Thursday, March 28, 2019
Estimating And Minimizing Consumer Worry
The process of selling in general, and web commerce in particular, is often described or charted as a funnel. Prospective customers are poured in at one end, and a fewer number of paying customers come out at the other. The other prospects spill out through other holes or over the side of the funnel and don't bring you any revenue. The fraction of customers left, converted from prospects to customers, is called the conversion rate. As prospects proceed from initial interest to final sale, from initial entry page to clicking the final "I Agree" button, more and more of them become discouraged by various worries which beset the consumer. They drop out. The remaining prospects, those who have not dropped off, have been converted into customers or into an audience for your advertisers.
There are a variety of factors that cause drop-off, which vary from business to business. A common cause is forms. Simplifying forms often greatly increases conversion rates. For example, in one study cutting the number of lines on a form in half increase conversions by a third. As one web designer put it: "[i]s every field you're asking the visitor to submit absolutely necessary? Can you trim the fat and make the process simpler?"
Besides the sheer tediousness and time consumed in filling out forms, rational consumers also worry about the potentials for privacy violation and identity theft from the information most e-commerce sites currently require them to divulge: physical and e-mail addresses, phone numbers used for cross-site behavioral tracking, insecure credit card numbers, and more.
Instances of regret that one has filled out a form, only to have one's trust violated -- or pride among the sophisticated that they refused to fill out such a form -- are on the rise.
The worst worry culprit is usually the step you most want your customers to complete -- paying you. "[T]he credit card form likely has the highest abandonment rate of any other part of the sign-up process." [Source].
If you don't require payments, you are probably funding your service through advertisements. Those also cause worries. Ads typically distract and delay from the content users are after, provide a low quality of entertainment or information, and are too often offensive. And sophisticated users are worried about the tracking that tends to go with ads. Ad blocking grew nearly tenfold between 2009 and 2014.
Replacing ads and identity-based payments with payments that don't require identity, such as bitcoin, can greatly reduce these worries, lowering the barriers and hesitations that currently prevent consumers from paying for your service.
But there remains a big worry that no payment system can reduce. Consumers worry about whether they are getting their money's worth -- the mental transaction cost problem (see also this paper). If e-commerce were as worry-free as some of it could be, your customers would neither have to fill out forms, nor be bothered by ads, nor have to worry about repeated charges for content or services of variable value. They would be able to just insert a few digital coins into your online vending machine and then not have to worry about losing your service for another year. Eliminate forms and eliminate repeated payments -- both are key to worry-minimized e-commerce.
Many bitcoin startups are making the grave mistake of replacing one set of worries with another. The ability of cryptocurrency systems to facilitate small payments tempts many companies to nickel-and-dime their customers with pay-per-click micropayments and other such excruciating schemes. Don't follow the many lemmings who have already jumped off that cliff. Stick to long-term subscriptions for content (or other services of variable value) and pay-per-unit for fungible units of consistent value (as in phone minutes). That way customers aren't saddled with having to constantly re-evaluate the amount and worthiness of recurring charges. The costs to your customers of having to finance a years' worth of low-cost subscription to a reputable brand is almost always far less than the mental transaction costs of recurring charges for content or services of variable value. The ideal worry-free commerce is to "stick the coin into the machine" once, and then never have to pay again for an entire year. A vending machine for subscriptions. Reduce your customers' worries across the board: eliminate forms and eliminate recurring charges.
Ideal worry-minimization can only be closely approached in some purely online forms of commerce, such as video streaming, remote storage, privacy services, and the like. The more physical and offline contract performances are -- a common example being physical delivery -- the more location, various kinds of identity (legal, social network, etc.) may need to come into play, adding, often greatly and necessarily, to the worry overhead, the mental transaction costs, of your relationship with your consumers.
I have previously called this worry-minimized commerce by a narrower label, "form-minimized commerce." The complexity of the forms you make your users fill is indicative of the worries you are causing them, and thus the barriers you are putting up between your prospects and their decisions to purchase your services.
When you are a consumer, the tediousness of the forms you are filling out is not only a direct cost of your time, and your ability to enjoy that time, it is on top of that a decent proxy measure of the odds of your identity being stolen and of your privacy otherwise being violated. The fewer forms you fill out, the more the tediousness, worries, and risks in your life caused by interacting with the world's institutions will drop in proportion.
