Why Do Software Companies Outsource Product Management?

The typical tech startup’s backstory goes as follows: Founders observe a problem in the real world, find a way to use technology to solve the problem, and build a product around the technology. According to common wisdom, product management is the foundation of any startup. Sales, marketing, HR, finance and other functions can come in … Read more

Perils Of Blind Retargeting

Since the time I published Retargeted Ads or Retarded Ads, I’ve come across many more retargeted ads exhibiting retarded behavior. Take for example the ones from Cleartrip. Well after I’d booked my tickets on its portal, I kept seeing its retargeted ads. I hinted to the OTA that it could try setting frequency caps on … Read more

Scoping Can Make Or Break A Deal

Whenever they’re asked to sweeten a deal, most vendors respond with a discount. They don’t have to. In Five Ways To Sweeten A Deal – Apart From Discount, we gave several alternative tactics for sweetening a deal without dropping the price. We illustrated some of them with our interactions with the following vendors: Acme Accounting: … Read more

How To Really Kill Cash

They said cash is costly. It didn’t work with merchants. They launched one mobile wallet after the other to drive cashless behavior. It didn’t work with consumers. They scared people away from currency notes, claiming they contain all kinds of germs, bacteria and viruses. It didn’t work with anyone. Today: 85% of world’s transactions happen … Read more

How Banks Can Boost Branch Sales

In his blog post titled The Power of Location-Based Offers in Financial Services, Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand, highlights how banks can leverage the proliferation of smartphones to make location based offers (LBOs) for cross-selling of banking and other third-party products at their branches. Let’s say a bank implements LBOs and an existing … Read more

Seller Power In Online Marketplaces

Buyer power in online marketplaces is obvious. Choice of platforms, sales returns, seller rating and venting on social media are among the many ways in which buyer is king in online marketplaces. Platform power is also fairly obvious: Blacklisting errant sellers and withholding payments to them are some of the tools available to the platform to flex its … Read more

Drive Engagement With Error Messages!

Yes, you read that right. This post is really about how brands can boost engagement with their consumers by using error messages. Normally, error messages are bland: Record not found Your search yielded no results Page not found. You can’t blame the programmers who typically write them because, sometimes, you can’t do better. As @nicksantos points … Read more

Making The Case For A Passport With Lifetime Validity

When I’d visited the local Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) to renew my passport around a year ago, I was delighted with the experience: The staff was courteous. By having a photocopier on premise for last-minute copies through to a well appointed waiting area and a modern display system, the PSK fulfilled its vision statement, adjective … Read more