Manifesto

Brain Teasers

The Internet has changed the way we access information, our purchasing behaviour, and how business works.

For many business people the Internet is still a big unknown. Whilst we use it daily in our professional and private life we are often unclear on how to use the web as a business asset.

The Internet combines a challenging mix of skills and knowledge and we often get distracted by focusing on the small details, leaving out the main question: ‘How can my website be profitable?’.

This document tries to challenge you to think about your website from a consumer-centric perspective. It addresses clichés, preconceived ideas, and the most common issues that avert our focus on the important.

Stay curious.Embrace change.

Written by Simon Jansen, Founder staycurious.be

Simon spends Saturdays in a workshop making expedition vehicles, Sundays on a recumbent bicycle and weeknights at the Welcome Pub in Balmain, Sydney.

Outside those times, he consults on online projects that he likes, and gets paid to strategise, program, copy write, manage and think.

Image Credits: www.sxc.hu

Have you ever bought a properly brewed coffee online?

Some products or services do not work online.

Some products or services do not work offline.

Online is not Offline.

What do you want?

When we desire something, we create a vision.

A website that stops us from reaching our vision is useless.

A conversion begins and ends in the human brain

How do you measure success?

Only objective and measurable goals allow us to benchmark progress.

If you don’t know what you want to achieve, you will fail.

If you don’t know what your business should achieve, it will fail.

There’s no point if you don’t have a goal

Why does a consumer buy a BMW if they could get a cheaper car?

There is always someone who can live with less than you.

Consumers don’t chose the cheapest option, but make a selection based on their desires.

Competing on price is like digging your own grave.

Can you see the look & feel of your website on Google result pages?

Design conveys a brand or trust value to visitors.

But it’s useless if your audience can’t find your website.

Design doesn’t matter.

Does your website content sound like a broken record player?

Keyword stuffing is a short-term approach to SEO.

Quality content and message is the long term solution to SEO.

Keywords are overrated.

Would you buy a car if the only information would be ‘it’s blue’?

Without a clear message, a website does not convert.

Without clarity, search engines cannot put a value to your message.

Content is king.

Do you tell your friends about a mediocre meal?

A good product will outsell a mediocre product in the long term.

Even if the price is higher.

Mediocrity will fail.

Do you like to be screamed at?

You cannot convince your customers by screaming louder than your competitor.

You can, however, convince your customers by listening harder than your competitor.

You don’t need to scream at your customers.

What did Henry Ford invent?

The production line was the economic revolution of the thirties.

The web was the economic revolution of the nineties.

Both introduced scalability as the path to profit.

Scalability is key.

You Have “Inattention Blindness”

You READ FASTER With a Longer Line Length But PREFER Shorter

You Can Only Remember 3 to 4 Things At a Time (The Magic Number 3 or 4)

You Imagine Things From Above And Tilted (The “Canonical Perspective”)

You Make Most of Your Decisions Unconsciously

You Reconstruct Your Memories

You Actually Can’t Multi-Task

Dopamine Makes You Addicted to Seeking Information

Blue and Red Together Is Hard on Your Eyes (Chromostereopsis)

You Want More Choices and Information Than You Can Actually Process

Why You Can’t Resist Paying Attention to Food, Sex, or Danger

When It Comes To Technology You Definitely Act Your Age

Want to Change a Habit? Use Fun, Surprise, and a Crowd

Reading Text Online Is Not Fun

If You Use Social Media Without Laughter You Aren’t Being Social

The Ability to Delay Gratification or Not Starts Young

Your Unconscious Knows 1st

What People Look At On A Picture Or Screen Depends On What You Say To Them

It’s a Myth That All Capital Letters Are Inherently Harder to Read

Your Attention Is Riveted By Pictures of People

You Overestimate Your Reactions to Future Events

Peripheral Vision: Keeping You Alive or Channel Surfing?

You Are Hard-Wired For Imitation And Empathy

You Are Most Affected By Brands And Logos When You Are Sad Or Scared

Trust Your Gut Or Be Logical? It Depends On Your Mood

Culture Shapes Our Brains

We Go Below The Fold

Things That Are Close Together Seem to Belong Together

Brand Names Talk To Our “Old” Brains

Our “Strong Tie” Group Size Is 150 People

The Desire For Control And Choice Is Built In

Synchronous Activity Bonds The Group

Bite-Sized Chunks Of Info Are Best

Too Much Stress Results In Poor Performance

People Make Mistakes

People Are Inherently Lazy

People Assume It’s You, Not The Situation

Even The Illusion of Progress Is Motivating

Your Mind Wanders 30% of the Time

You’re Easily Influenced, But I’m Not

Your Most Vivid Memories Are Wrong

We’ll Spend More Money If You Don’t Mention Money

People Expect Online Interactions To Follow Social Rules

When Uncertain, People Look To Others To Decide What To Do

You Choose And Vote For The First One On The List

The More Uncertain You Are, The More You Dig In And Defend Your Ideas

100 THINGS EVERY

DESIGNER SHOULD

KNOW ABOUT PEOPLE

By Susan M. Weinschenk

How often do you visit Wikipedia?

The Internet democratised access to knowledge.

Access for all will stay, even if the Internet changes.

The Internet is here to stay.

