Today, Michael Arrington of Techcrunch.com published an article titled, “Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem Of Hell“. In it, he talks about how some advertisers use a variety of unethical methods (ie. surveys or free trials) to lure gamers into scams which end up costing the users a lot of money.
As I have mentioned before, this is something which I feel very strongly about (it was the reason I started WeWobo.com), and I am glad that an accomplished website such as TechCrunch is willing to take a strong stance on the topic.
The fact of matter is, though, scammers or unethical businesses have always existed in our society. They have evolved over the years: from door-to-door, direct mail, telephone, infomercial to today’s Internet scam. Furthermore, the anonymity nature of the Web and the next-to-nothing investment of building a legitimate-looking website today, guarantee that there will be more businesses or individuals trying to figure out more ways to scam people, than we ever thought possible.
Assuming that we are not ready to give up the low cost entry barrier of starting something on the Internet, I think perhaps it’s time for us to take a closer look at finding new ways to hold people accountable for their actions online. We can start by: a) creating an easier online method for verifying one’s true identity and b) letting users “label” scam websites in search engine results.
I saw this quote today: “everyone leaves a trail on the Web”. So why doesn’t someone work on making it easy to trace the trail back to its origin? I mean, at the very least, make it as difficult/risky to run a scam online as it does offline.
As businesses, you spend a lot of your time and effort on ensuring the quality of your products and services. Unfortunately, there will be times when you have no control over what’s gonna happen.
Last week, when I was eating at the Boiling Crab — they serve the best crawfish in the LA area — I saw this sign:
The original market price for live ones should be about $10 per pound. Even if they don’t reveal the fact that there are “no more live crawfish” or reduce the price in half, I am sure most of the customers there won’t complain or even notice the difference.
My point? From this point forward, unless otherwise convinced, I won’t have any doubts about the freshness of their ingredients.
Sometimes, it’s worthwhile to reveal your own weaknesses and maybe take in some short-term losses, so that you could gain something much more valuable in the long run.
Here is a great article from CopyBlogger on why what you learned back in school about writing might not work so well today, especially if you write for the Web.
1. Trying to sound like dead people School writing aren’t usually bad, but what kills it is that it’s boring. In fact, students go out of their way to be boring.
2. Expecting someone to hand you a writing prompt Spending time looking for topics for this blog is one of the most enjoyable and challenging parts of my day. My suggestion? Read more.
3. Writing long paragraphs Not entirely sure about this one. Long or short, whatever works, works.
4. Avoiding profanity at all costs
5. Leaning on sources For online writing, you have the unique ability to link to your sources without having to quote them in your article.
6. Staying detached If you don’t invest your emotions in your writings, why should your readers invest theirs?
7. Listening to “authorities” more than yourself The only person who is absolutely required to enjoy reading your articles, is you.
iPhones are a little different than PC’s and laptops in the sense that the value lies in the platform instead of the hardware.
When I heard about the price slashing on the device earlier this year, my immediate reaction was: “is Apple running out of innovations that they had to cut their prices?” But I think i was wrong.
As I was watching the keynote @ WWDC ’09 on iPhone OS 3.0 — not the hardware, the software — I was completely blown away by the things which the software developers were able to accomplish with the platform. It in turn led me to believe that one day, we will not only use a device like iPhone as a desktop or laptop replacement, but also have the possibility to use the SAME mobile device as car keys, remote controls, credit cards, textbooks, and much much more. I sincerely hope that’s the big picture Apple is aiming at.
Even though the cost of building hardware continues to drop at a historical rate, the price for innovations stays infinite.
If you haven’t been building an audience for your products (or your services or yourself) for the last 2 years, chances are, when you want to sell something now, it’s extremely difficult to find any listeners.
Knowing that, what are you doing today to ensure that you have someone to sell to two years down the road?
Amazon.com has just begun to roll out same day delivery service in select US cities. If an eligible item is ordered before 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. (depending on the city) Amazon will have it delivered on the same day.
Remember the days when we used to have doubts about making purchases online? Our reasons were: untrustworthy websites, long delivery time, difficult return/refund process, impersonal customer service, etc. Those were the reasons why eCommerce could never replace retail storefronts.
But what happens when websites start to: establish trustworthy brands; offer same day delivery; have a 365 day return policy with free shipping both ways; figure out a way for you to experience the products without ever leaving your living room…all at lower costs?
My parents has just recently ended their 2 year long relationship with Comcast, and here is the farewell letter they received:
We are sorry to hear that you would like to discontinue your Comcast service(s). We value you as a customer and thank you for allowing us to connect you to what’s important in your life. This e-mail serves to confirm the disconnection of your Comcast service(s) which will take place on 11/09/2009.
Please remember that any equipment provided to you for your service must be returned to Comcast. If you have any questions on how to return your equipment, please click here.
[Introductions to their cable, Internet, and phone service]
If you would like to place an order with us in the future, you may do so at any time by visiting www.comcast.com or by calling us at 1-800-COMCAST (266-2278).
If there is anything we can do to assist you further, please let us know. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you again soon.
I think they could’ve done a much better job. After all, this might be their last (free) opportunity to deliver an anticipated and personal message to my parents. It’s funny how sometimes businesses like Comcast are willing to spend millions of dollars on advertising, but are unwilling to invest in what seems to be a much more effective way to communicate with their customers. Here is a situation where they have gotten the customer’s undivided attention; the customer is waiting to be impressed; and they chose to dump it on some email template with a robot filling in the customer name.
Yes, it’s hard to say goodbye to your customers, but that doesn’t excuse you from doing a lousy job. Personally, I’d go with something like this:
This e-mail serves to confirm the disconnection of your Comcast service(s) which will take place on 11/09/2009. Please remember that any equipment provided to you for your service must be returned to Comcast. If you have any questions on how to return your equipment, please click here.
