I get way too much spam in my inbox, even just counting things I've signed up for myself. Most of it I delete, but today's email from CoTweet stood out, and is worth mentioning. A while back I signed up for CoTweet, just to check it out -- nutshell: CoTweet lets you collaboratively monitor and manage multiple Twitter accounts -- but after my initial exploration I didn't go back to it. There may have been a reason, there may not have been. So, CoTweet, noticing my cold start, sent me an email, as any customer-aware and responsive web service should:
Subject: Is CoTweet for you? Hi Nick, We've noticed that no one has logged in to the @nickgrossman Twitter account through CoTweet lately. CoTweet is not for everyone. It's designed for teams who are managing the front-line of the real-time web for their organizations. .... No other tool allows you to engage customers one-on-one like CoTweet does. ....
They seem to have struck a nice balance between being self-promoting ("No other tool allows..."), while being self-aware and honest ("CoTweet is not for everyone"). In particular, I found the ordering of the argument to be effective. Here was my thought process:
Cotweet: "We've noticed that no one has logged in..." Me: "Yeah, yeah, I'm busy" (reaches to delete) CoTweet: "CoTweet is not for everyone" Me: "Ah nice, they're not trying to just straight up sell me. I appreciate that" CoTweet: "It's designed for teams who are managing the front-line of the real-time web for their organizations" Me: "Oh wait, that's me" (clicks sign in link)
So, thinking about my own work, there are two takeaways here: 1) make sure you follow up on cold starts (lord knows we don't do enough of this with some of our projects), and 2) when you do, phrase it in a way that's disarming, honest, and helpful. (looking forward to the email I get after I don't use it for another 3 weeks)
Over at TOPP, we've been talking recently about the "spectrum of engagement" -- in other words, providing a variety of ways that people can engage with a website, ranging from quick & easy (e.g., thumbs-up-ing something) to slow and involved (e.g., writing a blog post or signing up for an account). It's obviously important to give people opportunities to engage at whatever effort/thought level works for them at a given time. Along these lines, we've been talking about the role of "structured inputs" in facilitating various types of interactions. Interactions that are quick & easy are often (but don't necessarily have to be) more structured -- for example, signing a petition, filling out a multiple choice survey, or marking yourself as a "fan" of something. Of course, there is a tradeoff here -- when you impose structure, you make things easy at the expense of flexibility and power. More open systems offer often limitless possibilities (think of all the ways you could use a wiki), but usually take a more invested set of power users to explore these and set cultural conventions (think twitter hashtags). Another downside of too much structure, that I encountered today, is that it can often result in an abundance of meaningless data. Let me give an example: An example: In what will likely prove a fit of hopeless optimism, I'm going to buy a pull-up bar for our bedroom door. As it turns out, there are a lot of options -- bars that screw in to walls, bars that use horizontal tension (like a curtain rod), and big multipurpose bars for pushups, situps, and pullups. I think I want the kind that doesn't screw in, and I know I don't want a big piece of equipment. So, the question is, which is the best one? Where to go but to the customer reviews. And finally, to my point. First stop:
"Release early and often" is a phrase often heard in software development, and is more like a mantra for most web development projects. The idea being that it's better to get something "out there" in a simple or reduced form, rather than wait and wait and wait for your grand plan to come together. (In Getting Real, 37signals calls this "half, not half-assed") Well, this applies equally well to projects outside the software realm, and there's a great example right here in Brooklyn. Anyone who walked over the Brooklyn Bridge this summer (possibly to see the waterfalls) probably noticed a new patch of park on an otherwise ignorable patch of land jutting out into the river. This is, of course, the first public taste of Brooklyn Bridge Park project, called Pier 1. It's a temporary park, on the nearest edge of what will become the first major section of the park. It's highly visible, and perfectly timed to capitalize on the buzz around the waterfalls. A few quotes from
I get way too much spam in my inbox, even just counting things I've signed up for myself. Most of it I delete, but today's email from CoTweet stood out, and is worth mentioning. A while back I signed up for CoTweet, just to check it out -- nutshell: CoTweet lets you collaboratively monitor and manage multiple Twitter accounts -- but after my initial exploration I didn't go back to it. There may have been a reason, there may not have been. So, CoTweet, noticing my cold start, sent me an email, as any customer-aware and responsive web service should:
Subject: Is CoTweet for you? Hi Nick, We've noticed that no one has logged in to the @nickgrossman Twitter account through CoTweet lately. CoTweet is not for everyone. It's designed for teams who are managing the front-line of the real-time web for their organizations. .... No other tool allows you to engage customers one-on-one like CoTweet does. ....
