Web Strategy Case Studies: Amazon.

com & RealNetworks

Preparing Content for the Web

There are consumption pattern differences among readers of print and Web media Print readers tend to read in a linear fashion Web surfers may interact with an article and read elements out of order

Non-linear Branching

Design Issues

Some content specialists argue that vital information should remain above the scroll on all pages Thus, some suggest that you write in chunks delivered one page at a time

Chunks Strategy

Repurpose print materials into chunks that each have a unique page Add graphics and interactivity Each chunk is usually fewer than 150 words Text can be viewed on the screen without having to scroll This is only one strategy many sites do not use it!

Examples of Chunk Style

McDonalds Nike Keebler

Web Writing Tips

More casual than print Use bullet-point lists Minimize use of hypertext links All links should be relevant Provide feedback option for readers

Building the Site

Ideally, the Web site team consists of:

Copywriter/editor Graphic artist Web programmer

A public relations professional who can do all three increases their odds of getting hired

Usability Tests

Before publicly launching your site, it is not uncommon to conduct usability tests with a test audience to determine if the site is easy to navigate

Overview of Web Strategies

Success Story at Amazon.com

Evolution of a Design Personalization and Automation Communication is Content Development Rolling Stone Radio project

Failure at RealNetworks

Success Story

Amazon.com is the worlds largest ecommerce site During the dot-com boom, they hired aggressively as investor cash came in Bloated and inefficient site infrastructure The site needed to streamline its content development strategy

This included a shift from an editor-created to a user-generated content model

Has over 35 e-commerce main product categories and hundreds of sub-categories

Each category has at least one full-time editor

Some have several editors

Each editor is responsible for maintaining front page of each store and sub-pages, including product detail pages

Amazon.com Content Management

With millions of products, Amazon.com needs help from the public to keep the pages up-todate and filled with useful information User-generated Content

Amazon.com Content Features

Reviews Listmania How-to and Buying Guides Product manuals Customer Images Ref-tags Discussion Forums Wikis

Listmania! Examples

Customers create their own lists to share with others

Each item in the list is linkable to a product Top 15 Movies of 2005 by fattyjoe37 The Best Albums of 2006 by volantsolo Awesome Books by fantasyrules

Examples:

Guide Examples

Customers create their own guides to share their expertise with others Examples:

How to set up a wireless home network Taking a better picture with your digital camera

Visitor Experience

Customers indicate that they enjoy the community aspect of shopping They trust the collective opinions of other shoppers more than the manufacturers The Amazon Review has become a very powerful force in the industry

Buying decisions are made for purchases both off- and on-line

Customer Reviews

Amazon.com has thousands of unpaid writers voluntarily submit their reviews

Top reviewer Harriet Klausner has written over 12,000 reviews without pay for the site

Personalization at Amazon.com

Amazon.com developed an infrastructure where each visitor page is personalized The homepage displays items that Amazon.com thinks you are likely to buy Visitors indicate that they like the personalization

Amazon.com Personalization

Personalization technologies are also easy to manage and popular with visitors

Previous purchase data collected Cross-referenced with other sales data A personalized store homepage suggests products based on like-minded customers

Includes recommendations embedded into page

Automation at Amazon.com

Data is king at Amazon Many examples of data driven automation

Channel management Web site real estate management system Automated e-mail measurement and optimization Merchandising Customers who bought X also bought Recommendations New releases, top sellers Purchase Circles Advertising Automatic ad generation and bidding

Example: The Amazon.com Homepage

Amazons home page is prime real-estate

The past:

Every category VP wanted top-center Friday meetings about placements for next week were getting too long, too loud, and lacked performance data Today: automation replaces intuitions

Home page is made up of slots

Anyone can submit content for a slot Content is chosen based on real-time experimentation

E-Commerce Staff Structure

Organized for execution

How it used to be
Dumb idea! Business People Do this! Technology People

This works rather better Small, cross-functional teams

Able to execute end-to-end Self directed Established group goals and measure progress

Electronic Media and ECommerce

What makes the site attractive to consumers?

Strong reputation for good customer service Secure from hackers Large selection of products Easy navigation

Clean Web design that maximizes click-throughs and/or sales

Amazon.com Design Evolution

Started with a few tabs representing each store But Amazon.com was expanding More products = More tabs Should the tabs go?

Amazon.com Design Evolution

A new design was needed Lack of action could mean a mountain of tabs

NOT A GOOD DESIGN

Design Evolution

Initial redesigns focused on an index directory in the style of Yahoo! This resulted in reduced sales

Design Evolution

More redesigns in the index style Sales still declined Customers wanted the tabs back

Return of the Tabs

Now only three tabs

See all 35 Product Categories Roll-over with mouse brings up the index of all stores Your Store Personalized store with recommendations Logo tab Default to front page

Lessons Learned

Use focus groups and user surveys to test out a design before it launches widely Design can play a key role in how a site is perceived by its public Above the scroll real estate is valuable so dont waste it!

A user should be able to navigate successfully through the site without having the scroll the screen

Lessons Learned

Be aware of the bandwidth of your average user

U.S. has shifted from a dial-up to broadband environment

Multimedia-intensive designs and sites are only now gaining traction Your design strategy will depend on who your typical visitor is Consider how minimal Google.com is Compare this to YouTube.com

Cost Efficiency

Advertise your site using viral and cheap techniques

Amazon.com has stopped buying ads on mainstream TV, radio and print in favor on online referral programs Media advertising did not bring in enough revenue to justify the cost The site uses promotions with other sites and street advertising to get word on in the influential communities

Communication is Critical

If there is a dependency on technology developers, then the content experts must communicate earlyand often A good project can fail due to poor communication

Anatomy of a Failed Project

Example: RealNetworks Rolling Stone Radio Goal was to promote new G2 technology

A new version of RealPlayer with optimized streaming media playback

RealNetworks

RealNetworks asked me to create a G2-exclusive Internet radio service A business deal with Rolling Stone magazine was created Rolling Stone Radio was born

Content Development

My background is in editorial development and the music industry I led the creative team

Design of the player Partnerships with music industry

Another team was responsible for the technical infrastructure and development of the software code

Rolling Stone Radio

Rolling Stone Radio was the first mainstream Internet music service Introduced in 1999 Co-owned by RealNetworks and Rolling Stone Multiple channels of music Interactive voting

Rolling Stone Radio

Featured celebrity deejays

David Bowie had his own 24-hour channel

Lots of hype from the media

So Why Failure?

Rolling Stone Radio had all the ingredients for successyet it failed. Why?

Communication Crunch

There was too little communication in the production team The decision-making process was too decentralized

Internal disagreements and chaos Technology team and content team clashed New technology changes were implemented without informing the content team Several delays in the launch Release was late, product was buggy

Media blitz preceded the actual launch

Business Model, Anyone?

Too much, too soon

Broadband wasnt widely available yet Bandwidth was expensive

Customers enjoyed the site, but the cost of hosting the streaming media increased as more people tuned in

The project did not make money

Streaming media is bandwidth-intensive Who is paying for the media servers?

Advertising revenue was not large enough to support the costs

Lessons Learned

Solid business model is necessary Cutting edge = Bleeding edge

Being first may not translate to success

Key stakeholders in the content development teams must meet and agree to milestones

Each milestone is a mutually-agreed deliverable in the product development cycle Deviation from the agreed-upon development is discouraged