We are sorry to hear that you would like to discontinue your Comcast [Cable] service. It has been a pleasure serving you for [the past 2 years].
As a farewell gift for being such a loyal customer to us, we would like to cover your next month’s [Cable] bill. Simply send us your new statement and we will send you a check.
If there is anything we can do to assist you further, please let us know. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you again soon.
I understand this method is much more expensive, but you accomplish at least 2 things this way: 1) leave a long-lasting impression so that the next time the customer thinks about switching, he will think about you first; and 2) a chance to find out where your customers are going, and why.
It sure beats a 30 second commercial on Fox, doesn’t it?
Among many other things, the Web is the perfect medium to amplify true passion. It also helps to break down the geological and time barrier, which makes it easier for you to connect with others around the globe who posses the same true passion.
I see true passion as something you choose to pursuit in spite of criticism or the lack of ROI.
I sent in my Lenovo laptop for service today. The whole process was easy: I called the customer service line yesterday afternoon; the box was overnighted to me with a next day shipping label included; all I had to do was simply to put the laptop in the box and drop it off at the nearest UPS store. In less than 24 hours, the laptop was out of my hands.
Don’t get me wrong here: I am NOT complaining. But this got me thinking a little bit.
You see, if the exact thing had happened 10 years ago, I would be so impressed that I wouldn’t be able to stop talking about it for 2 weeks. 10 years from now? It probably won’t even reach the minimum industry standard.
As for today, it’s hard for me to imagine that Dell, HP or Acer aren’t doing something similar for their laptops. In other words: good, but also average.
I challenge you to take a look at the way your business is being run today: customer service, sales calls, RMA, accounting, shipping, whatever. What used to be excellent 5 years ago is probably just average now.
Don’t ever stop pursuing perfection (even if you will never get there).
Wolfram Alpha just launched a $50 iPhone app. Yes, you heard it right, $50 for an iPhone app. Now you may ask, “who is gonna pay for that?” And the truth is, I have absolutely no idea.
Do you remember how much an iPhone cost when it was first introduced?
Of course, I am not comparing the app with iPhone — that’s not the point — nor am I insisting that you should look to increase your prices.
What you should look into, though, are: a) don’t try to fit in just to avoid criticism; b) it’s okay to make people uncomfortable with some elements in your design; and c) the market, not you, will set the right price.
Here is something interesting in a somewhat obvious way: Airlines that charge bag fees lost more money than airlines that didn’t. When you read an article like this, the word “duh” comes to mind, doesn’t it?
My question, then becomes: if this is so obvious to see, why did the brilliant business men and women at United, Continental, and Delta still decided to do it? Furthermore, here we are, a year later, with data to prove that the decision was in fact wrong, will any of them make any changes anytime soon?
As a business, at what point do you admit that you are wrong?
Remember when you were in school? The worst thing you could possibly make was a mistake — make enough of those, it leads to failure. The best students were the ones who followed instructions perfectly. Listen, no questions, and do whatever you are told.
All of that changed the minute you walk out of the camps’ doors. Business or personal, now is the time for you to take risks, make mistakes and fail. Fail often, fail early, and fail as much as you can withstand.
Embracing failures gives you two advantages: 1) you learn to deal with it and 2) your success will taste that much better.
Why don’t some businesses understand that customer service today is an investment, as opposed to an expense. As a matter of fact, it’s not just customer service — every single interaction with any potential client of yours should be treated as an investment.
I did a live online chatting session with Comcast about their digital cable service today. As the conversation went on, it was clear to me that Clint, the service rep, was either an auto-responding robot or someone who could barely speak English and was strictly typing from a script. I wasn’t impressed either way. The responses were slow, redundant, and inhumanly. At the end of the session, the final answer I got was: “please check back with us in 2 to 3 days”.
It’s mind-boggling to me that someone would spend millions of dollars on advertisement trying to get my attention, and when they finally got it, they’d let a robot to do all the talking.
There was a big Hotmail scandal going on last week: around 10,000 passwords were obtained by hackers who created a fake website identical to Hotmail’s to fool users into entering their email address and password in a “phishing” scam.
That’s all “phishing” is: a scam that uses false websites to lure people into revealing important data such as bank account details, login names or passwords, and usually the link to the false website comes in a “formal” email or from one of your friends whose account has been successfully hijacked.
It’s not hard to avoid “phishing”.
The first thing you should do is to avoid clicking on links within emails. If the email appears to come from a website you use often, simply open up a new browser window and type the web address — it shouldn’t take you more than a few keystrokes before your browser remembers the address.
Another thing you can do is to ask your browser to “remember the username” for all the important websites you visit. Use is as a reminder for checking the web address when your username doesn’t show up on the website.
Google PageRank or Alexa website ranking software are also good indicators for “phishing” websites. Obviously, the fake websites won’t rank nearly as high as the real ones.
Lastly, please don’t be so curious about who blocked or deleted you from their contact list. There are plenty of others who are actually more than happy to hear from you. Why bother with those who try to avoid you?
The Internet has affected a lot of industries: music, newspaper, magazine, movie, real estate, books, etc., and I think it will affect a lot more, especially if you are in the information providing business. The problem is that all of the sudden, whatever you have been selling can be found and delivered online, for free.
How do you compete with free? You can’t, really. As soon as the price reaches zero, it changes the entire game. Simply put, you no longer have the option to “sell” the product when you can’t charge for it, and that alone usually disrupts the entire business model.
So your focus needs a shift.
It’s no longer about charging for what you used to create. Instead, you should be forcing yourself to spend time on creating something which you can charge for now (and in the future). At the same time, if you can, work on turning what you are currently selling into being free before somebody else does it for you.
