Wednesday, February 12, 2025

GOODIES TO GO! ™
July 6, 1999 — Newsletter #35

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GOODIES TO GO! ™
July 6, 1999 — Newsletter #35
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Please visit https://www.htmlgoodies.com
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Greetings, Weekend Silicon Warriors


I received such a response from the newsletter on the Amish
being the answer, in some people’s eyes, for the Y2K
problem, that I thought I’d pass along a story from Sunday’s
newspaper. It seems young Amish boys are hooking boom boxes
up to car batteries and are cruising around in buggies at
night blaring Snoop Doggie Dogg. (He’s a rapper, for those
of you my age and above.) Rural residents are complaining
about the noise.


Did you hear…


>On Monday the 28th of June hackers got in and defaced the
Army’s main Web site www.army.mil? It’s been repaired, but
once again someone has raised the bar and someone else will
have to jump higher. It makes me nervous that soon they’ll
hit something that starts a domino effect that really harms
someone — like hospital records.


>The Federal Trade Commission has put out a warning to
consumers to be wary of false medical claims on the Internet.
They are very concerned that the new crop of medical-related
sites will cause people to diagnose themselves with illnesses
they don’t have. It’s a good point.


>According to ComputerWorld Magazine’s poll of business
executives, the best thing you can learn this summer is the
Oracle Database. That, they say, is the skill most in demand.


And now onto today’s topic…


Last week I talked about e-mail. You responded that I was
close to the truth. One e-mail really hit me. Dixon, Dave
wrote to me from the UK, “maybe nowadays [we’re] given
access to all this technology too easily, without really
understanding how to use it.”


Hear, hear! I think he’s onto something. We know what e-mail
does, obviously, but do we use it correctly and in the most
successful manner? I don’t know. Some say yes, some say no.
But let me get you off of e-mail for a moment and ponder
the world of Internet business.


I was sent a great article that made me laugh out loud. It
talks about business on the Web and the absolutely brilliant
idea that is making it’s way into e-commerce. Ready for this?


Real people!


Yes, real people. Real, walking, talking, breathing,
thinking, able-to-speak, people. It’s being heralded as a
real leap forward in Internet technology. Go figure.


I’m not kidding. Bob Tedeschi writes in his article “For a
Personal Touch, Some Sites Add Real People” that businesses
are ready to jump on this. It’s “the cost of entry going
forward” says Judy Neuman, vice president for interactive
media at Eddie Bauer.


I guess I can see how business people didn’t feel that the
Web needed real people. They saw it as something that would
sit over in a corner, accept e-mail orders, process them,
get the order to shipping, and deposit money into a bank
account. And all of this could be done with one tech guy
performing wizardry when something went bonkers.


If a consumer had questions, they could always search the
handy FAQ that would surely not have the answer they were
looking for. Or they could always send an e-mail to an
address that would be looked at when the wizard had time.
But, I’m sure they thought that wouldn’t happen. Internet
users would be sophisticated computer users who could handle
any situation. They could figure it out themselves. Right?


In theory it’s a great idea. In theory.


This year 911Gifts.com, Etoys, CBS Sportsline, Furniture.com,
Lands’ End, Hewlett-Packard, and 1-800-Flowers.com, among
others, indicated they would be implementing a telephony
service that would allow customers to reach a real living
person while making an order. This would either be by chat
room, or by some form of voice through the computer.


And it ain’t cheap, either. Eddie Bauer wants to put 15 to
60 people at the customer’s fingertips at a cost of $1500 per
person just to get them set up with the equipment needed to
be in contact with the users.


But it’s needed. Research shows that roughly two-thirds of
consumers have bailed out of a transaction before completing
it because they felt something was fishy or they simply
didn’t understand what was going on. You really have to make
people feel comfortable if you expect them to write their
credit card number to a screen and click “Send it!”


I know the feeling. I purchase things over the Net. I know
it’s secure. I know how it works. But I still get that little
twinge in my stomach when I send the stuff along. Who knows?
Maybe if I could hear a voice at the other end I would feel
a bit more safe in the transaction.


Allow me to suggest to any business that wants to get into
using real people to please train them and pay them to want
to do the job. Warm bodies at minimum wage do not knock
themselves out to get that sale for the company. It drives
me nuts when I talk to a salesperson or an order taker who
knows nothing — and admits it. He or she tells me they’re
just an order taker and sighs like I just asked them to clean
my garage when I ask if the equipment I just bought comes
with a carrying case (actual story).


When I call your store, I am ready to spend money. It’s a
short trip to get me to spend a little more. I’m an American!
I love all the extra stuff! Yes! I want the carrying case.
Yes! I want the extended warranty. Yes! I want the extra
battery.


Sure, you can offer all that same stuff in a checklist one
page before completing the transaction, but a person
represents it better.


As I’ve heard said in the hallowed halls of my University,
the Web is simply a delivery system. It delivers customers
to you. Yes, it offers search functions and other events that
make shopping convenient, but all in all, your Web site is a
storefront. Once the customer is there, it’s up to you to
complete the sale. It’s no longer novel to buy something over
the Web. No one is overly impressed with the process anymore.


It’s back to business as usual. That takes people.


I like this idea. I really do.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


And that’s that. Thanks for reading another one of my rants.


Joe Burns, Ph.D.


And Remember: Did you enjoy Wimbledon? Ever wonder why zero
in tennis is called “love”? In France, where tennis got
started, a zero on a scoreboard looked like an egg. Egg in
French is “l’oeuf.” Over time, the French pronunciation of
the word was dropped and it became “love.” Not quite as
romantic as you had expected, right?

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