I buy and sell mechanical wrist watches as a hobby and usually do so on several watch-oriented web sites.  As with many hobbies, serious watch collecting is a small world.  It is very easy to get a reputation - good or bad.   For this reason, the trading sites operate on a honor system - send the money and get sent the watch.  One still must be careful, but with a little common sense, it is easy to avoid scams.  In years of countless transactions, I’ve never had a problem.

Usually a good watch will sell quickly on a ‘for sale’ board, but in times like these, one must advertise it with a bit more frequency.  On Friday and on a lark, I decided to expand the universe of potential buyers and post the watch on Craig’s List.  I’ve never actually bought anything off of Craig’s List but I did sell a bike locally using the site. The transaction went off without a hitch.

Within an hour of posting the watch, I received 2 emails from out-of-state buyers expressing interest.  The emails looked legitimate and contained questions that a serious buyer might ask (What is the diameter of the face?  Is the clasp in good condition?  Does it have the warranty card?).  I responded and then the charades began.

One of the “buyers” ran a small “wholesale business” and already had a buyer lined up so the transaction would commence immediately.  Another was buying the watch for his “step brother” in North Las Vegas.  Each agreed to cover all shipping costs (something a serious buyer never agrees to do!).  The emails were dripping with awkward expressions and convoluted explanations of additional “interested parties” who resided in pastoral sounding mid-Western towns.

The lunacy culminated Monday morning with a very authentic, but fake looking email from PayPal saying that one of the buyers had transferred money to my account and the funds were being held until I provided a shipping tracking #.  And, the watch should now be sent to a “trusted third party” in Malaysia.

For kicks I checked my PayPal account (although I did not link to it from the email for fear of phishing) and just as I suspected, there was not a trace of activity.   All sorts of related emails kept coming until I racheted down the spam filter score in order to catch them.

What does this extreme experience have to do with a new brand?  Lots.  A new brand - whether a product or a service -  must do everything in its power to convince the customer of its legitimacy.   Here are some ways to do it:

• Make a great product.  Create a great service.  Take your time and do things right.  Do not cut corners.

• Price things fairly.  Today’s frugal consumer will still pay a premium for an irrational reason, but they do not want to be ripped off.

• Fulfill in a timely manner.  If you sell a product, ship FedEx or some form of expedited UPS.  No one wants to wait for anything anymore.  And no one should have to.

• If applicable, offer a reasonable money back guarantee.  60 to 90 days seems like a fair amount of time for someone to make up their minds about a purchase.  The customer you want is not the one who will take advantage of the return policy anyway.

• Offer more than 1 way to get in contact with the office.  Phone, fax, email, live chat, Twitter, Facebook, in-person visits, smoke signals...The more the better.  Let the consumer choose when and where she wants to engage the brand.

• Forget about PO Boxes.  They wreak of mail scams and businesses that pretend to be big.  Unless you are in the heavy industrial or consumer durables world, where your office is located is probably irrelevant.

• Post the office address on a clearly visible page on the site.  Too often the corporate address is buried.  Even more often, it’s not present at all.

• When things work, strive for consistency that suggests someone is minding the details of the store.  Don’t wrap something in pink tissue paper one day and then use a plastic bag the next.

• Tell a story about the people behind the business...Let the customer know that real human beings are on the other side of the transaction.

• Suprise them.  Do something above and beyond to prove how much you value the business.  Use your imagination.

Any other ideas?  I’m listening.

Do any of these statements sound familiar?  They should.  Why?  Because they are the hallmark of bad business and there is a lot of it to go around.  Even in the "worst recession since the Great Depression," it amazes me that many companies are still content to do business as usual.  Trying times demand even greater service levels and attention to detail.  So let's take each statement in turn and dissect its true meaning and implication:

"Closed on Sunday."

I am an avid cyclist.  Like 99.99% of other cyclists, Saturdays and Sundays are my biggest riding days.  They are also the days I often need a shop's help if I have a problem or want to look around for a new bike.  I know many bike shop owners love to ride and the weekends are prime time to do it.  Yet, if you're in business you need to decide why you are in it.  Are you in it to: a.) have fun  b.) satisfy customers  or c.)make money? If the answer is "a," go have fun.  I  am not going to be your customer though.

