Speed Thrills 2.0
We’ve talked about speed many times in this blog, but here is another reminder from our friends at Marketing Charts.
When it comes to a “great online experience, shoppers primarily have two things in mind: speed and ease.” I believe those are the two bellwethers of any online experience, not just shoppers.
Some call it usability or functionality, but really it is the ease of use, ease of finding what we want, ease of understanding what is presented and ease of contacting a human. Surprisingly, speed and ease outdistanced personalization. A “proactive” web experience also ranked behind S&E. One reason might be that the ‘proactive’ experience requires more release of information and personal data.
Clean design with a simple, easy-to-understand brand story will serve you better than spending too much time on all the copy, links and complexity you add to your website. If you can’t simplify your message, then the customers are going to do it for you by going to a different site. Customers, donors, patients and stakeholders want it quick and easy.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.