Karen’s Daily Two Cents – Week of 7/18

Friday, July 22, 2016:

Happy Friday! Remember when I said in my column on Monday that it was the competitors that you didn’t see coming that are the ones to really worry about? Overnight, we now have an interesting new payments landscape with the Mastercard/VocaLink buy and the Visa/PayPal (really big) deal – creating new sources of competition that have the potential to really mix things up. That’s what I will be writing about this weekend for Monday. I’ll bet it’s what you’ll be thinking about too.

My recent Op-ed said “Expect the unexpected.” Yesterday’s #news via three big names just proved that. #Daily2CNTS https://t.co/nbgJZVq7UB

— Karen Webster (@karenmpd) July 22, 2016

Wednesday, July 20, 2016:

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. — Confirming a hair appointment ended up prompting me to download an app that is also the software used to manage my bar method class bookings. It says it’s easier for me to manage all such business that uses reservations and payments that way. For me, it’s just another point of friction that forces a brand affinity into an app that adds little value for me. There were a bunch of other options that would have delivered a better customer experience if logging in with that app’s credentials was the goal.

“There’s an app for that.” To me, sometimes means “There’s an extra step for that.” #Friction #Daily2CNTS: https://t.co/nbgJZVq7UB

— Karen Webster (@karenmpd) July 20, 2016

Tuesday, July 19, 2016:

Sometimes the toughest competitors to fight are the ones you can’t see now and didn’t see coming. For instance, if I am an online advertiser, what does the rise of voice activated assistants do to my business? When I ask Alexa for something, she doesn’t bring it to me with a 15-second pop-up ad or blaring video commercial first. As voice-activated apps, and even chatbots (if they catch on) become the on ramps for commerce those who have simply taken the offline ad model online could find themselves in a world of hurt.

Competition comes from the places you aren’t looking. #Alexa and #chatbots #DAILY2CNTS: https://t.co/nbgJZVq7UB pic.twitter.com/gaokuzNrmf

— Karen Webster (@karenmpd) July 19, 2016