This is my journey as an E-commerce Consultant
Archive for February, 2010
Writing terms and conditions for a design company…
825 days
by Liz
in E-Business
Well this is my task, to make the terms and conditions for my company to be more UK friendly. So I have been researching other companies terms and conditions within the field of design and what they demand of their customers.
Some companies have shocking T&C’s, they almost force customers to be happy, or they break contract – No complaints allowed – and most of all don’t you DARE tell anybody!
I don’t want that, I form better relationships with clients.
Strangling customers with T&C’s is not the way we want to go, but you need to have them for peace of mind for both parties. So what, as a design company do I want to make sure our clients agree too?
1. That we hold all intellectual property rights to the design and graphics and they can’t be re-used outside their licence unless specified.
2. That our designs will not be sold onto or made available to third party providers outside their normal use.
3. That our designs are not used for any unlawful purpose.
4. If you think it is cheeky, then it probably is 
Basically that is it, there will be some legal floundering around the points devised by our lawyer – but in the same way as insurance companies give clients an easy to understand leaflet on what their policy covers (attached to the hideous full policy conditions) we want clear and concise terms and conditions so there is above all no confusion. Clients do not read terms and conditions until there is a problem and have a habit of just agreeing in the first instance.
Take the recent scandals of gym subscriptions! A friend of mine was rendered unable to continue her gym goings medically, so she gave her 3 months notice as per her terms and conditions (or so she thought…), paid up then cancelled her direct debit. 6 months later – she receives a court summons (sequence shortened like in iphone adverts) as the reason for her ending her contract was not deemed ‘good enough’ to put it bluntly. So she went to court (choosing not the settle outside for the amount plus costs requested) and the judge threw it out cursing the company for bringing it to the bar.
However, I have also known people that have caved and paid the money, one who had been diagnosed with cancer.
On-line services are not exempt from this kind of ridiculous cruelty, because the client agreed to ‘terms and conditions’ – just because you don’t sign, doesn’t mean you are not bound!
Have you been a victim of terms and conditions in any way? Whether it has been a service, product or even something you brought in a shop? Fallen foul of a mobile contract or gym subscription condition?
Why NOT to copy your competitors as an on-line retailer!
825 days
On-line retailing is competitive. New start up businesses or bricks and mortar businesses will look at competitors in their field and see what they are up too. It is only natural.
Many retailers (eBayers are the most prolific for this) think that simply copying their competitors will achieve results. So here is a list of considerations before you become a carbon copy of your favourite competitor:
- The element you are copying – does your competitor publish results on its effectiveness?
- Has your competitor analysed the behaviour of your customer base and applied it to that element?
- Is your competitor just ‘guessing’?
- Does your competitor monitor their data and evolve overtime? Or are you copying an archaic element that they keep meaning to change?
Most retailers like to keep this kind of information close to their chest, so in reality you will probably not be able to make decisions based on accurate, tried and tested methods. You are just hoping that what you competitor does, is correct.
But lets turn it on its head a little – why do you have to look at your competitors? Retailers outside your category would have exhibited great ideas too and methods that could be changed/modified to apply to your category.
Let pull this to some examples – Sainsbury’s *feed your family for a fiver* campaign – sales went through the roof and Sainsbury’s did very well out of it. Marks and Spencer’s *Two dine in for* promotions – still compete with Sainsbury’s but this promotion suits the M&S food buyers. Same rough idea – two applications – two different markets.
Now, Somerfield/Co-op are trying to feed four for £4 – which on checking out this deal it is in fact a poor copy of the Sainsbury’s idea – trying to coat tail off the campaign success but just no banana!
So before you just become that carbon copy, remember that on the net we are striving for personalisation in many aspects – so don’t just be content to imitate!
Competitors will always be inspiration, but be that one on-line store that really speaks to its customers, because you have strived to collect the data and listened. You might end up with the same results as a competitor, but at least you will know why they do what they do!
You are the weakest link…goodbye!
828 days
by Liz
in E-Business
When it comes to web security, people are always the weakest link. Hackers hardly ever crack a password because it is easier to dupe people in to revealing it by employing a range of social engineering techniques.
Sound familiar? Because of this phishing emails were born and are one of the greatest threats to our personal security on the web.
So how, as a web designer/developer can you stop your users from falling for these kinds of things? First and foremost is education, then usability.
Usability in security is key – how many times have you ‘failed to enter the correct code’ on captcha or similar bot preventing system if you want to login somewhere?
As a developer use email addresses instead of usernames and allow passphrases (like your WEP wireless passphrase) and not just passwords. Help your users to remember their passphrase by making it the first letter of each word in a sentence so – “My cat Luna is on a diet and has lost 4 pounds!” would be something like “McLioadahl4p!” – note the capitalisation, number and character.
But still as I said above, this information can still be captured on a phishing site and used.
What is the future of security then?
Well the actual human should always be central to the whole authentication process, banks and online financial systems are increasingly using random number generators on a key fob (your keyring might get a bit heavy if you have two or three of these…) which even if the user entered details on a phishing site – the random number will change to protect the user.
They call the devices random number generators, but there is a pattern – but for any pattern to be ascertained, like a graph you will need a least 3 points of reference (so you have to dupe the same customer three times) and this will increase dependant on the number of digits used.
Suddenly, getting the bank information off the average Joe, earning £20K a year becomes more expensive than the rewards the scam would reap.
Biometrics is of course the sci-fi technology that we are starting to see – simple to use and only if you are playing ‘mission impossible’ would this be tampered with.
Most of us are at threat from casual and low level financial fraud attempts which are the most prolific.
So just remember, the HMRC will not email you saying that you have a tax refund and you didn’t have a rich Nigerian uncle that left you millions. If it is to good to be true, then it probably is!
*please note Luna has not lost 4 lbs, this is a day I wish for! It’s like starving your granny – never let your cat get fat.
Web Development and Customer Trust
829 days
There are far too many web development and design horror stories – and many of my clients have had serious trust issues with a previous developer. Re-cultivating this trust can be difficult, even for the most dedicated and well thought of web developer.
The world of eBay design has had its ups and downs, eBay designers springing up out of nowhere and disappearing just as fast. Customers were hard pushed to see the quality difference between two developers in a basement and a seasoned team of 20. The situation is slowly improving and clients are beginning to understand why they were comparing apples to bananas.
Keeping the client out of the development process destroys trust and clients should not be treated as intruders on development.
The best way to deliver a successful web project is to use more inclusion techniques with your clients, don’t let things be a big secret.
Clients have the right to:
- An overall plan.
- To make changes (and be told what is reasonable and what is not)
- To get value
- To see progress
- To be informed.
This will break down walls between the customer and developer and build trust.
Using this as a selling point is crucial, even in your quotes – breaking down the elements into bite sized chunks will let the client know exactly what they are getting and consequently the developer/designer the project is passed onto.
*Client bill of rights based on XP programming methodologies.
