Are you on Slack? Over 10 million people log on to the messaging App every day. People in all sorts of industries are deciding if it’s a helpful tool or a nagging reminder (that there are unread messages waiting for you to act on). The answers to these questions will vary depending on how your […]
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Unlike larger and more mainstream online publications, AdPulp has the ability to reject online advertising in its current state. Like thousands of other independent publishers across the globe, we pay no rent for an office, no salaries, and no dividends. Having said that, removing advertising from this website is much more than a financial move. […]
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After living in Seattle for a few years, it’s become clear to me that many shops here struggle to capture significant business from clients headquartered beyond the west coast. Which is why seeing People, Time Inc., and Conde Nast on the roster of local agency Fell Swoop is so startling and highly refreshing. Founder Matt […]
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The design of an online shopping cart can either make the buying experience clear and exciting for your customer or be very confusing and ineffective, and possibly lead to high cart abandonment rates. If you want your online business to thrive, it is essential for you to know what features will make your online shopping cart design efficient. This article lists a few tips which can be helpful when designing an online cart.
Less is More
When designing an online shopping cart, remember that less is more. The simpler your online shopping cart is, the less irritated your customer will get and the more likely he or she will go through with his or her purchase. Limited shipping, payment methods options or having to create an account with your online business to check out an item, can lead to higher cart abandonment rate. Keep in mind that professionalism and clarity are also very important aspects. Even customers with little Internet knowledge should be able to understand your online shopping cart design with no problem.
One Page or Step-by-step Approach
You can either chose to have your online shopping cart displayed on one page or create several steps to go through to check out an item on your website. The first option offers more flexibility and information, as your customer will be able to change quantities of items, review the order, and apply discounts all in one setting. However, it can become confusing if there is so much information that your client does not know where to click to confirm a purchase. A step by step approach might be simpler to use and easier to understand for online consumers, but may offer less flexibility. If a customer needs to change his or her order before finishing the purchase, he or her will need to go a few pages back to do so, which might make the process more difficult. Choosing one option over the other depends on your type of business and the data you want displayed on your online shopping cart design.
Where is The Cart?
… Is a question your online customers should never have to ask? Make sure that you can see the online cart at all times when navigating through your online business. The checkout option should also be very easy to find, as well as the ability to know what you already have in your cart at all times. Design options that include ‘checkout’ buttons or links, a small cart button in the corner or top of all your webpages or a simple layout to review the order.
Continue Shopping
It may not seem like a very important aspect at first, but the ability to continue shopping is an essential feature of your online shopping cart. Your customers need to be able to add a few more items or modify their purchase as needed without having to lose what they already checked out. Providing features to save your customers information if needed can also be helpful, but make sure to not make it a mandatory step for first-time buyers. Some people do not want to have their information saved or have to create an account for a one-time purchase, and may go to a competitor who does not require them to.
Designing an online cart can seem like a challenging and daunting task, but can yield to more revenues and sales if done properly. Keep in mind that a clear, easy to use, professional design with features your customer actually needs, will make the purchase experience a pleasant one.
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Packing up your truck and driving to the trade show should involve as much planning and preparation as possible. After all, you’re going there to promote your product and stand out from the hundreds of other companies whose sole purpose is to outshine you. But the trade show isn’t just about attracting potential customers — it’s also about establishing a relationship with them and collecting data regarding how well your product may do in the market.
With that said, here are nine tips to consider when setting up your trade show booth. Following these could mean the difference between failing and succeeding.
Try to Get a Booth Close to the Main Walkway
Image via Flickr by Incase.
Showing up at the trade show without a plan in place can lead to regrettable results, so it’s important to make sure you prepare beforehand. When choosing a spot on the trade show floor (or reserving one), try to get a booth as close to the main walkway as possible (if not on it). As obvious as it sounds, many people who devote their time and energy to attending these trade shows to promote their product often forget that more people walking by their booth means increased odds of them stopping at it.
Focus on the Quality of Your Display
Image via Flickr by Pop Culture Geek
A great way to start building a strong and practical layout is to use grids, making it easier for people to view your display. This will ensure that your display design is neat and organized. If possible, consider having a white Masonite floor as opposed to carpeting. This will help reflect light on your merchandise, allowing you to showcase your products and providing you with a clear advantage. Additionally, remember to place your logo in a recognizable spot (preferably high) and that it’s large enough to see.
Use Social Media to Spread the News
Image via Flickr by mkhmarketing
Whether it’s providing updates during the trade show or inviting existing clients to it, using social media to your advantage is essential in spreading awareness about your brand and product. Trade shows are the perfect time to introduce new products and services, which will encourage your target audience to attend the show if they know about it. Also, it never hurts to have a crowd around your booth that attracts more people out of curiosity. The more people who know about your booth, the better.
