Strategy Blog: Viget Labs

M. Jackson Wilkinson - Strategist :

Here’s a simple postulate to consider: active moderation is a bad idea for anyone who wants a dynamic discussion on their site. 

Base your practice on the 80/20 rule.  Hopefully 80% of your content is good, in which case you should give new posts the benefit of the doubt, and not actively moderate.  If more than 20% of your content is something you’d want moderated away, then you have bigger problems.

Continue reading "You’re Moderating Your Site to Death"

Brian Wynne Williams - CEO & Co-Founder :

This past weekend, I was in Home Depot looking for a somewhat uncommon electronics device. I figured it was a long-shot that they'd have it, but it was worth asking the young guy with the orange apron who happened to wander by aimlessly. Once he understood what I was asking for, he looked both ways (slyly), leaned closer to me, and whispered:

You should go to RadioShack."

I squinted and nodded knowingly -- as if I'd just been given an insider tip -- and thanked him.

But why the whisper?

If you don't have a product that I'm looking for, why would your co-workers or employer be upset with you for sending a loyal customer (I was in that dang Home Depot three separate times this weekend) to a semi-(at best)-competitor who might have exactly what I'm looking for?  You might be missing out on a couple of bucks (assuming I bought the not-quite-what-I-want alternative) but you're solidifying your position as the first place to go for knowledgeable advice and information.  You're sacrificing (just barely) short-term gains in exchange for strengthening the long-term relationship of trust with the customer.  Shouldn't that be behavior be rewarded, not frowned upon?

Maybe it is rewarded and this young guy just slept through that part of training.

Emily Bloom - Regional Director :

Andy Rutledge describes “the client factors” that designers should consider when calculating project price estimates. I’m not a designer, and I don’t do a lot of estimates; but, I loved his post.

He confesses that the pat answer of “I need more information” before estimating costs, while usually true, is sometimes another way of saying, “What I really need is to spend more time talking with this person, getting to know her; her communication skills, her attitude, and her personality.” Getting to know the person is at the core of making a realistic price estimate.

He goes on to describe the “ideal client” and how to estimate the cost of working with someone who lacks these traits. His list of an ideal client’s characteristics jumped out at me because the constellation of traits seems ideal not just for a client, but for a coworker, boss, or job applicant. (Heck, maybe even a spouse? Just a thought.)

I had three immediate questions: What’s the essence of these “ideal” personality traits? Am I like this? (I want to be ideal; who doesn’t?) Ok, so maybe I’m not; but, what should I do?

Continue reading "Effective Teams: Ideal Traits for Creative Partners"

Brian Wynne Williams - CEO & Co-Founder :

I recently enjoyed a Scott McNealy speech in which he discussed the benefits of open source software. One topic was security, and he explained his view that open source software is inherently more secure because so many people have seen the code that there are no "secret" vulnerabilities to exploit. Lots and lots of people have "kicked the tires" along the way.

This reminded me of one of the reasons we launched 4 new blogs recently. A goal was to better connect and share with our communities of peers. By taking what had been internal discussions and putting them out on our blogs -- in some case continuing the "discussion" part via the comments ourselves -- we involved lots of other people to kick around our ideas and help make them better. We fully expect our peers to smack us around when we're off base. In some cases, we're just sharing something we've learned. In others, we might come right out and ask a question. In all cases, when the community does take the time to engage in the discussion, we feel like everyone comes out ahead.

It doesn't have to be a blog. I encourage anyone to take their ideas out of their own company (without violating any confidentiality agreements, of course), and share them. One of three things will happen:

1. If your ideas are solid, you'll earn praise and goodwill for contributing them to the community.
2. If they're shaky, you'll collect valuable feedback to improve them.
3. If they're downright shoddy, you'll figure that out sooner than you would have otherwise, which is still a good thing.

If you share often enough, you'll probably have all three experiences, and you (and your company) will be better off for it.

 

Stephanie Hay - Project Manager :

A simple "Contact Us" page makes me happy. There's nothing I find more frustrating when I need help from a provider than to find no phone numbers anywhere. OR, only finding a phone number when my issue isn't pressing and I'd rather just drop them an email.

An example of one I love is DirecTV's. A couple times I've had random questions about programming and equipment, so I drop an email. They've always responded within 24 hours. The handful of times I've needed immediate attention, I easily find a phone number (or many), and, luckily, I haven't spent more than a few minutes on hold before speaking to a human. 

Cox attempts to do the same under "Customer Support," but I have to click a few times to get where I want, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as much as it's just not as straightforward.  Same with Verizon, which has me choose which category my specific problem falls into; thankfully, they offer a "none of the above" option, which seems to always be my choice.

Apple clearly prefers that I call, plus I have to jump through some diagnostic hoops before I'm allowed to submit an email.  Dell is the same way, except they won't let me email or join in a 24/7 chat unless I have a service tag.  Sure, these are both logical requests of me, but I'd argue that they don't necessarily equate to a frustrated user as the most friendly or efficient. 

Anyway, I've noticed that more behemeth companies are straying from what seemingly used to be the "Contact Us on Our Terms" pages, which had a choose-your-adventure style process that may or may not end with actually contacting the company.  Maybe I'm just getting to be a more patient user, but as big businesses like CNN and Starbucks start making attempts to interact with their direct users, I'm betting that I wasn't the only person who found convoluted "Contact Us" pages maddening.