Marketing Logic

Here at the World Headquarters of SiteLogic, I become the focus of some very destructive user testing. No, not website user testing – this is much more exciting, and makes much more noise.

As I posted in the 5 things you may not know, I am on a sizeable plot of land here in Ohio. When I bought it, it was very overgrown, as it hadn’t been maintained much in about twenty years, so it requires a lot of effort to reclaim the land. Unfortunately, it is grown over with briars, wild rosebushes and other invasive plants that aren’t native to the area. This makes maintaining much of anything very difficult – It takes me about a day with my chainsaw to clear about a 10’ x 10’ area of these thickets and briars.

Fortunately for me, my brother is an engineer at Rayco Manufacturing, which makes heavy duty land-clearing equipment. He put me on the list for testing a new land-clearing “mower”, and this week was the week that they brought out this machine for testing! This thing makes short work of overgrown brush and small to medium sized trees (and a few big ones). What makes it so incredible is that it mulches up everything, including the trees, so that there is nothing left but freshly mulched dirt. Of course, I took video . . .

Christmas came a little early, and all this week we’ll be pushing this machine to the limit. I have a very muddy terrain, as it has been raining non-stop for the past week, but it hasn’t slowed this little beast down. I’ve been able to test it as well, and I thought I broke it a few times, and was worried sick about it, but I was simply confirming the “bugs” that they didn’t tell me about. Thanks a lot, brother!

Website User Testing
What does this have to do with website testing? Hey – I can draw an example from anything.
I’ve consulted with many firms and worked with them to establish testing and measuring programs, but very few, if any, regularly talk and interact with their end users. A few more have actually tested their websites with users, but not many more. The bottom line is that just because it is a website does not mean that user testing is not necessary.

Do You Know the Flaws?
My brother is an engineer that works on the tractor part, but they were testing how the tractor uses the mower, the problems in the compatibility and how to improve it. Too many times it is assumed that a website, especially a new one, has been built well. However, without user feedback, there is no way to know what major flaws may rest just under the surface.

Everything may look pretty and work on paper, but nothing can substitute actually getting behind the wheel (or joystick) and seeing what it can do. Until you put it in extreme conditions and see how it reacts, you will never know the proper expectations that you can have for performance. This test was for mud and brush, next week this machine will undergo the heat and dust in Texas. This way, they will know how to sell and set expectations for different regions around the country.

Who’s Fault is it?
Unfortunately, most website owners are more willing to criticize their users for being ignorant than assuming responsibility for a poorly architected site. Unfortunately, the web is very democratic, users vote with a simple mouse click. If they can’t figure out your site, they can simply and easily leave. The value of user testing is to learn the expectations, and develop a continual plan of improvement based on actual user feedback, supported by analytic data.

If your site is being “improved” by a company without data to back up the changes or data in place to measure the changes, then there is really no reason to continue. Why pay for changes that will not or cannot have effective measurement to determine if the changes were worth the price?

User testing is destructive by nature. It first destroys your pre-concived notions about your site, it then destroys parts of the site itself in order to make it better.

User testing – it can’t be beat. Especially when it is 7 tons of metal, treads, hydraulics and spinning metal teeth . . .

So I got tagged by Matt McGee, and this thing has spread like wildfire.

Apparently, there is a tagging thing going around where, if you are tagged, you have to tell five things about yourself that people may not know. Matt McGee, we’ll definitely have to meet up at the next SES – I think we only saw each other in the hallways in Chicago.

Well, here we go.

1. I live on 30 acres in the middle of Ohio. I like to tell people that it is the last place to get broadband before you hit Amish country. Really, I’m only about 15 minutes from the nearest Amish restaurant and quilt shop. It makes for an easy day trip to be so close. Oh, about the acreage, it’s mostly wooded and a few fields. My favorite tools are my tractor and my chainsaw. Together they can solve almost any problem. However, my wife won’t let me use the chainsaw unsupervised after I took out the power lines and nearly took out her car with the same tree. My kids love the wildlife and the freedom to run around and explore. That makes me very happy to be here, it’s a great place to relax and unwind.
2. I learned SEO while building a Web site for my Real Estate business in 1996.
3. I have 10 years of service in the Army and the National Guard. I was a Medic for most of the time, which was a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people. The worst injury I worked on was a broken femur on a guy who was fixing a track on an M1 Abrams tank. The cool thing about being a Medic was that you had to do range duty during weapons qualification. When the qualification was done, there were always ammunition left over, so someone had to shoot them . . . I’ve shot a .45, M16, .50 Cal, .60 Cal, grenade launcher, mortars, anti-tank weapons, Howitzer artillery (99 pound rounds with a range of 20 miles), and an M1 Abrams tank (my favorite, which I got to drive as well).
4. I used to be on a powerlifting team. My highest bench press was 380, my highest squat was 520, and my highest dead-lift was 550. I won two contests. I feel so old now . . .
5. I love reading, and I love books. I want a library. I enjoy reading non-fiction books about history, marketing, philosophy, and rhetoric. I will probably read a book every week, and I love reading to my kids.

And that’s my 5 things. The hardest thing now is to find of 5 bloggers who haven’t been tagged, as this thing grew very fast. I think I’ll tag Gord Hotchkiss, Joel Cheesman at Cheezhead, and then break out of the SEO world to hit Michael at Web Analytics World, Eric Meyer (Thoughts from Eric), and David Armono at Logic+Emotion.

Last week’s Search Engine Strategies in Chicago probably holds the distinction for being the coldest SES on record. This presents some interesting logistical problems, such as how far can one walk to a restaurant before losing feeling in their extremities? How can you be sure to get the cab driver who is NOT on their first week on the job? And other critical entertainment related questions.

