Seth Godin writes about being irrationally committed

Entrepreneurs who are irrationally committed to their business are far more likely to get through the Dip.

Salespeople and service providers and marketers who are irrationally committed to customer service can completely transform an ordinary experience and make it remarkable.

He’s right…sometimes. Sometimes, irrational commitment pays off. Sometimes, buying lottery tickets wins millions. And sometimes, irrational commitment is what’s needed to make real breakthroughs.

But most of the time, irrational commitment results in bankruptcy. It results in losing good clients because you’re irrationally committed to the wrong customers. It’s why people refuse to lower the selling price on their overpriced homes. It’s also why I tend to get lost when I make a wrong turn and feel like my destination is just over the next hill (when it’s actually behind me).
It only works out for you when you’re right.

By the way, this ‘newly-coined’ phrase is just a synonym for the sunk cost fallacy.

An hour ago, I was watching a DVD from the first season of AMC’s Mad Men. As I finished the second episode, I posted to Twitter:

i think i like mad men… it’s going to take some time to get used to. it definitely makes me want to drink scotch.

Suddenly, I was followed on Twitter by Paul Kinsey. I recognized the name, but couldn’t quite place where I’d just seen it. It’s a character from Mad Men! This isn’t really a new concept, but I haven’t seen it on Twitter before.

AMC apparently tried to stop these Twitter accounts, though I’d bet this is an extremely well-played marketing campaign. There are dozens of these profiles, though some of them are probably fan fiction. I’m having a great time peeling back layer upon layer of historical ad men and Mad Men.

The real question is not whether the fold exists, but how people scroll.

This image is overlaid with percentiles of browser heights. The 100th percentile means that effectively 100% of users will see that without scrolling. 0th percentile marks the point where no user (based on the sample) will see the content. Download a JPEG of the fold percentages overlay with no site behind it.

This is intended to be a discussion point, design tool, and client demonstration. Clients requesting design changes to avoid the fold often do not realize the reality of browser sizes and base their instincts on personal experience, anecdotes, or even obsolete knowledge of the industry. Realistically, this study should be re-executed regularly to assess how the browser sizes have changed. Mobile browsing, PDAs, increasing screen sizes, etc. are all rapidly changing factors that will affect where the fold lives.

Assessed from 415,927 page loads on the nd.edu homepage from 4/28/2008 to 5/8/2008. These include duplicate page loads. These exclude any 0 height page loads, based on the presumption that this is irrelevant (robots/spiders) or impossible (poltergeists).

A University website isn’t really a single website. It’s actually made up of many sites: Human Resources. Office of the President. Department of Zebra Fish Studies.

So the question is this: how important is it for these websites to be look the same?

This recently became a topic on several forums and in our office. On EduStyle and other sites, people commented about how our Department of Film, Television, and Theatre didn’t look anything like our other sites – or even a Notre Dame website. After kicking these ideas around for a few weeks, I figured I’d jot down a few observations here.

Custom Design

• Individual units have different communications goals


• Design standards and technologies evolve


• Custom tailored to different audiences’ needs

Cohesive Design

• Brand consistency and unity


• Easier maintenance


• Less design/development time


• People tend to think of them all as part of the ND.edu website

Someone proposed a compromise. Administrative offices would get a standard design, intended to be functional and carry the University brand. Academic units – colleges, departments, institutes, and centers – would be offered custom designs. However, there should still be some consistency in brand locations, navigation, etc. As users adapt to the website they’re on, moving to another ND site shouldn’t be totally disruptive. They shouldn’t need to learn a new interface and struggle to find the information they need.

I’ve always been a proponent of custom design, but I can see the value of such a compromise. It would let our small group focus on more of the brand-critical, high visibility websites.

Check out this feedback form from the TweetDeck website. It’s a modal pop-up box with a form and instant feature request form (using UserVoice).

How easy is it for your customers to give you feedback?