Nokia N96 Review

The new Nokia N96

I currently have an N95 and use most of the applications and services available to me.  I heard a lot of hype regarding the N96 model so I jumped at the chance to have a play with one and put a personal review up online.

I’ve heard all the negative stories re: the N95 and I must admit my first N95 was poor – rubbish battery life, an eternity to load up a few applications and it wasn’t the toughest of mobiles.  The 2nd N95 (and current phone) is much better though and fixes all the issues mentioned above, so maybe some are just put together better.

As I didn’t have any other phones handy to compare with the N96, I used my N95.

Read more

The Potential Behind eNewsletters – Part 1: Why

I’ve just finished working on a small project to send out a managed email campaign for a friend.  He’d never contemplated using e-newsletters and an eMarketing plan before, so after a chat over a BBQ and some beers, I’d persuaded him to give it a try on his latest campaign.

The results provided a useful insight into the potential of e-newsletters and a targeted eMarketing plan.  I’ll go through the results a bit later on, for now I just want to tell you some useful facts and insights I’ve learnt from emails and eMarketing.

Personally I think eMarketing and a consistent and professional eNewsletter campaign is a must have for online success.  Not building and maintaining a newsletter is suicidal for businesses aiming to tap into the online potential.

Users have highly emotional reactions to newsletters as they feel more personal than websites.  Newsletters feel personal because they arrive directly into an Inbox – so you have an ongoing and direct relationship with your customer.  This is a great positive for a business as you can create a much stronger bond between the user and the company.

eMarketing can be complex, but it can also be very cost effective.  This does depend on a range of factors, but once everything has been taken into consideration, research clearly shows that large gains can be made.  A newsletter is a principal pathway to building a long-lasting relationship with customers.  It takes time to build up momentum though so patience is key, specific focus on campaigns and committing the message is essential.

A few years back (I can’t find the original report sorry) email newsletters ranked number 3 of 12 behind TV and Print as most trustworthy and least annoying.  I’m thinking the “least annoying” may have changed slightly due to the massive increase in SPAM in recent years, but this still highlights that you can break through the clutter with sales and new clients appearing when you credibly establish a professional newsletter and eMarketing plan.

It’s also interesting to note that email marketing was the number 1 advertising tactic for 2007, according to a February survey by Datran Media because of its ability to drive incremental revenue, a reason cited by 55.3% of respondent.

It is also interesting to note that eMarketing was cheapest in Cost Per Order [define] for 2007.

Online Marketing Mediums & Average Cost Per Order

Email >$7
Affiliate Programs $17.47
Paid Search $26.75
Banner Ads $71.89

With this knowledge in mind, you can see why so many businesses are finding great success with a well defined and targeted email campaign.

Now that its clear emails can help drive your sales, here are a few interesting facts I’ve picked up from a whole range of case studies and articles:

• Email newsletters are opened at a 60 to 70% rate, sometimes even higher
• Newsletters must be designed to facilitate scanning:
  • Only 23% of newsletters are read thoroughly
  • 50% of newsletters are skimmed or read partly
  • 27% are not even opened
• 5 times as many people read the headline as read the ad or letter
• Emails with sales offerings produce results some 50% higher than standalone email
• Complaint rates are virtually nil (if you get the right balance)
• Users are very demanding with regards to subscribes and unsubscribes:
  • New subscriptions should take no less than 1 minute for a newsletter that needs just an email address
  • Even if additional info is needed, users should be able to subscribe to free newsletters in less than 2 minutes
  • Unsubscribes should take less than 1 minute
• Run an ad for a week and response rates drop dramatically, sometimes up to 90%
• A newsletter with 50,000 subscribers could add an estimated 14,000 subscribers on average if everybody could operate its subscription interface correctly

The next part in this article will cover ways to improve a current newsletter.

Thanks,

Tony

IE Is Still Flawed

Is anyone really suprised at this heading?!

A new problem re: remote code execution has been found only a day after the last patch was released (that fixed 4 previous problems).  Read the full article.

Microsoft have yet to confirm how the problem will be fixed, if at all.

The Power of Technology

I read this article on the bbc website and thought it was a great example of how technology and the use of mobile phones has greatly improved aspects of our lives and society.

I also find it a bit crazy that you can send instructions on amputation via a text message and it all turns out peachy in the end!

10 Tips To Provide Better Creative Feedback

A client once said to me, “It needs to be beefed up…” – and that was their creative feedback.  Not the most useful and insightful I’ve ever heard, but sometimes people can find it difficult to convey their emotions and thoughts.