"We are currently at lunch.  Please call us back after 1:30pm."

This expression is a favorite among physicians - especially those who have not redecorated their offices and replenished their magazine stocks since the early 1970s.  I don't fault doctors' offices for having a lunch period.  Rather I fault them for putting the onus on me to get back in touch with them.  Such a statement says, "I've got enough business that if you forget to call me back, I really do not care."

"We're just getting set up with email..."

I hear this a lot from "everyday" mom-and-pop businesses such as restaurants, hair salons, dry cleaners, handymen, and contractors.   Not only does it tell me they are not current with technology (and email is so pervasive that it is a stretch to even consider it "technology" these days), but it also indicates they do not care.  About what?  About practically anything and everything.  Not having email is like not having a phone.  If they do not care about basic communication, they may not care about the cleanliness of the kitchen, the delicate nature of my shirt, or the type of bolt that secures the gutter to the roof.

"Our credit card machine is broken."

An old standby of any business that does not want to pay an interchange fee.  Recently I was in Boston where the cabs have just been outfitted with credit card machines.  When I mentioned I would be paying by card, the driver told me the machine was "broken" as vandals had broken into his cab and damaged it.  I asked him to just try and see if the machine worked...it did...

Using a credit card in a cab is like manna from heaven.  It helps conserve cash and consequently makes me have to carry less of it on long trips.  Moreover, it helps me keep track of my expenses.  A driver will usually get a better tip from me as it is so easy to simply tap "15%" or "20%" on the payment touch screen to tack on the extra amount to the charge.  Yet, so many drivers still want to do business the old-fashioned way whether because they want to skim the take or because they are cheap.  I will not support it.  Before I get into any cab now, I always confirm credit card availability.

"We only take Visa and MasterCard."

In terms of charge volume per customer, American Express enjoys a substantial lead over competing banks.  Everyone knows the company charges a higher discount rate.   Think about why it does though?  Its customers spend more!  Much more!  For a business not to take American Express is akin to shooting itself in the foot.  As a big Amex user, I know which places do not accept it.  And I can say with certainty that I think twice about shopping at them.

I know that I operate a professional services business and it is easy for me to take pot shots at more retail-oriented establishments with rigid hours and payment methods.  However, as any of Square One's clients know, we are available 24/7/365.  If something is urgent enough for you to call us on Thanksgiving Day, well then it must be pretty important and we'll gladly speak with you.  The same goes for a call at 3am.

Too many businesses are still operating as if we are in the 1950s.  Well 2010 is fast approaching...And I'll be ready to take your call when the ball drops.

At the time, Second Life was the epitome of Web 2.0 technology.  Companies were developing "virtual world strategies" in a manner reminiscent of the euphoria surrounding the web in 1997 and the momentum enjoyed by Twitter right now.

And then, in a flash, it seemed that Second Life became back-page news.  What happened?

As it may have been a while since you last thought about Second Life, let me refresh your memory about it.

• Second Life is a virtual world where users create avatars and then are free to roam (walk and fly) around the "grid" - a virtual archipelago of islands, mainlands, oceans, and sky dwellings.

• One's avatar can be a virtual resemblance of one's real life physique or something totally different.  Users can decide their first names but pick from a long list of last names.  I was Jonathan Sellers and no matter how much I tried to look like me, I always bore a striking resemblance to Harry Potter.

• Spending time in Second Life is free and there are lots of free virtual items to find.  However, unless one is particularly talented at using the world's building / scripting engines, you need money to buy fancy clothes for your avatar, buy virtual land, and buy virtual furniture and art to furnish your virtual home.

• Fortunately, Second Life has its own currency, Linden Dollars, which trades on an open exchange.  Around 2006 / 2007, $1 US bought roughly $1 Linden. 

• And since you can buy things, you can also sell them.  Within Second Life, avatars hawk their wares and services which range from the expected (house builder, fashion designer) to the bizarre (surrogate mom for a virtual baby).  Stories abound about people who have side businesses in Second Life which earn them well into the 5 and 6 figures.

