Everything changes all the time; it’s just the nature of our modern world.  The real problem is not how fast things change but how out-of-control we usually feel for not knowing where all these changes will eventually lead. We are all afraid of missing the boat for the next big thing.

Social Media, Netbooks, multi-touch devices, mobiles, streams, waves, web2.0, cloud computing, the Wii and motion detection, not to even mention all the new startups with crazy ideas bringing even more new ways to see and use the internet.  As an early adopter of technology of all kinds, I know more than 90% of those new ideas will be dead in less than a year, but any single one that survives will change how we experience the internet in ways that we cannot even try to predict.

Why does that matter?

Because even though we cannot keep up with technological evolution, we can (and MUST) keep up with users’ expectations and that will give us an insight on developing behaviors.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine (@ginidietrich) wrote a blog post on the “Death of the Corporate Web site” based on another post from Mashable (Is Social Media Making Corporate Websites Irrelevant?) that created a lot of debate. All of this got me thinking that the key point here is not whether Corporate websites are going to die or not, but how they will need to evolve to catch-up with these new developing user behaviors and expectations.

What WILL change?

1. Information Streams – In the next few years, users’ online behavior will quickly shift from “surfing pages in a website” to “surfing streams of interconnected information.”

It might look like it is the same thing, but it changes drastically how users experience the web and navigate through sites. Traditional information architectures, that guide users through your site’s in an orderly fashion (sequential) will not be capable of predicting or controlling the user’s navigation. Users will come from anywhere and land anywhere in your site.  All pages will be landing pages and will have to fully support the user’s objective, lead them to a call-to-action and, probably, be customized to tell a consistent story every time.

A site will become more than just a collection of pages under a URL. It will encompass every digital manifestation of your brand and services wherever they reside in cyberspace (Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, posts, comments, reviews and maybe even emails if Google has its way with the new “Wave”).  With this behavioral shift, Homepages may lose most, if not all, of their importance.

2. Multi-Touch – Touch-screen wireless devices (including netbooks and tablets) will change the way people interface with the computer, which eventually will change the way people interface with websites.

If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, I bet that at least once you accidentally tried to repeat the same gestures/finger movements on a regular phone from a friend out of habit.  After playing a Wii game, you certainly have the sensation being a bit “limited” when you have to use a regular joystick.  The reason for that is simple: whenever you find an easier or more natural way of doing something you adapt to it almost immediately and going back to the old ways is like trying to unlearn how to walk… You just can’t.

In the following years, more and more devices will be touch-sensitive and there are already companies trying to adapt the iPhone “experience” for netbooks, tablets, laptops and even desktops.  Soon, the way we interface with a webpage or navigate through a site will be impacted by the use of such devices and systems.   Users will get used to these experiences and will demand sites to act in a similar way.

3. Augmented Reality – Augmented Reality (or Enhanced Reality) will eventually eliminate the need of physical devices or accessories and the internet will be more ethereal than ever (a real web of dispersed information).

This is not science fiction. A couple of years from now we will be taking pictures by looking at things, receive detailed information about objects (and people) directly from the internet while we handle them, all without looking at a computer or cell-phone screen. There are ongoing studies on how to use the internet to “enhance” our perception of the world around us without the need of physical equipment or accessories.  A group at MIT even created an amazing prototype using readily available materials under $350. When the internet is no longer something you see through a display in some device, today’s website will be seen as just a collection of information about an entity without full context to what you are doing at the moment. At this point, the concept of a website in the way we experience today will become a distant memory of how we did things in the past.

Ok, Now What?