Showcase Your New Stuff
Image via Flickr by Tilemahos Efhimiadis
Speaking of new products and services; showcasing something new and fresh to existing or potential customers at a trade show is an easy to succeed. Although trade shows aren’t exactly the best way to launch your new product or service (because of the timing), there are ways to use the opportunity to your advantage. Whether it’s promoting a product you’ve never featured or unveiling a new prototype, gauge the timing of the trade show and how it’ll impact your presentation.
Don’t Restrict Prying Customers
Image via Flickr by Dell’s Official Flickr Page
Customers who attend a trade show are like kids at a candy store; they want to touch everything. If you have models of the product you’re promoting on display, let your customers pick them up and play around with them. Also, keep your booth clean so customers can focus on what’s important – your product. Having a cluttered booth or placing restrictions on customers and how they handle your product is a sure way to push them away.
Practice Your Customer Service Skills
Image via Flickr by laerte
While you may think that graphics and colorful displays are the thing people who visit your booth will remember most about it, it’s not. How you greet your potential customers and interact with them is more important than anything else. After all, you’re the direct representative of your product.
If people can’t seem to like you after their first impression, then chances are they won’t stick around to see how well your product stacks up against the rest. It’s important for you to smile, interact pleasantly with every customer, and know everything possible about your product so you can answer any questions they may have about it.
Give Away Free Swag
Image via Flickr by Philip Taylor PT
Whether it’s stress balls or logo pens, it’s important to create a game or gimmick that gets people talking about your booth and attracts them to it. When choosing the product you want to give away for free, think about its use and where it’ll end up. Giving away free stuff that customers will keep means that it’ll leave an impression every time they pick it up and use it. Remember that the free products have your company name, address, phone number, and website link on them.
Don’t Pack Until Everyone Has Left the Building
Image via Flickr by 8one6
As the trade show winds down, you’ll notice that the crowds have dispersed and the energy that was once there is now gone. You may even start to pack your booth up and begin to run for the exit yourself. As tempting as this may sound, it’s a mistake that could cost you a potential client or customer.
The serious trade show attendees tend to stick around to the end, which means they want more time to talk with you about your product. Stay energized and engaged, showing anyone that’s left in the building that you’re committed to the trade show, their business, and your product.
Collect and Analyze Data
Image via Flickr by katerha
Technology has made it easier than ever to collect contact information from everyone that has visited your trade show booth. Additionally, you can take personal notes during the trade show and keep them for future examination. Once the trade show is over, you’ve packed up, and headed back to your offices, analyze all the information you’ve collected and find a way to use it to your advantage. Whether that means following up with your potential clients and customers or making your product better.
Booking a booth at a trade show and attending it is easy. But succeeding at interacting with customers and promoting your product is the real trick. Keep these tips in mind when striving to do so.
Author Bio
Author Jane is a freelance writer who loves to write about anything from tech to mommy stuff. She is featured in many blogs as a guest writer, and can write with authority on any niche or subject.
This is a guest post.
The post 9 Tips for Running a Successful Trade Show Booth appeared first on AdPulp.
Pensando em construir a planilha do futuro, Josh Leong, designer por trás dos softwares Excel, Word e Power Point, colocou em pauta os seguintes conceitos para esta nova aplicação: funcionar em tablets, se dar bem com conteúdos multimídias e ser aberta à colaboração.
O resultado foi o app Grid, uma planilha construída de matrizes de quadrados que se encaixam perfeitamente ao toque do dedo.
Assim, enquanto o Excel é feito de retângulos e focado em números, Grid convida o usuário à inserir textos, fotos, contatos e mapas, afim de criar uma colagem com nuvens de informação sincronizadas.
“A planilha é mágica porque não impõe uma forma de pensar. Você pode organizar suas informações como achar melhor. ” – Josh Leong
Usar conceitos físicos como profundidade, peso e aceleração faz com que o usuário possa compreender o app da mesma forma que compreende tudo a sua volta.
Com estas diferenças quebrando barreiras e dificuldades, Grid foi construído para o público que usa o Excel para organizar um brainstorm em vez de criar fórmulas complexas.
Usando uma interface focada no toque, em que cada célula recebe uma simples animação ao ser tocada e também pode ser arrastada com os dedos, tudo é feito para que o usuário tenha total controle sobre o que está construindo.
Com um suporte para os mais variados tipos de conteúdo, pensando em um futuro próximo, quem sabe as fórmulas matemáticas destas planilhas não possam envolver conceitos como geolocalização, tags, dados sociais ou vídeos do Youtube.
Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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User experience is front-and-center in this new anthem from Apple and TBWA\Chiat\Day.
I like that Apple is asking the fundamental questions. “Will it make life better? Does it deserve to exist?” Imagine where the ad business would be today if we applied that filter in our work.