• Second Life exists because Linden Lab, a private company, runs it.  Linden Lab makes its money by collecting land use fees (ie: taxes) from those who own virtual property.  For a year and a half, Square One had a virtual island and we paid $295/month in land use fees.  It's not cheap.  Linden Lab also gets revenue from user placed ads for services, real estate, and products.

• Linden Lab functions as the government of Second Life and the users create the free market within it.  Users own the virtual and real world rights to their content (ex: design of a blouse) and can do almost anything on their land (yes, that means a lot of illicit virtual behavior).

As a one-time avid user, I think there are several reasons for Second Life's meteoric rise into oblivion:

• Using the virtual world to its fullest required a powerful computer with a dedicated graphics card.  Second Life became popular right around the time that laptops supplanted desktops.  At that time, laptops usually had integrated graphics cards.  While Second Life can run on such machines, graphics render much slower and the experience is sub-par.

• The learning curve is steep - very steep.  Even the most technologically sophisticated person needs time to understand how to use and master the building tools and virtual world protocols.

• The Second Life "grid" (the technical term for the server-driven digital rendering of the world) had difficulty accommodating the rapid population growth of late 2007 and 2008.  The grid was often down, users could not login, or the in-world experience was painfully slow and "laggy."

• Perhaps most telling, many venues lacked critical mass of attendance due to the nature of virtual worlds themselves.  For example, Starwood Hotels built an amazing virtual rendition of its new aloft property.  However, whenever one went there, it was empty.  Social networking relies upon a critical mass of people to post, view, and participate.  However, sites like Facebook do not need to have everyone participate simultaneously - as long as users see a steady stream of activity over the course of time, their interest level is steady.  With Second Life however, seeing the activity as it happens is critical.  A party is not much fun if most of the guests are not there at the same time.

I am not giving up on virtual worlds.  Many others exist now (http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/) and to focus only on Second Life would be akin to having placed all of one's Internet-related bets on Prodigy or CompuServe back in the early 90s.

I also believe that all consumers will come to have virtual representations of themselves which will be useful and valuable to marketers.  Interested in seeing how those pants at Gap.com fit?  Try them on your virtual self for a realistic look.   Or see how furniture will look in your down-to-the coffee-table-book-exact-replica of your real home.   Where these virtual beings co-exist is still to be determined.

From a research perspective we learned a great deal while on Second Life including:

• How to recruit people into projects.  We had a panel of more than 3,000 avatars.

• How to conduct a virtual world focus group.  For a transcript see the attached document.

We also realized that comments about people not being themselves are a bit overblown.  Sure, some people are great actors.  It was common to see a female avatar and then learn that it was under the command of its male user.  However, we have this problem in any type of online research.  For the most part, people are themselves (even if they look a bit more buff as an avatar) and are not creative enough to be anything different.

My Second Life kick was fun while it lasted but virtual worlds have just begun.

Before we get too far here, let's do Twitter 101.

What is it? Twitter is a platform for people to provide 140 character updates about themselves.  (And yes, spaces are included in those 140 characters.)  To give you an idea of what 140 characters is like, this sentence numbers 77.

How do I do it?  First, one signs up for a free Twitter account.  After that, you can Twitter away.  But you need “followers” in order for those “Tweets” to be seen.

How do I get followers?  Getting followers is a mix of chance and marketing.  Perhaps the easiest way is to follow someone else (usually no approval to do so is necessary).  That person might start to follow you.  And someone who follows that person, might see you as a follower too and begin to follow you.  The cycle builds upon itself.  I have about 90 followers. Some people have 500,000+.  If you post about a topic (ex: trains), odds are that someone is searching on that key word (via a program like Tweet deck), he will see your post, and then he may begin to follow you as well.  You can also put a Twitter link on your web site.

Where can you Tweet?  You can post Tweets via the Twitter site, via iPhone and Blackberry apps, via specialized apps that reside on the desktop, via text messages...It’s very decentralized.

What else?  Your Tweets can include links to web sites and pictures which are hosted on other applications like TwitPic.