While such a proxy measure does not account in particular for the wide variety of information that can be disclosed, nor that some kinds of information (social security numbers) are more risky to divulge than others (throw-away email addresses), nor for the wide variety of risks in identity theft and privacy violation that are consequent, nevertheless consumers necessarily must bring to bear such sweeping rules-of-thumb in order to satisfactorily navigate the bizarre complexities of the digital world. And when your users are using, whether consciously or implicitly, such estimates, you the service provider and the product designer must use them too.
Add to the forms your customers must fill out the repeated charges you make your customers make, and we get a rough proxy measure of the worry that you are causing your consumers:
The index of worry allows you to estimate and minimize the worries you are causing your users, and as a result to minimize the drop-off in your sales funnel and maximize the number of users coming back for more -- and willing to view your ads or pay for the privilege.
There are a variety of factors that cause drop-off, which vary from business to business. A common cause is forms. Simplifying forms often greatly increases conversion rates. For example, in one study cutting the number of lines on a form in half increase conversions by a third. As one web designer put it: "[i]s every field you're asking the visitor to submit absolutely necessary? Can you trim the fat and make the process simpler?"
Besides the sheer tediousness and time consumed in filling out forms, rational consumers also worry about the potentials for privacy violation and identity theft from the information most e-commerce sites currently require them to divulge: physical and e-mail addresses, phone numbers used for cross-site behavioral tracking, insecure credit card numbers, and more.
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| The tinfoil-wallet crowd is now mainstream |
Instances of regret that one has filled out a form, only to have one's trust violated -- or pride among the sophisticated that they refused to fill out such a form -- are on the rise.
The worst worry culprit is usually the step you most want your customers to complete -- paying you. "[T]he credit card form likely has the highest abandonment rate of any other part of the sign-up process." [Source].
If you don't require payments, you are probably funding your service through advertisements. Those also cause worries. Ads typically distract and delay from the content users are after, provide a low quality of entertainment or information, and are too often offensive. And sophisticated users are worried about the tracking that tends to go with ads. Ad blocking grew nearly tenfold between 2009 and 2014.
Replacing ads and identity-based payments with payments that don't require identity, such as bitcoin, can greatly reduce these worries, lowering the barriers and hesitations that currently prevent consumers from paying for your service.
But there remains a big worry that no payment system can reduce. Consumers worry about whether they are getting their money's worth -- the mental transaction cost problem (see also this paper). If e-commerce were as worry-free as some of it could be, your customers would neither have to fill out forms, nor be bothered by ads, nor have to worry about repeated charges for content or services of variable value. They would be able to just insert a few digital coins into your online vending machine and then not have to worry about losing your service for another year. Eliminate forms and eliminate repeated payments -- both are key to worry-minimized e-commerce.
Many bitcoin startups are making the grave mistake of replacing one set of worries with another. The ability of cryptocurrency systems to facilitate small payments tempts many companies to nickel-and-dime their customers with pay-per-click micropayments and other such excruciating schemes. Don't follow the many lemmings who have already jumped off that cliff. Stick to long-term subscriptions for content (or other services of variable value) and pay-per-unit for fungible units of consistent value (as in phone minutes). That way customers aren't saddled with having to constantly re-evaluate the amount and worthiness of recurring charges. The costs to your customers of having to finance a years' worth of low-cost subscription to a reputable brand is almost always far less than the mental transaction costs of recurring charges for content or services of variable value. The ideal worry-free commerce is to "stick the coin into the machine" once, and then never have to pay again for an entire year. A vending machine for subscriptions. Reduce your customers' worries across the board: eliminate forms and eliminate recurring charges.
Ideal worry-minimization can only be closely approached in some purely online forms of commerce, such as video streaming, remote storage, privacy services, and the like. The more physical and offline contract performances are -- a common example being physical delivery -- the more location, various kinds of identity (legal, social network, etc.) may need to come into play, adding, often greatly and necessarily, to the worry overhead, the mental transaction costs, of your relationship with your consumers.
I have previously called this worry-minimized commerce by a narrower label, "form-minimized commerce." The complexity of the forms you make your users fill is indicative of the worries you are causing them, and thus the barriers you are putting up between your prospects and their decisions to purchase your services.
