Visa Small Biz Network – Growing Pains

Visa is doing a very nice thing. They are taking some lumps and creating lessons for businesses who wish to delve into the world of social media in the future.

The Visa Small Business network has the right idea – create a network where networks are already created (see: Corporate Social Networks are a Waste of Money). Facebook seems like a great place to start a network like this. There are just a couple of snags that have emerged.

1. The devil is in the details: Visa promised a reward to users who sign up and the failure to deliver that reward in a usable way has created a storm of negative comments and negative perceptions. Commenters seem to have a tough time seeing past this glitch so much so that some are wondering if there will be a “mass exodous” from the app.

2. Other sites do business talk better: While some may do their networking on Facebook, it skews more personal than business. Linked In has much more of a hold on business talk and connections and their Answers section has the piece of the puzzle Visa app seems to lack. The forum for discussing business issues and getting responses from peers.

3. Content that lingers is lost: Trying to create content for this type of channel almost seems fruitless unless it is written on a blog-type of schedule. The articles have not been streaming in at a very fast pace.

4. I can’t talk to the network: I cannot seem to be able to launch the app and ask a question to the entire network, get responses and connect with those who have responded. This seems a likely use-case and does not appear to be supported. All of the communication options are labor intensive (find a business, add a business, send a message to that business) and 1-to-1 (you pretty much have to build a network to take advantage of the collective wisdom). There does not appear to be a mechanism for experts to emerge.

5. The fine line of being creepy: Some of the comments mention getting marketing calls since signing up and others talk about unsolicited activity related to their personal networks. Visa no doubt wants to make some profits and creating this app is a great learning tool for their marketing and sales efforts. The whole thing could be undermined if the fine line between friendly and creepy is too often crossed. The etiquette for a site like Facebook requires humans talking to humans like humans. That is a huge challenge for multinational corporations.

Overall, this has promise and i hope that it lives up to that promise. I am a believer in businesses taking the leap into an unproven territory. Small businesses need all of the help they can get and Visa is delivering its promise to help owners succeed. It should strive to create more flow with the networking tools. It should also talk to and respond to users with a human voice. Respond to an issue like the coupon “bug” and quell the murmers that could chip away at the credibility and promise of the app.

10 ways for your site to be less awkward

What does it mean to “join the conversation?” I’ve been thinking about that a lot and this is my current take.

When I visit your website, or interact with a piece of your content on another website I am beginning a conversation with your brand. There was a time when your site was simply a destination and the chat was very one-sided. The site talked a lot about you and your business and what it could do for me and it had one gateway to start a conversation off-line — the online form. A little awkward, but hey, there are other channels to really get to know each other.

Then sites started learning about me from my behavior. They watched what I did and made suggestions based on my actions. This was a start but it was more like someone watching me and thinking they know who I am. Not a very great foundation for a relationship.

Then sites began to grow less socially awkward and actually approach me. When amazon.com made a recommendation they at least began to ask whether they got it right. Today, not only are sites engaging in richer conversations with people, actual people are engaging in conversations on sites like Twitter.com and Facebook.com. Now, the bar has been raised on the etiquette a site must employ in order to be a better conversationalist.

The key method for engaging in a richer conversation is to think of how we build personal relationships — over time.
We don’t just tell someone all about ourselves and then expect them to be in a relationship with us. Pure observation is just awkward. We give a little and we get a little. We ask questions. We share experiences. We make observations and we suggest activities. Even those suggestions are opportunities to learn – ‘would you like to eat at Joe’s Diner?’ ‘no, I much prefer that salad place.’

Netflix.com does a very remarkable job of learning about me and continuously asking for my feedback in bite-sized ways.

It wants to know what I thought about the last movie I rented and then it gives me suggestions based on my responses over time. It remembers the things I have told it. When it makes a suggestion it asks me if they got it right. This is a great online manifestation of a brand that is interested in building a relationship over time.

