kevin

[Ex FullSIX USA]

Jakob Nielsen is our favorite web design usability Guru and when Jakob says, we do implement his learnings in our latest products. Yes, we all love to Think Big and thanks to his study our designers will have a lot of fun making big and more enjoyable menus.

Based on the study, Mega drop-downs overcome regular drop-downs. What are their characteristics?
* Big, two-dimensional panels divided into groups of navigation options
* Navigation choices structured through layout, typography, and (sometimes) icons
* Everything visible at once — no scrolling
* Vertical or horizontal form factors when activated from top navigation bars; when activated from left-hand navigation, they might appear as mega fly-outs.

Internet became the favorite tool where people can share and speak freely. Popular social-media  such as Facebook and Twitter are used to share about anything we have in our mind. It can be the funny anecdote that happened in the subway or a link to that cute video of a cat found on YouTube. But when it comes to release your frustration those are not the best forums… I came across this site Fmylife.com – a forum where people stream everyday anecdotes likely to happen to anyone. After all, my life is not that bad – think of this: “Today, my boyfriend gave me a card for my birthday and told me to open it 10 minutes after he leaves. I waited 5, in the card it said “it’s not working out, but here’s 20$”.

This article addresses common mistakes among large organizations when it comes to run a corporate website. To read before you go to bed: from Smashing Magazine.

Fun from the negligee lingerie company: after getting canceled on V-Day, an insanely smokin’ model brings the fun at the office of her soon-to-dumped-bf. What follows is NSFW. Provocatively brought to you by Agent Provocateur.

This iPhone application has everything to get your party going! The drunk dial function seems quite fun. One more reason to get an iPhone.

No more corporate bullshit

The United States is in the middle of the most serious economic crisis since the 1930s. It’s been two years, the US has registered annual decline in median home prices. However, over the past 24 months, consumer prices have risen 7.8% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. From coloring hair at home instead of at the salon to trying cheaper laundry detergents, new evidence indicates that Americans are modifying even minor household habits to save money. Americans are changing their everyday purchases and abandon brand loyalty.

On the marketing side, do you know that it costs 5 times as much to bring in a new customer, than to keep an existing one. Knowing that your marketing budget might be cut, perhaps it’s time to ensure loyalty with your customers by utilizing the “back to basics” of customer service. It’s usually hard for consumers to find another brand for the same product and that meet their needs. But why do they leave? They leave because of a lack of attention to plain-old customer service.

When customers buy a product or contact your company, your employees have the opportunity to improve or worsen the relationship with the customers. Hopefully you want to improve the customer relationship. So, it would make good sense to make these contacts as meaningful and helpful to the customers as possible. If you want your customers to be loyal, it is a good practice to have both you and your employees pay attention to your customer service practices and follow the basics.

And one of the basics is to show gratitude to your customers: always end each contact with a “Thank you” or a message of appreciation for their business.

So I wanted to share my experience with two nice cards that Bloomingdale’s and Gilt sent to me after my Christmas purchases.

Bloomingdale’s thank you card

Gilt Thank you card

bookmark

If you are like me, you must be a crazy “bookmarker”. Everyday you come by an interesting article and you think you will read it later. But today your del.icio.us account is overflowing with useless information and your Google Reader is also full of RSS feeds that you don’t even read.

So as part of your 2009 resolutions, you wish to know “what are the most useful blogs I can read on a daily-basis” and find stimulating information while you take a break in front of your computer.
After lots of reading and investigations, here is a list of must-have. If you find something that is worth to be listed, feel free to comment.

Praticle e-commerce
Useful information and inspiration for your ecommerce site.

Dimbulb
The only relevant Advertising critic

Smashing Magazine and Mashable
For Internet geeks ;)

Blog Maverick and Zappos CEO’s blog
If you need advices from the best entrepreneurs.

The Consumerist
The consumer’s spokesperson.

TechCrunch
Tech news.

Seth Godin’s blog, Copyblogger, Duct Tape and AdverGirl
You want to sharpen your marketing knowledge: here you go.