SmartSymbols^tm

A way to find out what readers are interested in is to look at the Icon Usage chart in SmartSymbols Analytics. (See picture below).
To get to the chart, simply login and then select the SmartSymbols set you are interested in.

Icon Usage Chart: January 2010, click to enlarge

(Click the chart to enlarge the picture)

This simple pie chart shows some pretty valuable information: people who were researching this particular sample book spent most of their time on Author Information (over 12 minutes) and almost equal amount of time on Social Networking buzz (about 9 minutes). The Book Content captured their interest for half the time of either Author Information or Social Networking buzz.

There is another interesting data point in the chart: people spent almost as much time researching the location of the plot of the book (Location/Compass icon - read more on Compass icon usage here) as on the contents of the book. In fact location seem to be of more interest then Reviews and News.

It could be that adding illustrations from the book to your SmartSymbols, as well as pictures of the places where the book is taking place could become a tipping point in the sale process of this particular book.

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Celebrate Green - Valentine's Day

Lynn Colwell & Cory Colwell-Lipson’s book Celebrate Green has a unique quality: it’s useful year round. Unlike typical abstract ideas about how to have a more eco-friendly lifestyle in general, the ideas in their book are practical. They are also specific to a particular holiday that’s coming up on the calendar.

Check out their suggestions for the Valentine’s Day for example: “one high quality organic chocolate bar instead of a handful of conventional candy on Valentine’s Day”. It turns out, that organic chocolate bar also tastes a lot better than typical candy, as testified by people who know best - kids.

You can also explore SmartSymbols for Celebrate Green book above. To buy the book simply go here: http://www.celebrategreen.net/buy/

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“Sweet Poison: Why Sugar Makes Us Fat” is a book by Australian author David Gillespie.  The book is an interesting research into how sugar contributes to the wight problem, as well as to the overall health problem.  David has done a lot of research and has been interviewed by many news organization on the subject.  He has Facebook fan pages, Twitter followers and up-to-date blog.

We are fortunate that David chose to use SmartSymbols for book promotion on his blog: http://www.raisin-hell.com/, he uses the vertical version of SmartSymbols because it fits neatly into the sidebar of his blog platform.

An interesting side-story has emerged while we were working with David’s book information. It turns out that it is not easy to buy his book in the US, but at least we can benefit from some of his research if we listen to his interviews and read people’s comments on various social networks - SmartSymbols presents this information in one place in an easy-to-find way. “Sweet Poison” also a has personal side to it, but I don’t want to spoil it here. Check out David’s blog and his book site, and of course - explore SmartSymbols to learn more about “Sweet Poison”.

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Great article on CNBC.com today about consumer behavior prior to product purchasing (great article name too): “Study Reveals What’s Really Going on in Aisle Six“. The article talks about different aspects of what makes consumer make the final buying decision, but it also has this very interesting quote: “[m]ore than three-quarters of the shoppers took time to do research before heading to the store, typically an hour or more”. In other words, it confirms, once again, the fact that people do a lot of research before buying a product, whether that is happening online or at a brick-and-mortar store.

The question is, why is that after doing all the research in front of the computer, consumers often time end up driving to the store and buying the product there? I would venture to say that they need to look at a product in person, look at other products and compare, use the coupons, i.e. - interact with it and get the complete story.


This is exactly what we have been saying all along (see references below) - give people ability to interact with your product online, and they are a lot more likely to buy your product. Since the shipping is getting cheaper and faster (Amazon, L.L. Bean, even Nordstrom now), the only barrier to buying online is the lack of research and discount coupons. But put this online, next to the product - and you got another converted customer.

Blog post references, with illustrations:
“Secret of the Conversion Funnel”
“New Advertising = Research + Transparency”
“I Came, I Glanced, I Observed - Just Like Sherlock Holmes!”

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Recently we have released JumpGauge for HR & Staffing. You can see a sample job description done via JumpGauge here:
http://www.jumpgauge.com/demo.html#hr.

Hover over icons to explore

The interesting thing about this particular version of JumpGauge is that it allows you to show both sides of the arrangement. On one hand you show a candidate different aspects about the company (such as, it is located in one of the top-10 places to live), on the other hand, a candidate can see how the posted job fits into the company: what is the salary range and travel expectations for example.

Naturally, JumpGauge could be modified to add textual job descriptions, office tour or interview with other employees. As usual, sky is the limit.

By the way, this version of JumpGauge now supports Google Maps.

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Interactive labeling is a fairly new concept, that allows makers of things to tell the entire story behind their product in a very small web footprint.  Why use it?  Let’s start with the fundamentals.

Fundamentals

Here are some basics that highlight the benefits of interactive labeling in general.

We will start with the fundamentals:

1. The more someone interacts with a product, the more likely s/he is to buy it.
2. Pictures are better than words. People are more likely to look at something than to read about something.
   1. a) post the same link to reddit or digg twice, one post with a picture, and the other one without
      b) sell the same product on Amazon through two channels; one with pictures, the other one wihtout

   If you do not believe this one, try these tests:

3. A photograph is not enough. Buyers would like to have more information, sellers would like to tell the “back-story”.  Hence - Consumer Reports.
4. Some topics will engage people more than others. Glancing through one topic could be enough, but in-depth research could be very important.  Example: 40 MPG?  Got it.  Which engine: diesel, hybrid?  The list goes on and on.

