Archive for Rants

Twezr tease. Right messaging…but delivery? Not so much.

November 24, 2010 / Shara / No comments

I don’t have an iPhone myself…but most of my friends and family do. And lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about an app called Twezr. I figured I’d check it out and if it’s cool or useful, I’d let my dad know so he can download it to his iPhone and feel trendy.

I went to their Web site and was immediately impressed with the clean, simple design. Very trendy. Very easy to navigate. Very direct.

Click image to enlarge.

And…the best part of the homepage is that they have a VIDEO! Front and center! And you know how much I love a good video…

I clicked. And I will just say…good effort, guys. It had that cool, laid back, “we’re a fun start-up” feel to it. But even at only two minutes, it felt like it was dragging on forever. It wasn’t peppy enough to keep me engaged. And believe me, I really wanted to stay focused and get excited about the product. But I didn’t.

All the info is there. They’ve got the story right. But the delivery left me…bored. I wasn’t left feeling compelled to share the video or tell my friends about the app. Too many screenshots and they stayed on the screen for too long. And there just isn’t much excitement in his voice or in the faces of the people around him. They definitely looked happy…but the video feels flat to me.

Actually…seeing this one fall flat made me think of this video we did for fring, back in the day…which is now outdated (in terms of features) but serves as an excellent example of the right combination of peppy and informative. It’s one we’re really proud of. We highlighted all the fun features of this cool and innovative product with creative and upbeat images…and without forcing the viewer to stare at anything for too long.

Le sigh…if only we had the opportunity to rock their worlds with a video to rock everyone else’s world…

What did you guys think?

Category: Rants / Tags: , , , , , ,

Groovy Groupon

September 28, 2010 / Shara / No comments

Everyone’s been talking about Groupon lately, so I thought I’d check it out. I went to their site and on first glace, found it to be aimed directly at people who are already signed up or know what the heck it’s all about…AND it was defaulted to Austin, Texas. Did they START in Austin or something? What’s up with that? I’m definitely NOT in Austin and if I wasn’t so curious, I may have thought that this site wasn’t for me.

And then I saw on their top menu an option to “Learn how Groupon Works.” Aha!

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I clicked and found a video! Right there in the middle of the page. I love it when I see a video on a site. I just wished the video had been on the HOME page for novice users like me. Call me old fashioned…

Click image to enlarge.

I was still determined to find out what all the fuss is about…so I clicked on the video. And I really liked it! Super cute animations and good description of the service. I “got it.”

The video covered the basics and may have even gotten a little bit TOO in depth, but I thought it did a good job of getting me ready so I could use the site.

I’m just so curious as to why they think this video should be hidden inside their site!? I wonder how many people never even made it that far…

Yeah…so I’m on the fence about this one too.

Good idea. Not so great execution.

Category: Rants, Raves / Tags: , , , ,

Figuring out Foursquare

August 23, 2010 / Shara / No comments

The latest Social Media craze is Foursquare. Surely you’ve heard about it by now. Everyone is taking about “checking in” and becoming the “mayor” …and I was trying to explain it to a dear friend of mine who is just…technologically challenged, if you will.

I decided to check out their homepage and see if maybe they had sometime concise that would explain it to my friend…you know…do the dirty work for me.

Click image to enlarge.

I was quite happy to see a link on their homepage that read “Learn More.” When I clicked it, a cute animated video popped up and explained how to use the site. Thank you, Foursquare, for not making me do the hard work.

I will say this though…part of me wanted the video embedded on that homepage. I almost didn’t see the link there…and even when I *did* see the link, I wasn’t sure if I was going to find 39042840932 pages of text or something useful (like a video). Luckily, it was a video.

Also…while the video did a really great job of telling us how to use the service and showing us how easy it is to use (like…super easy)…it didn’t quite lay out the real benefit to the user. There was mention of discounts and the prestige of being the Mayor of that favorite place you always go to…but why should I care, really? Unless you’re just into social media…which some people are not (shocking, I know)…you may not really “get it.” You know?

So I’m on the fence about this one too. It’s like it…but not quite IT.

Category: Rants, Raves / Tags: , , , ,

eekCorral

August 12, 2010 / Shara / No comments

So there’s this service called “eCorral” which lets you gather all your files, programs, favorite Web sites and other stuff in one place. They mainly seem to be targeting students and researchers, but it sounded like the service would be good for even someone like me. I mean…I’m the kind of person who’s always losing files and forgetting favorites. I was hoping this would help me get laptop more organized.

I saw they had a little video linked from the home page so I clicked it, hoping to see a nice little video that would convince me I need to sign up.

Instead, I was greeted by a funny talking avatar. I was so distracted by the avatar that I’m not even sure what the video said (doh!).

Click image to enlarge.

Is it just me that’s freaked out by talking avatars? Maybe so. Either way…I’m still on the fence about signing up for eCorral.

Category: Rants / Tags: , ,

The Twitter ::yawn:: Tim.es

August 2, 2010 / Shara / No comments

So Twitter Tim.es could be a really fun tool for us Twitter fanatics. They generate personalized “newspapers” for you based on your Twitter feed. So like…it’s a more beautifully packaged, better organized, more interactive version of your feed. I mean…I’m guess that’s what it is.

They have this video tour prominently displayed on their homepage…but I lost interest after the first 20 seconds. To be fair…the tour isn’t so bad. I mean…you kind of need a tour with screen shots so you understand how to use all the features. But displaying THAT kind of video right there as an introduction to your product is a bit counterproductive, in my opinion.

A video that is prominently displayed on the (otherwise pretty simple) homepage of a Web site should briefly tell me why I must sign up/buy it/use it and how I’d be lost without it.

A long drawn out screen capture showing me how to find new people to follow on Twitter, isn’t going to get me to do anything…except maybe yawn.

Grab my attention, guys!
Talk to me!
Engage me!

Category: Rants / Tags: , , ,

Zipcar’s Kinda Zippy…

July 26, 2010 / Shara / One comment

Heard of Zipcar? They have a pretty cool service for selected cities across the US and Canada. I was checking out their site the other day…Zipcar hasn’t yet arrived to my city, but a lot of my friends have been talking about them. So obviously I wanted to see what the hype was all about.

Their homepage is quite simply designed. We like simple designs. I was hoping they’d have a cute video there though…which they didn’t. They DO have a video, but it’s buried in the How it Works page. It’s cute though…kind of tongue-in-cheek. Creative. But it took a while to get into it and there was a lot of unnecessary dialogue. I’m not sure the majority of the people out there would have the patience to sit through it…but the humor DID help to keep my attention for a while.

zipcar

I’m torn. It’s a thumbs up and a thumbs down…together.

Category: Rants, Raves / Tags: , ,

ebay Dismay

June 30, 2010 / Shara / 2 comments

I’ve been in the market for a new digital SLR camera lately so I’ve done a lot of research. I thought I’d look around online for the best deals as well. My friends kept encouraging me to make bids on ebay so I went to check it out.

Talk about overwhelming for a first time user! I stared at the homepage for about five minutes hoping that it would just suddenly all make sense. When I realized it wasn’t going to, I thought… “See? This is one of those times when a short video on the homepage would encapsulate everything I need to know about this site so I would know what the heck I’m supposed to do here!”

Alas, there was none to be found. Oh well.

Category: Rants / Tags: , ,
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