But before I get caught up in Apple rapture, lets wrestle with this “Designed by Apple in California” signature to its knees. “This is our signature and it means everything,” the actor cries out. Sadly, this ruins the spot by reminding us what is left unsaid. Designed by Apple in California, assembled by impoverished laborers in China.
Previously on AdPulp: Offshore Tax Shelters A Problem For Apple, But Not The Only One
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Em parceria com a Lunar Design, Mobilegear.com criou uma solução em ecommerce para aqueles que fazem de sua casa um escritório.
Focada no conceito crescente de “trabalhadores móveis” – de quem faz home office àqueles que passam suas tardes no café com um notebook – Douglas Nash, CEO da Mobilegear.com, enxergou neste segmento a necessidade de reformular o escritório.
Pensando na enorme, confusa e bagunçada quantidade de produtos que os varejos de produtos para escritório oferecem, Nash seguiu o caminho oposto: em vez de colocar à venda muitos produtos e tudo à preço baixo, a equipe da loja faz constantemente uma curadoria de produtos escolhidos à dedo.
Os produtos são divididos em categorias que se encaixam naquilo que o público está procurando: home office, mobilidade, organização, imprimir e apresentar, escrever, proteger, conforto e produtos sustentáveis.
Desta forma, em vez de mais de 10 cliques para encontrar o que se procura e efetuar a compra – o que acontece em uma loja maior – aqui o usuário chega ao seu destino final em apenas 1.
Misturando organização, design e curadoria, o ecommerce ainda pretende adotar o conceito de crowdsourcing em seu modelo de negócio, permitindo em suas páginas mais do reviews, mas uma forma de os usuários poderem redefinir as seleções de produtos disponíveis.
Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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If you could act on a promotional offer midstream while surfing Twitter, would you?
According to Online Media Daily, Twitter is testing a new lead generation tool.
Advertisers can offer Twitter users deals and discounts in the ad unit or via an in-stream landing page. Those who wish to claim the offer simply click the button and the discount is automagically delivered to your digital doorstep.
Need a hotel deal? Sign up now and priceline will email you a 10% Off Express Deals Coupon Code! cards.twitter.com/cards/c9frv/1h
— Priceline.com (@priceline) May 21, 2013
Successful tests of the new Twitter tool were run by New Relic (@newrelic), Full Sail (@fullsail), Priceline (@priceline), and Barista Bar (@baristabar).
In the old days, a brand would have wanted to drive traffic to its home base web site. I’m pleased to see there’s little need for that now. Who wants to click around and give up their data on one more web site? By playing the game on the platform itself, you honor the user in their – and I hate to say it, but – in their “native” environment.
The Next Web reports that it’s not clear at this point whether Twitter’s new Lead Generation Cards are restricted to just Promoted Tweets, or if businesses can apply the new format to all of their tweets containing a suitable offer.
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You know how you can tag your friends in a photo you upload to Facebook? Now Facebook-owned Instagram is introducing the tagging feature.
Mike Isaac of All Things D believes the move could be a boon for brands.
Photos of You essentially gives a brand the ability to crowdsource photos of its products — likely put to use — from the millions of people who are on Instagram and taking pictures all the time. So, basically, if I’m Nike, I could potentially get tons of free content for my Photos of You tab, all courtesy of the rest of Instagram.
Could be good. Could be a mess.
It may be worth noting here that Facebook and Instagram are working to deliver better user experiences, but what do we immediately begin to consider when a new feature like this is unveiled? How brands are going to game the system.
How very Pavlovian — platforms bark and media and marketing people jump.
In other digital identity and social media news, the NCAA has banned the display of #hashtags and social media URLs on football fields. What century are those fools livin’ in?
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Just when we wrap our collective heads around the concept of real-time marketing, along comes on-demand marketing to steal some of real-time’s thunder.
According to Peter Dahlström and David Edelman of McKinsey, “the coming era of ‘on-demand’ marketing” will revolve around four key areas:
Now: Consumers will want to interact anywhere at any time.
Can I?: They will want to do truly new things as disparate kinds of information (from financial accounts to data on physical activity) are deployed more effectively in ways that create value for them.
For me: They will expect all data stored about them to be targeted precisely to their needs or used to personalize what they experience.
Simple: They will expect all interactions to be easy.
The authors go on to provide some interesting examples. For instance, Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s smartphone app, which reinvents the house-hunting experience by delivering public records (list price, taxes, and other data) at the point of interest.
The authors also make it clear that very few marketers are prepared to meet the demands of info-loaded consumers. I think we can also safely say that very few agencies are prepared to activate real-time or on-demand campaigns. To do so requires not only the ability to recognize the change, but to adapt to it, which isn’t easy given how many of the changes are structural in nature (hence, the rise of content strategists, community managers, user experience designers and so on — positions that did not exist five years ago).
