New consumers of digital lifestyle products

Generated by Foxit PDF Creator © Foxit Software
http://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only.

Writing for Consumers of Digital Lifestyle Products
February 10, 2011


How shall we tackle the brave new world out there?

Preface

This is not an article about technology or evolution of technology. This article is about
audiences and audience psychology; it is about writing for consumers, and about why online
information providers are still overwhelming readers with PC-era technical writing.

The article provides two arguments: One that there is a lack of leadership among online
information providers in the DLP space, and two, online information providers are not
completing the purchase cycle of a consumer and are losing out on advertising as well as
sales revenue.

The article deliberately restricts itself to editorial-generated content, and does not extend
itself to audience-generated content. It does not evaluate the impact of social media
applications like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube and does not seek to debate the advantages
between editorial-generated content and audience-generated content.

Audiences come to editorial because of trust. Whether this trust is generated by an editorial
team huddled in a newspaper office, or a bunch of diverse people located in different
countries, it does not matter. If trust is available anywhere else, they will go there.

Again, the focus is on writing for consumers. The article finally points to an opportunity for
any company willing to marry good consumer writing with an online DLP store.

1/15
Developed by: George D’Souza
geoneld@gmail.com

Freely and widely distributable with copyright credit to author.


February 10, 2011

Finally, the word writing is used as a convenience. The arguments made for consumer
writing can be extended to any form of content.

History of the Digital Consumer

The consumers of digital lifestyle products are no longer geeks and technocrats. The
innovators and early adopters are now swamped by a mass of early majority users. How
should online information providers evolve to cater to them? Should they still be talking the
language of innovators and early adopters? These are questions that are presenting a
challenge.

To understand why technology consumer writing is still so technical, a bit of history is
always helpful. The main reason is technology information providers suffer from nostalgia.

There is a reason why technology information providers write about digital lifestyle products
(DLPs) in the manner that they do: talking top-down, laced with technical stuff, critical and
bereft of simplicity, or alternatively in a boring verbose way. This is because writing about
technology has its origins in the work of computer engineers of the 1980’s.

Tier-X Techies – The Geeks

Most technology information providers–print magazines–started around 1979 (Computer
Shopper), 1982 (PC Magazine) and 1983 (PC World), when DOS was being rewritten, by
Bill Gates and Paul Allen, for license to IBM, to be bundled with its PCs. Around the same
time, the Apple Macintosh hit the markets with its mouse and graphical user interface.

2/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

This was an era that spawned a new breed of people, with huge interest in technology
products, mainly because they loved the skulls, bones and brain fluid of these new machines.
They were able to write strings of text–software–that gave them control over how these
systems worked. A computer person meant significant technical skills and knowledge.

Information providers arrived, whose task was to whet the appetite for information of this
new breed of technology aficionados, keeping them excited with the newest releases and
those in the pipeline.

Unfortunately technology information providers have never escaped from this psychology.

Tier-Y Techies – The CTO

As technology adoption increased, wherein rows of PCs could be tied together, corporations
started building complex technology systems, focusing on business growth. A new line of
techies became available, adept at large wide-area technology deployment—networking.

Information providers started catering to these professionals who took decisions on what
technology platforms to invest in, how to use technology to drive business growth, cut
employee costs, manage customers, etc.

Again, the writing continued to be focused on technologists and technocrats.

3/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

The Tech Channel

Around the 1990’s, multimedia PCs became the most desirable products. These PCs fuelled
demand for techies who could assemble and service these PCs. They were mainly two types:
traders and service providers.

Traders: Traders discovered opportunity in selling hardware and software. They became
resellers, whose main focus was to sell products that provided good margin. Their
information needs were how to maximize gain rather than the skulls, bones and brain fluid
of technology. They wanted to know how to sell high-tech products to customers.

Service Providers: Possibly Tier-1 techies, they assembled and maintained PCs for homes,
while those with financial backing were able to expand in to services for corporations. A few
others became indigenous packaged software developers, in areas of finance and payroll,
anti-virus and security, and business.

Early Indian Home User was a Software Engineer

In India, as the software industry boomed, the technology user community was inundated by
swarms of software programmers, who were also technically well-honed. As a result
information providers did not have to work hard at simplifying writing, since readers could
understand all the technical jargon well.

As their clout grew, so did their bank balances, marking an increase in their purchasing
technology products–gadgets and gizmos. Information providers assumed that if you owned
a PC you were already jargon-savvy, thus there was no need for consumer-oriented writing.

