| LED Digest 2099: American Slang |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Reg. from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. February 17, 2006 Issue #2099 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Shopping Cart Abandonment ==-- ~ Tom Aman "Just a couple of quick comments..." --== Outsourcing ==-- ~ C. Currey "...why is American slang considered at fault?" ~ Tom Anson "...poor-quality work and communications problems are not restricted to oursourcing." ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Tom Aman Subject: Cart abandonment Just a couple of quick comments since most of the main reasons for abandonment have already been mentioned. 1. Sometimes, having filled a cart with various items, then deciding not to proceed with the purchase, the only way to empty the cart is to manually zero out the quantity for each item. Easier to just abandon it. Some sites have a button to "Empty Cart". Giving users such a button may not increase the number of completed sales but it does let the user easily empty the cart before leaving, thereby reducing the number of abandon carts. 2. Many carts have a timeout associated with them so that the cart is assumed to be effectively abandon if the cart appears inactive for too long a time. This is totally reasonable when cart contents are associated with the site inventory and items are removed from the inventory total as they are added to the cart. This is good because, if the desired quantity is successfully added to the cart, the buyer knows the item is in stock and available. The timeout is needed because, if the sale is not completed within some reasonable time frame, the items should go back into the inventory, hence the apparently abandon cart is automatically emptied. If there appear to be a lot of abandon carts with this kind of system, maybe the time limit period needs to be reconsidered - adding a 1/2 hour or hour to it may reduce the number of apparent abandon carts. Tom Aman Aman Software http://www.cyberspyder.com ------- new post - new topic ------ From: C. Currey Subject: Outsourcing redux With regard to outsourcing communicating is not the issue, but only part of the issue of outsourcing. The major issue IMO is the bad quality of the programming received and accepted simply because it is perceived as being initially 'cheaper'. Most in business know that the initial development is most often the cheapest and easiest, especially if not adequately documented. Regarding communication -- why is the American slang considered at fault? It can and has been argued by those who study languages that American English is closer to Shakespearian than other English versions. When I was a programmer in Germany I learned German, I did not expect the Germans to modify their language to mine, it was my job to communicate effectively not vice versa. Regards, C. Currey ------- new post - same topic ------ From: Tom Anson Subject: Outsourcing I think Sunil Bahl's comments on the quality of outsourced programming (LED Digest 2096) are very good. While I can certainly understand (and do not doubt) the experience of Currey and others, the question isn't necessarily one of outsourcing, but simply finding competent workers. Over the years, I've dealt with a lot of companies in the US in which I couldn't find anyone who could read English. I mean, I think English was their native language; they just couldn't understand anything I wrote. In some cases, I spent 10 times the amount of time that should reasonably be expected just to clarify -- again and again -- the whole point of an email. I don't know if the customer service people were just too busy to actually read what I wrote, or if they were trying to answer my questions with a copy-and-paste approach, or what. Whatever it was, it didn't work. I've also seen a lot of "professionally-designed" website, done by US companies with local workers, that were simply awful. I had a US company do a design for one of my websites. It was so bad, I just walked away from it. With a lot of extra work on my part, I managed to salvage part of the logo. So, poor-quality work and communications problems are not restricted to the experience of oursourcing. As in contracting any work, you need to know the company. There are shady and incompetent people at work everywhere. And unless you can go to someone's office, sit down and talk with them, take a look at the facilities and the workers and see examples of some of their work, you never really know what you're getting. As Sunil said, "Safest way would be to work with people who are recomended to you by friends, family and collegues." On the other hand, sometimes communication problems are simply a matter of finding an effective approach to communication. A couple of years ago, I contracted some work with a (US) copywriter. She does top-notch work, and everyone on this list would recognize her name. And I think of myself as a fairly good writer. But we had a very hard time getting the first few pages of copy written. Things went back and forth about five or six times, when once should have been enough. Finally, I tweaked my approach a little, and everything went smoothly from there. Tom Anson www.therapeutic-grade.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains © Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. "Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." - William Faulkner |