Five Reasons to Use Interactive Labeling

Interactive labeling offers benefits that build on the fundamentals. Let’s list these reasons.  But first, you can try it yourself below:







Reason 1
Engaging interaction with a product.  As mentioned above, the more you engage a potential customer the more likely you are to convert him or her into a buyer.

Reason 2

Showing pictures for the highest-level topics replaces bullets and text; people will see the context of the entire message in a fraction of a second.  Again, as mentioned above - pictures (and now videos and audio) are much, much better than words.
Reason 3

Additional information is available: multimedia, sources, references, etc. It is upgraded centrally by JumpGauge subscriber and propagated through all distribution channels (retail e-commerce, blogs, catalogs, etc.) instantly.

Reason 4

User can glance through some topics and do an in-depth research on other topics.  In other words people are free to investigate things about your product that THEY find important and interested.  This concept has been defined by Seth Godin as “Permission Marketing”.  According to Seth “By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message”

Reason 5

Interactive labeling allows you to package all this into a microsite “widget”, that can be easily inserted into any online property, from webpages, to e-commerce platforms, to iPhone, to blogs, you have a portable encyclopedia that is specific to a particular product.

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The May issue of InBusiness featured a great article by Barbara Sealock about Jump To Green and JumpGauge Interactive Labeling.  A well-crafted explanation of  JumpGauge  explains company’s mission and shows how technology can help manufacturers and service providers differentiate their products in today’s competitive green marketplace.

Ms. Sealock writes: “Amid growing requirements for sustainableand eco-friendly initiatives, three Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce business members (Jump to Green, Terrene of New-ton and NewBridge on the Charles) are in the forefront of innovation and change.

[Jump To Green] software company started in 2008, saw a need to help consumers decipher product “greenness” and developed software enabling them to make smarter choices with JumpGauge™”.

You can read the entire article below.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO READ THE ARTICLE

JumpGauge Technology - InBusiness, May 2009

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On Wednesday, February 4, Lynn Colwell, the author of the book Celebrate Green kindly agreed to meet with Chris and Stas to talk about her book and other green activities she is involved in.

Lynn told us that the idea behind Celebrate Green started when she with her daughter Corey set out to make Halloween celebrations more eco-friendly and generally healthier, which in turn led to Green Halloween.  Green Halloween immediately caught the attention of local media which made the event quite popular.  Pretty quickly, Lynn realized that the idea is much bigger than just Halloween.  “As a nation we have a lot of celebrations “ - said Lynn - “just think about it - official holidays, weddings, office parties, the list goes on and on.”

This led Lynn to the next step logical step: as a former free-lance writer she decided to set out to publish a book that talks about how to make celebrations greener, while keeping them affordable, easy, and most of all, fun.  “We wanted to offer greener alternatives that do not break the bank, especially in today’s economy, but make the switch to greener celebrations easy”, - continues Lynn.  The result of their efforts is the book which carries the subtitle “Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations & Traditions for the Whole Family.”

Celebrate Green 

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson practice what they preach: you can see it in the JumpGauge of the book.  It is printed on 100% recycled paper by a Forest Stewardship Council Certified (FSC) Printer.  In addition, a portion of the proceeds go to two non-profit causes.

We at Jump To Green, Inc. are happy to make the greenness of the book visible with JumpGauge that, in addition to the contents of the book highlights the manner in which it made.

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    The editors for the Britannica Web’s Best Sites Award have selected Planetpals.com. According to JC Miller of Encyclopedia Britannica “The Britannica iGuide is basically our directory of the Web’s best sites as determined by our editors. Each year, our editors review and then handpick websites that relate to one or more of our topics and are found to be of top quality. We then present links to these iGuide sites alongside our own content for that topic.”   Planetpals is pleased to receive this prestigious award that will enhance this already highly recognized and high traffic site used by a dedicated group of loyal visitors.   Judith Gorgone Planetpals.com founder and creator of Planetpals characters know first hand what this denotes “This award authenticates the importance of the internet as educational media. Planetpals is one of the most comprehensive and unique sites dedicated to environmental education and earth sciences on the web. It’s unique approach in using Planetpals characters and creative content to inspire children to be proactive and learn about Earth in a fun way, has made it a favorite of educators, parents and kids over the last decade.”   Planetpals, the best characters on EARTH to learn about EARTH, too!   Jump To Green is happy to see Judith Gorgone get the recognition she deserves and to help made the green qualities of her products book visible with JumpGauge™. PlanetPals

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Celebrate Green is a book by Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson. It is a collaboration dedicated to all things related to green holiday celebrations. The book is printed on 100% recycled paper by a Forest Stewardship Council Certified (FSC) printer. FSC certification insures that sustainable materials are used in the manufacturing process. That means that the books manufacture is as green its content! It is also a well advertised publication having been featured on numerous websites, radio and television programs and major news publications. Yet it could not be locate on Amazon when searching for books printed on 100% recycled paper or books make using sustainable materials. Lynn and Corey did a great job with this book, not only on its content, but also by their support of green manufacturing processes. We applaud Lynn and Corey’s efforts and are happy to have made the green qualities of their book visible with JumpGauge™.

Celebrate Green

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