Business Startups in Asia This Week

Payroll Hero | Philippines

Payroll Hero offers a unique service that helps companies keep track of employees using biometric facial recognition to ensure workers are at work when they should be. The startup has also been recently selected as ‘IT Startup of the Year’ in the Philippines.

Kumami | China

With Chinese parents terrified by food safety issues for pretty much anything that’s made in China, local startup Kumami (the name, fittingly, means “Cool Mommy”) wants to come to the rescue. It’s an online flash sales mall that offers children’s products imported from the US and Europe at discounted prices.

Aothun | Vietnam

Aothun is a four-year old Vietnam-based design and printing startup which has been on an inspiring – and terrifyingly rollercoaster – entrepreneurial journey so far. It has a vision for incubating a thousand fashion and design startups in the next two years.

How To Build An App That Resonates

How To Build An App That Resonates

Danny Trinh Designer, Path An intimate social network, intended for small groups--close family or friends, say--to share on-the-go video, photos, and updates	Lee Linden Cofounder and CEO, Karma An app that monitors friends' birthdays and milestones, and helps you send them gifts	Andrew Hsu Founder, Airy Labs Educational apps for kids such as Mini Minute, in which a player shoots monsters while learning to tell time
How do you start planning?
"I tend to sit around for days, sketching ideas on paper and then bouncing them off other people in a high-velocity way. And once you know something is good, the time between implementation and execution is not that long."	"We start with pinpointing ourselves. For Karma, we had a need. We know we're not the only ones who live far from friends and family. The key is that when you have a problem yourself and you're looking for a solution, that's a good place to start."	"I move around a lot. I draw on whiteboards. I think brainstorming is good, but also I go to a private place to work, or I go outside. I've started the habit of walking meetings. I walk the person around the block and we talk along the way."
How do you make good first impressions?
"One of the key parts is transitions. All good apps have really good transitions, which enable the app to tell a story. I'd take Path's plus button as an example. It's an attempt to use animation to delight people, to make an action seem attractive."	"Focus on a single task or user problem. Mobile services that do many things are confusing. People want to get in and get out doing one thing."	"Parents are the ones holding the credit cards to pay for the app, but I think it's important that the push is not just from the parents' side. We want to make it attractive and fun for the kids, otherwise we could just be designing textbooks."
What are you doing to keep your app relevant?
"Our idea at Path is that you'll share more when it's with people you care about. We came out with Path 2.0 in December, which has new features to help share your location and who you're with, thoughts, music you're listening to, even when you wake up and go to sleep."	"You build customer trust, and if they understand what your product does for them, they will come back again and again. Karma, for example, will remember all of the gifts you've given people. We can use that social data to make you feel at home in the app."	"We solicit endless feedback. We even have a feedback option inside our apps that people can type in. We always ask, How do kids interact with these devices? What do they want? How can we make the interface understandable?"