4/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

From the Tier-X, Tier-Y, Tech channel and the software engineer, all were technically
inclined; so were the information providers.

The Era of the Multimedia PC – The First Signs of a Digital Consumer

Multimedia PCs, with better graphics and a CD-drive, started becoming popular in the
1990’s. Prior to this period, PCs were boring machines. Multimedia on the PC played an
important role in making the computer relevant to the person at home. It became an
edutainment device.

Some of the key local trends around the multimedia PC era were:

 Intel’s ‘Pentium Inside’ campaign for assembled PC manufacturers;
 The assembled computer segment in India coming together to develop a branded
multimedia PC called – Millennium PC;
 Explosion in growth of multimedia software on CDs;
 Computer magazines bundling CDs–and later DVDs;
 PC becoming an Edu-tainment device [since Indians are more focused on
education];
 Multimedia institutes like Apple Arena and Edit Institute.

Information providers thought it would be important for all PC owners to know how to
troubleshoot their PCs, so information continued to be oriented toward Tier-X techies.

5/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

The Biggest Non-Event in 30 Years

The biggest non-event of the last 3 decades was the commoditization of the PC. It never
happened because the notebook took over–now any place became office space and play
stations–as notebooks became cheaper, the mobile phone became more sophisticated, and
before anything, the notebook replaced the PC as the point of access for the Internet.

Pre-Internet Era

In the pre-Internet era, information about technology products reached a user [PC consumer]
through the local reseller/assembler, retail store, a ‘computer’ friend, and magazines. Even
television channels rarely did any reviews of technology products before the Internet.

It may be worthwhile to look at the purchase process in the PC era. When a user wanted to
buy a technology product, he would:

1. Read some Indian and foreign technology user magazines; or
2. Ask a local assembler; or
3. Ask a ‘computer friend’; or
4. Visit a local retail store; or
5. All of the above

The Internet world today is a Search, Download and Print (SDP) world. With Adobe pdf
files now available within the browser, there is no need to even download too – SP world]

6/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

Effect of Internet on Computer Magazines

The Internet had a devastating impact on consumer technology magazines. Few USPs just
flew out. Some key changes were:

 Free software available on magazine CDs/DVDs became redundant;
 Magazines were no longer looked upon for research data and articles;
 Frequency was made redundant; everything is available right now.

Indian magazines found readers were getting free software online; they were able to directly
exchange files with other like-minded individuals, and print was becoming an irrelevant
medium. Foreign consumer magazines like Computer Shopper and PC Magazine quickly
became online-only brands.

Multimedia Moves Online

Faster broadband speeds saw the migration of multimedia from the desktop to online.
Multimedia did not become mobile with the advent of mobile phones. It became mobile
when the PC got replaced by the notebook. It is only recently that mobile phones started
replacing notebooks. With displays getting larger–tablets–the mobile phone is set to become
the ubiquitous DLP commodity.

The New Consumers

Over the last 10 years, a new set of people is adapting to the Internet every year. Those born
in 1990’s are now the leading consumers of the technology world. Interactivity with

7/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

technology is a way of life for them, and not something they learned at an institute. E-mail,
messengers, software music players, and online video, are the new ‘normal’ for them.

Digital by itself is being redefined. It has moved from being PC technology to a fusion of
mobile phones, television and video. Furious mergers of technology: Radio and music
systems, cameras and video, computing and communications are creating new DLPs every
day. It is indeed a brave new world out there.

Key Learning: When technology becomes ubiquitous, users are consumers – not techies

8/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

Immediate Goals for Online Information Providers

The first thing that online information providers need to do is to redefine digital technology
as it stands today, and then define the DLP audience. As a publishing strategy technology
information providers must always cater to the lowest common denominator – i.e. the least
technology-savvy with the most capacity to spend–among the target audience.

As technology becomes commoditized the audience interest shifts from skulls, bones and
brain fluid to skin complexion and eye color. It becomes less about how much the CPU is
over-clocked than about ergonomics, ease of use, and response speed.

The question to ask is: Where does Online Information Providers stand in the scheme of
things? Is the audience a DLP consumer or Tier-X techie? If the answer is the former, then
the story of Online Information Providers has to be modified.

The common categorization of DLP products is:

 Basic Necessity – objects needed for daily life;
 Yuppie – objects aspired for after the next raise;
 Splurge or Luxury – impressing the world of new status.

Steps for Online Information Providers

Step 1: Define the Lowest Common Denominator
The Lowest Common Denominator has changed. What are the characteristics? What are the
buying habits? What is the income source? What are the main products purchased?

