WHAT WE LEARNED FROM RETAIL NAVIGATING

 ‘Tis the season for merchandising.

Everywhere, offline and online, retailers are ready for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday onslaught.  In addition to marketing the right products at right prices, stores have figured out their flows … and we don’t mean in the Zen sense.

Since nearly 90 percent of the world’s population is right-handed (and right-footed), carefully designed store trails lead shoppers to turn right, face an aspirational lifestyle display, then continue at 45 degree angles to find stuff.  Wide aisles invite us to walk quickly to our destination; narrow, encourage browsing.  [And clogged?   No one we know would stay long in that store.]  And a well-lit back of the store offers chances for leisurely looking – and much higher price tags.

Other retail strategies are well documented.  Like the shrewd placement of impulse buys (the trendier tchotkes) at the cash register or front counter.  Or attractive window displays with our fave four-letter word … that would be “sale.”  And most definitely, salespeople with smiles who do not ask “how can I help you?”

Holidays are, truly, the best times to be studying retail.  More than random facts and figures, though, are the learnings to be reaped.  Especially for communicators and designers who need to capture the same sort of attention insiders and outsiders lavish on gift-giving and the spirit.

For one, think hard about the paths you provide folks to find your content:  Not too open, not too closed.  Wide aisles, in our universe, equate to a lack of detail and description.  Whereas, narrow  walkways, targeted to the right populaces, will lead to the appropriate info … and rewards.

Two:  Cue ‘em.  Visuals at every point in the journey lure, supplying audiences the crumbs needed to pursue content or collaboration or activities.  [Most of us, when faced with unfamiliarity, prefer clear directions.]

Third (and, yes, there’s more … we’ll beg you to continue this analogy) is understanding our audiences’ EQs enough to not hover, to not fawn, to not be obsequious, but to instead offer guidance and advice while all are finding their ways.

And yes, all good excuses for our continuing to practice visual (and retail) therapy.

WHAT TALK REALLY MEANS

Everyone’s into conversations these days … on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, even the network-able LinkedIn. 

At least on the agency and client front, the latest dialogue is all about engaging consumers with the brand, creating occasions and ongoing events that encourage an exchange relationship.  Proponents point to real-time communications – on the Web (e.g., McDonald’s Our Food, Your Questions), through the Twitter-sphere (cf. Oreos celebrating lights-out or saluting different demographics) – in the same places we as consumers meet our friends and colleagues.  In short, brands are people too … in this anthropomorphic perspective.

Here comes our heresy:  Pardon us if we have a difficult time envisioning when, exactly, we’d talk with a brand.  Do we want them to advise us on our shopping habits, our love lives, the ways we conduct our business?  Is it important that we dub brands as our next best friends?  [Except for the times when we’re disappointed in service or need/want additional information.]  A brand is simply that:  an inanimate object that, often today, is given human attributes, emotions, and interests.  Most consumers, we hope, would know that their brand relationship is actually staffed by real people who work for a real corporation; every time we go to a Web site or email about an issue, an individual, not the brand, responds.  [Or usually does.  There are times … ]

What we want in an engagement with a brand is something of value.  It could be relevant information that helps us work smarter, better, faster.  Or an app that saves time and money or answers critical questions.  In other instances, it might be a way to express ourselves quickly, as in “likes” and “shares.”  And a split-second of laughter that might lighten our mood.  Even an unknown “something” that will, some day, add to our lives.

We talk every day, with our clients, our friends, our colleagues, our family.  Do we truly need to engage in that kind of talk with a brand?

NO SLEIGHT OF HAND

Get ready for a different kind of revolution.

Ever since most of the United States’ public schools substituted “keyboard proficiency” for learning penmanship (or cursive, as scholars prefer), a number of teachers – and parents, too – are opting for alternative instruction in how to hand-write.

No duh:  The computer and smartphones have impacted language (and, by extension, handwriting) skills; many educators report that kids find it difficult to translate a “tx” or “OMG” into the appropriate scripts.  As do quite a few adults.

It’s not so much that cursive – the joining together of letters in a flowing manner – is underused today; rather, its benefits are simply underappreciated.  A 1989 University of Virginia study proved that, when terrible handwriting was deliberately improved, so did reading skills, word recognition, composition skills, and recall from memory.  Less robust research shows that good cursive leads to better grades … at least, in elementary and middle schools.

What many miss in this low-key debate is that the handwriting of notes, of postcards, of letters, and of longer missives forges an intimate connection between two people.  It’s the kind of bond that many companies aspire to, an engagement between employer and employee.  How many managers, in your own career, have penned a note of congratulations or sympathy or, simply, a conversation starter?  Do you ever expect to receive personal handwritten notes in home or office mailboxes?  Have you? How often in the past year have you deliberately expressed yourself on pen and paper … to colleagues and to staff and to leaders?

We’ll admit:  It’s all too easy to dash off an e-note, where misspellings are quickly identified – and corrected before sending.  And there’s no excuse for being embarrassed about poor handwriting; even a combination of printing and cursive – how most of us write – is acceptable.

Longhand, in short, is tomorrow’s emotional shorthand.

THE EYES JUST MIGHT HAVE IT

Of all the body language tips that speaking coaches impart, there’s one MIA:  The eyes. 

Presenters are trained to rehearse-rehearse-rehearse.  Know your content.  Use appropriate hand gestures and emphases.  Forget the PowerPoint.  And train your eyes on a specific spot in the audience.

What’s forgotten today, for speakers and for anyone who communicates at any time, is the importance of the eyes.  In U.S. culture, looking down, staring, even a diffident gaze signals a non-listening stance, sometimes to the extent of inauthenticity.  That i-behavior can be seen in meetings, during one-on-one conversations, even in small groups.

Why? 

First, it’s hard to hold a confident and respectful gaze for a longer period of time.  [Try it.] 

Second, we’re very accustomed to looking here and there – at our laptops, on our smartphones, at the whiteboard … anywhere, but at the chairperson or speaker.  Some smart meeting organizers ban technology; it makes for a much more productive event. 

Third, because so many of us work virtually or remotely and don’t have to interface with folks every day, we forget.  The i-behavior is endemic and irritating, for sure, but how many of us notice it?  [Probably because we’re all guilty.]

Why eyes?  [We could list all the “eye” quotes, but we’ll spare you.]  It’s all about bonding, pure and simple, whether with an audience of 1,500 or during an intimate conversation.  To connect emotionally, experts recommend eye contact (without fussing or fidgeting) for 60 to 70 percent of the time an individual’s engaged.  Today’s standard – from 30 to 60 percent – is one good reason why communications doesn’t always resonate or persuade.

There is a caveat, of course:  Other cultures, other countries consider eye contact rude, unapproachable.  The Japanese, for instance, lower their eyes as a gesture of respect when speaking to a superior.  Direct  gazes are unacceptable in certain Muslim areas.

What eye-habit works everywhere on Earth?  Forget the eye rolls.