PostcardPerfect.com/blog

Last time I checked, “And helps keep them clean.” didn’t qualify as a sentence.

I got a straight flush during a poker game last week. Needless to say I bet confidently and forced everyone but one player out of the hand. And, for that privilege, I made him put everything he had into the pot to stay in.

It was just a friendly $10 buy-in game, but the pot still swelled to over $40. I could taste the win.

Unfortunatley, when I triumphantly flipped my cards, I found that my 8 of clubs was actually the 8 of spades. Apparently I had looked at it wrong and failed to double check before putting most of my chips into the pot. I lost. Ouch.

Think about how many mistakes could be avoided if everyone double checked their work, their facts, and…well…their cards.

Most fast food places use the back of their receipts to get you to take a survey, but I thought the Quiznos approach was kind of interesting. Observe:

If you visit the website, you get ten changes to win. TEN! Wow!

Of course, if there is only one winner per day, and everyone gets ten chances - then the odds of winning didn’t really change, did they? Very tricky, Quiznos.

But wait, maybe they did. What about the poor suckers that call to do the survey? They only get one entry into the contest. There’s a cost saving measure if I’ve ever seen one. I’m sure the online survey is much cheaper to administer. Again, well played, Quiznos.

I was going to end the post there, but I decided to do some investigative journalism (just for you), so I took both surveys (and not-so-coincidentally got 11 chances to win).

Last time I took an online survey I was very unimpressed. This one didn’t do much better. It was kind of entertaining though. Here are, without further ado, my top 5 questions / screens.

5) Surprise, I didn’t win.

4) Despite asking the date I visited (two weeks ago), they wanted to know if I had purchased specific items “today.” I was tempted to say no across the board, but I decided to cut them some slack.

3) They nailed it. I come to Quiznos for the visual enjoyment…

2) I’m not very health conscience. Do they really have to rub it in three times?

1) And my favorite question: “Why not?” There was nothing proceeding it. I was just instructed to think about my recent visit.

The phone survey was kind of clumsy as well. It took about 6 minutes and “using my touch tone phone,” I had to type in half the info from my receipt before I could start. There were many of the same questions, but it was definitely shorter. My favorite part was in the middle of the survey when they said:

“Tell us why or why not you enjoyed your visit so that we can improve.” Then, with no warning: beep - it was recording.

My answer? “I liked watching my meal being made.”

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No long surveys : subscribe in a reader

PS. The new site is finally up. Go check it out.

It’s been awhile, so I figured I’d put up a quick post.

I’m all but finished with the new site. Well, I would be - if IE and Firefox displayed things the same way. I, not being the most talented web designer around, am having a hard time getting the two browsers to agree. It’s really annoying me. Hopefully I can get it straightened out soon. There’s a backlog of other things I want to do with the company, but most are on hold until I finish the site.

I have a few blog topics to write about once I get some time. So, once this site is live you can expect some more original content. Until then,  here’s two links where I’ve spent time while I should have been working:

Garr Reynold’s Authors@Google video on Presentations (long, but good)

Interesting post from the Freakonomics blog on unofficial police tactics

Postcard.rar - 29.9MB

As I write this, I am downloading the source code for all of PostcardPerfect’s kiosk and back-end applications. It’s kind of a weird feeling. Knowing how much time, effort, and money went into it all - there’s something unsettling about seeing it all wrapped up into a 30MB file. My mind can’t help but put an obscene dollar amount on each megabyte.

Bring 6 cups of water to boil. Add noodles. Stir for 8-10 minutes. Drain. Mix in cheese, 1/4 cup of milk, and 4 tablespoons of butter. Mix well.

I can now make mac and cheese without consulting the instructions. At $1.25 per box, it’s budget helping dinner. Know how many boxes I could buy for one MB of source code? Of course you don’t, but it’s a lot, a whole lot.

Putting business and personal expenses next to each other is intriguing. The mindsets traditionally used to evaluate the two are worlds apart. However, the value of a dollar is the same regardless. It’s an odd phenomenon.

As some of you already know, I guest posted at the very cool (and immensely more popular) IttyBiz.com last week.

Thanks to some prodding from site owner, Naomi, many of the readers headed over to PostcardPerfect.com to see what we’re all about. A few even checked out this blog and subscribed (welcome!). The end result was two days of traffic roughly 10x what I normally get.

That’s good news, right?

Well, yes - but not necessarily for the reason you’d expect. Order volume didn’t mirror the traffic spike. In fact, it wasn’t even close. (Note: I did, however, get a bunch of nice e-mails, including a few future business prospects.)

So here’s why it WAS a good thing: feedback.

The surge of analytical data, e-mails, and comments all gave me a much better picture of people’s first impressions of PostcardPerfect, and (surprise!) it’s not quite what I want it to be.

Essentially all the traffic highlighted a few current shortcomings of my quickly launched website. For example, the navigation needs some serious work. Also, a lot of people missed the point about custom postcards. Too many still see them as something only for vacations and long distance correspondence. (These babies are much, much more…)

I’m working on fixing both issues, but the real point of this post is to endorse a methodology that I once resisted.

