The Bee Hive http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog Honey Bowtie Music blog - where sticky songs meet well-dressed content Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:26:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 en A wordle of my own http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/03/a-wordle-of-my-own/ http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/03/a-wordle-of-my-own/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:25:15 +0000 Kate O' http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/03/a-wordle-of-my-own/ I’ve seen some cool wordles, but it wasn’t until a friend posted one she created using a recent research paper that I got inspired to create one of my own. This wordle uses my “manifesto,” which was a 37-page, 6,889-word document outlining a proposed strategy for how we at Magazines.com interact with our customers to optimize lifetime value.

No surprise that “email” and “customers” are the prominent words for a visualization of a document describing, essentially, how best to communicate with our customers.

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]]> http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/03/a-wordle-of-my-own/feed/ Amazon cart “saved for later” items gone? http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/03/amazon-cart-saved-for-later-items-gone/ http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/03/amazon-cart-saved-for-later-items-gone/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:07:44 +0000 Kate O' http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/03/amazon-cart-saved-for-later-items-gone/ I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been using that “save for later” feature in my Amazon cart for years, and I frequently go back days or weeks later and purchase items I’ve set aside. One of the best reasons to do it that way is that Amazon provides messaging in the cart when an item’s price changes, whether it increases or decreases. So it’s a great way to check in on what items are on sale and go ahead and pick them up. But today when I logged in, my cart appeared to be empty.

I sent Amazon customer service an email about it, but I’m curious: does anyone else out there use that feature, and if so, is your cart empty too?

What gives? That’s a pretty jarring experience for me as a ridiculously loyal Amazon customer. If they’ve done away with it for whatever reason, I’m going to have to rethink my loyalty to their site.

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]]> http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/03/amazon-cart-saved-for-later-items-gone/feed/ links for 2008-07-02 http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/02/links-for-2008-07-02/ http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/02/links-for-2008-07-02/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:32:25 +0000 delicious http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/02/links-for-2008-07-02/
  • Ooh, this is a good one. Note particularly the first part of the sentence: “And while I can’t say I’ve often had the urge to switch out subscriptions once I’ve settled on my favorites … given the chance, I just might (I’m looking at you, Esquire).”
  • No long tail on this dog: “…The results won’t be nearly as deep as Netflix, which… has a library of more than 100,000 titles and a veritable arms race … to build better algorithms. Maghound is starting out with just less than 300 magazines… .”
  • “…Netflix was able to gain their dominance… by being the largest online advertiser for years in a row, they essiantially “bought” market share and customers. I don’t believe Maghound has the funding Netflix had…” It’s Time Inc. Not enough fund
  • “Interestingly, the auditing bodies will be viewing these as single-sale copies.” I do think that’s one of the more interesting wrinkles in the whole model — it’s not technically a subscription, from an Audit Bureau standpoint.

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    ]]>     http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/07/02/links-for-2008-07-02/feed/     Customer experience done right (yes, even though it’s late) http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/30/customer-experience-done-right-yes-even-though-its-late/ http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/30/customer-experience-done-right-yes-even-though-its-late/#comments Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:19:07 +0000 Kate O' http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/30/customer-experience-done-right-yes-even-though-its-late/ Yes, they screwed up by announcing they would take away the Profiles feature. But then, when it became clear that customers were upset with the announcement — and by upset, I mean ready to cancel their accounts — Netflix retracted their decision, and sent one of the best apology emails I’ve seen.

    keeping Netflix Profiles.png

    We Are Keeping Netflix Profiles

    Dear Kate,

    You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.

    We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.

    -Your friends at Netflix

    Short and sweet, and to the point. “You spoke, and we listened.” That’s the essence of managing customer experience, even when it happens a little after it could have. Well done, Netflix.

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    ]]>     http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/30/links-for-2008-06-30/feed/     Yawn. http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/29/yawn/ http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/29/yawn/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:12:17 +0000 Kate O' http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/29/yawn/ I had stress dreams all night about work. Not just work, but, um, well, strategic issues that influence the future of the company.

    Maybe I already need another vacation?

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  • Certainly not all of these apply to all e-commerce catalogs — a good many of them would make little sense with magazines, for example — but this is a good list and should help spark some creative ideas about how to showcase products.

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    ]]>     http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/29/links-for-2008-06-29/feed/     links for 2008-06-28 http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/28/links-for-2008-06-28/ http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/28/links-for-2008-06-28/#comments Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:30:32 +0000 delicious http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/28/links-for-2008-06-28/
  • Can A New Netflix-Like Service Save Magazine Industry? - Media Money with Julia Boorstin - CNBC.com

    “I can imagine using it– I like not being locked into any commitments and it could be fun to try out magazines that are hard to find in ordinary airport newsstands. […] While working on home construction I’d sign up for all interior design magazines.”

    (tags: maghound magazines)

  • Kevin Allman: Desperate times in the newspaper & magazine industries

    “The whole point of magazine subscriptions is the set-it-and-forget-it model, which is why they always try to entice readers with steeply discounted 2- and 3-year plans.”

    (tags: maghound magazines)

  • Your choice of magazines « Lou Heldman on the News Media

    “Some major challenges would seem to be: Rising paper and postal costs. The magazine industry’s traditionally slow execution starting new subscriptions. More and more magazine content being accessed on the Web.”

    (tags: maghound magazines)

  • Finally! Mix-and-match magazine subscriptions : Carolyn Erickson

    “I’ve been waiting for this. While I hate to pay the newstand price for magazines, I often do. Why do I pay $4.95 for a single issue when I could subscribe for about $15 per year?”

    (tags: maghound magazines)

  • Maghound Sniffing for Long Tail | Media Industry Blog | BNET

    “But, unless I’m missing something, we have a small problem here, and it has to do with the length of the magazine-lover’s best-friend’s tail. The company says it has 280 magazines signed up so far, and hopes to have 300 by launch.”

    (tags: maghound magazines)

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    ]]>     http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/28/links-for-2008-06-28/feed/     The definition of summer cool http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/27/the-definition-of-summer-cool/ http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/27/the-definition-of-summer-cool/#comments Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:18:15 +0000 Kate O' http://www.honeybowtie.com/blog/2008/06/27/the-definition-of-summer-cool/ is a Blue Coast veggie burrito followed by a blueberry chocolate chip paleta. I’d be supremely relaxed right now if 1) I didn’t have so much crap to do, and 2) I hadn’t eaten quite so much of said food.

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  • My co-presenter posted the slides from our presentation out to SlideShare. Not sure how meaningful they are without the narrative, but here they are. :)

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