They seem to have struck a nice balance between being self-promoting ("No other tool allows..."), while being self-aware and honest ("CoTweet is not for everyone"). In particular, I found the ordering of the argument to be effective. Here was my thought process:
Cotweet: "We've noticed that no one has logged in..." Me: "Yeah, yeah, I'm busy" (reaches to delete) CoTweet: "CoTweet is not for everyone" Me: "Ah nice, they're not trying to just straight up sell me. I appreciate that" CoTweet: "It's designed for teams who are managing the front-line of the real-time web for their organizations" Me: "Oh wait, that's me" (clicks sign in link)
So, thinking about my own work, there are two takeaways here: 1) make sure you follow up on cold starts (lord knows we don't do enough of this with some of our projects), and 2) when you do, phrase it in a way that's disarming, honest, and helpful. (looking forward to the email I get after I don't use it for another 3 weeks)
Over at TOPP, we've been talking recently about the "spectrum of engagement" -- in other words, providing a variety of ways that people can engage with a website, ranging from quick & easy (e.g., thumbs-up-ing something) to slow and involved (e.g., writing a blog post or signing up for an account). It's obviously important to give people opportunities to engage at whatever effort/thought level works for them at a given time. Along these lines, we've been talking about the role of "structured inputs" in facilitating various types of interactions. Interactions that are quick & easy are often (but don't necessarily have to be) more structured -- for example, signing a petition, filling out a multiple choice survey, or marking yourself as a "fan" of something. Of course, there is a tradeoff here -- when you impose structure, you make things easy at the expense of flexibility and power. More open systems offer often limitless possibilities (think of all the ways you could use a wiki), but usually take a more invested set of power users to explore these and set cultural conventions (think twitter hashtags). Another downside of too much structure, that I encountered today, is that it can often result in an abundance of meaningless data. Let me give an example: An example: In what will likely prove a fit of hopeless optimism, I'm going to buy a pull-up bar for our bedroom door. As it turns out, there are a lot of options -- bars that screw in to walls, bars that use horizontal tension (like a curtain rod), and big multipurpose bars for pushups, situps, and pullups. I think I want the kind that doesn't screw in, and I know I don't want a big piece of equipment. So, the question is, which is the best one? Where to go but to the customer reviews. And finally, to my point. First stop:
"Release early and often" is a phrase often heard in software development, and is more like a mantra for most web development projects. The idea being that it's better to get something "out there" in a simple or reduced form, rather than wait and wait and wait for your grand plan to come together. (In Getting Real, 37signals calls this "half, not half-assed") Well, this applies equally well to projects outside the software realm, and there's a great example right here in Brooklyn. Anyone who walked over the Brooklyn Bridge this summer (possibly to see the waterfalls) probably noticed a new patch of park on an otherwise ignorable patch of land jutting out into the river. This is, of course, the first public taste of Brooklyn Bridge Park project, called Pier 1. It's a temporary park, on the nearest edge of what will become the first major section of the park. It's highly visible, and perfectly timed to capitalize on the buzz around the waterfalls. A few quotes from
The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman
Investing @ USV. Student of cities and the internet.
The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman
Investing @ USV. Student of cities and the internet.
. As I flipped through the reviews I noticed that they all used many of the same words, and that none of them really said very much.
Lo and behold, they provide a structured form for feedback, complete with checkbox suggestions for "pros" and "cons".
So, instead of actually writing anything meaningful, they just check a few boxes and are done with it. There is a general comments field, but apparently no one takes the time to fill it out once they've checked those boxes off. In the end, this approach attempts to make things easy for the reporter, but the end result for the next shopper is a set of reviews that really don't say much. Second stop: Overstock. Similar product here, but when I get to the reviews, I see several pages of thoughtful and helpful reviews. People dealing with the exact same questions I was facing. Sweet! So helpful.
Looking at the overstock review form, you see a different story. Rather than pre-thinking for the reviewers, they ask for ratings on general quality and then a detailed description.
In addition, they provide instructions on how to write a great review. These instructions also imply that bad reviews won't be featured on the site, introducing another mechanism of motivation -- getting your review published.
