Tag Archives: management

May 6, 2015 · 10:39 am

Reading The Words, Missing The Meaning

Let’s start today thinking about a language you don’t speak. It’s very possible, assuming that it’s written using the Latin alphabet, that you could pick up a book and begin to read out loud in that strange tongue. Of course, you’d have absolutely no idea what you’re reading. You can say the words on the page but you can’t explain what they mean.

Keep that image in mind as we change the topic to data. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat with clients and gone through their analytics reports with them and the aforementioned image has popped into my head. I don’t mean that to be derogatory to the people who pay me, nor does it mean that I’m fluent in analytics and they’re not. It raises a business point that is something we all need to keep in the back of our minds as data becomes more integral with everything we do.

Here is a small example. Most of us see “direct” traffic in our analytics reports. In theory, those visitors typed in the site URL or clicked on a bookmark they set on a previous visit. That’s a partial truth. The reality is whenever a referrer is not passed, the traffic is treated as direct traffic by Google. Think that’s an unimportant bit of information? How about in the context of mobile traffic not passing referrers at all (and I bet mobile is a big and growing part of your site traffic)? The point is that it requires both the knowledge that the “direct” bucket isn’t an absolute as well as some further analysis to figure out the truth.

I’ve seen the same sort of issues crop up in attribution modeling (what source was responsible for the sale).  The groundwork for proper attribution hasn’t been laid and so the reports aren’t accurate.  Sure, any analyst can puke out the data in front of them but the good ones – the ones who can interpret the words and not just say them – will tell you why there is a problem and fix all the links you’re putting out there to accurately reflect what’s going on.

“Keith,” you say, “I’m not a data scientist.”  Neither am I.  What I can do – and you probably can too – is to ask questions, especially when someone tells you they are dead certain about what the data is saying.  Be sure they’re not just reading aloud in a language they don’t understand.  Get beyond reporting and into meaning.  It changes everything.  Agreed?

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Filed under Consulting, digital media, Helpful Hints

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May 4, 2015 · 11:35 am

Misleading Marketing

Sometimes it’s just too easy to point out corporate stupidity and today I’m taking that easy road. You might be aware that the FTC is suing AT&T for allegedly misleading consumers by offering them “unlimited” data plans, and cutting back their data speed when they exceeded a maximum monthly allotment of data usage. AT&T doesn’t deny doing it, which is smart since there is ample evidence to support the accusation. Nope. Instead, they’ve told the FTC that their hands are clean since customers should have known they were going to be throttled if they used too much data.

I’m not all that knowledgable about network congestion management.  I do know that all ISPs (and a wireless carrier is one of those although you might not think of them that way) use “traffic shaping” to manage the load on their system.  Generally that’s something that’s imposed on a short-term basis to manage load.  So while there may be a heavy demand for bandwidth during primetime evening hours, traffic is much lighter in the middle of the night, for example.  Wireless carriers (except for Sprint) all impose limits on the bandwidth a user can have.  In my mind it’s a false scarcity since most people don’t come close to using all the bandwidth in their plans.  Even with the explosion of mobile video usage, no one is claiming that our wireless infrastructure is near its limit.  But let’s put aside the alleged technical issue and focus on the real point.

You can’t sell something as “unlimited” and then place limits on it.  Selling someone an unlimited high-speed data plan which becomes very low-speed after a certain, unstated point is misleading at best and fraudulent at worst.  The  fact that customers continue to renew their contracts isn’t an indicator that they don’t mind being deceived; it’s more of an indication about how little choice we all have.

This quote, taken from a MediaPost article on the subject is what I find particularly galling:

AT&T adds that consumers with unlimited data plans signed up for those contracts even though they “had reason to anticipate the possibility” that they would be throttled.

I don’t know how someone at AT&T wrote that with a straight face.  Really?  When you said “unlimited” a customer with zero technical training about network management should have anticipated that once they crossed some boundary known only to you they would suffer a service degradation?

Any of us in business need to run our businesses in accordance with the business model we develop to maintain profitability. If AT&T’s engineers tell them that throttling is necessary, so be it.  The point is that we need to let our customers know what they’re buying – honestly, transparently, and actively.  Lying isn’t a marketing plan – it’s just stupid.  Right?

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February 20, 2015 · 12:24 pm

Il Coperto

The Foodie Friday word of the day is “coperto.” For those of you unfamiliar with the term it’s an Italian word meaning “covered.” When you eat out in Italy and wish to dine sitting down, you pay the coperto – the cover charge. It’s usually a couple of euros and is meant to cover the costs of the table, tablecloth, napkin, dishes, washing and cleaning, heating and light – everything involved with a restaurant meal which is neither food nor work costs of the staff.

Spaghetti all' arrabbiata

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a corollary to the coperto – a “no tipping” policy. Since the coperto covers the non-staff items, the margins on food and beverage can be spent on staff. The US is one of the few countries where there is a two-tier pay system because we are one of the few that operates in a system in which someone is dependent upon tips for their income. The cooks and dishwashers often make far less than the better-compensated front-of-house servers and bartenders. Thanks to tips, service staff can take home as much as twice the pay of their kitchen counterparts.  This is beginning to change and I think it’s a good thing.  It’s also instructive thinking for all businesses.

Quite a few restaurants are starting to charge a nominal fee per head much like the coperto.  Others are inflating their food prices but forbidding tipping – in essence building in a 20% tip.  The final cost to a customer is the same assuming that they left a reasonable tip.  This allows them to pay a much higher wage and to provide benefits such as health care.  The transient nature of the business is changing as great servers and cooks can be compensated and induced to stay on.

What happens when there is a bad experience?  Think about it.  First, it’s rare that you withhold the entire tip.  That’s punishing an entire staff for one person’s incompetence.  The reality is that you’d probably complain to the manger.  It’s rarely a money issue.  Second, what happens quite a bit is that people are just too damn cheap.  $5 on a $125 bill is unfair but that is more the reality of the business than to person who overtips.

What does this have to do with your business?  First, ask yourself if there is a two-tier system that unfairly rewards one group over another.  Second, what have you done to make sure that your staff is incented to remain?  As with customers, I find it’s always more cost-effective to retain an existing competent person than to find, hire, and train a new one. Finally, how can you rethink how the money customers pay is positioned without seeming to nickel and dime them?

There are a lot of ways to change the US system.  At one place servers get paid either $10/hour OR 20% of their food sales, whichever is higher, and it’s almost always the over for servers.  Others charge a flat fee while others automatically add a 20 percent service charge to all bills or raise their food prices.  All forbid tipping.  Hopefully everyone wins.  Employees make more and consistent money, customers get better service due to a happy, motivated long-term staff, business owners continue to make reasonable profits.  Sounds like a plan to me.  You?

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