Can you resist?

Neuro science tells us we can’t.

Sex sells.Food sells.

Danger sells.

Do you trust your friends’ recommendations?

The closer a person is to us, the more we trust their recommendation.

If I don’t know you, I don’t trust you.

Social recommendations rule.

Do you want to improve?

Your customers talk about your business.

Listen.

Consumers talk about you.

Do you enjoy being greeted by name?

Local implies trust and demands loyalty.

When you scale local trust to global local trust, you win.

Local works, globally.

WE’

RE J

UST

POPPING DOWN TO THE SHOPS

When was the last time you’ve attempted something impossible?

Dreams create visions outside the physical boundaries.

Complacency kills innovation.

Dream.

Do you have sleepless nights?

Know your competitor.

If you want to create something better, ignore them.

Ignore your competitor.

Do you know how your customers use your product?

Accept them to know more about their circumstances and how they apply your product to their life than you would ever imagine.

Iphone Vinyl Speaker. Photo courtesy of Paul Cocksedge Studio – www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-Cocksedge-Studio/194684987255911

Customers use products in surprising ways.

Are you perfect?

Admit to f***-ups.

Your customers will love you for it.

Admit to faults.

Do you enjoy success?

Customers want you to be successful, but not at their expense.

It’s ok to make a buck.

Do you ever stop to reflect?

If you care, keep going.

If you stop caring, close your business.

Why should your customers care?

Sounds too good to be true?

. . . then it probably is.

There’s no magic formula to make money.

There’s no such thing like a free lunch.

People have no objective view of themselves.

Writing about yourself is the ultimate conflict between humility and pride.

You suck at writing about yourself.

Do you get it?

Social media is not something you can learn from a book.

Only immersion can teach you.

If you don’t use Facebook, don’t create a Facebook page.

Do you listen to your customers?

Interest makes for interesting people.

When a customer is heard, they love you.

Stop talking.

Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

The lesson here is very simple. But it is striking how often it is overlooked. We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think outliers spring naturally from the earth.

We look at the young Bill Gates and marvel that our world allowed that thirteen-year-old to become a fabulously successful entrepreneur.

But that’s the wrong lesson.

Our world only allowed one thirteen-year-old unlimited access to a time sharing terminal in 1968.

If a million teenagers had been given the same opportunity, how many more Microsofts would we have today?

To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success – the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history –

Do you know what this QR code says?

Just because something seems new to you doesn’t make it cool.

A confused customer won’t buy.

QR codes are nerdy, not cool.

An enquiry costs you money.A sale makes you money.

Do you have a hobby?

One day a week should be reserved for a different world.

A change of perspective will help your business.

Use a screw driver regularly.

When was the last time shopping was fun?

If you rely on product availability alone, you will fail.

If you let your customers have a memorable experience, you will win.

Let your customers have an experience.

Do you like to wait?

I want it now.

Do you know how your car engine works?

The web is driven by people.

Technology must not stand in their way.

Technology is irrelevant.

When did you last speak to a total stranger?

The real world is outside your office.

It’s easy to loose touch in your office.

Talk to someone outside your office every day.

Could you live without your phone?

The iPhone democratised mobile access to the web.

Technology changes our life overnight.

People use their mobile to read emails.

Can you deliver?

Stock management is key to a good customer experience.

Logistics is a huge challenge.

Are you ready for the next big thing?

Change is constant and random.

Get used to it.

Prepare for change.

How long do you spend from idea to roll-out?

Test before you invest.

Even if you have to fake it.

The market may not exist.

They invented television to sell ads to you. They invented radio to sell ads to you. They invented newspapers to sell ads to you.

That’s not why they invented YouTube. That’s not why they invented the Internet.

The Internet doesn’t care about you.

People don’t have to watch Channel 7 anymore. They can entertain themselves mindlessly for hours by pressing the Stumble-Upon button.

So, if someone’s gonna watch a video, they’re not gonna watch it because they care about you. They’re gonna watch it because they care about me.

Me, me, me, me, me, my favourite person, me.

They’re not gonna read email from you, they’re gonna read me-mail.

‘Cos that’s who they care about.

So if you make a video like the Blendtec guy, the ‘Will it Blend’ videos, people will watch it because watching Chuck Norris getting blent in a blender is sort of a hoot.

But if you make a video of how your factory is, you know, 12% more efficient than it was last year [... yawn... ], I’m not coming.

Seth Godin speaking at the American Express Open® – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUGiHyNrouE

No-one cares about you.

Do you ask? Do you assume?

Never assume.

Always ask.

Be real.

Who do you trust?

A trusting customer lets us solve problems.

A loyal customer helps us solve problems.

Trust is good.Loyalty is better.

YOU

You run a business, or plan a start-up. You want to get more out of the online market. You are flexible to implement changes throughout your organisation.

US

We’ve been there and done that. For 20 years. In agencies, in studios, in printing houses, in film studios. For tiny, small, medium, large and extra-large companies. Locally and internationally.

YOU AND US

Together, we identify desires. Together, we create visions. Together, we implement the business.

DID WE STIR YOUR CURIOSITY?

If you’d like us to work with you, please get in touch and let us know how you believe we can help you. simon@staycurious.be

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

Albert Einstein