9/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

Step 2: Recategorize the Sections
The new categorization should bring about the fact that the information is for the consumer.

Step 3: Redesign the Final Page
The final page, where the product is actually displayed, should be redesigned to look simpler
and helpful.

Step 4: The Writer Sells
Trust is what magazines and information providers bring to a buyer. Trust is brought about
by credibility of information. Credibility is achieved by providing clear concise explanation
of the upsides and downsides of the product, from a point of view of the buyer.

The attitude to writing should be like “How Stuff Works” and “10 steps to Financial
Freedom”. Writers have to be down-to-earth, honest, customer-facing sales guides, always
presenting the facts and benefits of a product, and lightly nudging the buyer if the product is
unsuitable to his or her needs.

The ratings game should to be relevant to the consumer. The parameters used for
measurement have to become lowest common denominator-compliant.

10/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

Phase II – The Store

Catalog Publishing Never Went Online

The odd thing about publishers is that they had an active catalog business in print, which
migrated to television as the ‘Home shopping network’. However, surprisingly, catalog
publishing did not migrate online.

Catalog publishing is nothing but a print magazine store–where the shelf display is the pages
of a magazine. Technology information providers have never demonstrated the logical
extension of getting in to the ‘online catalog’ business.

Also, online information providers are happy remaining providers of information–i.e. news,
reviews, while the business of selling products is left to online stores and markets, a gross
underutilization of the potential of the Internet.

Even today, print magazines continue to offer special deals on products, and product
bundles, to their subscribers, while television channels run their shopping networks.

An online store completes the lifecycle of a buyer: create interest, allow research, provide
choice, and call for purchase. The strategy should be to develop a synchronicity between
information site and the shopping site.

Some questions to ask before developing the store are:

 Should it sync with DLP resellers?
 Should the store be owned by online information provider or should multiple stores
be linked to the information provider?
11/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

 What should be the USP? Lowest prices in India?
 Should the online information provider take ownership of warranty, returns etc.?
 How would warehousing and dispatch be handled?
 Would resellers be allowed to offer specialty stores, like ebay.in?
 Should all advertising lead to the store?
 Should consumer be allowed to click out of the site to an advertiser’s home page?

The Purchase Process

Here we look at every aspect of the purchase process and list the to-do’s under each segment
of the process. The aim of the to-do’s would be to enhance effectiveness of each segment.

Create Interest
 News
 Columns on trends and directions
 Consumer-oriented writing
 State of the market

Allow Research
 Cross-brand comparisons and evaluations
 Reviews, ratings
 Call center
 Online chat

Provide Choice
 Unrestricted wide variety of offering
 Different payment options

12/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

 Loans and discounts
 Product bundles

Permit Purchase
 Lowest rates in India
 Auctions
 Shopping cart etc

Post Purchase
 How to best use the products you purchased and what to upgrade to
 Software downloads
 Service and support centers

13/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

A Note on Communications Theory

During any form of communications there is a gap between when the event occurs and when
the audience becomes aware of the occurrence. This gap is completed by the existence of
media which propagates news, just like a wave is propagated through the atmosphere. If
there were no medium, there would be no awareness of the event.

Information providers thrive in this gap by becoming the medium (hence the word media).
The faster and better they fill the time between occurrence and awareness the more
successful they can be.

The biggest loss in any medium is Time Lag, which can be corrected by depth of the news
(analysis and insight).

Any form of communications has three components:

 Transmitter (event or occurrence via writer/reporter/editor )
 Media (via print, television, online)
 Receiver (reader or audience via PC/notebook, mobile)

Transmitter and receiver have their own internally generated losses due to noise
(preconceived notions or interpretations) which cannot be monitored and controlled.
However, losses in the media can be controlled.

Losses in the message are due to:

 Reporter/Writer/Editor timeliness or perception
 Print/Broadcast quality – where the news is positioned or importance given
14/15
geoneld@gmail.com



February 10, 2011

 Time lag – frequency of media, time of appearance on TV

The Internet has reduced the time lag and hence the Gap. Thus, it has created a disruption in
the medium. Information is now available instantaneously whether news or analysis.

Thus the only challenge is credibility. This is a kind of loss that exists in the receiver but can
be controlled to an extent by the medium. The Internet has put a high price on credibility.

15/15
geoneld@gmail.com


New consumers of digital lifestyle products

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

Destacado

Destacado (7)

Último

Último (20)

New consumers of digital lifestyle products