Why Amazon’s Rating System Is Broken

So I recently ordered an adapter that would allow me to connect my MacBook Pro to my tv. The salesman at the Macstore recommended I don’t spend the $50+ in the store, but rather do a quick internet search and pay $10.

Fine, I’m convinced.

Long story short: 7-10 business days later, I excitedly plug in the part to my new MacBook Pro – or should I say try. It doesn’t fit. Ok, My bad – I thought I might have ordered the part relevant to an old MacBook. No, It doesn’t fit (I think if I forced it a bit more it might have – but I’m not destroying the port for a $3+shipping part). Back to the seller’s page – it is supposed to work with a MacBook Pro. They never say what model.

I’m angry now.

I’d been waiting nearly 2 weeks to have the pleasure of hooking up my tv to my laptop and enjoy Facebook on a 46 inch screen.

Anyone who has ordered from Amazon (or eBay) knows that for a product that shipping costs more than the product, you cut your losses and move on. That’s what I did, but not before I left a scathing 1/5 (you can’t leave a 0) review on the seller.

Low and behold a couple days letter I get an email from the seller saying they will provide me A FULL REFUND OF THE PRODUCT! (see below). Wow! Really? If I asked for a refund, I would have had to send the product back (at my cost), and then they would exchange it for the same inferior part. This is what happened with a battery I bought that nearly burnt a whole through my bed (and stopped working after a month).

Within a couple of days, I have the $7.99 back in my account.

The point of this is not that for once, an angry online customer got their money back without rounds of email and frustration. Rather, it made me seriously doubt the perfect seller rating on all the Amazon sellers.

How do they seemingly all have exceptionally high positive feedback ratios? 100%? 88% is a poor ratio?

Normal bell curve distribution would allow for a very small percentage of sellers to have near perfect (2 deviations from a mean) positive ratios. Yet from a very unscientific survey, there seems to be a low 90%’s mean! Can it be possible that eBay sellers have a better service record than any other service/store in the world? If a movie on IMDB has a 9/10 it is the best movie ever made, if a restaurant has a 9/10 it is a must try – yet a seller on Amazon at 90% is below average? This might not be apples and apples, but a natural feedback system, without incentive, should yield a more even spread.

I have a few theories, but they need to be fleshed out a bit more in depth.

The first is a conspiracy theory – the reviews are paid for. Look at the quality of the reviews, many of them can’t spell. Ok maybe a bit of a stretch… although from my experience in the web world it is very possible and even likely – given the importance of having a strong positive rating.

The second – People request refunds on terrible products and service, and because of a conversation that usually drags on for weeks, they’ll forget to come back and give the seller a poor rating. At the end of the day, the loss is not that great.

The third – When a bad review is posted, the only concern a seller has is to get it taken down. In my case for example – no effort was made on the part of the seller to replace the part, nor to find out if it was being used properly. It was an immediate refund. NO QUESTIONS ASKED! That to me stands out as a protocol – that and the automatically generated and grammatically incorrect email. User posts a negative review -> get review removed by immediate refund.

The first theory might be a stretch -  But the other 2 definitely have an effect on the rating system. Every time a negative review is not given/removed, it not only doesn’t bring down the ratings, but allows the positive to gain artificial weight.

This begs the question – I got my refund, now should I delete my review? Did they earn the censorship? By deleting the review, am I doing the seller a favor or the people? Do I owe the seller the removal of the negative comment?

That brings up a whole different issue: The online rating system, is it designed for the seller or buyer? Another time…

What do you think?

Changing The World, One Bike at a Time

I discovered this fascinating movement through a brilliant speaker and SEO maven, Avinash Kaushik. He posted a simple status update saying “What happens when a poor town in an impoverished nation is saturated with tens of thousands of bicycles?” With a link to The Bicycle City.

What a powerful idea!