If you ask me how this new website structure or concept will look like in the near (or not so near) future, I’m not certain I know the answer. There are only 3 things I can say for sure:

1. Your customer experience (or at least your user experience) will be fast, ephemeral and dispersed.  People will be (they are already) assaulted by information from all directions presented to them in quick bursts and ever smaller chunks. People will suffer more and more from information overload and the capability of capturing and retaining one specific message will decrease (there are even studies showing how the new generation brains are adapting to handle the speed of the digital life). To stand-out from their stream of information, you will need to have a consistent digital strategy, comprehensive understanding of all your customer touchpoints, strong branding and, above all, be able to CONNECT and ENGAGE with your customers on a personal level.  It is the ultimate one-to-one relationship for mass-consumption.
2. What you see today as your website will become just an end, not the means.  People will get there to consume and convert, not to browse, since its navigation will have no boundaries. It will require a more flexible information architecture where every piece of information (or page for lack of a better term now) can stand alone when pushed into an information stream and still lead the user to other in-context information and call-to-action.
3. No matter how traditional your customers are they will be affected by changes around them at some point and won’t be able to tell you before it happens, because they won’t see it coming themselves.  Survey and Market Researches are useless to predict behavioral shifts because these behavior changes occur on an unconscious level and users only start to rationalize how much their needs and expectations changed a long time after it’s happened. This is why innovative companies like Apple avoid asking their users for what they want in a product; instead they observe their behavior to understand what they need without knowing and only ask their opinion after the product is almost ready to market (e.g., the iPhone).  If you don’t adapt to your users’ future needs and behaviors, your digital strategy is doomed.

——–

So traditional websites (like most corporate sites) WILL die… we just won’t notice!  They will be replaced with something new and better suited for this different perspective and expectation. We will look at them and believe they have adapted and evolved.

Maybe that’s all the same thing anyway…

But the real question here is: will you keep up with times and allow your digital strategy to evolve or will you hang on to what you know today until everything around you has changed? Are you going to keep up with the times or forever chase your own tail while trying to keep up with the Joneses?

It’s totally up to you[r users].

Usually, I don’t use this space (my personal blog) to talk about Twitter stuff, but a couple of friends started a new trend on Twitter that has the potential of making my Friday’s tweets way easier…

If you have been on Twitter long enough, you surely have heard already about #FollowFriday (if you didn’t, here’s a link to a post explaining it by the guy who created it: @micah). I particularly love FollowFridays and I stress over it every week trying to remember everyone I need to mention on my tweets.

But FollowFriday tweets are only useful to others if you tweet a reason for your recommendation, so they can decide if they want to follow that person or not. As your follower list grows, it gets harder and harder to write decent 140 characters explanations for each recommendation without having to used canned answers or taking the whole Friday off from work.

Then a friend, @Area224, decided to find a way to give order and reason to this mess and so he created the FollowFriday #tlist (Twitter List – You can find his list here).  Since then, another good friend, @ginidietrich, decided to copy his idea and, since I didn’t want to be the last one to join the cool kids club, I decided to do the same.  :-)

So here’s my list (It’s a working document, I update it every Friday to add new people and keep it current):

1) People I love connecting and talking every day (or at least every once in a while…)

@Gofurther – He works with me every day and somehow has managed not to kill me (YET)! he’s a good friend that’s always concerned with the wellbeing of others and ready to help.  On top of that, he’s a brilliant customer relationship person who has fascinating views on digital user experience.

@GiniDietrich – What can I say about Gini? She’s a natural people connector (and a very good one at that!).  She becomes the center of any conversation without any effort and has an immense capability of making everyone like her immediately. She’s smart, intelligent, witty, sassy (she’ll love to hear that) and has tons of sense of humor even when the joke is on her – except when you start spreading around that she is a White Sox fan… Then she becomes a real hooligan ;-)

@Hooshy – Hooshy could really make a living out of interrogating people.  She has one of those trustworthy faces that get you spilling the beans about your whole life in just a few minutes (not matter how shy you may be).  She’s is very funny and seems to be honestly happy all the time (and she has a crazy idea for a new restaurant that is just awesome.  If I had any money i’d be investing on her).

@JuliBarcelona – She’s a sweetheart. Always smiling and trying to connect with people.  She keeps saying she is shy and not good at networking with people… So far I don’t believe it at all ;) When you get to know Juli she is very funny, smart and determined

@SEOCopy (she also goes by @level343 and God know how many others) - Gabi is one of those non-stop persons.  She has a serious case of multiple personalities on Twitter and all of them are fun to talk with.  In a place where people try to create a brand out of themselves and be recognized every single time (Twitter), she goes the opposite way and is always surpising me with different twitter handles and a miryad of ever changing avatars.   But I really do love that she always have that almost subtle sarcasm and keen irony on everything she writes.