When you are a consumer, the tediousness of the forms you are filling out is not only a direct cost of your time, and your ability to enjoy that time, it is on top of that a decent proxy measure of the odds of your identity being stolen and of your privacy otherwise being violated. The fewer forms you fill out, the more the tediousness, worries, and risks in your life caused by interacting with the world's institutions will drop in proportion.
While such a proxy measure does not account in particular for the wide variety of information that can be disclosed, nor that some kinds of information (social security numbers) are more risky to divulge than others (throw-away email addresses), nor for the wide variety of risks in identity theft and privacy violation that are consequent, nevertheless consumers necessarily must bring to bear such sweeping rules-of-thumb in order to satisfactorily navigate the bizarre complexities of the digital world. And when your users are using, whether consciously or implicitly, such estimates, you the service provider and the product designer must use them too.
Add to the forms your customers must fill out the repeated charges you make your customers make, and we get a rough proxy measure of the worry that you are causing your consumers:
Index of worry = number of lines of forms + number of repeated charges for content or services of variable valueIf you are funded through ads rather than consumer payments, you can substitute for the repeated charges the proportion of screen space covered by your ads, or any other reasonable estimate of the delay and distraction the ads on your pages cause.
The index of worry allows you to estimate and minimize the worries you are causing your users, and as a result to minimize the drop-off in your sales funnel and maximize the number of users coming back for more -- and willing to view your ads or pay for the privilege.
Two New Releases, Gencon Sale And BOW Teases Mechanicus Week
August sees two new releases for the Keilerkopf APC! Preorders will be accepted starting July 30th, to coincide with our Gencon sale.
THOR APC UPGRADE - 28mm (1/56) scale
*The Thor upgrade will fit the base Keilerkopf APC or the Odin Loki AFV variants (not included). The kit includes six rocket pods that mount three per side on the vehicle hull. This kit may be added to an existing APC or AFV at any time.
Features:
◦ Six rocket pods
The Thor upgrade, gained its name from the tremendous noise and damage created when a salvo strikes its target, as if Thor's hammer had been pounded on the unfortunate target.
Perfect for dealing with entrenched infantry or pesky fortifications. Each rocket may be fired as an individual shot or as a salvo of six high explosive or incendiary rockets. Due to the reload time in the field, these are loaded to specification before battle.
ODIN – LOKI APC CONVERASION 28mm (1/56) scale
*The Odin - Loki APC conversion will fit the base Keilerkopf APC (not included). The kit includes a detailed interior replacement for the APC and the barrel and shell components required to create either the Odin or the Loki AFV. This kit must be assembled as either an Odin or Loki variant at the time the APC is assembled. Due to the width and placement of the new interior components it will not be possible to add this to an already assembled Keilerkopf APC.
Features:
◦ Highly detailed interior for the APC
◦ Tilting barrel assembly and specific shell carrier for both the Odin and Loki variants
◦ Spotter and Gunner crew members
The Odin conversion, aptly named for the Norse god Odin, 'the god of thunder'. The massive main gun throws an immense high explosive round down range with considerable destructive potential.
The Loki conversion, takes its name from the Norse god Loki 'the trickster'. A quick view of the vehicle from a distance may lend the observer to dismiss the vehicle as a personnel carrier, a deadly mistake. This AFV is armed with a high caliber anti-tank gun capable of swiftly dispatching heavily armed vehicles from a great distance.
GENCON SALE
As many of you know Gencon starts July 30th, we will be having a Gencon sale starting on the 30th and running to August 15th. The entire store will receive a 30% discount! The 28mm Leviathan Mortis and Crusader, as well as their weapon swaps will receive a 40% discount to help you prep for the BOW Mechanicus VLOG.
BOW MECHANICUS WEEK
BOW is prepping for a new Mechanicus week with a few friends of ours! See the discussion and some primered and posed Leviathan Crusaders at about 53:40 on their weekender. To help you prep, we are discounting our 28mm Leviathans and their weapon arms by 40% starting on July 30th and running to August 15th.
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
How To Write Me An Email (And Get A Response)
My inbox has as many mails as the night sky has stars. That's why I did not respond to your mail. Not because I didn't want to and not because I didn't like you. I'd love to be able to hit that reply button right after I read your mail. Could you please help me with this? Below are some tips.
