Satisfying Information Consumers in the Post-PC Era

1. Galileo’s Dilemma:
Satisfying Information Consumers
in the Post-PC Era
Andrew Thomas
Product Marketing Director at SDL
10/08/2012
SDL Proprietary and Confidential

2. Agenda
• A Brief History Lesson
• Post-PC?
• Heresy, Heresy, Heresy
• Content Requirements for The Revolution
• Pulling The Plug

3. A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON
3

4. The Story We Know
4

5. The Real Story
He was conflicted
Galileo Galilei was a devoted Catholic and merely wanted to
promote better scientific ideas within the church. His heretical
work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems,
was published in 1632 which led to his trial and house arrest
by the Inquisition.
He wasn’t the first
Nicolaus Copernicus was actually the first to
theorize that the Earth rotated around the sun in
1543. Galileo was merely defending the theory.
5

6. POST-PC?
6

7. Channel Explosion
Engineering
Support
Specs
FAQ
Tech
docs
Sales
Price Marketing
7

8. Now Add Language and Locale
Your
Message

9. My Son, Age 13
A Quick Overview
• Has never known a world without the internet
• Got his first cellphone when he was 11
• Texts more than he talks
• Owns an iPod Touch, a Mac laptop, and has access to
several other screens
How does he find product information?
• Searches YouTube first
• Goes directly to the manufacturer’s website
• Searches Google
• Asks me
9

10. My Mom, Age 61
A Quick Overview
• Prefers paper and real world objects to digital
• Still uses a dumb phone
• Only texts occasionally (since it’s often the only way to
reach her grandkids)
• Got an iPad for her 60th birthday, owns an old PC
How does she find product information?
• Asks someone at the store
• Reads the printed manual
• Goes directly to the manufacturer’s website
• Asks friends and family
10

11. HERESY, HERESY, HERESY
11

12. Heresy #1: No One Cares About Your Company or Product
The Universe The Universe
according to your according to your
company customers
12

13. Heresy #1: Revolve Around The Customer Not The Product

14. The Customer Journey
Continuing the Engagement
Purchase 1st Out-of-the-
Decision Box Experience
Investigating Getting
Options Started
Determining In-depth
Needs Tutorials
Initial Advanced
Interest Learning

15. Good Content Makes an Impression
“Having media-rich, meaningful and contextually-targeted product information:”
improves my impression of the product and brand.
71.9%
Source: Golan Harris -SDL Structured Content Product Information Survey

16. Heresy #2: Existing Customers are Better Than New Customers
VALUE OF AN “Retention is a lot more
cost effective than
EXISTING CUSTOMER acquisition” Carrie Johnson
– Forrester Research
IMPORTANCE OF
CUSTOMER RETENTION
Source: Frederick Reichheld – “Business marketing strategies”

17. Good Content Leads to Brand Advocacy
“Having media-rich, meaningful and contextually-targeted product information:”
makes it more likely that I will recommend a brand or product
to my friends/colleagues/social network.
78.7%
Source: Golan Harris -SDL Structured Content Product Information Survey

18. The Customer Journey
Keeping Customers Satisfied
Brand Initial
Advocate Problem
Recognized Searching
Fan Resources
Consistent Determining
Praise Solution
Initial Resolution
Endorsement

19. Bad Experiences are Expensive
“If you do build a great
experience, customers
tell each other about
that. Word of mouth is
very powerful.”
Jeff Bezos, CEO
Amazon.com
Number of
positive
customer
interactions
required to
overcome a
bad one
Source: “From the November 2011 issue of Inc. magazine.”

20. Bad News Travels Fast
“After a poor customer
experience, more than
one-quarter of
consumers (26 percent)
posted negative
complaints on a social
networking site such as
Facebook or Twitter”
Harris Interactive, 2011
Customer Experience
Impact Report
Source: “From the November 2011 issue of Inc. magazine.”

21. Heresy #3: Good Content Provides Better Support Than People
“Having media-rich, meaningful and contextually-targeted product information:”
makes it easier to solve a problem on my own.
87.3%
Source: Golan Harris -SDL Structured Content Product Information Survey

22. Self-Service is Growing
Preferred Channel for
Product Support
Speak to a customer
service agent
Chat online with a customer
service agent
Look at product
manual
Search engines
Search on company
website
Source: Golan Harris -SDL Structured Content Product Information Survey
22

23. Self-Service is Cheap
“It is not the strongest of
Customer service channel the species that survive,
nor the most intelligent,
but the one most
responsive to change.”
Charles Darwin
Call center Web
technical support self-service
(Approximate cost per contact)
Source: “From the November 2011 issue of Inc. magazine.”

24. Heresy #4: Content is More Important Than Departments
THE CONTENT SILO PROBLEM
SALES PRODUCT
INCOMPATABILITY
DEVICE
LOCKED CONTENT
DEVELOPMENT
UNSHARED
MARKETING PRODUCT
SUPPORT
INCONSISTENT MESSAGE

25. Heresy #4: Revolve Around The Content, Not The Department
Sales &
Marketing
Research &
Development
Customer
Support
Training &
Learning
Modular Stored Accessible to Formatted to
Content Centrally All Departments Customer’s Need
25

26. Ubiquitous Presence Requires Channel-Specific Format

27. Flattened Channels Don’t Scale
AUTHOR
CONTENT
CHANNEL

28. How do you deliver?
X M L
DIRECT VS CONTENT FUTURE
FLATTENED REUSE PROOF

29. Heresy #4: Revolve Around The Content, Not The Format
AUTHOR
CONTENT
CHANNEL

30. Content Reuse Enables Efficiency, Consistency, & Quality
Sales and Marketing
Product Development
Customer Support
Training and Learning

31. Future Proof Your Channels

32. Other Miscellaneous Heresies
• Digital before print
• “Pretty” is not as important as functional
• Multimedia is mightier than the written word
• Findability is more important than searchability
• If your content sharing model involves copy and
paste, you have failed
• Self-service publishing is better than trickle-down
publishing
• Control is an illusion
32

33. CONTENT REQUIREMENTS
33

34. Content Is Still King
Content

35. Content Requirements for The Revolution!
COMPELLING USEFUL EASY TO
CREATE
35

36. What makes content compelling?

37. How do you deliver compelling content?
SOCIAL SHARING PERSONALIZATION MULTIMEDIA MEASURING
INTEGRATION ENGAGEMENT

38. What makes content useful?

39. How do you deliver useful content?
MULTI- FILTERED FINDABILITY PUBLICATION
CHANNEL SEARCH ANALYTICS

40. What makes structured content easy to create?
40

41. PULLING THE PLUG
Email: athomas@sdl.com
Phone: (415) 894-9414
Twitter: @work_ajt
41

42. Upcoming Events
Happening
RIGHT NOW!
Happening
October 23rd in
the SF Bay Area
42

43. Copyright © 2008-2012 SDL plc. All rights reserved.. All company names, brand
names, trademarks, service marks, images and logos are the property of their respective owners.
This presentation and its content are SDL confidential unless otherwise specified, and may not be
copied, used or distributed except as authorised by SDL.