Consistency – it’s all we want, all the time
Want a simple way to keep your customers coming back? Don’t change.
A friend and I get lunch regularly from the same cafe round the corner. Within a few days of first going I branded it as ‘Surly Sandwiches’. The food is good, the prices are better, the service is efficient and you can rest assured that 90% of the time you go there you won’t get a smile from the staff.
Others might find that a poor level of service but for me it represents the pinnacle of consistency – if I’d become accustomed to beaming staff and cheery greetings then I would have been most disappointed the day they failed to hand me a sandwich with a smile. Instead I adjusted my requirements and have them consistently met.
Conversely, set the bar high and you’d best make damn sure you keep leaping it. Hell hath no fury like a person who’s expectations you have failed to meet (catchy). When the usually impeccably courteous staff of John Lewis decided to upset my wife by quibbling over a late delivery, the only way John Lewis could see to fix that little error was to gift us money – an expensive failure to launch.
So, don’t overestimate the importance of being happy. Don’t underestimate the importance of being consistent. Don’t go changing.
Unfortunate similarities
Yesterday, the Labour Party released their election manifesto for the upcoming General Election – a feel-good illustration of a happy family looking to a brighter, fairer future.
Unfortunately, the videogamer in me can only see the striking similarities with this: art from Bethesda Software’s Fallout 3 – a game about a post-nuclear-apocalyptic world in which the only law is the survival of the fittest/best-armed.
I’m not sure this is the message they’d like us to take away.
Anyway, must dash – got to get hold of a Land Rover defender, lots of baked beans and a geiger counter.
(This is absolutely not a political post by the way – just graphic design-related! If you’re undecided about where to put your vote I strongly suggest you visit Vote For Policies.)
My URL ABC
A simple and relatively entertaining little game devised by Tim Van Damme. Open up your browser – type each letter of the alphabet and list out the URLs that come up first – here’s mine.
- A – Amazon (they get far too much of my money)
- B – BenGilman.com
- C – CrunchBase (researching the market…)
- D – Digg
- E – Engadget
- F – Football365 (seeking Arsenal news)
- G – Gmail
- H – HSBC
- I – IsItFunnyToday? (the best way to find web comics)
- J – Joystiq
- K – Kongregate (I spent a few lunchtimes playing The Last Stand)
- L – lovemoney.com
- M – MoneyStrands (becoming a daily visitor)
- N – BBC News
- O – OpenX (the ad server for lovemoney.com)
- P – Playfire
- Q – QuakeLive (the other lunchtimes…)
- R – Reddit
- S – Twitter Search
- T – Twitter
- U -TechCrunch
- V – Virgin Media (probably complaining about slow broadband *sigh*)
- W – lovemoney.com (all the Ws)
- X – Xkcd
- Y – YouTube
- Z – Zoopla (window shopping)
I’m not sure it’s a particularly insightful window into my world – it’s surprising how few websites start with Z though…