I put this list together after lots of experience working with clients who changed their mind on a regular basis and so we needed a clear and concise way to get everyone’s views relayed back to the Creative Team.

Better communication of thoughts at this stage ensures the right results are achieved in a quicker timeframe – hence the client is happy and the cost is not an issue!

1. Positive feedback

I can’t stress this enough.  Nothing is more disheartening to anyone when they’ve spent time and effort on something to get negative and unhelpful feedback.  Open feedback with a positive attitude and convey what is liked about the creative.  This shows respect to the person who has been doing the work and sets a good tone to follow through onto the points that need work.

2. Clear messages

Start at the top of the design and work your way down, even better to label areas of the creative e.g. top header, menu section, left nav etc. to ensure everyone knows which area is being discussed.

3. Concise messages

Use bullet points.  Not only is this a concise and clear way of presenting the feedback, it also helps later on as a checklist to run through and tick off once the issue has been discussed and worked on.  These points should be simple and as short as possible though – no long paragraphs.

4. Descriptive messages

“It needs to be beefed up” is not descriptive and doesn’t help the Creative team in any way.  They’re not mind readers and hence this doesn’t give the necessary guidance to make constructive changes.

5. Limit the design review meetings

Personally I think 3 rounds of amends are needed to ensure all potential issues are reviewed and fixed.  Anything more then you need to be disciplined with the client and the budget/timescales.  Sometimes you do need more reviews so this is dependent on the type of project.

6. Focus on the Project Deliverables and Outcomes

Sometimes teams can go off on tangents with copy and design that doesn’t necessarily fit into the deliverables and outcomes of the project.  It is the job of the PM to ensure that the Creative Team is focused on the task at hand and not let other messages or ideas drift into scope.

7. Use storyboards with moveable elements

A HCI expert showed me this once, but it worked a charm for the Creative team and the client.  We took all the elements of the website’s front page and subsequent email template and then spent an hour with the client and a Lead Creative trying the elements in different places to see how they looked in different positions and what worked/what didn’t work.  A Usability expert is also useful in this scenario as they can help with feedback and useful ideas.

8. Get EVERYTHING in writing

Yes it is quicker to call the PM and say “It needs beefing up” and then expecting them to provide a new design in 10 minutes, but any formal feedback should be in writing.  Any PM worth their weight should also request this to be done and will not proceed forward with amends until the client has confirmed the written feedback to the PM.  This is a very simple safety clause for both the Client AND the Project Team.

9. Fix client conflicts before contacting the Project Team

It is not the job of the PM or the Creative Team to fix differing issues between the Client team.  The last thing the Creative Team need is conflicting feedback.  If there are differing views, then they need to be resolved before proceeding.

10. TRUST the Creative Team

They’re called the Creative Team for a reason and this is usually because they have investigated and researched a lot of designs, ideas, concepts, colours and so forth.  If you don’t trust their judgment and feedback on some things then there is little point in hiring them in the first place.  The client knows the brand/product/service…the Creative team knows the creative.

Let me know what you think of these and if you have any further to add.

Cheers,
Tony

Project Cake – Why?!

A client once asked my why I had employed the services of a range of people for his website and online development and I used the metaphor that managing and delivering a good project was a bit like making a really good cake…

There are several factors that make a good cake:

1. The correct ingredients
2. Good ingredients
3. Instructions on how to make the cake
4. A plan to put everything together

Similarly, managing and delivering a project needs:

1. The correct people employed
2. Good people who are experts in their field
3. Instructions on how to deliver the project
4. A plan to put everything together

OK, this may be a very top-level view of running successful projects, but you get the gist. There’s no point in getting the icing sugar to cover the cake ready at the start, as you haven’t got anything to put it on, and there’s no point in hiring a developer to get building a website when you haven’t even investigated requirements and a design.

Projects, like cakes, require analysis and investigation into what the goals and achievements will be at the end of play. A good plan and experience will ensure that you know who the right people are to work on the project and at what stage they are put into the mix to ensure the project is delivered in the most efficient and cost effective way for the client.

The role of the Project Manager is to ensure the ingredients are right, the instructions are followed, the ingredients are mixed and used at the right time, and the cake looks, smells and tastes exactly how it is supposed to.

I would love to say I was as good at cooking as I was at Project Managing, but sadly, I would be lying! I have my culinary specialties and I’m learning as much as I can from as many people as possible, but for the time being, I’ll stick to managing and delivering projects.