our clients.

The ideal candidate will be highly active in the social media space and has the potential to be a rockstar in building communities and engaging users online., This individual should have outstanding written and verbal skills and can easily demonstrate this in work that they have done. Skill sets and expectations include:

• Assist in developing and be responsible for implementing social media strategies for our clients’ brands and specific programs, leveraging the major social networks (LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, etc.), blogs, video, stand-alone social networks, social commerce and more
• Strong analytical skills and have an amazing ability to quickly disseminate information online
• High level of comfort with technology including use of search, blogging, social media and standard office applications.
• Demonstrated ability to completely understand the social media space through their own presence in them. (we will be looking at candidates spaces)
• Strong ability to execute research online and document findings in a highly professional, presentable way
• Document and distribute regular client reports regarding campaign status and social media metrics
• Expert in all things digital, including: blogging/microblogging, podcasting, video sharing and streaming, widgets and gadgets, viral campaign management, mobile marketing, social networking, etc.
• Previous experience using analytical / monitoring is a super huge plus.

Position Requirements:

• Demonstrated experience in social media by having a strong personal presence
• Attention to detail, client management skills and the ability to research and coordinate information with prompt turnaround
• Creative aptitude
• Familiar with all major forms of social media with your own actively cultivated network on at least one of the social media channels
• Potential to be an outstanding communicator in the online and offline space
• Ability to multi-task, maintaining focus under the pressure of deadlines

Sound like you? If so, send cover letter, links on all social spaces (we will be checking) and any other info here.

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In rebuilding or exploring any new desktop online experience we heavily rely on analytics to provide us with that important, real-time data on how users are consuming content. It allows us to find importance in everything from top pages they hit (as well as did not hit), time they spend with content, how they come in, where they go out, where we lose them, how we found them, those silly words they used to find us, pages that for some reason just didn’t work, goals, funnels, abandonment….the list goes on and on. All great stuff for data junkies to act on (if used correctly).

One powerful tool of choice is Google Analytics on many client projects. Especially when it comes to rebuilds, We’ve made this an ingrained part of our team’s discovery process. It informs our content planning, information architecture and user experience planning. And it gives our team and the clients’ a benchmark of data. It’s free, it is simple to integrate  yet powerful to use and a snap to share reporting. Used right, it can also be effectively used it to track print advertising through the use of goals and events so one can really apply a success matrix through extended use of it.

google analytics

In November 2009, Google announced Google Analytics for Mobile Apps. As with websites, there are two basic categories of user interaction you can track – pageviews and events. Teams can then use this data to understand which features are most popular and inform decisions about which features should be promoted or prioritized for further development.

For more powerful, enterprise level analytics, there is also WebTrends. And for those of us who have been around a little while and remember Log Analyzer – their product matured from that lengthy install and cumbersome software setup to a little more elegant web based system equipped with all the fancy little dashboards you team needs to produce all kinds of reporting. Of particular interest to this post is their Wireless Dashboard providing explicit detail on a particular website’s device trends, WAP carriers, mobile devices, WAP image support, mobile browsers, WAP markup languages, WAP screen sizes, WAP script support, PALM devices, PALM trends and more.

webtrends dashboard

This is the kind of data that better informs decisions on what to build for. And as we move aggressively toward more users accessing the web over hand-held devices, we want to ensure that our products are prepared and the information is correctly delivered to the masses. This is not to be confused with a more lengthy discussion on correctly developing mobile content, apps, device research, etc. The point is to use these tools to help you better understand how your users are consuming your content. Simply put, if you notice that there is an upward trend in mobile users to your website, and your site is not optimized to deliver content well over mobile devices, then you should consider change.
The above mentioned scratches the surface of analytics for mobile web. But what about at the application level? There are options.

localytics dashboard

Localytics – This is a free app that provides real-time analytics and it currently works with Blackberry, Android and iPhone. Their website says that Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm are coming soon. The service also provides an easy to use dashboard that allows users to create custom segments on-the-fly.

medialytics dashboard

Medialytics from Medialets – is an analytics platform for iPhone and Android app developers that provides key insights on their apps and users. Combined with the parent Medialets, they are a rich media advertising and analytics platform. Back in April, Medialets together with creative agency Razorfish launched Pants Dance, the world’s first Shakable Ad™.

flurry analytics

Another recent merger brought 2 more mobile application analytics and monetization platforms together – Flurry and Pinch Media. Both companies have launched widely used analytics services for the iPhone and Android phones. In the end, the single company named Flurry.