Now that we’ve got the basics down, what are the implications for market research?  The short answer is, I don’t know.  But it will be interesting to see what happens.

The longer answer is this:

• 140 character updates are quite limiting.  I often need more than 140 characters to get some insights.

• Twitter could be a very useful real-time addition to asynchronous methods like bulletin boards.  For a recent study about contact lenses, we just asked people to Twitter us about their experiences at the doctor’s office.

• It’s a cheap way to get feedback.  Using one of the various third-party applications, it’s easy to mine for comments about your brand or product.  If you have a number of followers who meet a target profile, it is simple to lob a question out to them and get feedback.

• It could be an efficient way for recruiters to find respondents.  Again, with some simple mining tools, they could find people talking about things related to client projects.

• Since Twitter is free and open, I would be loathe to post any confidential information or product images on it.

• I liken Twitter to a giant cocktail party.  I overhear lots of interesting things but if I really want to learn something from someone, I need some quality time with them.

What do you think?  Tweet me (JSquareOne) and let me know in 140 characters or less.

A lot of technology gadgets come and go in my life but the Kindle is a keeper.  I don’t think it will have the mass appeal of the iPod (reading is still reading afterall!) but I am definitely noticing the device has achieved some critical mass.  On a domestic flight several weeks ago (a Boeing 737 just to give you an idea of the number of passengers), I counted five of them.  On a flight to Vail back in March, I noticed three.  It’s not so uncommon to see them at the lunch tables in my local Whole Foods or in the waiting rooms of some doctors' offices now.

I’ve noticed the following about the Kindle:

• I read A LOT more.  Since I bought the device, I’ve read eight books on it and three more in progress.  That’s a little more than two completed books per month which is above average for me.  Amazon’s razor and blade strategy is working on me.

• I can more easily read and manage multiple books at once, something I have always been prone to do.  Reading one book often leads me to another and with the Kindle its easy to find related items via the online store. In essence, one book in the Kindle is almost like a hyperlink to another.

• I love how the device lays flat!  It’s actually easier than reading a paper-based book.  It makes reading while eating so much easier as you’re not trying to hold down the pages with one hand and eat with the other.

• Battery life is great but it does run out sometimes.  I’ve never had a book run out of batteries.  For the one time you forget the charger, the battery is dead, and you want to read, it’s a huge letdown.  I really do not want to break down and buy another charger.  I wish Amazon had used a standard mini-USB port so I could use existing cables.

• The iPhone app is phenomenal and good for reading while waiting in line or during the dead time we all experience during the day.  The app syncs with the Kindle and remembers your page locations and vice versa.  Kudos.

• With small children, getting out to the bookstore is not always easy.  I am all about instant gratification and being able to order a book and begin reading it immediately is a huge draw.

• I love not needing bookmarks.

• I have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal but it’s not working out well.  With the Journal, one cannot see all the possible stories and then decide what to read.  It’s disconcerting for me.  I feel like the paper will never end and I end up not reading it at all.  Maybe the recently announced larger screen Kindle will help solve this problem.

I have no plans to move anytime soon but when I do, the Kindle (or some other equivalent yet to be conceived device) should make the task easier.  I do not take pleasure in owning or looking at the physical semblance of a book.  It’s just the opposite for me.  When I see a book, I see a lot of resources used to create it, the space needed to store it, and the effort eventually needed to pack and unpack it.

When people ask me what I do, I tell them I’m a focus group moderator.  That often draws a blank stare so I have to continue a bit.  Usually I mention that I “interview” people about new products, ads, and ideas.  After a while, they usually get it and say, “Oh you always ask people how they feel about things.”  “Well, yes...kind of,” I say while thinking it might be easier to move to the next topic.

As moderators, our most valuable and least valuable tool is our voice.  We use it to question our respondents and help uncover the truths that will ultimately help our clients.  However, we often use it too much.  Some of the best tools involve the moderator turning participants loose with some fairly basic instruction and some simplistic tools.

