The Conversion Scientist™

What Can We Learn From the Web Sites of Behavioral Marketing Vendors?

There is a great deal of information, but you have to decipher the code.

In my ClickZ column this month, The Language of Behavioral Marketing Part 1, I explore the Web sites of many of the popular behavioral marketing vendors looking for clues to help me put them in buckets. This is the first in a two-part series that seeks to clear the fog that lies over the industry.

Behavioral marketing vendors aren’t the only businesses whose Web sites need some help.

I hold forth that the Web sites of the industry make these mistakes:

• Everyone’s a Leader
• Shooting at the "Other Guys"
• Everyone Does Everything
• Valueless Value Propositions
• Playing It Safe

I also throw in a few honorable mentions for sites that take a more daring approach in an effort to communicate their value to the marketplace.

The Lab Coat: Conversion Scientist Chic

I apparently have set off a new fashion trend

During my presentation at Innotech Portland on Social Conversion Twitter was alive with chatter about my attractive Lab Coat. In generous Conversion Scientist fashion, I provided @tom_bennett of The New Group with a coat of his own, as well as @bryanrhoads and @kellyrfeller of Intel.

Brian Massey, Kent Lewis and Dylan Boyd at Innotech Portland

Clearly, a I’m not the only one that looks good in a lab coat.

But, lest you believe that the coat is only a fashion statement, be assured that it is an important protective garment for any Conversion Scientist.

In my letter to Tom,  Bryan and Kelly, I tell them that the new addition to their wardrobe is functional as well as stylish.

These coats are woven from mono-filament engagium for strength and protection. The cloth is designed to protect the wearer from all forms of marketing chemicals no matter how acidic or overblown. The material will resist most toxic marketing, including email ribonucleic flaccid, copy hydro-inflate, and Flash fires.

However, there is a danger to the appearance of unbounded intelligence intimated by such an outfit.

Be forewarned that, when wearing the coat in public, you will be expected to have intelligence far beyond normal human capacity. Nonetheless, making up answers to questions about genetics or the proper operation of an electron microscope will harm the image that we try to convey with the lab coat. It’s OK to say “I don’t know.”

Needless to say, such a garment doesn’t come cheap. Safe marketing my friends.