Pandora.com is a music service that allows me to create a ‘channel’ of music that is similar to my favorite artists. This site is friendly because it tells me why it is recommending each new tune. I always have access to this information and it is refreshingly not simply based on artist name, producer, album title, or any other really explicit attributes. They talk about tone, and style being behind the recommendation. Most importantly, they ask me whether or not they got it right. They pay attention to the stuff I skip past and the stuff I listen to. They are interested in learning about me and ultimately I reap benefits from their knowledge. That is the start of a beautiful friendship.

There are myriad ways to join and engage in the conversation between people online.
Here are just a few that have stood out in my travels:

1. Ask me how I liked what I just read
2. Let me share it with someone
3. When you make a recommendation, ask me if it is a good one
4. Remember what I shared with you
5. Show me what you’ve learned about me and remind me of the conversations we’ve had. (Don’t be creepy)
6. Tell me why you are making a particular recommendation
7. If you alert me of something, let me take an action or respond
8. Reply to what I said about you outside of your site
9. Make your content flexible and portable
10. Be as interested in me as you want me to be in you

Many of these don’t require giant efforts or for me to build a robust profile within the walls of your brand. It is ok to think small sometimes. Short conversations are what make up long relationships.

Looking forward, I am going to have more and more information about me online and it will become easier for me to share it with a brand. This can be a very tempting invitation to get greedy and nosey. The brands best poised to reap the rewards of this boom of personal information sharing are those that understand all of the points I’ve made before. They are building relationships. They are not being nosey, or awkward. They are joining the conversation.

Ameriprise rocks the site tour

Sure it was launched in early ‘08, but I wanted to let this one sink in… for a few months. Here’s the gist — Most site tours are clunky at best. This one is very nice:

Even if sites are good their tour counterparts often fail to be an engaging experience and they almost always seem like an afterthought. An engaging private site tour can be a great way to communicate your efforts to clients and whet the appetites of prospects. I am impressed by Ameriprise’s effort for several reasons:

1. I don’t have to sit through animated text to get to the meat. Note: If you have to put a “skip this” button on a site tour, just skip that section in production.
2. I feel I am in control of my experience. There are plenty of markers telling me where i am and letting me know what i am in for in terms of a time commitment.
3. There is an alternate version that just gives me the skinny on the redesign. Beautiful. Another cue that they are thinking of my time.
4. Change can be tough. Not many enjoy change especially when it is with a tool that is relied upon. The rationale that is shown throughout the tour (e.g., ‘we’ve organized accounts the way you’ve told us you want them organized’) may help ease the pain and assure existing users that it is for a greater good.
5. The ‘beep-bop-boop’ of the music leaves something to be desired, but at least i can easily shut it off.
6. It is simple and clear. The jumbo arrow focuses my attention on the salient points. I can choose to read the info on the left, but the visuals could even stand on their own.

The crew that built this tour made some very smart choices. It helps that the redesign looks pretty slick and simple, though I do not know whether or not it delivers on its tour’s promise (i am not a client…yet).

Axa Equitable has a talking gorilla

Axa Equitable has redesigned their home page and launched an updated site featuring their talking-gorilla-in-the-room campaign and a heavy life events slant.

Interesting choice — People Centered-ness is explicit choice by users:
The home page (or start page) features the gorilla talking to you. He seems nice. The lower portion of the page has three routes at the bottom which allow users to select their Home Page. It took me a couple of back-and-forths to figure out what changed between the getting started and current customer home pages, but finally i started to see some changes.

What Changes based on the selections?
The header, left nav and spotlight/products information sections have different content. I did not notice any differences in the deeper sections, but there may be more than just the surface differences if i were actually one of the people i selected (there was no “just want to see what this redesign is all about” selection).

I’m Curious about:

• The eventual results from the redesign and what types of criteria are being measured
• Whether users will eventually update their Home Page once they become customers
• Whether this is applicable to a site or business with a larger solution set