NYTimes Mobile Paywall

Not a ton to say here except that: - I reached the New York Times paywall - And it is visually very bold / intrusive - But while it is disruptive - and that's the goal of course - it is really not very actionable: The only part of the entire screen that is clickable are the two orange buttons.That is <5% of the screen's real estate and a wasted opportunity to users right into an upgrade flow. As it currently stands, I need to read the promotional box, click the orange button, land on an educational page and then choose an upgrade package. Too many steps and too much effort.

(Lastly, I am not entirely sure what constitutes exceeding the paywall... it says after 10 free articles but it appears intermittently)

Jetsetter's Email Preference Flow

Email unsubscribe flows are typically binary: either super simple to unsubscribe (how it should be) or super convoluted (having to uncheck preferences, confirm email addresses, etc). This is a clever flow by Jetsetter because it is in fact super simple (just one click)... but it gently 'upsells' users: "How about just one email a month?" First, that's such a gentler, kinder way to ask for email access than having me check a slew of boxes.

Second, it comes after they have unsubscribed me - so there is established trust. When they say "just one email a month", I believe it.

Lastly, Jetsetter promotes their Facebook and Twitter pages. If you are going to lose an access point to your customers - might as well push other avenues to communicate and interact with them.

Facebook Roadshow: Advertising Revenue by Product Extension

If you haven't already, I encourage you to watch the Facebook IPO Roadshow video. It's fascinating and well done. There is a ton in there worth discussing / pointing out, but I wanted to highlight one of my favorite screens (shown below): It shows Facebook's growing advertising revenue and the four stages of advertising platform growth that have helped it grow (of course alongside monstrous user growth!): - Reach (their userbase) - Relevance (targeting) - Engagement (like, share, etc) - Social Context (sponsored, open graph, etc)

And what's missing? How about off-Facebook advertising...

More here: TechCrunch / Roadshow Video / WSJ

Jetsetter + Pinterest: "Pin It to Win It" Contest Drives Travel Curation

With the rise of Pinterest, I have enjoyed tracking the brands and campaigns racing to leverage the platform and be early movers. For instance, a couple weeks ago, I highlighted Harrod's Pinterest / curator contest. Here is relatively similar program from Jetsetter. Like Harrods, Jetsetter is using Pinterest to drive curation:

"Our fans ask us all the time how they can become Jetsetter curators. Now's your chance to show us you have what it takes. Using Pinterest, create the ultimate destination pinboard..."

It is effectively a way to:

1. drive best-of-lists (ala early Yelp and eBay efforts) 2. understand data and users preference 3. and drive viral traffic by rewarding social sharing on Pinterest ("Pin it to win it in our Pinterest Giveaway")

It's simple, clever and amazingly low-cost. Furthermore, it seeds usage and drives followers on a growing platform where most brands are still slow to adopt.

Klout's Clever Use of iOS's App & Badge Icons

I talk about Klout all the time and encourage marketers to integrate / leverage the service as a way to engage quality users & customers. This has implications for advertising, customer service, product experience, etc. This is an entirely unrelated point - but I think it's extremely clever and unique. Klout has released a new iPhone application and they are using iOS's "Badge" system to display your Klout Score atop the app's icon. Terrifically simple, smart idea and a way to bring users back into the application (which is the single most important and challenging aspect for most applications).

I love it and expect / encourage others to think about how this relates to their service and their users.

Dunkin Donuts Promotional Facebook Timeline Page

I've written a few times about Dunkin Donut's clever use of their Facebook fan page to spotlight fans and drive on-Facebook promotion. Dunkin Donuts would reward fans each week with a spotlight in their Facebook Profile Picture - to win, users would upload photos of themselves drinking coffee and tagging @Dunkin in the photo. Want proof that it works? Check out how many fans post to their Facebook wall.

With the introduction of Facebook's Timeline, the profile picture is less prominent and Dunkin had to rethink the Fan of the Week promotion. The result: Dunkin now includes those fans directly in the cover photo... which is a ton of visible real estate and a fun way to highlight fans, drive social activity, and keep the Timeline fresh.

Amazon's New Layout, New Merchandising

Amazon's redesign is much cleaner... and grayer than before. It also is more focused on promoting their new categories. I noted this before with their revamped navigation bar: "Amazon's Navigation bar is Revealing."

But Amazon has gone a step further here: not only does the left navigation panel promote their digital efforts ahead of physical (Instant Videos, Cloud Player, Cloud Drive, Kindle, Appstore, Games, Audiobooks, etc)... they then duplicate those categories in the center panel. Each category has it's own visual and merchandising unit.

Below the top panel is another promotional box that promotes other efforts (Amazon Mom) or curated experiences (Clothing Trends).

For what it's worth: I find the nesting of the two units a bit strange. And the units do not auto-scroll - so it's both overwhelming (and confusing) to have 10+ potential links to click.

Harrods Takes to Facebook to Promote their Pinterest Contest

This is relevant to two posts: - Yesterday's on the value of being a first mover, specifically on Pinterest; and - Porsche moving users between their Facebook and Pinterest pages

Well here's another good examples: Harrods is allowing fans to help design their retail windows using Pinterest mood boards.

Clever: It's on brand. It's effectively free marketing. It drives Pinterest activity far beyond the winner. And it blends users across Pinterest and Facebook - both from the cross-promotion and Pinterest's opengraph integration.

Amazon Begins Including Pinterest Buttons on Product Pages

First movers get rewarded... just ask Spotify on Facebook or Loopt on iOS. This of course assumes that you are a first mover on a big, impactful platform. There is little question Pinterest is both big and impactful. So Amazon is experimenting with it.

Here is a screenshot of the Pinterest button on an Amazon product page - beside email, Facebook and Twitter buttons. For e-commerce companies - Pinterest is arguably more relevant here than either Facebook or Twitter. It is probably most valuable to get a Facebook share - but users are probably far more inclined to post to Pinterest... and for many of those users, Pinterest will then post back to Facebook.

Fascinating to watch.