Going Coastal
demonstrate the power of this approach:
"Since popping up with little fanfare June 26 in Brooklyn Heights on a sliver of the future waterfront park’s construction site, a temporary playground at the edge of Pier 1 is giving the public its first real sense of what the long-delayed development will bring to the Big Apple."
I love the "with little fanfare" bit -- no need to make a grand launch; just put it out there and let people find it. And of course...
"... critics of the long-delayed park project are still questioning why it took the city and state so long to offer a first glimpse of the breathtaking waterfront access the planned 85-acre park will bring."
It sounds like a change of administration was what was needed to get things moving in the "getting real" direction;
"Even the development’s biggest critics agree that the project only gathered steam in November after Regina Meyer, a longtime Brooklyn planning director, was appointed president of the state-city Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp.
She replaced Wendy Leventer, a Pataki administration holdover who was fired in March 2007 after the Post reported the agency at that time had spent $16.5 million over the previous five years with little to show expect mounting legal fees and continuously changing project renderings.
But this past March, construction kicked off despite there only being enough government funding to build about two-thirds of the park. Including $6.1 million recently donated by the City Council and Borough President Marty Markowitz’s office, the project’s current budget now totals $231.1 million.
Meyer said she felt it was important to finally get the project going and then lobby to fill the remaining budget shortfall at a later date." [emphasise mine]
This is really the important part, and where the power of the "early-and-often" approach is really evident. Instead of tweaking the plans forever, Meyer decided to just go and build something (anything!), to show progress and give people a glimpse of how awesome things will be. And man, it is awesome. The photo above really doesn't do it justice, but the view from the new (temporary, mind you!) Pier 1 is incredible, and it really opens up the waterfront in an entirely new way.
. As I flipped through the reviews I noticed that they all used many of the same words, and that none of them really said very much.
Lo and behold, they provide a structured form for feedback, complete with checkbox suggestions for "pros" and "cons".
So, instead of actually writing anything meaningful, they just check a few boxes and are done with it. There is a general comments field, but apparently no one takes the time to fill it out once they've checked those boxes off. In the end, this approach attempts to make things easy for the reporter, but the end result for the next shopper is a set of reviews that really don't say much. Second stop: Overstock. Similar product here, but when I get to the reviews, I see several pages of thoughtful and helpful reviews. People dealing with the exact same questions I was facing. Sweet! So helpful.
Looking at the overstock review form, you see a different story. Rather than pre-thinking for the reviewers, they ask for ratings on general quality and then a detailed description.
In addition, they provide instructions on how to write a great review. These instructions also imply that bad reviews won't be featured on the site, introducing another mechanism of motivation -- getting your review published.
Going Coastal
demonstrate the power of this approach:
"Since popping up with little fanfare June 26 in Brooklyn Heights on a sliver of the future waterfront park’s construction site, a temporary playground at the edge of Pier 1 is giving the public its first real sense of what the long-delayed development will bring to the Big Apple."
I love the "with little fanfare" bit -- no need to make a grand launch; just put it out there and let people find it. And of course...
"... critics of the long-delayed park project are still questioning why it took the city and state so long to offer a first glimpse of the breathtaking waterfront access the planned 85-acre park will bring."
It sounds like a change of administration was what was needed to get things moving in the "getting real" direction;
"Even the development’s biggest critics agree that the project only gathered steam in November after Regina Meyer, a longtime Brooklyn planning director, was appointed president of the state-city Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp.
She replaced Wendy Leventer, a Pataki administration holdover who was fired in March 2007 after the Post reported the agency at that time had spent $16.5 million over the previous five years with little to show expect mounting legal fees and continuously changing project renderings.
But this past March, construction kicked off despite there only being enough government funding to build about two-thirds of the park. Including $6.1 million recently donated by the City Council and Borough President Marty Markowitz’s office, the project’s current budget now totals $231.1 million.
Meyer said she felt it was important to finally get the project going and then lobby to fill the remaining budget shortfall at a later date." [emphasise mine]
This is really the important part, and where the power of the "early-and-often" approach is really evident. Instead of tweaking the plans forever, Meyer decided to just go and build something (anything!), to show progress and give people a glimpse of how awesome things will be. And man, it is awesome. The photo above really doesn't do it justice, but the view from the new (temporary, mind you!) Pier 1 is incredible, and it really opens up the waterfront in an entirely new way.
