Hey gang! Exciting MindField Online cashout news for the New Year!
We are excited to announce two new cashout options! Starting in first week of January 2013, you will be able to request cashout with a Sam’s Club or WalMart Gift Card. Just click through to cashout and you’ll see the icons listed among the options available. Both options will require the same $5.00 threshold as PayPal.
Yay, more options! Happy New Year!
There is a popular image of retail “customer service” as a call center in some faraway land filled with people you can’t understand, yet somehow their names are Chad or Stacy. (An image, I believe, that retailers don’t mind perpetuating if it keeps you from calling.) But, somehow people still use the telephone.
So how was their experience on Black Friday, one of the toughest shopping days of the year? The Consumerist reports on a survey:
The survey, conducted by the folks at STELLAService, looked at the 35 largest online retailers — most of which are websites for major bricks-and-mortar stores — to determine how these companies performed at responding to phone and online chat requests. Consumerist.com
The results:
2012 Top 5:
JCPenney :22 sec, Office Max :30 sec, Amazon :59 sec, Target 1:05, Gap 1:33
2012 Bottom 5:
HSN 5:46, Dell 8:49, Walmart 11:20, TigerDirect 12:14, Costco 12:34
Read the article to see all the results. Did you call any customer service on Black Friday? How was your experience?
And, for the record, MindField Online uses home-grown customer service talent. If you can’t understand them, it’s just because they are from West Virginia! 😉 Have a great weekend!
(photo: apartmenttherapy.com)
The watchdogs over at Consumer Reports have cracked open the suggestion box and put together their annual Naughty and Nice list for the holidays. The list includes input from CR staff and Facebook fans. There were 100 nominees, and CR narrowed it down to the 10 best and worst.
Companies were dinged for hidden or tricky fees, fine print, and unfriendly practices; others were lauded for generous and outstanding customer service.
And to keep it fair, the list looks specific policies and practices such as hidden fees, return policies, etc. “They’re jerks!” doesn’t make the cut!
Anyway, here are some of the more famous names on the list, with an eye toward holiday shopping:
Nice: Home Depot, Honda, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Red Wing Shoe Co.
Naughty: CompUSA, Forever 21, Abe’s of Maine, Vonage, Tiger Direct
There are many other examples of policies – good, bad and mindless – at the original article, so check it out! Do you have any examples?
Speaking of nutty hidden fees, remember this post about RyanAir?
That’s French for “Black Friday,” because I am sooo clever! Anyway, after you’ve done your combat shopping, please head over to the MindField Online Facebook page and give us a report of what you’ve seen. Big crowds? Craziness? Better or worse than you expected? Let us know…and have a great weekend!
(photo: the churchofnopeople.com)
Ladies, be warned. Marketers have cracked the Girl Code. Millions of dollars have been spent to discover the secret of reaching women. You ready? Here it is: Color it pink and play on your insecurities.
We’ll let that sink in for a moment, like a moisturizing cream that erases fine lines and age spots.
One of the big-name ink pen companies has a For Her line. If you’re an Ellen fan, you know how that went over.
Said one reviewer: “For once, I don’t have to grip a giant, man-sized pen just to sign receipts at Saks. And the ink just hits the paper so smoothly, not at all like the rough, gritty man ink in normal pens.”
Meanwhile, Honda has a version of the Fit subcompact called “She’s.” Its lady-centric approach? It’s pink, its AC won’t dry your skin and its anti-UV glass will help prevent wrinkles.
The review is in: “Stupid name, awful color, everyone needs protection from the sun’s rays, and if they want to market to women, they need to think leg to pedal ratio, especially clutch, so you don’t have to scoot the seat all the way up to the steering wheel.”
I guess the point is that pink is nice, but that can’t be the only selling point.
Final example: I used to do marketing for a handgun company.
They had a line of handguns For Her, in pink and lavender. But they weren’t JUST cute; they were smaller, lighter and with slightly less firepower so that – get this – women could actually USE them. We didn’t ignore Pink, we just turned it around: “Why is it pink? So your husband won’t want to borrow it!” Now THAT’S marketing to women!
Here are a couple of articles on the topic, from Today Show online: Here and Here. Check ’em out, have a great weekend and always remember to ask if it comes in pink!
