What E-tail Account Managers Don’t Know
How to get inside the heads of their customers
January 15, 2013 By Denny Hatch
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The ultimate problem with online marketers is unlike the catalog business—where sending out a catalog in the mail costs a buck or more—the Internet is basically free.
For marketers, that means not only money-free but discipline-free.
As a result, it has spawned a gazillion Web merchants whose young staff members are not trained in the intricacies and the tested rules of direct marketing.
The one guy who figured it out early on was Jeff Bezos, who came up with (among other things) the instant acknowledgment of an order and the "One Click Order," which he patented, thus screwing hundreds—maybe thousands—of online merchants. Patent attorney Lawrence Lessig wrote that this patent was outrageous. It would be like the USPS granting one mailer all rights to the Business Reply Envelope.
Right now Bezos is the 800-pound gorilla, putting book and box stores outta business and is poised to become the last retailer standing.
The Trouble With Non-Amazon Web Merchants
Most of the kids who design websites, write copy and make fulfillment decisions have never been mentored by the great marketers who themselves were mentored by great marketers, ad infinitum.
What these Web marketers do not "get" is the concept that if they do the slightest thing wrong to tick off the prospect or customer—in terms of copy, presentation, price or creating a comfort level—they are a mouse-click away from oblivion.
My Back Brush Problem
Peggy and I have a yoga teacher who is so lithe that she can reach behind her back and touch the nape of her neck.
Alas, I have short little arms. I can just reach the nape of my neck the normal way. Suffice it to say I wanted/needed a back brush with a very long handle.
A number of months ago the back brush in our shower—one with a splendid long handle—was so grungy with mildew that we threw it out.
At a mall store, I found a cheap plastic back brush with a glorious long handle and bought it. It came apart the following week.
On the Internet, I ordered a "far-reaching" back brush, which was sturdy. But with my short arms I could barely get the thing between my shoulder blades. The length was about 14 inches. "Far-reaching" it wasn't.
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