Is it possible that we’re underestimating the impact of digital culture on how things actually work today? In a sentence, if something does not work or is inelegantly designed, “the crowd” may take it upon themselves to remix/fix it, or demand that you do.
So, it’s not “Can I?” It’s “I can.”
The challenge of real-time and on-demand marketing is significant. A brand is a living thing, and digital media is always on. A customer may say “I can!” at 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, and launch into a rant on the brand’s Facebook page about how a product or service experience failed to deliver.
A small business typically lacks the resources for 24-7 customer service in social channels, but a big brand is another story. A big brand may in fact operate like an institution from another century, but that hardly matters to the tween seeking input NOW. Thus, big brands like Coca-Cola or Ford need to be present at all times. Open, available and helpful. It’s a tall order, but I don’t think brands can run from it much longer.
The post Have You Stoked Your Frictionless Data Feeds Today? appeared first on AdPulp.
Para a maioria dos sites que buscam se atualizar, há um debate interminável entre estética e experiência do usuário. Já para o New York Times, seu redesign tenta principalmente repensar como cada história é consumida, o que a liga estritamente ao seu significado e até mesmo a sua veracidade.
De cara nova, as histórias ganham scroll infinito e todos os elementos de interação – fotos, vídeos, infográficos – não se escondem mais em miniaturas no canto da página. Agora, todas as mídias são embedadas diretamente no corpo do texto.
As páginas ganham respiro e bastante espaço em branco, sumindo com muitos dos links que ficavam ao redor. Antes, era regra para os grandes portais darem ao leitor o número máximo de links em uma página, para clicarmos infinitamente. Hoje, os usuários estão acostumados às experiências mais suaves, limpas e intuitivas, principalmente depois da ascensão do mobile.
Uma das maiores mudanças, além da simplicidade, está nos comentários. Antes sempre posicionados ao final de cada artigo, agora estão mais próximos do autor, ocupando o mesmo peso e espaço. Assim, a voz dos usuários ganha importância de discurso e a conversa ao redor dos artigos dão continuidade ao tema.
Já a divisão do conteúdo em categorias continua sendo aplicada, mesmo com algoritmos podendo propiciar uma navegação mais personalizada e natural, como temos visto acontecer quando falamos startups de conteúdo.
Essa opção de busca e seções tradicionais mantém certa tradição do jornal, que prega por transparência e abertura a todos os fatos. A interação e personalização acontece na marcação de favoritos e na barra de navegação das categorias, tornando-a mais próxima do usuário, sem a necessidade de usar algoritmos para prever o interesse de cada um.
As mudanças indicam a necessidade do NYT de mudar para preservar sua perspectiva editorial confiável em um mundo que muda a todo instante.
Para o jornal, tendo você um iPhone, um Adroid, um laptop ou web app, o importante é que a publicação seja a mesma, confiável e que propicie uma experiência que permita engajar os leitores. Aqui, o layout não é mais uma discussão sobre uma página na tela, e sim sobre a informação.
Por enquanto, o redesign do NYT é um protótipo em beta aberto a alguns usuários que pedirem acesso através deste site.
Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Vira-e-mexe aparece alguma ação baseada no QR Code. Algumas coisas são bem legais, outras, longe disso. Será que as pessoas realmente param em frente aos códigos para fotografá-los e descobrir o conteúdo prometido? Quantas vezes você já fez isso? E, de fato, das vezes que você fez isso, quantas realmente valeram a pena? Um exemplo que nos parece bastante interessante ao usar o QR Code para amplificar a experiência do usuário é o Project Paperclip, que mistura realidade aumentada, arte e música.
A ideia é absurdamente simples e eficiente: durante a mostra do fotógrafo português Nuno Serrão, foram espalhados QR Codes. Quando o visitante fotografa os marcadores com o aplicativo da mostra, ele consegue ouvir uma trilha sonora sob medida, que complementa a experiência visual.
Apesar de este tipo de ação não ser novidade – a Tate Gallery já realizou a mostra Tate Tracks, com uma ideia parecida -, a diferença do Project Paperclip está no aplicativo, que ajusta a música de acordo com a exata localização do usuário, horário, presença de outras pessoas e o barulho no ambiente. Isso gera uma experiência única para cada participante.
Segundo os organizadores, neste projeto “o conceito de realidade aumentada, tal como é conhecido, resulta da utilização um interface digital que permite a criação de uma ponte entre o nosso universo e um universo digital, criando em tempo real um ambiente misto onde a diferenciação entre as realidades é reduzida”.
No final das contas, fica a seguinte lição: vale a pena usar o QR Code como uma ferramenta que facilite o acesso a boas ideias, mas é preciso pensar no que será oferecido uma vez que o usuário fotografe o código. Afinal, não são os fins que justificam os meios?
Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