It’s OK to launch before perfecting every detail.

I’m not saying it’s smart to jump haphazardly. Careful planning still plays a very important role in success. However, like all things, planning is subject to diminishing returns (little economic term for you). Meaning, the more you do it - the less additional benefit you receive. I’d even say that you can worsen your position by over-planning, but I’m sure that’s debatable.

A quick, imperfect, launch will cost you less time and money upfront perfecting details that customers may later veto. It will help you get to market sooner (maybe much sooner), and it will make you much more willing to accept constructive criticism later on.

Last time I wrote about it, I was admitting a mistake. This time around though, I think I did it right. That said, I’ve got adjustments to make.

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No planning required: subscribe in a reader.

I think it would be fun to send interesting postcards to D-list celebrities. For example, maybe I’ll send one to Jared of me doing the “five dollar foot-long” thing. Maybe I’ll write my congressman. How about reality TV stars? There are plenty of those to keep me busy.

You get the point.

So, here’s the idea: Each week I could pick someone and create a custom postcard for them. Then, I’ll put up an image of my Celebricard™ (not actually trademarked) on the blog for you all to see.

Wait, it gets better.

What if we made it a game, where the goal is to get the D-lister to write me back? Not necessarily snail mail, I’ll take a e-mail or comment too. Anyway, and and let’s say that if he/she does write in - everyone wins a free postcard!

Everyone? Well, how about the people that commented on the post of me showing off the card I was sending? Yeah, that could work…

Any thoughts? Who would you send one too?

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Elevate me to D-list status : subscribe in a reader

I’m currently reading Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decision by Dan Ariely. Essentially, it looks at common decisions people make that really aren’t rational. I’m about 3/4th of the way, and so far it’s held my attention pretty well.

One of my favorite examples notes that people will drive across town to save $7 on a $25 item. However, given the opportunity to save $7 on a $450 item, they won’t bother. It’s so true, and yet irrational. Saving $7 is saving $7 regardless of the item’s price.

Here’s another one:
Imagine you are walking past someone trying to change a flat tire. How would you you react if they asked for help? How would you act if they offered to pay you $1 to help? If you’re like most people, you would help for free but pass when you were offered low compensation. Is that rational?

If you liked Freakonomics you should check this out. If you never read Freakonomics, but were intrigued by these examples - I’d recommend picking up both books.

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The rational thing to do : subscribe in a reader

I’m pleased to announce that individual card ordering is now available at PostcardPerfect.com. It took longer than expected, but we’re finally live. Yay!

The order process is more or less the same as always:

1) Upload a picture.
2) Type a picture.
3) Tell us where to send it.

Then pay up, and we print and mail your cards for you. Pretty easy.

How much? Thanks for asking. We call it the Postcard Double Deal™ (no, it’s not really trademarked) and it means you get to send two cards for only $3. Each of the two cards can be unique - complete with a different picture, message, and recipient.

For the visual learners out there, it looks something like this:

Before I really start promoting it, I’d like to get some feedback. So…I’m offering to let you give it a whirl on me. Just follow the link at the bottom and go though the process to send your cards. When checking out, use discount code “blog” and your purchase will be free.

Update: This promotion has ended. Thanks to everyone that tried it and provide feedback. For everyone else, it’s only $3 - go make somebody’s day.

Know someone else that may want to try it for free - go ahead and share the code. Three notes though:

1) I may e-mail you afterward to see how it went.
2) The code expires Thursday night (5/15) at 7:00CST.
3) If you’ve never used Google Checkout - you’ll have to sign up.

Fair enough? OK, enjoy.

PS. If you find any problems during the order process, please let me know. David at postcardperfect dot com.

I broke out the clubs and headed to the local golf course a couple days ago. The prices on their sign read as follows:

Resident: $14
Non-resident: $17

I live in the same town as the course so I should pay $14, right? Well, not necessarily. You see, in order to get the resident price – I had to prove I was a resident. Fair enough. Except…

To prove I was a resident, I had to BUY an $8 resident card (good for one year). Know how I proved I was eligible to buy a resident card? I didn’t. I just forked over the cash – no questions asked. Apparently you don’t argue with Lincoln, Washington, Washington, and Washington.

Regardless, now I have to carry this dumb card in my wallet so that when I play golf I can pull it out and show that I’m a resident. Couldn’t my driver’s license serve the same purpose?

The whole thing seems silly. I think it’s the name resident card that annoys me most. I’d resent it less if they called it a discount or loyalty card instead. As is though, it’s just another fee [not so] cleverly disguised as something I don’t really need.

There are a lot of companies that make good money on extra fees. Some hotels charge a $1 per night local phone access charge. It doesn’t matter if you use the phone or not – you have to pay that dollar (which coincidently wasn’t included in the room rate you booked).

Stuff like this is trivial, but frustrating nevertheless. It makes me wonder if the ill-will generated is worth the extra revenue. Considering the money spent building brands, you’d think the answer would be no. I suppose it depends on the circumstance though.

Poll Question: What’s the most ridiculous fee you’ve ever been charged? Did it change your perception of the company?

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No Fees! : subscribe in a reader