How To Make Retail Exciting Again

Rick Barrack Chief Creative Officer, CBX	Rachel Shechtman Founder, Story
The dialoguers: Rachel Shechtman is the founder of Story, a Manhattan boutique that updates its theme--and products!--every four to eight weeks. Rick Barrack is the chief creative officer at branding firm CBX, which recently helped Duane Reade do the impossible: execute a redesign to become cool (at least, as much as any drugstore can be cool) . SHECHTMAN: When we think of the next generation of retail design, we think about storytelling. My rule: 70% of an experience should be what consumers know and 30% should be surprise and delight. What you did with Duane Reade's package design is all delight. Take a pretzel, for example. Everyone knows what it is, and there's not much product differentiation. But you put it in a bag with black-and-white stripes that look like the Empire State Building, and suddenly consumers think, Oh my God, this is so cool. BARRACK: It creates an engagement opportunity. Our models to create that engagement are really the same in many ways; we're just doing it on a much more mass scale. SHECHTMAN: Why are people going to brick and mortars at all? For the experience. BARRACK: The dynamics of e-commerce, as it has evolved, created a new shopping behavior. People demand more information. And now, outside of e-commerce, we have to provide that as well. SHECHTMAN: So many e-commerce brands have just been nailing it, and a lot of brick-and-mortar retailers got lazy. Now the older sibling is looking up to the younger sibling. BARRACK: Well, e-commerce has provided exclusivity, and people want that in retail stores. Duane Reade narrowed offerings to make it feel more relevant--and exclusive--to New Yorkers: At the Wall Street location, the sushi bar is called Up Market and there's a stock ticker; in Williamsburg, there's a growler bar. It's telling the consumer, We understand the way you live, where you live, and what you need from us. SHECHTMAN: Consumers also want to know the retailer's point of view. My store is like a magazine: There's the editorial side and the publishing side, as we partner with brands for sponsorship. We have to let our story drive the assortment, rather than let the assortment drive our story. And when that story is sincere, it will spread just like a viral video, attracting all demographics, from 9-year-old Bella, who lives up the street, to my 65-year-old neighbor. BARRACK: You have to walk in the shoes of consumers. When we start working with a brand, we ask, If this brand were a room, what would it look like? And then we'll build multisensual rooms to get a better sense of the product and its consumer. SHECHTMAN: It's funny you say, "What would this brand look like?" I do a retail-experience test--walk out of a store and describe it as if it were someone you met at a cocktail party. BARRACK: That's right. It's not rocket science. You have got to step out of your own skin and spend time there. We'll take clients on daylong expeditions to show them more interesting retail spaces--even if it's for package design--to get inspiration. We'll even take them to the local gym so they get a sense of the look of the community. It's a journey. You can't turn up the heat on a cake and expect it to taste the same. Good ideas need time to bake. SHECHTMAN: It's really about using storytelling as a matchmaker between brands and consumers. And design is a big part of that. You're saying, "Hey, we're cool," without really saying it.

Jeans store uses QR codes to make shopping easier for men

Hointer uses the technology to break down the traditional retail model and help make clothes shopping pain-free.

We recently wrote about QThru, a system using QR codes to speed up the check-out process. Aimed at men who don’t like shopping, Hointer also uses the technology to break down the traditional retail model and help make clothes shopping pain-free.

Located in Seattle, customers walking into the store are greeted by a floor that contains only one pair of each model of jeans available. The jeans are tagged with a QR code that – when scanned using the store’s bespoke app – delivers a pair in the chosen size to a fitting room in the store and alerts the customer which room to go to. Once the jeans have been tried, customers can either send the jeans back into the system or swipe their card using a machine in each fitting room to make a purchase. The GeekWire video below shows the system in action:

Rather than forcing shoppers to contend with piles of clothes hoping to find the right size, Hointer simplifies the process using technology and makes buying a pair of jeans less stressful. How else can the retail experience be tailored to those who would otherwise avoid it?

14 big trends to watch in 2013

From sensor journalism to lean government to preemptive health care, 2013 will be interesting.

 

2012 was a remarkable year for technology, government and society. In our 2012 year in review, we looked back at 10 trends that mattered. Below, we look ahead to the big ideas and technologies that will change the world, again.

Liquid data

In 2012, people still kept publishing data in PDFs or trapping it in paper. In 2013, as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists look to use government data as a platform, civic startups that digitize documents will help make data not just open but liquid, flowing across sectors previously stuck in silos.

Networked accountability

In 2012, mobile technology, social media and the Internet have given first responders and government officials new ways to improve situational awareness during natural disasters, likeHurricane Sandy. A growing number of free or low-cost online tools empowers people to do more than just donate money or blood: now, they can donate, time, expertise or, increasingly, act as sensors. In 2013, expect mobile sensors, “sensor journalism” and efforts like Safecast to add to that skein of networked accountability.

Data as infrastructure

When natural disasters loomed in 2012, public open government data feeds became critical infrastructure. In 2013, more of the public sector will see open data as a strategic national resource that merits stewardship and investment.

