We are running a WebTrends training course at a client site Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and I wanted to make arrangements to have breakfast catered for the students.

By using Google Maps (or Google Local) I looked for catering near the client’s postal code. After looking through a few websites (and finding companies that don’t have websites (????), I found what I was looking in Druxy’s. Druxy’s is known for their deli sandwiches and, unlike many other caterers, offers breakfast catering.

One can view the menu and price per person and then in order to place a catering order, must create an account. No problem - this is typical in the world of ecommerce.

I go through my entire order, indicate I would like to pay by visa, enter the delivery address, etc. thinking that the next screen will ask for my Visa # and billing address. Nope! Bang the order is done and the only phone number associated with the order is my clients! I receive a confirmation email that the order has been received. Thankfully there is a phone number at the bottom of this email so I can call and circumvent Druxy’s calling my client for payment. Unfortunately I was too late - they had already left a message for my client, seeking payment.

*ack* How totally embarrassing. I ranted how this is a poor setup on their website and did I miss the obvious? Apparently I did - I should leave special instructions for them to call me rather than the client to request payment information. Wake up Druxy’s - try taking credit cards over your website and like other ecommerce sites, offering a different delivery address from the billing address.

It gets worse unfortunately. As much as my online transaction indicated $42, the final bill turned out to be $52. Delivery charge. Hello people - put the delivery charge online and include it in the total purchase. High delivery charge given that the client is within walking distance of the restaurant but really the dollar value is not the problem - the poor usability is the problem.

The end result of poor usability can be canceled orders, negative publicity and loss of repeat orders. Definitely worth fixing on a website.

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response from attendees, Neo Insight is pleased to announce that Gerry McGovern returns to Ottawa in May 2008! As well as offering an encore presentation of his Masterclass, Gerry McGovern is offering a special half-day Executive Session, plus opportunities to work more closely together to refine and apply his techniques to your specific needs.

May 5-6: Gerry McGovern Masterclass: Creating Customer-Centric Websites
This Masterclass is an updated, encore presentation of the November 2007 session. It will give attendees the tools and arguments to show why a customer-centric approach is the best way to serve customers in Canada—whether they are citizens, customers or your own staff. The future of Web management is task management—and this Masterclass will give you the road map to achieve it. Gerry McGovern will show you why the key to success for your website is a relentless focus on the tasks of your customers—and how to keep that focus.

More than 280 people attended the sold out November workshop. The response to Gerry’s powerful, communicative and entertaining style was overwhelmingly positive. Typical feedback included: “Gerry is an excellent, knowledgeable and entertaining speaker who captivates your attention throughout the session” and “Mr. McGovern offers some outstanding insights, research results, and advice.”

* See details of the Masterclass - Creating Customer-Centric Websites

May 7: Special half-day session: Managing Customer-Centric Websites - Executive Session
A special 1/2 day executive session focused on quickly getting quantifiable results from a Customer Carewords approach to managing your website. This Executive Session is for senior managers and executives who have to translate strategic plans and visions into coordinated actions by other people. It is for those of you who want to:

* Take your vision and manage your website to realize your strategic objectives
* Make decisions based on data rather than opinion
* Establish a clear return on investment
* Maintain a clear focus to get maximum impact from limited resources
* Develop actionable metrics for effectively managing the web channel

The Executive Session will take place in the Penthouse, Sheraton Hotel, on Wednesday May 7, 2008, from 7:30am - 12:00 noon. Seating is very limited, so reserve your place early:

* See details of Managing Customer-Centric Websites - Executive Session

May 8-9: Work with Gerry McGovern to apply his Customer Carewords techniques

In the two days following the Masterclasses, Gerry will be available for a very limited number of private team sessions intended to kick-off a Customer Carewords project within your organization. Visit the Customer Carewords website for full details of the process and pricing and details about applying the Customer Carewords techniques in your organization.

Note - The Masterclass and Executive Session will be presented in English only

I recently was looking for a sony w950 in Google and the title of the first organic listing was “Oh no! 404 - Page not found”. I was puzzled! Looked at the URL - www.sonyericsson.com - seemed like a reputable URL so all I could think was they had not configured their server to return 404 error codes when an error was generated.

Using the RankQuest Server Header Checker, sure enough, the SonyEricsson site is returning code 302 (Moved Temporarily). Unfortunately I am not interested in now searching that website to find the Sony w950 so back to Google I went.

A good lesson in why your 404’s should generate 404 error codes at the server level - so you can monitor and repair broken pages/links/URLs on a daily/weekly/monthly basis!

World Usability Day 2007 is being hosted by the Ottawa Usability Consortium (OUC), an organization of usability professionals and academics who promote usability through a range of activities throughout the year.

World Usability Day is for everyone who’s ever asked questions such as “Why doesn’t this work right?” and “What am I supposed to do with this now?” World Usability Day aims to raise awareness and visibility of usability engineering and user-centered design. This year’s theme is Healthcare.

Join us on November 8th at the RA Center and enter to win a pair of Ottawa Senators tickets just for dropping by our booth!

Details on the program are available at OUC.

I went to access the Google Analytics URL builder today only to be confronted with “We’re sorry, but the information you’ve requested cannot be found. Please try searching or browsing the Help Center.” *argh* This is not the first time Google has moved the tool and not performed a 301 redirect. What gives?

I have found the new location of the Google Analytics URL Builder for those who may be looking for it.

Shame on Google for not using redirects when they move pages around!