I Followed this back to the Pedals for Progress website, where I read this in their about section:

Every year, affluent Americans buy 22 million new bicycles and discard millions of old ones, abandoning many more unused in basements, sheds, and garages. Most of these end up in our already overburdened landfills. Meanwhile, poor people overseas need cheap, non-polluting transportation to get to jobs, markets, customers, and schools. Pedals for Progress has received, processed and donated over 115,000 bicycles, 1,000 used sewing machines and $10.8 million in new spare parts to partner charities in 32 developing world countries.

If you feel so inclined, donate to Pedals for Progress or to The Bicycle City.

At the very least, give them a view and a share.

Teach a man to bike…

Digital Signage: A Fast Growing & Fascinating Industry

This is a cross post of an article I originally wrote for Sparksheet…

The Internet has transformed advertising from a one-way broadcast medium into a truly interactive, two-way experience. But one area that most people still associate with the advertising 1.0 era is the out-of-home industry. While digital signage has been around for decades, billboards, posters and in-aisle promotions have for the most part remained in the pre-Internet age.

But that’s starting to change. Smart brands and savvy advertisers are using screens to engage passersby in a creative, entertaining and memorable way. Technological advancements in touchscreens, gestural interface and facial recognition software are making rich, interactive out-of-home campaigns a reality.

As younger consumers turn away from traditional media, innovative and interactive digital campaigns are becoming an invaluable way to reach the increasingly important millennial crowd.

With mobile adoption, post-recession marketing budgets and screen technology on the ascent, the out-of-home industry is poised to come out of its shell.

Continue reading on Sparksheet…

5 Stages of Winter Grief

It is ugly outside.

Or so I think.

It could be worse, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.

Yet somehow it will be fine, it always is, year after year, blizzard after blizzard…-40 after -40.

How can we stand it? There was one person at work today who said it was beautiful. That was one person. I work with a lot of people.

So how can we still live in this country? Thanks to Kübler-Ross and his 5 step theory on grief.

Step 1: Denial

“It’s not too cold”
“I Don’t need to take out my winter coat yet”
“We will have a few more nice days…”
“This will be the year that we walk outside in t-shirts on Christmas”

Step 2: Anger

This is where I’m at right now,  starting to wonder why I’m living here. There’s a foot of snow outside.
I think I pulled something in my back when I fell on the ice this dark evening on my way home from work in a blizzard.
I won’t curse here.

Step 3: Bargaining

Right when I’m done this post, I’ll figure this out.
I’ll probably Google some cheap airfare.
Maybe buy myself a new camera to allow me to better prepare for step 4; depression/hibernation.

Step 4: Depression

This stage coincides with the holidays, offset partially by the holiday gifts (then exacerbated by holiday family).
The Bluest part of the depression than starts in January, waking up in the dark, getting home in the dark, the car is towed because your shovel broke digging it out…I’ll stop.
Luckily, I have a new camera.

Step 5: Acceptance

The sooner the better…
Making the best of what is a really bad situation.
Snowboarding, ice hockey, hot chocolate, Irish stew, whiskey, more whiskey, Bailey’s & hot chocolate…It’s not all that bad.

Right?

And it will be summer again soon…

QR, Bridging the Gap Between the Physical and Digital Worlds

QR Code for the Sparksheet Newsletter

This is a cross post of an article I wrote at Sparksheet

Now that smartphones have gone mainstream, mobile technology is moving toward deeper interaction with the physical world. People share their locations on Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook. There are taxi-sharing apps, apps that help you find parking spots, apps that recommend nearby restaurants and attractions.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of brands and media outlets are experimenting with QR, a decade-old technology that seems tailor-made for the mobile era. The QR code is basically an advanced bar code, with the ability to store much more information than a standard bar code. The Quick Response aspect of the code makes it a convenient way to serve up content to people on the go.

Here’s how it works. Download one of the many free QR readers to your camera-equipped smartphone. With the app open, take a photo of the code. This will point your browser to a website containing related information, images or video. It can also send a coupon or an SMS to your phone.

