oh oh oh oh O2

I could not make sense of my o2 mobile phone bill, and on the paper version it said 'see www.o2.co.uk for more information'. So I went to the web address. And I logged in, and I got this page:

And when I clicked on the 'balances and bills' link, I got this page:
Which as you can see has nothing at all about balances and bills. So I thought I would email the o2 folk and tell them their website wasn't working properly, and clicked on the 'email us' link [I should remind you at this point that 02 is a communications company] and got this page.
Yes, having clicked on one link for 'email' I now had to click on another link for the same thing, and got this page:
So I filled in the 'mobile information' button and then 'next' ... and got this page:
Which required me to complete a form, including a drop-down menu with three options, but not including my 'annual' subscription method of payment. It also asked if I was an iPhone owner. Hmm, I wonder if I will get emails about buying one some time soon? They also wanted my full name and email address - the latter being the only information they really need to reply to my query [which, remember, is actually a note doing them a favour by telling them their website isn't working - would a customer with a simply query about buying a new phone have bothered with all of this?].

However, they were not content with this information - they wanted my full address and birthday, for 'security' reasons. Again, I remind you everyone who wants to send them a simple email message must go through this, plus I had logged into the site, that should be security enough.
And so finally, I get to the message box:
Now that's what I call customer centric website design that will encourage customers to develop a firm and long-lasting relationship with the organization. Or perhaps not - what do you think?

UPDATE: The response to my message was both prompt and comprehensive, explaining that to access my bills online I needed a new login and password, one of which was in the email and the other sent to my mobile as a text message. Can't help thinking, however:
1 why did my original registration for the site not include access to all aspects of it? and ..
2 when I tried to access the bills page why not show me a message telling me what was going on?

So ... full marks to the 'problems' people - but in pure business terms, I would be looking to make you redundant by better website management - sorry.

hello SMS ... meet online

I had to pick my sister up from Manchester Airport at 7.30pm, so I went online in the afternoon to get the airport's phone number to ring nearer pick-up time to see if the flight was online. There was no phone number - but an SMS sign-up. You send the flight number to the number given and it sends you a text when the 'plane lands and when the luggage is in the baggage collect area. So I signed up [let's not go into the issue of folk who do not have a mobile phone and would prefer a contact phone number to ring].

The confirmation email ended with the message: "new pick-up road layout see www.manchesterairport.co.uk". So I went online to check this out. And got this page ...

As you can see, this page doesn't seem to have been updated for nearly two years - and there is nothing about any 'new road layout'.

And as a footnote: I didn't get any text messages about the flight ... good job I was there on time - even if the aircraft wasn't.

all packed up and nowhere to go

My wife and I fancied a week's break in the sun [lecturers? ... always on holiday], so I tried a couple of 'comparison' sites, including this one. Sadly - and it is a brand leader here in the UK - the site wouldn't let me choose a destination. Message for Teletext's marketers and techies : there are plenty of other sites out there on which punters can book a holiday.

ad landing page - how not to do it

One of the key issues in online advertising is making sure that when the customer clicks on the ad they are taken to a landing page that plays its part in the sales funnel that will - eventually - lead to a sale. Remember that any click on the ad will cost the advertiser money - so take a look at this ad from GQ magazine that appeared on one of my web pages:

Now take a look at the web page that anyone clicking on that ad was taken to. You will notice that there is nothing about a restaurant guide for anywhere in the world, never mind in Athens.OK, so there was a link the size of the 'taste news' below the fold of the web page that appeared - but it was a restaurant review, not restaurant guide.

All in all, a perfect example of poor Internet marketing.

hello accounts ... have you met e-marketing?

This email landed in my in-box the other day.
Good idea, green and all that stuff - indeed, I've signed up for similar schemes with other services. But here's the problem:

Just the day before I received a letter [yes, paper] saying that MBNA were closing my account. A distinct lack of joined-up thinking.

And if you are thinking I'm a bad credit risk - they closed it because I haven't used the card for over two years. As I recall I left it 81p in credit to annoy them after an incident where they added on a load of interest because one [yes, one] payment got caught up in the Christmas 'Bank Holiday' season and was a day late.

You will also note this is not the first time I've featured MBNA on this blog, see: the key to email marketing ...

scrolling across at the BBC

2009 saw a major revamp of the BBC's website - and in my opinion it is a significant step backwards for a site I previously used as an exemplor of good practice [see also my comments 1, 2, 3 ]. This time it is a function that opens to the right of the existing page rather than to the left - causing the user to scroll across to see all of the content. Not good enough, BBC.
Footnote: August 2010 - the problem has been fixed.

bait-and-switch is still around

About two years ago I feature several examples of what is known as 'bait-and-switch' [ see 1, 2, 3 ]. The idea is that you attract the unwary customer with some bait [say, a low priced product] and then 'switch' them to higher-priced goods when they respond to the bait. Whilst this is an acceptable form of promotion it becomes unethical - and in the UK, illegal - if the bait product does not exist for the customer to purchase.

Well, it's not gone away - as these two images show. The first is an email I received, the second is the web page I got when I clicked on the 'more details' link.

nice integration

This email arrived today ...