Because of the location, the cold weather, and the logistical interest of hosting parties on the other side of the city, I’ve decided to give away unofficial marketing awards to the companies at Chicago SES that I thought stood out from the rest by their ability to market, get attention, and cause a stir. There were a hundred vendors in the exhibit hall, but how can you distinguish yourself?

Exhibiter Award
The exhibit hall award goes to OneUpWeb. By purchasing sponsorship and using it to pitch a white paper on Corporate Podcasting, I thought they created a unique voice from the rest of the vendors. With a low-pressure approach, they delivered a mini-disk with a Guide to Corporate Podcasting, Podcasting & SEO, Podcasting Tour, and Testimonials. The content is engaging, very well done, and understandable to the layperson. I know because I showed it to my father. If he gets it, then . . . .

Something Different Award
Laura Thieme of BizResearch told me about her idea this summer, and I thought it was brilliant then, but then to see it in action was very cool. Laura invited 250 attendees to lunch one day. Anyone who has ever attended an SES knows the joy that is the box lunch. Laura offered up a hot buffet lunch, complete with an ice cream sundae bar.Laura had a chance to tell her story, which is impressive and explain more about her company, BizResearch.

She didn’t hold the people that only came for lunch hostage either. After her introduction, she invited those to leave that were only there for lunch – even more surprising is that not many left. Laura had the attention of a large group of attendees and evaluated websites, answered questions and built up some solid goodwill.

Chicago Blues Award
Maybe this one should be named after my friend, Jake Baillie. After all, it was he and Webmaster Radio that put one of the best SES parties ever at Buddy Guy’s club last year. Not to be outdone, Jake and TrueLocal took the party to B.L.U.E.S. on the other side of town. The only drawback was that BLUES is 1/10th the size of Buddy Lee’s. The crowd was huge, but I didn’t hear anyone complain about the cab ride, the cold, or being in a packed club. I credit that to the band, and most of all, the guitar player: Chico Banks.

Lee Odden got some video of Chico’s cover of Voodoo Child – which was awesome.Chico has to be one of the best rock/blues guitarists that I have heard in a long time. It was a real pleasure to go back to BLUES later with ClickTracks and hear Chico again as part of Big Ray and Chicago’s Most Wanted.

ClickTracks had a great party, as they not only paid the door, but they also provided some great bar-b-que. I think the band was happy about that as well. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen John Marshall dance. ClickTracks gets the honorable mention simply because anyone who has a party at a Chicago Blues club is OK in my book. That’s it.

Don’t expect this all the time, as this is mainly the result of inspiration on other people’s part. If these companies didn’t look at SES and think “what can we do different?” than this blog post and these pseudo-award don’t exist. Congrats to the idea-makers at these companies and their willingness to try something different.

This past week, I was speaking at Search Engine Strategies in Chicago, so I took up residence in the Chicago Hilton for a week and had many experiences that I just have to talk about.

My name is Matt and I am a Gateway Computer User . . .
Seriously.  I know that I said that I would never buy a gateway.  Back in the late 90’s it felt that I was always trying to fix my family and friends’ gateway computers, and it left me jaded against the experience.  I’m not sure why, maybe because I always saw the brand.

Last spring, I was shopping for a new laptop, one that was versatile, could travel well, and could provide a different dimension to my PowerPoint presentations.  I started to see a lot of information about hybrid models that combined laptop and tablet PC functionality.  At the top of the list was the Gateway Convertible Notebook.  The customer ratings were all extremely positive, and many started with the phrase, “I never thought I would buy a Gateway again, BUT . . .”

Anyhow, it’s been 10 months, and I love my Gateway Convertible.  I love the ability to use the pen and draw on my PowerPoint’s during a presentation.  It adds such a new level of interaction.   The only drawback is that I tend to forget to put the stylus back in its little “house” in the laptop.  Which leads me to my discovery, in my hotel room, that the stylus is missing – I can’t use it during my presentations.

I called Gateway to order a new stylus, and the support was awesome.  Damion assured me that he couldn’t promise anything, but I may be able to get the new stylus by the Friday session – 48 hours away.  He dealt with my back and forth as to where to send, and eventually I decided to take a chance and have it delivered to the hotel.  Not only did he get the order in, he followed up and sent me the UPS tracking code and his direct line for follow-up.  The stylus (and a backup) arrived promptly at the hotel at 10:00 AM, three hours before my presentation, and 48 hours after my call.

Finders Keepers, Losers . . .
I am now a HUGE Gateway fan.  Of course, I promptly left my new stylus behind when I left for the airport.  Good thing I bought that backup (Arrrrrrg!).

The Chicago Hilton Rules!
The Chicago Hilton is an experience in getting things done right.  However, First I have to say that I love going to the Chicago HIlton in December.  The three-story christmas tree in the lobby, the decorations, Christmas music and the almost life-size gingerbread house is the key to getting in the Christmas Spirit.
There is a copy and business center in the hotel which made my life a lot easier.  Earlier one day I went to the Kinko’s across the street and was treated amazingly normal – even suspect.  I know that I have a specific method of creating a document, but there is a reason to it.  Kinko’s wanted to charge me, take five hours to do the job, and then I found out that they didn’t have colored paper in 11 x 14.

I ended up in the Chicago Hilton business center less than an hour later, with my 11 x 14 documents, printed the way I wanted them, all with a very friendly and courteous staff.  I was amazed.  Everyone at that hotel seemed to have the attitude to take care of their guests, and it truly showed.

What’s the point?
I love stories like this, it made my week, and I hope that companies never lose sight of what’s truly important; Taking care of the customer.