(photos: news.yahoo.com and charterfirearms.com)
Of course, Black Friday draws near – the big bargain day for combat shoppers. But the rest of November is no slouch, as retailers try to grab your attention in the days leading up to the madness.
Here, from DealNews.com, is a list of some of your best November buys:
Those are just some highlights of good buys. What’s NOT an especially great buy in November – or, not really any better than other times? Tablets. Turns out Amazon and others are basically giving them away already, selling them at cost, and making their money on the digital media you buy.
Lots more useful info at the original article, so check it out!
Here is a roundup of articles from around the web highlighting consumer scams, helpful recovery tips, ways businesses are trying help…and ways they aren’t!
For a lot of folks, life won’t be returning to normal for a while. Hopefully tips like these will help.
(photo: NASA)
This is not so much a consumer piece, other than, as we reported earlier, you’re going to spend $80 per kid this Halloween and you would like to get them home in one piece.
When I was a kid, Halloween safety consisted of my dad telling me not to accept any apples, because hippies were hiding their drug needles in them. “That’s it! Now go run in the night streets in your dark gray Batman costume!”
So, to pay it forward, I will share a few Halloween safety tips from the National Safety Council.
Motorists: BE COOL! Seriously, I don’t even have kids, but I spend half the night screaming at the idiots driving 45mph on my street!
Parents: Basically it’s your job to suck all the fun out of it. Make your kids tell you their precise route. Give them a curfew time. And make them wear bright or reflective clothing, even if it ruins their Zombie costume.
Kids: Use some common sense! Don’t go to dark houses. Don’t eat your stuff until mom inspects it and steals the Kit Kats. Carry dad’s best flashlight, which you will surely break. And stay out of the abandoned mill, even if they dare you!
OK, enough sarcasm. You should download the list. There are tons of great tips to keep Halloween safe. The alternative is a “Trunk or Treat” in the middle school parking lot…and nobody wants that!
(photo: springsgov.com)
I have spent some time in the world consumer marketing, and it’s amazing the amount of time and money that is spent trying to wring out just one more percent of market share. As a MindField member, you also have an appreciation for how much research it takes to decide if a product is a good idea or not.
The pressure to stay on top is huge, and coming up with innovative ideas that people will embrace isn’t easy, as illustrated by the countless number of market miscalculations and abject product failures developed by some of the biggest and most respected brands in the world. MSN Money
So here’s a look at some ideas that didn’t quite click. Do you remember any of these?
Gerber Singles (1970s.) Ever feed a baby and sneak a bite of their food out of curiosity? Sure. Wouldn’t you like to have an adult-sized jar of mashed bananas for yourself? America said No.
Jimmy Dean Microwaveable Chocolate Chip Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick (2006.) Just because you CAN mash things together and put them on a stick…SHOULD you?
Heinz EZ Squirt ketchup (2000.) Ketchup in a rainbow of bizarre colors for you to get out of your kids’ clothes.
Ore-Ida Funky Fries (2002.) Apparently, the novelty of cinnamon-flavored, or tube-shaped or BLUE French fries wears off quickly.
Frito Lay’s Wow potato chips (1998.) Who can forget racing to the toilet during the summer of Olestra? An FDA warning on the bag is generally not good for business.
New Coke (1985.) The classic flop. Apparently, EVERY BIT of their research, blind taste tests, etc., told Coke that people preferred the new stuff.
Pepsi A.M. (1989.) It seemed like the dumbest idea ever back in ’89… a super-caffeinated soda to drink in the morning instead of coffee. Now, everybody does it.
Ah well, they can’t all be winners. Can you think of any other food items that missed the mark? There are more in the original article, so check it out!
(photo: thehelicoptergroup.com)
In my house, as a kid and as an adult, we always did it up for Halloween. And, looking back, I don’t remember ever dialing it down very much during hard times. Apparently, that is still the case in the US!
Here are some stats:
So, how does Halloween avoid our belt-tightening?
Halloween has been one of the few annual events that we’re willing to shell out plenty of bucks for, almost certainly because of the escapism we feel by dressing up like Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson. We also have few qualms about dressing up our pets like Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson. Time Magazine
And to illustrate that last point, the article says that we will spend $370 million on pet costumes this year, up about 25% from 2011!
So, how about your family? Is Halloween a big deal? Have you cut back on the spending the past couple of years, or not?