Every month or so, I get a book of coupons in the mail. These come in a few flavors, but they have one thing in common: every business advertising in the coupon book is decidedly second-rate. In other words, they probably aren’t places you’d go to on your own, and it’s pretty clear they have to dangle big discount offers to get customers.

Therein lies the problem for advertisers: simply placing an ad in these coupon books says something to customers about your product. Perhaps you can’t earn new business based on quality or word of mouth, so you have to give out freebies to attract new customers. True or not, the very act of placing yourself in such bad company hurts the image of your brand and your products.

But aren’t coupons and discounts suddenly all the rage in today’s weak economy? Sure, there’s little denying that lots of consumers are looking for better deals. So it’s really the medium, not the concept, that needs work. Crappy coupon books that are filled with mediocre-looking businesses are probably not your best bet. Instead, look into placing your coupons on your website, or put them in the hands of existing customers to give their friends. The goal is to spread the word and bring in new business, using discounts if necessary. But you don’t want to look desperate in the process.

I saw two people riding Segways on Sunday. They weren’t part of a larger group, so I can only imagine they rented, leased or bought the strange contraptions on their own. I immediately felt a disdain for these people, and later, I wondered why I felt that way. After all, I’ve never had a Segway nor wished for one, so what’s it to me?

On further reflection, I realized several of the reasons why I hate the Segway:

– A person riding one takes up much more space than someone on foot or on a bike. This pisses off other pedestrians who have to make room for the hulking devices on the sidewalk.
– Riding a Segway uses up energy, since it has to be recharged. Thus, it’s less environmentally-friendly than walking or biking.
– Because people are passively riding the vehicle (or whatever you call it), they’re not getting the exercise benefits of walking or biking. This contributes to obesity and all the other ills that arise from it.

From what I understand, the Segway is generally considered a commercial failure. I don’t know enough about the business case to say whether the factors I mentioned played any significant role in their sales troubles. But it certainly stands to reason that the Segway people should look into issues like these when deciding how to market and refine the product. Since the Segway has such a high profile, the opinions and ideas generated by non-customers — especially in terms of what they don’t like about the product — may actually be more valuable than feedback from loyal buyers.

With so many people accessing their email from multiple computers and handheld devices, it’s easy to sacrifice consistency in the name of convenience. Case in point: the “From” name that customers see when you email them. For instance, if you’re John Smith with Acme Corp, you might end up with any or all of the following names in your various email programs:

– John Smith
– John A. Smith
– John Smith (Acme Corp)
– Smith, John (Acme US)
– John

Obviously, this can get confusing to customers, who expect to see the same information each time you correspond with them. If they see a different identity each time, they may ignore some of your messages or flag them as spam.

So do yourself a favor: whenever you add a new email access method (e.g. your iPhone or home computer), make sure your name, signature, and other identifying information are identical to what you’re already using. Then, send yourself a test message from each access point, and verify they all look the same to the recipient. By taking these simple steps, you’ll look more professional to your customers, while increasing the chance that your messages actually get read.

If you use Netflix, you’ve probably experienced the “Very long wait” problem. It shows up like this: you add a new movie or TV show to your queue, sometimes the very first day it appears in the Netflix system. Then, once the DVD release date is reached, the status changes to say “Very long wait”. No detail, no explanation. Just a totally nebulous message that you’re going to be waiting for a while.

I can think of several ways to improve this:

– Show a worst-case estimate of when you’ll get the DVD
– Provide a help link that shows the average wait time for DVDs of this type
– Show how many people are waiting in line ahead of you
– Experiment with upgrade options that might let you pay $1 to get the DVD sooner

Clearly, there are lots of options here. I just wish Netflix would take some steps to transform the useless and annoying message into a true status indicator — the kind that helps set proper expectations and empowers customers to make smart decisions about the service.

On Sunday morning, I walked past an area where they were setting up for some inane public event. Off to the side, I counted 14 portable bathroom units (“Port-a-Potty” or whatever they’re called), but only one hand washing station. Even if the hand washer can serve four people at once, the implication of those numbers is pretty scary. Apparently, the people who allocate these resources are thinking in terms of reality, rather than aspiration. It would be nice if everyone washed their hands, but a lot of people simply don’t bother.

Whenever I go to the dentist, I typically take the train. The dentist’s office is only about a mile away, but the train always seemed faster and more direct than walking. But after waiting much longer than usual after my last appointment (due to rail construction or some other nonsense), I started to wonder: what if walking is actually faster?

With this in mind, I decided to give walking a try. And sure enough, it took just about the same time, maybe less. Plus, I didn’t have to stand around waiting for the train. I felt like I was more in control, which made the trip seem even shorter than it was. I doubt I’ll go back to the train for this type of trip, except in the dead of winter.

I wonder if a lot of products actually face the same tradeoff. In other words, a product may seem like it’s saving you time, but handling all the attendant setup and maintenance and training tasks actually means you’d be better off without it. I probably reject a lot of new gadgets for this very reason, chalking it up to lack of product maturity and a confusing user interface. In the end, the question to ask yourself is this: if customers tried doing things “the hard way” without your product, would they actually miss having your product around? If not, maybe it’s time to rethink your strategy.

Some retailers have been touting their “Low Prices” for years, and generally the claim seems to be true. Those who position themselves on something besides price alone tend to emphasize product quality, personalized service, and other factors. But lately, I’ve been noticing more full-priced stores touting a somewhat misguided low price message.

Take Staples, for instance. Do they sell high-quality products? Sure. Good service? Yeah, the staff are usually quite helpful. But low prices? Well, not really. I’ve seen products in the local store that cost almost 40% more than the local Walgreens or CVS (which aren’t exactly known for low prices themselves). And the Staples house brand doesn’t seem to offer any bargains either.

This raises the question: does a store have an obligation to back up its low price claims by selling a basket of goods for less than some accepted benchmark? I doubt there’s any law or regulation requiring it. But touting low prices when that’s not really your thing creates a disconnect for consumers. When a store proclaims that it offers low prices, people expect to be getting a good deal, and may even purchase some things at surprisingly inflated prices without noticing. This may drive margins higher in the short run. But eventually they’ll notice the ruse, and cut back their spending at the stores in question.

Ultimately, people will lose their confidence in low price claims, and the phrase will become meaningless as a positioning statement. After all, if everyone promises low prices but there’s no consistency in who actually delivers them, consumers need to look deeper to determine where the best values are.