Google’s digital marketing evangelist loves Bell and Lululemon’s online experience. Canadian Tire? Not so much.
More than 500 agency and marketing execs sat in on Google Canada‘s Think Performance conference in Toronto last Thursday, and the presentation by Avinash Kaushik was ‘trending’ – in the real-life sense of the word – amongst attendees for the rest of the day.
Kaushik, the search giant’s digital marketing evangelist, has long advocated for deeper, more meaningful online brand experiences. Whether shopping or gathering information, consumers shouldn’t face roadblocks with the online services companies offer, he said.
In what was by far the most animated and energetic presentation of the day, Kaushik said the web – whether accessed via mobile, tablet or computer – exists to deliver “tiny little orgasms” to the people using it.
He gave examples of Canadian websites that either frustrated or impressed him. On the Canadian Tire site, for instance, he encountered a feedback survey with 34 questions – and some of them gave an overwhelming number of answer choices (22 in one case). By the time he got to the end of the survey, Kaushik said “I wanted to kill myself; I was ashamed on behalf of the internet.” He questioned what an online survey that was so long said about the retailer’s customer-centricity.
He was also irritated when he selected a certain type and quantity of tire to purchase on the site, but the ‘click to buy’ button was greyed out because he needed to select a store first. “Why?” asked Kaushik. “If I’m in Pakistan, you should ship them there.” The site “constantly frustrates my efforts to give them money.”
Other sites chastised by Kaushik were The Bay (the pictures never finished loading on its e-commerce site for him), Sport Chek (which doesn’t serve Quebec) and Calvin Klein Canada (the site is in Flash, which Kaushik said means it “likes to torture people, because it takes 900 years to load”).
He also compared a few media outlets’ sites. He pointed out that the Toronto Star’s home page had 358 links, while Le journal de Montréal only had 48 – each accompanied by a big picture. The latter’s site was well laid out and wasn’t a “data puke,” said Kaushik, indicating that Le Journal wants loyalty while the Star wants page views. Visitor loyalty is the way to measure success, not page views, stressed Kaushik.
He had many strong opinions on how to measure success as well. It’s not about hits, which he has long said stands for “how idiots track success.” Clicks are likewise a “stupid” metric, in his view, and impressions and visits don’t mean much either. Followers and fans are a “flavour of the month,” said Kaushik. Proud of your brand’s number of Facebook fans? Don’t get too cocky about that because Kaushik will put you in your place: “’Likes’ is like me walking in the street and [counting] everyone smiling at me as my lover… When you measure silly things, you do silly things.”
Rather, Kaushik believes marketers should measure a site’s bounce rate daily to see “where you suck so much,” then focus on fixing those things. The more positive metrics to look for? Conversion rate, amplification rate, applause rate and economic value.
His presentation was not all criticism, however. Kaushik gave rave reviews to a few Canadian sites. He said the Lululemon e-commerce site is the only one he’s been to where “the only purpose seems to be to make me happy.” He appreciated that users can see which items and sizes are in stock, that there are lots of big pictures and there’s a good return policy for online purchases.
He also praised the Bell’s Fibe site for its “beautiful pictures” and easy navigation. “It delivers tiny orgasms to you,” he said.