Social coding

The same peer networks that helped build the Internet are forming around building digital civic infrastructure, from collaboration between newsrooms to open government hackers working together around the country. 2012 was a breakout year for GitHub’s use in government and media. 2013 will be even bigger.

Data commons

Next year, more people will take a risk to tap into the rewards of a health data commons. Open science will be part of the reward equation. (Don’t expect revolutionary change here, just evolutionary change.)

Lean government

The idea of “lean government” gained some traction in 2012, as cities and agencies experimented with applying the lean startup approach to the public sector. With GOV.UK, the British government both redefined the online government platform and showed how citizen-centric design can be done right. In 2013, the worth of a lean government approach will be put to the test when the work of the White House Innovation Fellows is released.

Smart government

Gartner analyst Andrea DiMaio is now looking at the intersection of government and technology through the lens of “smart government.” In 2013, I expect to hear much more about that, from smartphones to smarter cities to smart disclosure.

Sharing economy

Whether it’s co-working, bike sharing, exchanging books and videos, or cohabiting hackerspaces and community garden spaces, there are green shoots throughout the economy that suggest the way we work, play and learn is changing due to the impact of connection technologies and the Great Recession. One of the most dynamic sectors of the sharing economy is the trend toward more collaborative consumption — and the entrepreneurs have followed, from Airbnb to Getable to Freecycle. The private sector and public sector are saving real money through collaborative consumption. Given support from across the ideological spectrum, expect more adoption in 2013.

Preemptive health care

Data science and new health IT offer an extraordinary opportunity to revolutionize health care, a combination that gave Dr. Atul Gawande hope for health care when we spoke in 2012. In 2013, watch for a shift toward “preemptive health care,” as behavioral science becomes part of how affordable care organizations try to keep patients healthy.

Predictive data analytics

Just as doctors hope to detect disease earlier, professionals across industry and the publicsector will look to make sense of the data deluge using new tools next year. Predictive data analytics saved lives and taxpayer dollars in New York City in 2012. U.S. cities have now formed a working group to share predictive data analytics skills. Look for data science to be applied to regulatory data more in 2013.

Algorithmic censorship and algorithmic transparency

Expect speech online to continue be a flashpoint next year. As algorithmic censorship becomes a common approach to moderation on social networks and predictive analytics are applied in law enforcement, media, commerce and regulation, there will be even more interest inunderstanding bias in these systems and the civil rights implications of big data.

Personal data ownership

Should the Freedom of Information Act apply to private companies? In 2012, a report from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey Consulting described personal data as a new asset class. Much of the time, however, people are separated from their personal data. In 2013, expect to see more data disclosed to consumers and citizens and applied in new choice engines.

Open journalism

In 2012, Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger shared 10 principles for open journalism. While the process of gathering and sharing news in a hyper-networked environment will only grow more messy as more people gain access to tools to publish around the world, this trend isn’t going backward. Despite the trend toward the “broadcast-ification of social media,” there are many more of us listening and sharing now than ever before. Expect journalism to be a more participatory experience in 2013.

Automation, artificial intelligence and employment

The combination of big data, automation and artificial intelligence looked like something new in 2012, from self-driving cars to e-discovery software to “robojournalism” to financial advisers tomedical diagnostics. Wherever it’s possible, “software is eating the world.” In 2013, the federal government will need an innovation agenda to win the race against the machines.

Maker's Row -Platform simplifies connections with US-based manufacturers

Maker’s Row aims to help make the manufacturing process simple to understand and easy to access in the US.

It’s one thing to have a good product idea, but at least half the entrepreneur’s battle is bringing it to life. That’s where Maker’s Row aims to help, by aiming to simplify the manufacturing process in the United States.