Here are two examples:

Draw a picture of the user.  For positioning insights, we often ask people to draw the users of various brands in a category.  With pictures we can tease out little nuances that words can never capture.  The image of a Volkwasgon driver with a bold red nylon backpack (versus a staid leather hard case) says volumes about the brand's appeal.  If we had simply heard, "Young urban professionals drive VWs," the ad agency might be scratching its head when it comes time to write the creative brief.

Storyboarding.  To understand how a product or service fits into someone’s life, we can ask participants to “walk us through their days.”  Doing so is no easy task for them.  When asked, people usually say things like,  “You know, I get up. Get ready for work.  Go to work.  Go to the gym. Come home.  Eat dinner.  Relax.” 

Wait - there’s a lot more there that we need to work through.  Did you brush you teeth and floss?  Did you eat in the car?  What type of exercise did you do?  Did you microwave or cook that dinner?  All this can be tedious to ask verbally - especially when there are seven other people in the group! - so it’s best to have participants draw it out.

“Storyboarding” is a simple technique that involves drawing each key scene during the day.  With a picture, we can see where the action took place, who was involved, and even whether it was fun or not.

Many participants will get hung up on the quality of their drawings - it is important to remind them that they need not be Michelangelos.  We’re after the insight not the art.

Something about drawing puts people at ease and more in touch with their feelings. I’ve never had a participant not enjoy a drawing exercise and always have them say they had fun. 

It’s amazing how fun and learning often go together.

Hearing news about food is nothing new.  As long as I can remember, we’ve been bombarded by concerns, claims, and fads.  But lately, it seems like we’re waking up to that ingredient list right below all the numeric gibberish about fat and protein grams.  It is no longer enough for a food to be low-fat - people want to know what makes it low fat.  And is what makes it low fat good for us? 

Witness the following:

• Haagen-Dasz has a new line of ice creams named “5.”  Five ingredients and that is it.  I checked the original chocolate flavor and it has six.  But it is nice to know HD is taking something out of the mix.

• There are TV ads now for high-fructose corn syrup touting that it’s made from corn, all natural, and just like sugar, fine in moderation.  The Corn Refiners’ Association has woken up but will American consumers buy it?

• Yet what has gotten my attention the most is former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s new book, The End of Overeating.  His argument is simple and profound - food manufacturers and restaurants especially are knowingly “drugging” consumers with an addictive mix of fat, salt, and sugar.  Each ingredient causes one to crave more of it and put together, they drive people to eat even when they know they should not.

Does this sound familiar?  It should.  Kessler is the same guy who helped plunge tobacco companies deeper into the “nicotine is a drug and we know it” abyss.

If food companies do not wake up to this shift, they could be in for a rude awakening of declining market share.  As the announcement says in the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport subway, “This train is departing.  Please hold on.”  It’s time to get on board.

When we developed VideoDiary, we knew there was a market need for the methodology.  So far, we have been correct.  Clients like the up close and personal look they can get of their consumers without having to leave the office.

However, it would be a mistake to call VideoDiary a substitute for ethnography.  It would also be a mistake to call a lot of the en vogue in-home observational type studies ethnographies.

A true ethnography is long, often uncomfortable, and tedious.  A classic ethnographer may live with his subjects for a while or place hidden video cameras in their homes.  100s of hours of video footage can result in the process.  And all of those hours must be reviewed and then reported on.  Yet, ethnography provides an invaluable look at consumers’ lives.  We’re not knocking it - we just think the term is thrown around too loosely.  A 1/2 day interview in someone’s home is not an ethnography.  Neither is riding in a participant’s car to the supermarket.

VideoDiary is different from ethnography in that we are directing participants to show or do something.  They’re responding to us rather than us strictly observing them.   However, we can also probe and follow up on matters that the participant may take for granted.

For example, in a recent beverage study, we noticed that kids were taking their lunches to school and buying a certain beverage even though that exact beverage was available at home.  It pointed to a host of issues regarding product storage, temperature, and transportation that we might have even missed with an ethnography had we not been able to capture the in-school component of participants’ lives.

Let’s stop throwing around “ethnography” as a catch all for a variety of methodologies.  That’s something I’d really like to see.