The idea is that scanning a bar code is much faster than typing a Web address on your tiny smartphone keyboard or touch screen – and way cooler. These black and white boxes may not be the most visually arresting technology, but it’s what they can do, where they can be placed and how they’re being used that makes QR codes fascinating.

Continue reading at Sparksheet and see some great examples of QR codes in action…

BP: Wake Up. Be Proactive…Despicable?

A Lot has been said about BP and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
All negatively, and rightfully so
I don’t blame them for the spill itself

Imagine the operation required for extracting the millions of barrels of oil that our insatiable appetites require on daily basis

The drilling, the piping, the extracting, the shipping, the distribution infrastructure…not to mention a huge organization to manage all this
Not only that, but they are dealing with other similarly complex organizations such Transocean and Halliburton

It is hard to fault people (they are people, lots of them) for accidents that are not caused out of negligence
Things happen
But this is where the responsibility begins

Perhaps it was negligence on BP’s part that led to the explosion, but my common-sense tells me that BP has strong quality control measures in place

So what went or IS (day 71) going wrong?

Strolling on the streets of Manhattan, these billboards surrounding a BP gas station made the point clearer than daylight

BP: Wake up! Be Proactive!

BP Needs to wake up: As long as oil is pouring into the ocean, destroying all systems around it, they are being negligent

BP Should be Proactiv(e): With what is surely a talent rich organization, and deep pockets, anything short of an immediate solution is a failure

Despicable? BP or BP Despicable?

Time will tell what happens to BP
Perhaps once the well is capped, they can write a new chapter in their history…

But for now everything they can do and will do will be looked at negatively…unless it involves stopping a certain leak.

Content for Small Businesses: A Great Marketing Tool

The Task

A few months back, I completed a 4 month project for Mesa 14, a Mexican restaurant in Montreal, to get it the online attention it deserved. I knew first-hand of the product and service quality that the restaurant had to offer. Yet somehow there was a major lack of online exposure and presence.

Putting in a few hours a week, as a brand ambassador, using the readily available free tools (social networks, restaurant directories, Google Places and more) to break through the noise, I was literally able to “put Mesa 14 on the map”.

But that’s not what I want to focus on.

Generating Content

Of the different promotional tactics, the Cinco de Mayo celebration was going to be a benchmark to show that the owner’s and my own time was being wisely used.

The goal was to have the most successful Cinco de Mayo on record.

I should rephrase that.

The Goal of the event was to increase Mesa 14′s online presence while simultaneously increasing both immediate and long-term sales (loyal customers).

This said, while bottom line results would give the boss results to take to the bank, it is the long-term results that are more difficult to quantify and just as important.

More about the actions:

• With the help of a manager, we designed a flyer insert to be placed inside each menu, highlighting the event and Mesa 14′s presence on Twitter and Facebook

• Used social media and internet spaces (including Google places) to help spread the word and get attention.

• Using my social network I got the event get listed on Montreal Buzz,  on the “What To Do This Weekend” section.

• I Teamed up with Aimee from Onehundredjobs to walk the streets the day of the event and get people’s attention.

Did I say I had almost no budget?

Costs:

• Aimee, as part of her 100 jobs for $100, cost only $100

• Along with a friend, Aimee sewed herself an authentic looking Mexican dress

• How much do 160 business cards cost?

• Printing and designing flyers

• My time coordinating

Total costs: Less than $350

So the results…

I should start off with what may be the least important/most important metric of them all: The best Cinco de Mayo in the restaurant’s 6 years.

But just as importantly…

• 160 People put a Mesa 14 business card in their wallets. I watched as everyone who got a card read it, and proceeded to put it in their wallet. How do you quantify that?