“From large corporations to first time designers, we are providing unparalleled access to industry-specific factories and suppliers across the United States,” the New York-based company explains. Toward that end, it offers in-depth profiles of US factories along with an easy way to search through them. Video tours help users zero-in on the factory that’s best for them, while a six-step outline provides an overview of the whole process. Users of Maker’s Row can save factory profiles, contact factories directly, read and write reviews, and get updates on new industries and categories. The site is free for users; factories pay to be included. The video below explains the concept in more detail:

Since its launch in October, Maker’s Row’s initial focus is the apparel and accessories industry, but it plans to expand into other industries as well. Product designers and entrepreneurs: one to test out on your next manufacturing venture?

The Top 4 Tech Startup Trends of 2013

1. Our phones are becoming our remote controls for life. If we have a need for it in our daily lives, there should and will be an icon and app for it on our phone. It’s as simple as that. Our phones are our emergency kit for first-world problems.

Whether it’s a taxi or a ride in the rain (Uber, Lyft), a mechanic (YourMechanic), a doctor’s appointment (ZocDoc), the literal remote control (AppleTV), a personal assistant (Exec), a cake-baker (Zaarly), groceries (Instacart), or you’re getting a little chilly and want the temperature in the house turned up (Nest), our phones are the concierge. I expect this phenomenon to continue in 2013 and as we run into times in our daily lives when we don’t have an icon for it just yet. Someone will be working hard to create it.

I understand that many of these services are not rolled out across the entire country (much less the world), but trust me when I say that the convenience these services offer blows my mind every time I use them.

2. Crowdfunding behavior will spill beyond their silos. We as Internet consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with a new, or some would say, a very old, style of commerce. It’s one where a patron, client or customer purchases something that doesn’t exist yet — a la Groupon (via bulk-buying and daily deals), Kickstarter (via crowdfunding a documentary or a hardware product into existence), or our own site, Crowdtilt, making ambitious group experiences possible. These new types of consumer models require money, a group of people, and a threshold of demand that must be met before the exchange is made. This communication through commerce makes a lot of sense for all parties: A seller is guaranteed demand before production and a buyer gets to take advantage of the de-risked production, getting a higher ticket item for a lower price than she or he would receive otherwise.

In 2012 we also saw massively successful crowdfunded projects like App.net andLockitron.com raise millions on their own, with commerce models borrowed from crowdfunding sites. In 2013, I think this commerce model will continue to spill beyond the silos that pioneered the models in the first place.

(Crowdtilt just launched the world’s first international crowdfunding API this month, so you can say this prediction is either completely self-promotional or that we believe in this trend so strongly we put our money where our mouth is by fostering it.)

Furthermore, we have hardware tinkerers coming out of the woodwork to blow us away with their inventions and innovative uses for inexpensive, readily available sensors. From things like Xbox Kinnect and Belkin’s Wemo Motion, to Fitbit and Jawbone’s Up, to replacements for standard cardboard board games (Sifteo), or startups like Wattvision (wattvision.com), sensors are being used in incredibly inexpensive and impressive ways.

3. Sensors, your time is now. In our pockets, we’ve got a device that can control, read and display information from the world around us — and it can do it all continuously and wirelessly.

And this doesn’t even include the contactless payment systems using NFC/RFID (“near field communication” and “radio-frequency identification”) readers and devices that we’ve been hearing about for a few years now. (RFID readers and devices are projected to triple in sales by 2014 and reach a world-wide market size of $20bn USD.

If smart devices like our phones, our tablets and the sophisticated console navigation systems in our vehicles are the brains, it’s time to give them limbs.

4. ‘Hollow Giants’ looking for business models (or suitors). Tumblr, Foursquare, Quora and Twitter are perceived as massive companies within the startup ecosystem. But in terms of revenue-generating businesses, they barely register on the radar. And since the Facebook IPO, social hasn’t really had the shine it once did within the public or private markets.

Do I think social is dead? No. On the contrary, I think the Web is still ripe for a more social experience, but I think that while these companies have proven they can get an audience, the time has come to see whether they can build a business off that audience or whether that audience is worth an acquisition by the likes of Google or Yahoo.