@SarahRobinson - (I will have to paraphrase Gini here) Oh Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. She is one of my all-time favorites on Twitter and she’s the creator of #TweepleTuesday.   I never met her in person but from talking to her on twitter I have the impression she is one of the sweetest person in the face of earth.  Somehow she made me her unofficial twitter apps beta tester (LOL!) and I willingly accepted the role…

@justinthesouth - Justin is the type of guy that (if you let him) will keep the conversation going over and over.  He’s always fast to reply and is always adding more people to the conversation.  He will definitely entertain you and keep you from closing twitter ;)  I hope to meet him in person one day.

@FoiledCupcakes Mari looks at first like a shy and quiet girl but when you last expect she opens a huge smile and tell you dirty words in Portuguese! :D  She’s very fun to talk to and she is the owner of Foiled Cupcakes. Her cupcakes (the chocolate ones at least) are highly addictive and i can surely tell, because I used to hate cupcakes before meeting her.

@JeannieCW I worked with Jeannie for close to 4 years and just the fact she was able to “get”  and handle me when I was barely capable of making myself understood in English says a lot about her (Nowadays my english has improved but I still barely capable of making myself understood one way or the other…) She is nice person even though she can surprise you with her musical taste (you will have to ask her that :-D).

@BLFarris has one of those infectious laughs. When he laughs, you can’t help but laugh (his voice and laugh can be recognized a mile away – which is good because I am usually the loudest person in a room until he arrives).  Plus he has great business ideas and insights.

@Gennefer & @DaveJohnston – I follow Gennefer since she was known in the twitterverse as @Acclimedia.  She always has something to say about Branding and Customer Experience (good or bad) and I have learned to respect her opinion.  Also, she introduced me to Dave who is a crazy fun guy always ready to tweet his opinion (wheather you want to hear it or not) :)

@DanielHindin and @big_teeth – Great guys doing great work with video.  I’m just getting to know them and they are as funny in person as they are online.  Besides, if you follow him, you can join #embarrassdanielhindin, just because it’s fun.

@LenKendall – Len is a great guy. I started talking with him without actually knowing who he was and how well recognized he is within the Twitter community.  Seems to me that he one of those few with a reputation that reflects who he genuinely is.  Totally worth following.@Julito77 – When I was introduced to Julio on Twitter I could swear he was Brazilian… He’s not, but he does  have latino blood and seems to be always excited and happy with life when he talks. Very easy going and overall nice guy (and his brother, @fernandovarela, is a great singer).

2) Some good people I don’t talk quite so often (but should)

@PaulaMBHall – Paula is a fellow brazilian that works in PR and lives in Phoenix.  Amazingly enough, we never met in Brazil and were introduced by e-mail through a common (American) friend that moved from Chicago to Phoenix (small world, huh?).  So far I learned that Paula has a great sense of humor and is extremely engaged with people’s rights and politics.  I’m looking forward to get to know her better.@luckee13 – She is a felow chicagoan that brings up good discussions and information. Always a good voice to hear in the twittercrowd.

@GeorgeAtha – He’s always helpful and reachable and he seems to be genuinely interested in what you have to say.

@CesLSU Ces seems to be a very energetic and fun guy.  I didnt have a lot of opportunities to talk with in directly yet but have been following his tweets closely and I can say for sure that he is very engaging and is loved by a lot of people that I respect.  If that doesn’t make him worthy of a recommendation, I don’t know what does :-)

@BillTamminga – He reaches out to people and has a spiced sense of humor sometimes (anyone that can take @ginidietrich out of her cool deserves some attention).  All in all he’s a nice guy.

@hollisthomases – Witty tweets and funny remarks. I barely started following her and already get curious to see what she will tweet next.  We have so many friends in common on twitter that we were bound to cross each others path at some point.

