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Let me introduce Seena Sharp. She is a long-time friend of mine who
lives in Los Angeles. I met her at FM-2030's futurist courses at
UCLA - "Accelerating Change," etc. back in the 1980s.
<br><br>
If you would like to subscribe to her newsletter
"SharpInsights," I'm sure you will not be sorry! It is
packed full of Seena's keen perspective on business and trends, and her
delightful sense of humor.<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font size=4 color="#800080"><b><i>SharpInsights
#16: Sounding Off<br><br>
</i></b></font>Back when boomers were babies, a consumer's raves (or
rants) about a product <br>
or service were confined to family and friends. Thanks to the Internet,
consumers <br>
now have an international stage and, if provoked, will share their
feelings with the <br>
world. Just ask the guy who started
<a href="http://www.ihatemicrosoft.com/" eudora="autourl">www.ihatemicrosoft.com</a>!<br><br>
However, smart marketers can harness their customers' passion by
encouraging <br>
feedback and using it to create value. For instance, software user forums
often offer <br>
better, faster information than the support pages on a developer's site.
Power to the <br>
people! There's more:
<ul>
<li>Netflix.com members rate movies and even write reviews. (Take that,
Roger Ebert!)
<li>Readers of Fast Company (and other magazines) respond online to
articles and to other readers' remarks.
<li>Target customers rate the products on its website-and some items get
panned!
<li>Many TV shows host message boards to give viewers a soapbox and to
gauge audience reaction to episodes or story lines.
</ul>This type of timely, unedited feedback highlights what matters most
to customers. <br>
How do you access your customers' experience, insight, suggestions and
complaints? <br>
Would creating an online forum be a way to tap this intelligence? <br>
____________________________________________________________________________<br><br>
SharpInsights are occasional, byte-size bits of food for thought from
Sharp Market Intelligence. <br>
Visit
<a href="http://www.sharpmarket.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.sharpmarket.com</a>
for past editions as well as more on business intelligence and <br>
early warning signals. If this issue of SharpInsights was forwarded to you, start receiving your own <br>
by sending a SUBSCRIBE message to subscribe@sharpmarket.com<br><br>
To unsubscribe, simply reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in your subject line.</blockquote>
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<dl>
<dd><font face="Viner Hand ITC" size=4 color="#000080">Natasha Vita-More</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF">
<dd><a href="http://www.natasha.cc/" eudora="autourl">http://www.natasha.cc</a><hr>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times">President, Extropy Institute <a href="http://www.extropy.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.extropy.org</a>
<dd>Founder, Transhumanist Arts & Culture <a href="http://www.transhumanist.biz/" eudora="autourl">http://www.transhumanist.biz</a></font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times"><a href="http://www.transhuman.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.transhuman.org</a> </font>
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