I would give the idea full marks if not for the email not arriving until after five o'clock - which meant that I didn't read it until after the show aired. Yesterday would have been better.

get a better picture of what you're buying

Here's a clever application I came across on the andersonsofdurham.co.uk website. It's very simple, but allows you to look at different aspects of a product in greater detail - in this case, shoes. Nice.

email : poor relation of communications … or just plain rude?

I've held off on writing this one to let the guilty party have time to come good - but time has been called on my patience.

I am subscribed to Auto Express, which arrives through my letterbox every week. Normally it is a good read - it keeps me up-to-date with all the new cars that I can't afford!

So, come the edition for the week commencing April 6th and I noticed a couple of errors.

The first was in a review for the Toyota IQ, bemoaning the fact that it has no luggage cover. Well, it does, but it is hidden under the boot floor.

The second was in an article about the UK's car tax system which failed to tell readers that two of the new tax brackets were being held at a lower rate for the next two years, with quite a hike in price after that. Pretty important I feel as the article advised folk to buy cars in those brackets for the 'lower' rate of tax.

So I sent two separate emails addressed to the relevant contacts listed at the front of the magazine.

In both I was polite, informal and in the cases of the second article expressed that I was going on information gathered from a number of sources which might be wrong and Auto Express might be right.

If you follow this blog you will know what is coming next.

Yep, no reply. Nothing. Not even an auto-response acknowledgement that they received my emails [I'm sure they did, my University's email system lets me know of any 'un-deliverable' mailings].

There have been two editions of the mag since I sent the emails - and there is no mention of any 'corrections' to the original stories.

Of course, their email system might have been down for a while or giving them problems - if this is the case a message in the mag apologising for any inconvenience would be nice.

So Auto Express, as I have said on this blog before; do you ignore a ringing phone? No? So if you are going to list your email addresses I assume you are inviting communications via that medium - an assumption based on the fact you have an 'email of the week' on the 'readers comments' page - so reply to them. Not to do so is bad for business.

It is also rude.

Footnote, August 4 2009 - it seems poor, or no, response to emails is [still] a widespread problem, see Businesses still taking days to respond to website enquiries

not quite online booking

I need to visit Cleethorpes - my home town - on business next month. So I thought I would see if I could get a room at my favourite hotel on the sea fron - the Kingsway. Now, the hotel's site doesn't do online bookings at all - not too unusual as many independent hotels find it more cost effective to let third-party agents handle this rather than buying in and running the necessary software.

So I put the hotel's name into Google and perused the various third-part listings. Several offered online bookings, but I was looking for the best price so I kept looking - and came across lodging-world.com. Now ,I do not know their business model, but their booking form looked like this:Yep, that's not a booking form, it's an email form. Not only would I have to wait for them to return my enquiry with room rates, availabiliy etc, but they expect me to give them more details than is necessary [phone number?]. Being the old synic that I am I wonder if I would end up on their mailing list?

Any-whoo ... I went back to one of the other sites and booked online with a confirmation of price and availability done and dusted there and then

informality pays dues

I always advise organizations to match their web presence to the ethos, style or character of the organization - and here is a good example. Acre Resources is a recruitment firm specialising in CSR, Sustainability, Climate Change and Environment. As befitting a company in that industry, they adopt an informal approach to the way they go about their business - which is reflected in their website's design.

I particularly like the 'meet the team' page on which staff are represented not by their pictures or avtars, but 'jelly babies', clicking on each figure brings up the bios of the various staff. Nice touch.

phone me and I'll pay

It is still beyond me that folk will hand over their credit card in a restaurant and let a member of staff take it away, but are unwilling to use the same card online. However, such people exist, and if you are selling on the web you have to facilitate them. Here is an excellent example from petfoofdirect.com - you fill in all of your information [order, delivery address etc] on the online form except your credit card details - then click on the link and someone phones you up. Nice.

'ello John, want a new motor?

I was looking for cars on the generally excellent autotrader website, which seems to work OK even though it keeps telling me I need 'additional plugins'. Following a link for a particular car I was taken to the website of Arthur Haslam Motoring - and got this ...

And do you know what Arthur? I really was looking for a car. And the car you had was of interest ... but there were others on sites that downloaded on my PC.

What is the opposite of kerr-ching?

lazy like a Fox journalist

OK, perhaps mis-guided rather than lazy, but take a look at this sentence in a report on SEO and terrorism [I'm not commenting on the story, just this description of SEO]
So SEO is 'arcane' [definition: mysterious and secret] and 'makes sure your site is near the top ...'

Well, there might be an element of secrecy about the algorithms - but mysterious? Much of SEO is science - and by definition science ain't mysterious. Even the 'art' elements [eg picking the keywords] are as mysterious as painting a picture - skill isn't mysterious. And it tries to get you to the top of search results pages, any competent SEO practitioner will tell you there is no 'makes sure' about it.

I suppose this just hi-lights to me that what I think of SEO is not shared by the general public - but then I should know this from teaching the subject - even web-savvy 20 year olds who have grown up with the Internet are largely unaware of how search engines actually work.