Hitwise Tour

Top Five Observations

1. Hugely appreciated having the option to turn audio on or off before the tour began!!
2. I'm a bit unclear from the graphics and sample menu what Hitwise is expecting me to do on or get out of the tour--is there a linear process involved? Do they want me to just explore? What should I be doing in their opinion?
3. The concept of determining numbers on google or yahoo searches is appealing, but again I'm not sure what exact data set I would be gathering by using hitwise.
4. Overall, for my eyes, there's too much visual stimulation on the tour to drive product usage (the product being Hitwise itself)
5. I'm intrigued by the product, but I wouldn't send the demo to a friend as suggested at the end!

Lyris Site

Lyris Top Five Observations --I'm commenting on the site in general as I did not find the movies in the page that came up.

1. Words like "deliverability" seem so instantly silly that I was in danger of missing the serviceable message of the "deliverability tools" link: technology that helps get more emails into the inbox with fewer spam results.
2. Even though client testimonials could be non-representative of general client interactions or even fabricated, I tend to be impressed by them and like reading them.
3. The customer profiles section is very innovative--an improvement on the general customer feedback section.
4. If a business were really to engage with some of these search marketing processes, it could create a full-time staff position!
5. Lyris is making use of Twitter, Facebook and Linked In.

Chapter 19: 4.1

The Hard Rock could be gathering customer data based on link clicks on the site--meaning tracking what pages are visited on the site and in what order, how much time is spent per page, etc.

It's possible that searches on the site are also tracked, storing what words are typed in the search. Entries into the online sweepstakes may also be tracked.

The various membership types would definitely be used to gather customer data, as would the contact form.

Chapter 19: 1.1

The CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Process works in a cyclical fashion between the following elements:

1. Identify customer relationships--learning who/where the customers are, their product usage, etc.
2. understand interactions with current customer base--collecting data on customer interactions with the company including purchases and store visits, returns, etc.
3. capture customer data based on interactions--the above data set is sorted for useful information such as online coupons redeemed, date of last purchase, etc.
4. store and integrate data based on information technology--data such as questionnaires is used to get to know customer and leads to the next step of identifying profitable customers
5. identify best customers
6. leverage customer information--getting the right info to the right person at the right time.

Chapter 18: 5.1

During a recession, one could gain or maintain market share by the following means:

1. Value-based pricing will stimulate desire in the customer who has savings on the mind: offering specials, sliding scale rates, or rebates would be especially appealing. Reminding the customer that s/he is getting a lot of value for the money is important during a recession when customers can take offense at being asked to pay higher rates--or may simply not have the funds available.
2. Bundling will also stimulate purchasing by offering more items for the same price or for a lesser price per item. For example, I recently purchased a tooth kit that contained toothpaste and several related products bundled at the same price as a competitor whose toothpaste alone cost the same amount.
3. Unbundling can help a customer purchase only wanted items at a lower price--in the above example, if I had been charged per item for the tooth kit above, I would actually have been appreciative of the ability to unbundle the package and select only the items I most needed.

Chapter 18: 3.5

The information age is changing the nature of pricing in several ways.

1. It's easier for consumers to compare prices using electronic/web-based informational searches, making consumer knowledge of price and market more substantive

2. It's also much more possible for consumers to obtain product from non-local suppliers via similar channels, making pricing competition much broader

3. Suppliers can benefit from pricing in the information age through such tactics as automatic renewals of subscriptions or memberships such as airport-kiosk web fees--these services might be purchased once by a harried consumer, who failed to read the renewal clause in the terms of agreement. This could allow the supplier to set a very low price for the initial purchase in expectation that the purchase would be automatically and unintentionally repeated.

Chapter 18: 2.1

The seller has three defenses if charged with price discrimination under the Robinson-Patman act:

1. Cost--it's acceptable to charge different prices to different customers if manufacturing or quantity discount savings are involved.

2. Market conditions--price changes that are responses to fluid product or market changes are acceptable (for example goods that will spoil over time, a store-closing sale, etc.).

3. Competition--it's acceptable to adjust prices in response to undercutting from competition.