Tag: Weston MA Web Design

Is the customer always right?March 31st, 2014

The old adage, “the customer is always right” is of course a good business practice. But is it correct?

No, not always.

Sounds revolutionary right?   Not really, hear me out.

As a web development professional, your duty is to do the right thing by your clients. You should always recommend the best course of action. You should never just rubber-stamp an idea just because it belongs to your client. Now of course, you are in business and you need to please your customers. But don’t be a sycophant. Tell them your opinion as to what they should do. Now of course if they choose to go against you, that is up to them. At that point you need to back off.

Of course you want an example of this correct?

Okay, here’s a case that illustrates what I’m talking about. I had a client who wanted to go with a custom designed, responsive WordPress web site. Now, I love building these websites. We build quite a few of these types of sites, and most of the time I think it’s a fabulous idea. But, in this case, the client was a nonprofit, just starting out with very little funding. I knew that I could save them a lot of money, and build a kick ass website using a premium theme. With several thousand available, that are responsive and very high-quality, this was a better way for them to go. As they were in a rush to get this up and running, the premium theme would be much quicker to market. The design process adds quite a bit of time, and then of course we have to build out the WordPress theme. Now, most companies would love to go with the more expensive solution and would never even suggest a cheaper alternative. But at RooSites, we have built a company based on doing the right thing, even if it costs us money in the short term. Why? Not because we’re such amazing human beings. It is a business strategy, to take a long view and build long-term relationships based on trust.

Bottom line: The adage that the customer is always right is not necessarily true. Do the right thing by them, give your recommendations and let them decide. You and your customers will profit in the long term.

 

Learn from Superbowl AdsFebruary 10th, 2014

While sports fans relish the Superbowl for the love of the sport, a large segment of the population likes to watch for commercials and halftime shows. With a huge worldwide audience, advertisers line up spend millions for 30 second spots. You can learn from advertisers hits, as well as their many misses.

I have been thinking about this since Seattle crushed Denver. Here is my take on this year’s commercials. I discuss four companies that scored big and one that fell woefully short.

1. Budweiser – Once again they hit a homerun with the commercial featuring the golden retriever puppy and his friendship with the Clydesdale. They also scored with hero’s welcome.  Both left you with a good feeling about the brand and tugged at the heart strings.
   What you can take away: Having people feel good about your brand is important especially with customer retention. Companies like Bud don’t need brand recognition, as they have that. Before you try something on your website, be sure to think about it from your customer’s perspective. Will this portray us in a positive light?
2. Audi – this made me laugh out loud. Doberhuahua was hit. Humor either works or it doesn’t. Audi scored big time. Hey, its the first time Sarah McLachlan spot about animals didn’t make me cry. Brilliant!
   What you can take away:  Getting people’s attention is so important. Audi did that by using humor and at the end they tell you the message, “Compromise Scares us too” & “Luxury without compromise”.  For your website project consider not taking yourself too seriously. Use humor where possible. BUT test what you are doing, comedy is tough to pull off. But if done right it can be effective at grabbing people’s attention.
3. Coca-Cola – like Bud, they don’t need brand recognition, but they need people to feel good about the brand. After all soft drinks are not exactly popular among health conscious viewers. But their commercial sure made you feel good, patriotic.
   What you can take away: Similar to number 1, having people feel good about your brand is important, and this is so true on web projects where people can disappear in a click…
4. Doritos – Once again they were right on with a hysterical new ads, Cowboy Kid & Time Machine.  They have gotten to the point that when you think nacho chips, no one else even comes to mind.
   What you can take away: Stick with what works. Doritos has year after year scored with great commercials and their brand recognition is stronger than ever. if you are hitting on all cylinders with your website, don’t get away from what is working. Newer ideas aren’t always better. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
5. GEICO – They used a recycled commercial. Nothing new.  Boring, and surprising for a company whose marketing has gotten them to where they are today.
   What you can take away: If you are having a big event go new, use imagination. Not the same old same old. If you are launching anew website, make sure it is fresh, up to date and rocking from a design and content standpoint.

Bottom Line: There were other hits and misses, but mainly a bore-fest. Shockingly a bunch of companies used ads that were weeks old.  Seems a poor media spend at 3 mil for 30 seconds. In the past we saw much more originality.

Fortunately, you can learn from their mistakes without writing a huge check. It is funny, at RooSites I spend quite a bit of time talking people out of overspending on ideas I know won’t be profitable. Though in the short term that probably doesn’t sound like a good business strategy,  in the long term it pays dividends as clients stay with us longer. In 2013 for instance we had a 99% client retention rate.