To monetize the data, Flurry recently launched AppCircle, a recommendation platform. Developers install it in their games and it analyzes a user’s taste in apps. Then it recommends apps for the user. These recommendations are likely to be highly useful because they’re based on the user’s past purchases. Flurry gets paid through a revenue sharing agreement with the developer. – Dean Takahashi

Mobclix -provides iPhone analytics and the “largest mobile ad exchange” for your apps. They analytics driven mobile ad exchange allows them to optimize ad inventory to maximize eCPMs through a bidding platform for advertisers, ad networks, and agencies.
So not only are these platforms providing us more data. The platforms are acting smarter by providing real-time data for actionable business decisions. Definitely high value for both the developers and marketers.

There is no perfect tool. Today’s economy demands that we are resourceful and smart. Better data leads to highly approachable creative. Use the free tools to create the business case and benchmark. Energize additional analytics and monetization as necessary. All of these resources are giving analytics away. It is up to you (and me) to use them to make our products and experiences better.

So what’s next? Is there a such thing as too much information?

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Enter “IdeaStorming” — tools that have the ability to harness your customers’ ideas.

(For the sake of being a “lab rat” for this post, we setup our own IdeaStorm — within 5 minutes — using UserVoice at hartinc.uservoice.com. It is a free version that allow up to 100 votes per month.)

This is certainly not a new idea by any stretch. Dell found popular success with their own IdeaStorm website, which basically allowed customers to vote for features and products that they wanted. One of the results was the development and release of the Linux community-driven UBUNTO box.

Starbucks did something similar with its My Starbucks Idea website, where they asked customers to help shape the future of the company through ideas. Adobe is also in with their idea sites at http://ideas.acrobat.com and http://ideas.adobe.com powered by Brightidea.com software. Both Starbucks and Dell used the Salesforce.com platform “Ideas.”

What’s exciting about this new era of brand building are the possibilities. How much faster product and service innovation can occur, and how quickly companies can react to issues. But I think it’s important to point out: while it’s one thing for a company to be open to these possibilities (including spearheading communities of thought and voices), it’s quite another to be able to support it from an infrastructure standpoint.

It is obvious that Dell and Starbucks were ready to deliver from a service and product engineering standpoint. They put ideas into action and they show it. Starbucks shares via its Ideas In Action blog. Dell has an Ideas In Action community portal as well.

So let’s take it a step further. In a 2000 article, “IDEAS INTO ACTION; Dell, It Turns Out, Has a Better Idea Than Ford,” in the NY Times, Fred Andrews noted, “Dell made its name by selling directly to customers and allowing them to specify the features they wanted their personal computer to include.” This was an article about supply chain management and not about IdeaStorming. But it is interesting to say the least, that this was a flag raised.

It is almost a decade since that article was published. Dell continues to live its mission by embracing their customers, listening and acting — and Dell continues to move forward. Is it possible that if others had looked, listened and acted differently almost 10 years ago, the outcome would be different today?

Here are some links to players in this space.

• http://getsatisfaction.com/ – “People Powered Customer Service”
• http://ideascale.com/ – “Innovation, Crowdsourcing, Idea Management”
• http://uservoice.com/ – “Harness the ideas of your customers…”

Reference(s):
“Build your own “IdeaStorm” with UserVoice « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing.” Web Strategy By Jeremiah Owyang: Web Marketing, Social Media. Web. 30 Aug. 2009. <http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/05/02/build-your-own-ideastorm-with-uservoice/>.

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Hart is one of three agencies selected by the Ohio Lottery Commission to work on its statewide advertising campaigns. Hart and a firm in Columbus will serve as secondary agencies, while a Cincinnati firm will be the primary agency.

“Hart Associates is proud to be one of three firms chosen by the Ohio Lottery Commission,” said Mike Hart, president and CEO, Hart Associates. “Being awarded this work is certainly a big win for Hart Associates, but we’re also excited to continue bringing work to Northwest Ohio.”

“Hart Associates showed tremendous interest, enthusiasm and hard work throughout the entire selection process,” said Terri Tancredi, marketing director for the Ohio Lottery Commission. “We are more than impressed by the entire agency and cannot wait to see what comes of this new relationship.”

Hart was awarded a two-year contract that begins on July 1, 2009. A budget of approximately $3.5 million per year will be divided among the three agencies.

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MAUMEE, Ohio – For five years running, Hart Associates, the leading integrating marketing communications firm in Northwest Ohio, has been selected as one of the top business-to-business agencies in the country by BtoB Magazine.

According to the published criteria, the magazine’s editors pick the agencies which orchestrated the most challenging, inventive and effective campaigns.

“Being named one of the top business-to-business agencies for five consecutive years shows that our firm has a strong, ongoing dedication to serving our clients with outstanding solutions-driven creative,” said Mike Hart, president and CEO. “It’s much more than a plaque to hang on the wall.”

Hart’s client work is divided equally between business-to-business and business-to-consumer accounts. Its Mindset Branding process, which helps clients understand their competitive business advantages and create communications strategies to maximize these advantages, is one capability that sets Hart apart from other firms.

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