3) People from #sushiclubchicago:

These tweeps I can talk more about them in person than actually their tweets, but I meet all of them through Twitter in one TweetUp or other.  Now they are all meeting for sushi at #sushiclubchicago and they are great people to hang out with:

• @chanthana
• @thescottbishop
• @whuddadumbsn
• @johnsharry
• @Keith_Shay
• @krzimmer

4) People I follow just to hear what they have to say:

Even though I use Twitter mostly as place to connect with others, there are some people that I like to follow either because they are always tweeting about good links and references (things that are either very fun or very useful for my work) or they are Authorities on their fields and sources of information you cannot just ignore.  Some of those are:

• @mashable
• @problogger
• @ChrisBrogan
• @armano
• @kenpeters
• @BenParr
• @the_gman
• @GabrielRossi
• @stejules
• @imjustcreative
• @knealemann
• @cheth
• @dancingmango
• @2020science

Thanks,

@Luiserpa

Last week I participated in a very good discussion about the value of a service from both the agency and the client’s perspectives (see the post that originated the discussion and the follow-up post, both by @ginidietrich from Arment Dietrich PR).

It’s very interesting to see how passionate people are about the value of their work (and about the perception of value for the same service in the client’s eyes).  Despite how much this topic is discussed, I don’t think we will ever see a simple answer for it.

The problem here is that there are several different ways to understand “Value” in a service, so a “Value-based” pricing model will never be unique from agency to agency or client to client, and not even within the same agency and the same client.

To understand the value of a service, we need to consider 3 factors:

1. Expectations – No matter the case, value is a matter of expectation. Setting the right expectations from the start is, in my experience,  the only way to ensure satisfactory results and to avoid discussions on the actual value of the service provided.  (I wrote about it 2 years ago – click here to see the post)
   Now, how to set the right expectations? It is a mix of confidence in your own capabilities and knowledge of the market you work in. Each professional will deal with this in its own way, but successful professionals can set right expectations without any effort, because they know their capabilities and limits as well as the current state of their markets. This, of course, doesn’t take into account unforeseen circumstances, but remember that acknowledging the possibility of unexpected outcomes and planning for them is ALSO part of setting right expectations to your clients.
    
2. Trust – A good level of trust is essential to both sides. The agency needs to trust the client and, even more, trust the client’s products or services being advertised. No matter how much effort is put into the message, customers won’t be coming back and the campaign success will be short-lived if the service is not good enough for them.  Agencies that work with products they don’t believe are just fooling themselves (and their clients) and, in the long run, are compromising their relationship, results AND the perception of value to their services.
   On the other hand, the client need to trust the agency and its methods so they can give them enough room to do what they believe will work better.  Clients that question the agency’s strategy every step of the way don’t really trust the agency’s capabilities and intellectual authority.  They are looking not for brains to bring them solutions, but hands to implement their own ideas and strategies. There’s no real perception of value in this kind of relationship and there will never have any.  If you need to do a project like this, charge an hourly rate…
   My analysis here is that you CANNOT work based on value when there’s NO trusted relationship established with the client yet.
    
3. Risk – As with everything, a value-based pricing model is about taking risks (for both sides) and making them worthwhile taking (again, for both sides). The best approach is the one where the agency minimum costs are covered (no one will risk for long if they have to pay to keep working), the main fee is based on achieving expected results and there’s a percentage (bonus) based on overachieving milestones. Clients usually don’t have any problem in paying more for these stretch goals as long as they believe they are proportionally getting (way) more in return.
   Another approach is to agree previously upon separate cost streams based on risk:  
   -  A minimum monthyly retainer cost for allocation of resources for the whole duration of the project (no matter how long);
   -  A main fee based on specific goals and milestones ;
   -  A percentage of revenue, based on a pre-agreed KPI for results clearly above original goals.
   This way each party shares the risk of a minimum cost for believing in the engagement (or the need of the engagement), a fair price for its success and a premium for any extra ROI provided.

I know this answer is not a simple one, but I learned over the years that nothing is simple in our line of work, that client relationships can never be understood by simple numbers and practical wisdom (or just plain common sense) and real empathy are our best tools in the process of understanding the perceived value of our servies (see Barry Schwartz’s video presentation on Practical Wisdom at TED).

All in all, it is good that it isn’t easy or we would all be out of jobs…

Follow Luis on Twitter at www.twitter.com/luiserpa