• As part of Aimee’s job, she created a short promotional video of Mesa 14

• The pictures posted of the event were viewed over 2000 times on the fanpage

• Aimee also featured the content (both photos and video), as well as a review on her blog

• An increase in number of likes on Facebook and followers on Twitter

The Bottom-line

It would be very hard to quantify what all this means to the bottom-line, but there is no doubt that there was a very solid return on investment.
How will this show as a return?

• The obvious: There was an immediate return on the night of the event

• The buzz created around this project created an increase in brand awareness

• There was an increased online brand involvement

• Prior to the project, Mesa 14 was on the second page or non existant  on Google Maps (for Mexican Montreal & Mexican Restaurant Montreal). As of May, it was 2nd & 3rd overall respectively. (UPDATE: It has since fallen back to the 3rd page on Mexican Restaurant, but remains 4th overall for Mexican, as well as doing well for the French search results. 26/11/10)

Take-away

The most important thing to take-away from this example: aim to maximize the long-term value of your brand through every marketing action. There is so much opportunity through the use of new media and networking, that with a little creativity, a thin wallet and some good planning, you can carry out great marketing campaigns on a shoestring. These are campaigns that even if they won’t make you rich, they can help you get there.

So the next time you prepare your budget, consider how much you are putting into marketing, into social media and most importantly how much are you creating in long-term brand value.

Here’s To Happiness

These thoughts are based on a secondary research project
It was done maybe 4 years ago
The goal:
What are the causes of Subjective Well-Being
(the scientific term for happiness)?

For this project I looked at several potential causes
Was SWB genetic?
A study looked at identical twins
They should be equally happy
Wrong.
There was a large variation in SWB

Ok, when I win the lottery…
No. It wouldn’t make you any happier.
Maybe for that trip around the world after a spectacular celebration.
But sooner or later, you will return to your same level.

We need the basics for survival. Food. Shelter. Security. Sex/Love.
(in no particular order)
To keep you from being unhappy
More than that?
Not going to make you happier

What the research did show was not surprising, but worth reinforcing.
Friends.
Family.
Faith.
It points to one thing: have a reason to live that isn’t selfish.

There are short-term causes for happiness.
Consumerism and drugs are great examples.
The long-term cause are the ones that make and keep you happy.
And yes, friends can be annoying,
There are times were your swear off your family.
And Faith in it’s definition practically requires pain (a hope for better)

So be patient
Live for/with others
Say not to drugs
(as much as possible – red wine is good for you).

The only thing to cherish are happy memories…
Memories of people who matter to you.

Happiness

Five Steps to Stimulate Creativity

A “yes-yes” attitude
This is instead of a “yes-but” attitude. Rather than focus on what won’t work, try to take an idea to its next step.

Have a beginner’s mind
Try to look at old problems with a beginner’s insight. Invite input from people who know little about the problem. This can lead to breakthrough ideas.

No need to be right
Keep an open mind, and let go of the need to be right. It can lead to new ideas.

Willingness to suspend judgment
Learn to be an encourager of ideas, and withhold judgment on them as long as possible.

Recognize and let go of assumptions
Keep asking why, and you’ll be surprised at the answers. This is much better than hanging on to an assumption about an idea.

I came across this here thought I would share it

Right Now Its All About You

The weather is gray
Or something like it
You are about to go for a jog
Conscious of the fact that you wouldn’t dress this way in public otherwise
You are contextualized
You are safe

Another bald headed round belied man sits in a speedo
Its ok. Here. Now
Except there is no sun
And its not a beach

It is problematic when it isn’t about you
We will never be given the chance to live as anyone else
Except what or who you want to be
A mirror of your society

What makes you who you are is nothing more than what’s around you
Unique is defined by which activities you’ve selected to imitate
You as a social member of a society and nothing more than a member of your choice of community
Of which no one else has exactly the same

You are therefore interesting
Special
You have a different view
I would love to look through your eyes
Because you are not me
You are more interesting to me
At least than I am to myself

You are blessed with a perspective
Abuse it
How different can you think?
Think random
Don’t just see when you can observe