- Write short. Response time is approximately proportional to mail length. This includes any attachments to your mail.
- State your request clearly. What do you want an answer to? Make it easy to answer your request. Best case: a yes/no question.
- Skip the formality. Skip the boilerplate. "Hi Julian" is a good start, your name is a good way to finish the mail. Everything in between should be unique.
- Do tell me how your day was if you feel like it. If I know you, I care about you and appreciate you telling me. Don't ask me how my day was. I will feel I need to reply and it will take me longer. It's also perfectly fine to not tell me how your day was.
- If the purpose of your mail is general chitchat, maybe we should talk on the phone instead.
- Don't be rude. Your email deserves an answer, unless you tell me explicitly that it deserves an answer.
- If I don't answer within a few days, do send me a reminder in the same mail thread. See if you can state your request more succinctly in your reminder.
- Don't contact me on Facebook, SMS, Skype or similar with the same request as your mail. These services don't provide an overview of outstanding messages and I therefore don't treat them as a task list. Your message will be lost in cyberspace.
I'm aware that this post may make me sound like a self-important and condescending person. I really hope I am not. I'm just someone who want to spend less time reading and writing emails, and avoid making people angry because I don't respond to their emails. I guess you want the same.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Northcliff High Snatches The Lead In League Of Legends.
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| Four of the members of Northcliff High School's League together with their Educator - Noele du Toit. |
In such rankings Northcliff High School has managed to shoot into the lead as a result of good play at Mind Sports South Africa's (MSSA) 37th Gauteng Provincial Championships as hosted by Curro Aurora.
However, with MSSA's Western Cape Championships to be held on 23 & 24 March 2019 at Curro Durbanville, Northcliff will no doubt feel the pressure that will be exerted by Paul Roos Gimnasium.
The full rankings for the High School rankings for the League of Legends title are as follows:
Other official rankings produced by MSSA are as follows:
- Senior Ancients Wargames
- Senior Checkers
- Senior CounterStrike: GO
- Senior DotA 2
- Senior FIFA '18
- Senior HearthStone
- Senior Injustice 2
- Senior League of Legends (female)
- Senior League of Legends
- Senior Morabaraba
- Senior Mortal Kombat X
- Senior Pro Evolution Soccer (PES)
- Senior StarCraft II
- Senior Street Fighter V
- Senior Tekken 7 (female)
- Senior Tekken 7
- High Schools Clash Royale
- High Schools CounterStrike: GO
- High Schools DotA 2
- High Schools FIFA
- High Schools HearthStone
- High Schools League of Legends
- High Schools Street Fighter V
Gutians
Camera flash has let these down a bit, but very pleased with this unit in the flesh. I have been working away with green stuff to create fur kilts an scalp locks and pony tails to create this unique unit.
The heads used on some are from Mad Robot who just happen to make heads just like Amorites in Biblical era making them very suitable for conversions in this period. Bodies were used from Newline Designs with Mad Robot heads ion some with beards also added to some. The guy on top of rock is Castaway Arts Babylonian with Mad Robot head and spare head from Foundry Assyrians I think held in hand. 2 other Castaway Arts figures have been slightly converted and 2 Eureka appear as themselves.
These represent Gutian tribes around time of Sumer and Akkad into Hammurabric (1750 BC) period possibly. I like the wild almost prehistoric look these have. They were great fun to create and I'm sure I will do more at some point
The heads used on some are from Mad Robot who just happen to make heads just like Amorites in Biblical era making them very suitable for conversions in this period. Bodies were used from Newline Designs with Mad Robot heads ion some with beards also added to some. The guy on top of rock is Castaway Arts Babylonian with Mad Robot head and spare head from Foundry Assyrians I think held in hand. 2 other Castaway Arts figures have been slightly converted and 2 Eureka appear as themselves.
These represent Gutian tribes around time of Sumer and Akkad into Hammurabric (1750 BC) period possibly. I like the wild almost prehistoric look these have. They were great fun to create and I'm sure I will do more at some point
Face Maker Game
Drag and drop the items to make a new face according to the description! A game to practise the parts of the face (hair, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, lips...). Check out our Parts of the Face Vocabulary.
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