Have you seen this? WestJet GetSet is an application that runs directly on your desktop and delivers (as pop-ups or as a ‘glow’) offers to people who sign up for it. No email inbox to compete with. So interesting—–especially insofar as permission marketing of this sort really helps WestJet contact engaged customers the way those customers want.

Very interesting approach —- bypasses the email ‘middle man’ entirely by going straight to the desktop.Check it out to understand it. So cool. http://www.westjetgetset.com/default_dev.asp

If you read my January 20 post re: weak company apologies, then you’ll know that I think true, solid apologies are not optional—-in fact, they’re critical. Well, I think that… and I’m pretty sure customers think that, too.

As a customer of Amazon.ca, I was recently very, very pleasantly surprised by their outstanding customer service. Quickly, here’s what happened before I got to customer service:

1. Yesterday morning, I ordered 3 books on Amazon.ca
2. After finishing the order, I went back to the site and found another book I wanted
3. I went in to edit my order, hoping I’d make it in time, before anything was shipped Read more »

I love Steve Krug’s “Don’t make me think.” If you want to write better sites with the user in mind, then this is the book to read. Most of us have read it… or, at least, we have it on our shelves and we find ways to drop the title in conversation. Either way, the concept of not making a user think on the Web defines how we understand usability and, in turn, shapes how we approach online content strategies - from creative design and copy to information architecture and user interface design.

Question: Has “don’t make me think” become a mantra for *everything* webby that we do? Have we, as Web specialists, stopped thinking ourselves?

Consider the many ways we’ve stopped thinking: Read more »

I started writing this blog because I had so many ideas whipping around in my head (picture Texan dust storms… but hopefully with a little more weight than dust has) that I just had to start putting them down in writing. I’d been reading a lot of blogs and, where I felt I had something to add, responding. To me, starting a blog seemed like a great way to put my thoughts out there. I wanted to write it for me.

 I didn’t even think about what might happen if someone were to READ my blog. Oh, and what if they were to comment?

A few weeks ago, I got my first comment from a woman in the US with a similar blog. She posted a comment on my ‘old’ blog (where it was previously hosted), so it didn’t make its way onto this blog. …And that was it for traffic.

Until this morning. Read more »