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May 16, 2006

Can Consumers Relate to Our Jargon?

Do consumers have any idea what we are talking about? I'm here at the iSyndicate conference here in New York, sitting next to my ClickZ colleage Rebecca Lieb, and I'm hearing a stampede of buzzwords that are driving me nuts: RSS, full-text feeds, etc. Technology scares me at times, and I worry that we're speaking a language that's fundamentally detached from consumers. Do consumers use "RSS readers" with the command of household appliances, or even their iPods. No way! I also worry we're making everything so difficult. But a moment ago, I asked Rebecca to share her "Bloglines" feeds to me so I could capitalize on her work in a "relevant universe" of marketing information. Painfully complex process, and it took four e-mail cycles to get the darn list to my e-mail, at which point I got really confused again. We need to make this simple and easy, and the communicate the benefits with even greater clarity and simplicity. Sue MacDonald, my colleague, agrees! (Right Sue!)

Posted by Pete on May 16, 2006 at 11:42 AM in Confessions & Dissonance | Permalink

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Hey Pete - consumers do not understand the jargon --nor should they EVER have to...but then again, I am preaching to the choir here.

Posted by: deborah schultz | May 16, 2006 at 03:09 PM

Share Your OPML
http://share.opml.org/

Posted by: Dimitar Vesselinov | May 22, 2006 at 08:03 PM

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