Red Zen Marketing

I have a friend who has just started a new business.

Now, he and his associates have done a lot of things right: they've clearly researched the market they are targeting, they understand the key segments within it and have developed personas upon which to base their positioning and much of their messaging, and it's likely that their product, once rolled out will show the fruits of this background work as well.

I ran across their business during a recent rather random Twitter search (search.twitter.com) and was struck by their home page... From your examination of their home page (and even subsequent click-through pages shown below), can you guess what my marketing eye saw as the fatal flaw?



Now it's answering a really interesting problem, to be sure. People texting or emailing while driving, creating unsafe circumstances on the road--this is a growing concern in an age of touchscreen smartphones that require two handed use. (Yes, in my younger days, I've even been known to drive with my knees while hands were otherwise engaged--but that was before cellphones...) So, granted, there's definitely an audience for their messaging they've developed---but in the age of Inter-web short attention spans, you can't afford to keep your visitors guessing too long... so...

Just what does this product (service?) DO?

I have not been able to figure out from looking at these screens. Is it a electric zapping pad you sit on that zaps you when you use your cellphone out of a special docking cradle? Zapping you like some lab rat for behaving badly in your car? Does it instead install itself like some NetNanny on your smartphone and text message your loved ones ratting you out when you begin to use your keyboard upon entering a bluetooth zone in your car? I'm intrigued, but not intrigued enough to stick around with my 5 second attention span of the typical online site visitor--I'll be moving right along to the next site, thanks very much for the amusement.  They missed their chance.  What could they have done?

Well, if they had created a viral video picturing one of those contraptions just described, I'd likely pass it along to all my buddies and we'd have an uproarious hoot, and then watch their 6 second tag where they tell me what they really offer... They'd have set up my interest, and then used their persona development to show something humorous that cast behavior they are trying to alter in a fun light, and then shown their solution at the conclusion. It's a proven formula. Matt, you listening?

Think about your own site, product or service. Are you clear with your messaging, or when visitors land are they confused by 20 different possible directions, 5 different promotions, and so many alternatives for their attention that they could easily become overwhelmed and click away? Manage your customers' attention. Take a lesson from Disney's imagineers, and think about designing your visitors' experience and how they experience your site to get from them precisely the behavior you desire.

It's not rocket science. It's a matter of focus, use of personas (explicit, like Zoomsafer has done, or implicit), and clear understanding of what action you expect from your visitor at what point in their visit. Think carefully about what is most important, and give greatest emphasis, through size, color, and images, to that action. You'll be on your way to a more productive site for your product or service.

And, yes, I can help with that.

 

Filed under  //   marketing   NPD   online marketing   personas   product development   twitter   web site   Zoomsafer