The Keyhole: Peeking at 21st Century Brands

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Your Website?

2012-02-02T12:52:00.004-05:00

As the saying goes, nothing is as certain as change. Particularly in the digital world.

There have been a lot of changes in the digital world recently, which is a perfectly accurate observation but fails to present the full scale of the transformation. Kind of like describing the Empire State Building as being bigger than a duck. And, it turns out that the digital world isn’t as old as it feels. Yes, it seems as if it’s been with us always, but it hasn’t even been 20 years, which may seem like a lot of time if you’re worrying about getting that report out by Friday, but not when you consider that the ballpoint pen has been around since 1935 and the safety pin since 1826. Kind of puts things into perspective.

Anyway, for brands, all the fuss when it comes to digital can be distilled to two big problems. The first is that marketers are desperately trying to link digital usage, digital platforms and brand in a meaningful way so that they have something more than just another targeting tool, but also something that helps with brand strategy in the digital world. We’re working on that, so more about that later this month.

The second big behavioral shift is that consumers are talking to each other before they are talking to brands. And it turns out that brand websites increasingly are not the first stop on the decision-making voyage, unless (there’s an ‘unless’ in there) brands really understand what consumers want and what they expect from the website experience and try and address those wants and meet those expectations. It’s not a simple exercise, but brands need to do it or risk having their website end up at the bottom of the digital list of places consumers and customers visit.

Oh, and just so you know, we do take our own advice!

Like those clever landscape architects who place bricks based on worn footpaths through the grass, we have examined how visitors have traveled through our website and made some new roads, as well as sprucing up the view a bit.

We continue to be grateful for the attention, through following our blog; examining the findings from the annual Customer Loyalty Engagement Index and our other syndicated work; perusing our publications; and checking out our evolving product offerings — always designed to offer real answers to the hard questions our clients need resolved.

If you’ve not visited our website before, welcome! And to everyone, please don’t hesitate to give us your reactions to the changes.

And remember, the site is open 24/7/365, even if we researchers still need our sleep.


Discount Dept. Stores	90%
Traditional Dept. Stores	70%
Online	97%
Specialty Stores	35%
Catalogue	70%


Gift Cards	92%
Clothing & Accessories	70%
Electronics/Computers/Phones	50%
CDs/DVDs/Video Games	40%
Jewelry	18%
Personal Care Products/Services	22%
Food & Wine	20%
Books	10%
Home Décor	10%
Travel	1%

The Keyhole: Peeking at 21st Century Brands

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