Only on the Web
The World Wide Web has made many things easier and faster. But its major business contribution has been the unique experiences it can provide for customers. Simon van Wyk explores the unique nature of the Web.
“Make your customers comfortable at first, then startle, surprise, and delight them. Ultimately, companies will be judged not by what their customers can do on the Web, but by what they can do only on the Web.”
I came across that memorable quote in an article written by an otherwise forgotten Internet consultant, Walid Mougayar, in the ebusiness magazine Business 2.0 back in 1998. Written before the expansion and bursting of the Internet bubble, that statement has the same resonance today.
For me, that quote sums up what business on the Internet is all about. I have it framed and hanging on my wall.
It’s been nearly 10 years since serious commercial applications first appeared on the Internet and it evolved into the World Wide Web. During that time, what things have developed that you can do only on the Web?
Order your weekly groceries or buy shares in your PJs? Technically, you could do either of those on the phone, so they don’t count. Annual reports online? I’m not sure I’d call that surprising and delighting customers. World’s biggest collection of books for sale? As successful as Amazon is, it’s not something you can do only on the Web.
But there are plenty of examples. Here are some of the things we could only dream of doing 10 years ago:
- The global village market: What if you had something you wanted to buy and you were willing to go to the ends of the earth to get it - as long as you didn’t have to pay more than $10? As contradictory as that sounds, that’s exactly what Stuff,eBay and other online auction sites have achieved. People are selling their wares to the highest bidder with practically the entire world as a potential customer. The customers have been delighted with online auctions - and the business world was startled when this concept made money - a lot of money.
- Where’s the best price? You can trawl through every shopping centre in town looking for the best bargain on that pair of shoes, computer or camera - or you can use an automated comparison shopping bot to find the best price in Australia or internationally. It’s like having every mail order catalogue in front of you, turned to the same section at the same time. This saves customers an enormous amount of time, and often steers them back to an offline shopfront to make the purchase.
- Both halves working: As the old axiom goes, “Only half of my advertising works - I just don’t know which half.” With online ad click-through measurement and other online campaign metrics, at least you know they looked at your ad (they’re still working on measuring whether the message sank in).
- Service never sleeps: Although a few companies operate 24/7 customer service call centre operations, they can’t provide a library of FAQs where you can check for answers to queries before asking a direct question, links to relevant Web pages with extra information, or bulletin boards to discuss problems and solutions from other product/service users. And for time efficiency, if a live technician isn’t available, sending an email beats leaving a voice mail message on a call centre answering machine.
- The wealth report: Bank account here, mortgage there, credit card account and super fund somewhere else - account aggregation pulls them all together in one spot, so even if your accounts are with a variety of financial institutions you can consolidate the results and get a true picture of your wealth. While account aggregation hasn’t really taken off in Australia yet, due to privacy issues and economies of scale, it has the potential to provide a great deal of surprise and delight to the Australian audience.
- Be there without being there: Web cams and 360° photos have allowed customers to view things such as properties and car interiors from the other side of the world, so they can make informed decisions remotely.
- Assemble it yourself: Computer makers such as Dell and auto manufacturers such as Toyota allow customers to mix and match components and colours to get exactly what they want. They can then order their self-designed package from the website, cutting out the time and hassle of the middle man.
- You control the market research: Companies such as Procter & Gamble in the US are successfully conducting test marketing and sampling without needing to resort to expensive market research companies. The Web’s capacity for disintermediation enables companies to talk directly to potential customers about new product ideas.
- Going for gold: A Canadian gold mine recently revealed all of its geological data online and invited the world’s geologists to use their modelling techniques to help it find more gold. It ponied up nearly US$600,000 in prizes and the winner, a geoscience consulting firm from Perth, found a rich new vein for the company without leaving Australia.
- Try it on, without trying it on:At sites like www.virtualmodel.com and www.landsend.com, you can not only shop in your pyjamas, you can try on clothes while staying in your pyjamas. Customers can even pick the hair colour and style and facial appearance of their virtual model to get an idea of what they will look like in a particular cut of clothing.
There is a common thread running through the things you can do only on the Web: empowerment. The Web’s greatest strength is the power it gives users: to quickly find out what’s available, and to shape their online experience around their needs.
Focusing on ways of using their website to empower customers will help businesses meet what Mougayar called “the ultimate goal of any Web business: to afford irresistible services that are simply not available in physical markets.”