July 7, 2005

Feedback Engines

Recently, I got a reminder that no matter how efficient shopping engines get at comparing all products and services that are available, much of the potential for shopping satisfication comes earlier in the process. What if, in addition to great shopping comparison engines, we also had better feedback engines? I am not thinking about product reviews, which are after the fact, but product planning.

After all, what good does it do to compare products in great detail, if all of them miss the mark?

My reminder came from the local symphony. Not the most applicable to current shopping comparison engines, but bear with me. The other day, they sent me an email about their new season. Nice, professional... but I have to think they are being brand wise and feedback foolish.

Do they know what I want? (No.) Have they ever asked me? (No.) Have I bought season series passes and costly box seats in the past? (Yes.) Have I bought any tickets in the last few years? (No.) Are there musical selection that would 100% guarantee I buy tickets? (Yes.) Do they want to know which items demand my dollar votes and, if so, how?

Logically, in areas where I have a good idea of what I want to buy, companies should have no need for guessing games. Ask me. Please. Otherwise, we risk doing no better than the proverbial monkey at the dart board.

New Persuasion has a nice post about blended user-centric companies, but we have been hearing about this for what seems like forever. Both of their examples involve software source code. But how can we start incorporating the concept of Open Source to companies that have nothing to do with software?

Of course, the first issue involves changing corporate cultures. That would take this post too far off-topic. For simplicity's sake, let's assume the threat of catostrophic financial failure gets even the crustiest companies moving in the right direction.

But even with the best of intentions, how can they ensure execution? I suspect many industries would benefit from better feedback engines.

Now, I would expect companies of a certain size already have ways of discovering the desires of their customers. Yet, in my experience as a customer, I rarely see anything that resembles participation in the planning process...

In the case of the symphony, they could try to make intelligent assumptions based on my prior purchases, but this is a sure recipe for leaving money on the table. What if I have not made enough transactions from which to make intelligent assumptions? What if the relationships between my choices are not at all obvious? Even under ideal conditionas, I think the odds of guessing exactly what I want is about the same as exactly picking the right numbers in a lottery.

Here is how I see symphonies and their sites in the "bizarro world":

* I would be logged-in to the site for more than just transactions.

* The concert schedule would include the ability for me to rate my interest in each of the performers, composers and pieces.

* There would also be a place to list my favorite composers and performers, or even specific pieces that would guarantee a sale.

* There would be no need to harass me with telemarketing. The time to sell me or lose me is during product development.

Recommendation engines are not uncommon to entertainment-related sites like NetFlix. But these help individuals choose from a universe of nearly limitless resources. What about utilitarian applications that help groups of customers effeciently allocate limited resources?

i.e. there are only so many concerts in a symphony season, how can we bring about the greatest good for the greatest number of people?

How many industries are ideal candidates for collaborative planning?

How much of the planning process could be assisted with software?

How much is industry-specific? How much could be generalized?

Could the shopping comparison engines play any part in this?

Feedback Engines
Posted by Sean O'Rourke on July 7, 2005 at 10:26 AM
Archived at Shopping Search Features