Published on February 9th, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

The rise of free and open source software has seen a substantial increase in the number of discussion forums that provide technical support to users. It is such a standard part of the landscape, that when you start a new technical project, one of the first things to do is to find the places where [...]

Published on February 7th, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

Conversion rates, user satisfaction, and retention improve when you deliver a consistent user interface - one in which you tell customers something that is consistent with what you actually do. The issue arose with a client, but I have a personal experience of a very similar case.
I logged into our banks internet banking facility. [...]

Published on February 5th, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

Inspired by a great piece of spam this morning. This looks like a lengthy and individually crafted posting, offering a summary of what looks like the current situation on H1N1 in the USA. The problems? Well, it is targeting a US dentist, and the spam was contributed to an article about how Google has been [...]

Published on February 4th, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

The AdWords Help Forum has degenerated over the last year or so, into a customer service forum. I intend to cover that in detail some other time. The common signatures of pain in the forum are:

Complaints that “Google won’t accept my Credit Card“
Making promo vouchers work
Suspension for various reasons, often involving guaranteed ways to make [...]

Published on February 3rd, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

There’s a classic FAIL in user handling on many eCommerce sites: forcing users to register details before you’ve explained the reason and value. People know that they need to hand over addresses for shipping, but requiring them to offer these details before you’ve verified that the items are in stock and available, or that you [...]

Published on February 3rd, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

AWHE (AdWords Help Experts, is now rated as “Influential” by Topsy. The blog was started by Google-recognised “Top Contributors” in the AdWords Help Forum, to help us to include pictures and video and common answers for frequent or tricky questions in the AdWords Help Forum.
A recent graphical rework and substantial posting by Kim Clinkunbroomer [...]

Published on January 21st, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

A common topic over in the AdWords Help Forum is that of a declined Credit Card. I’ve just had some more approaches from people suffering from this problem and looking for a cure. Someone signs up for AdWords, tries to make a payment and Google fails to take the money. The bank says that the [...]

Published on January 14th, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

Not quite a Jane Austen title, but “Help Forums and Helplessness” involved far too many terminal sibilants. The recent launch of Google’s Nexus One, the Google branded Android phone, highlights Google’s fledgling incompetence with mass market customer service, already demonstrated in abundance in many of Google’s own help forums.
Harsh criticism, you might think, but I’ve [...]

Published on January 10th, 2010 by Jeremy Chatfield

Minimum steps required to upgrade Ruby to 1.8.7p248 on Debian Etch. Includes capistrano scripts to help automate.

Published on November 29th, 2009 by Jeremy Chatfield

Having your products and services reviewed can have multiple effects.

Google Local - reviewed businesses typically rank higher
Google Product Search - good reviews help more prominence in listings
Prospects like reviews - next closest thing to word of mouth recommendation
Reviews can be listed when people search for products and the business name

Unsatisfied buyers are typically around five [...]