I just wanted to reflect on my experience with carsguide.com.au with an example from www.carsales.com.au:
- Browsing issue is sorted by carsales.com.au disabling the browser navigation button on their photo gallery window;
- they have, however, maintained individual URLs for gallery pages, which is completely fine as long as visitors can close the window when they're done browsing the images (see below in red):
I am sure carsales.com.au will want to ultimately host banner ads in the future in these "sticky pages" (and rightfully so...), but it will be interesting to see how this affects overall usability. I hope they find a way to do it with minimal frustration on end-users and maintain their "Australia's No. 1 because it WORKS!" slogan in reality :)
There's nothing wrong with banner ads, hell, online advertisement pays my bills! But there're limits...
Take www.carsguide.com.au for instance:
When browsing a picture gallery of a particular car, you can either click on the thumbnail (blue box) or link titled 'view all 9 images' (red box). Both these link to the same EXACT gallery page, except for the former the gallery page loads in the same browser tab and the latter loads in a new tab.
There are two things completely wrong and utterly annoying:
(1) Relevance - regardless of the image/link you're clicking on, you CANNOT view all nine images together.
(2) Browser Deadend - this 'gallery page' having a unique URL is a waste of resources because if the visitor wants to go back to the car profile page after browsing the pictures, hitting the browser's backspace button goes through every single image they've just browsed!
Moreover, the information presented in this gallery page, e.g. email enquiry form (see below), can easily be incorporated in the profile page - you don't need an entire new page for assurance that the visitor will engage with the advertiser via the email query form. In my opinion, there is no need for a new page, a flash-based pop-up gallery would've sufficed. Also, if carsguide really thinks email enquiry form should be present while visitors are browsing pictures, then it should be coded into the pop-up gallery. But the funny thing is that the page can be 'closed' (see below orange box), which returns the visitor back the profile page...and yet it's a page of its own...!?!
I have a strong feeling the reason for this gallery page is to increase exposure for their banner ads - in this case AAMI and RedCross (see above in lime green). More pages mean more 'impressions' (or the number of times an ad is viewed), and better metrics for the advertiser/agency...while the user/visitor gets frustrated and leaves the site for www.tradingpost.com.au and www.gumtree.com.au for simple, straight-to-the-point browsing!
Sadly, NDM's reach with carsguide having a decent marketshare in the online car sales directory business, more and more visitors are settling with less and advertisers are getting duped into hollow metrics.
But on the bright-side, maybe it's time for a third entrant to give carsguide and drive a dash for their money :)
I'm sure some of you must have seen QR codes around in Sydney. You will notice the square-sized, data-matrix-looking objects on advertising posters by Telstra. These 'bar codes' can be scanned by most cameras on mobile phones (on my Nokio E71: Tools>Barcode) and is one of the most hyped-up emarketing tools to hit us this year.
QR Codes can be generated by free online tools, kaywa, zxing and mobile-barcodes to name a few. Here is the QR code of my blog (generated by kaywa):
To read this on your Nokia phones, Tools > Barcode > Scan Code (and point your camera to scan)
For me, however, QR codes serve as the fundamental missing link between print and the Web. Before the launch of the iPad and other readers/tablet PCs, I had always pondered on a way to connect print to the Web. This philosophical question largely resulted from my dealings with SMEs whose notions on the effectiveness of traditional advertising mediums were rock-solid unassailable. I just could not shake them to drop their print advertising budget! In time, however, they either capitulated or released part of their budget to experiment online. While taking their credit card details and reading out the carefully scripted sale confirmation of their online advertising product, I quietly thought to myself:
"How do we match quality traffic to online directories / web sites similar to their offline counter-parts"
"How do we promote specific products/services/attributes/unique selling points (USPs) of our clients, and more importantly how do we track traffic to these 'destinations'?"
Then one day out of complete boredome I was fiddling with my smart phone, Nokia E71, and came across the barcode scanner. At first I couldn't put two-and-two together as I had not noticed the codes on the Telstra poster ads, and it took me a good six months to a year to come around!
While smartphone owners in Europe, Japan and now the US are aware of this functionality, barcode scanning capability is not a feature that is publicised by most, if not all, manufacturers/retail outlets/mobile phone companies in Australia. This is probably the case because QR codes decrypt URLs and mobile phones need Internet access to access these sites, which is a premium service. That said, with pre-paid and post-paid plans increasingly featuring Internet access to respond to growing demand for social networking access, it's only a matter of time until the market is truly ready to whip out their phones and start scanning!
Pros of QR Codes:
-Assign individual URL to each product / service / USP
-Track access to the above using any analytics platform
-Print QR codes as decals, on T-shirts, mugs, any print-based advertisement
-QR codes can be generated for free using many online tools.
-You don't need a smartphone to read QR codes, free readers can be downloaded and installed easily.
Cons of QR Codes:
-Market awareness of barcode scanner is not yet mature in Australia.
-Unsure of legal implications, i.e. answers to questions such as "who owns the QR codes?" if an online generator is used.
General Framework to use, in my opinion, when starting a QR code Campaign:
- Ensure all landing pages are mobile/iPad/table PC-friendly, no point in directing traffic to a site that requires constant scrolling.
- Ensure each landing page is treated as 'inventory' linked to a primary key of an individual QR code; features such as start/expiry dates should be tracked in the inventory management system so as to plan, execute and manage campaigns effectively.
- Ensure there is a tangible prize for the user accessing the landing page, i.e. give them something for taking out their phone, selecting/executing the bar code reader application, accessing the Internet (which they are paying a premium for!) and finally landing on your promotional page - make sure they get REWARDED, and none of the crap 'get in a draw to win blah blah' but something more like 'send a rose to your partner', 'download free mp3/ringtone/app', 'code for a free cupcake at the Cupcake Shop', etc.
Something tells me the mere reward after performing the above-mentioned tasks should allow the visitor to form a lasting opinion about a brand/business/online functionality/product/service. And not to mention the nifty techie trick of 'point n click' it's surely to seal the deal! That said, careful segmentation of demographics
(age, disposable income, level of Internet savvyness, etc) of the target audience will be key for successful campaigns.
At this point, start planning and get your websites and inventory management systems ready, and let market awareness of barcode scanners be tackled by the big players like Google, Microsoft, Fairfax, News Ltd, etc. through their fat advertising budgets.
