Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing. Scary, scary concept. Talk about an invasion of privacy! This new technology basically means that through a series of brain images, a researcher can tell what we are thinking. As a consumer, there can be no more discomforting concept than corporations gathering data about our true opinions and feelings without much trouble.

Of course, this technology is not ready yet. Gathering brain images isn't as trivial as turning on a light switch. But imagine if it was? Most stores would install a brain reading image at the entrance of their store. They could store crucial information about our shopping experience as we leave the store. Our mood as we enter it. The amount of information that can be gathered is astounding.

Remember "Minority Report", where the ads were displayed as scanners read Tom Cruise's eyes? That might be a reality some day.




Legal, ethical and moral issues aside (although there are many), technologies such as these would exacerbate the growing issues between consumers and producers. Consumers already feel bombarded with advertising, where every inch of space is being maximized for publicity as part of some campaign. Something to consider is that when introducing such a technology in the market, what's in it for the consumer? And don't say improved service - because that usually considered more of a right rather than a benefit. If there any additional advantages for a consumer, it would make it easier to adopt. Until then, all this technology would seem to satisfy is some marketer's wet dream.

The Customer That Never Was

I ended up waiting on a busy New York city street today. Right next to a Bank of America ATM branch at the corner of an extremely crowded intersection. And I didn't expect to learn a lesson in storefront dynamics.

Being on a corner, the ATM branch had two entrances and one of them was locked without any signs indicating that there was another entrance around the corner. It was an extremely crowded street due to a nearby fair and there was a steady stream of traffic into and out of the ATM vestibule. In the 30 minutes that I was waiting there - about 15 people struggled with the locked door - and 6 of them left without checking the other side. That's a loss of 6 customers who would have done some sort of a transaction.

6? No big deal, right? But take another look at the context. With restaurants, banks and similar services, when people need to avail of the service, it is usually due to something they need to get done. Replace this ATM branch with ... I don't know ... a hair clip store. And now apply the same scenario. Rarely does someone have to buy hair clips. My guess is that more people would try that locked door, not bother any further, and move on to something else. A simple sign could have minimized some of this damage, not eliminate it, because you cannot guarantee that someone will see the sign. But this example just goes to show that even before the customer has entered the store, the buying experience has begun. Make sure you are on top of your game right from the start.

A Brand of Their Own

The financial firm I work for has been going through a long and complicated acquisition with an equally large firm. The effects of these merger are still being felt after many months. The team that I work for has a new name, a new charter, new mission. However, our immediate management is still asking the question: How do we brand ourselves?

I never thought about our brand. We're an internal team - our clients are within the firm. So that question got me thinking about internal branding. Very easy to neglect, because when we think about branding - we're thinking clients, the outside world, outside the firm, outside the industry...them.

I would think there are 2 indirect benefits of internally branding your team well.

1. Visibility - I say this because a team that brands well works together to keep up a consistent image. This image, assuming its positive (because its equally easy to create a negative image), can translate to visibility and through it recognition.

2. Internal branding also can create strong work ethics. Because if you start treating other teams within the firm as you treat your clients, you can never be accused of having double standards. An internal unhappy client can do as much damage to your reputation as an external one.

It is the responsibility of higher management to identify and create these internal brands. And maintain the ones that already exist. Because, these internal brands are more tangible and more real to your employees, especially in a large organization. And because the strength of all these externally invisible mini-brands ultimately translate into success for the externally visible one.

Toggling metrics capture within web services

When creating reusable web services, if you have set up an architecture that stores metrics about every request that comes into the system there are a few traps to avoid. One of the issues our team ran into recently was when a web service called another major web service. We noted that the metrics from the inner service overwrote any metrics set by the calling web service. The work around was to reset all the metrics as they were after the inner service was called, for which a lot of redundant code had to be written.

The solution is to build a metrics toggle into your web services. This flag determines whether metrics should be recorded or not. But a big drawback is exposing such a schema to a client. If a client wanted to, they could misuse the service by setting the metrics flag - effectively rendering your metrics capture useless.

Can't think of a better solution for now. Just a reminder to not quit my day job.

The Lid is Flat

Consider the design of your shampoo bottle - more specifically, how the lid has been designed. If the lid is flat, it means that once your shampoo is running low, you can keep the bottle upside down and use the remaining bit. But if the lid is curved, then it presents a challenge. You will prop it up against something and extract the remaining, or wait patiently for small bits to fall into your hand every time, or throw away the bottle after some time.

1. Is the feature good for the business? Yes, the sooner you give up, the sooner you are a potential buyer.

2. Is the feature good for the consumer? Probably not, because it reduces convenience of use.

In the shampoo industry, brand loyalty is scarce. About 70% of shampoo consumers would switch brands if their brand was not easily available. All the more reason to eliminate any negative features. But this is an example where a feature is good for business while not being good for the consumer. Easier said than done, but such features need to be minimized to create a popular product. The fewer such features you have, the lesser the disconnect is between the wellness of business and the wellness of the consumer.