Whatever these massively funded and massively valued startups do in 2013, their behavior will likely be dictated by the need to prop up their massive valuations. This kind of pressure or challenge is nothing new for the founders and executives that got their companies to this point, but it will be interesting to see which direction each startup takes in the next 12 months.

Tech Trends in 2013 from Accelerator - WSJ

The Internet will become fun again. When was the last time you had real fun on the Internet? Exactly. We are past the first wave of social gaming, we all understand content sharing, and we all “like” friends posts on Facebook…but is any of that really fun? I don’t think so. Coming soon: new games, new social applications and new immersive experiences will create true joy for web and mobile users. We are at the point where the internet needs some new toys, and I for one can’t wait to play with them. And no, ‘Poking’ is not the answer.

Technology transforms your everyday places. The majority of us spend most of our time outside of work in two places: the house and the car. Technology has yet to truly penetrate either of these spheres in a meaningful way. We are now at a point where connectivity, cheap and easy hardware and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets can lead to technological innovations in the home and car that have practical life applications. For a great example of this, check out SmartThings.com (full disclosure: I am an investor). They are on to something big and they are not the only ones.

Connectivity, quantified self and the body. Sensors and smartphones allow the body to become another vehicle of connectivity. These possibilities open endless opportunities for entrepreneurs to ‘plug’ into real life in ways never before imagined. Already some very powerful experiences have emerged around running and fitness (which I don’t really do well). The excitement for me is around extending this to all aspects of our physical lives, and using technology to improve our health and the way we live. Easily installable and accessible monitors and sensors allow for the aggregation and processing of massive amounts of data that will unlock new discoveries to allow the human platform to evolve. I can’t wait.

Offline retail finally plays catch-up.The retail experience is stuck in the 1980s. E-commerce continues to put more and more pressure on brick and mortar stores. Additionally, online-only retailers will continue extending their brands offline catalyzing even further innovation in the offline world. I expect this is the year that physical retailers really start to modernize. They need to. This will take many forms, from innovations in merchandising, pricing, customer service and loyalty programs to hopefully the launch of new offline retailers that start with a modernized experience. But what excites me is seeing the online advantages brought offline, such as curation, personalization and the connection between online and offline in one singular experience (in-store pickup, delivery, local inventory). Innovation will also occur behind the scenes, in terms of inventory management, robust in-store analytics and customer intelligence. If this doesn’t happen fast, say goodbye to many of the big box brands you have come to love.

Crowdfunding of startups doesn’t emerge.Venture capital itself is not immune to disruption, but I do not believe that crowdfunding sites that allow anonymous investors to pour money into startups that sound cool is a lasting trend. Investing in startups is really hard and most people lose most of their money most of the time (including the best VCs). Having investors on your cap table who understand the high likelihood of loss and behave predictably when this occurs is underrated. New investors not prepared for this will cause headaches, or worse, bring down the company. Access to early stage capital is not the limiting factor for startups and pooling together momentum-driven capital to fund 18 months of web development is not a value add. Having experienced investors who can help your company grow is more important in the hard times than the good ones. Crowdfunding projects and products is awesome, but the jury is still out on crowd-investing.

goBalto - easiest way to start clinical trials on the web

goBalto was founded in 2008 by award winning industry veterans who believe study startup can be improved. How? By delivering web-based solutions that are simple, easy-to-use and accessible. Behind the scenes, we assembled a stellar team of study startup gurus, "cracker-jack" software engineers & designers to build a solution that the internet generation has come to expect – only for clinical research. Simpler. Easier. Making you feel better. That’s goBalto

Jae Chung founded goBalto in October 2008. Prior to goBalto, he co-founded Celltrion, a biopharmaceutical group in Asia. As VP of business development, he secured deals with BMS, Sanofi-Aventis, CSL and is credited with landing the largest biomanufacturing supply agreement in Asia to date worth over $500 million. In another life he worked at McKinsey & Company, was a CPA and lived in the Big Apple

http://www.gobalto.com/datasheets/goBaltoTrackerDatasheet_14June2011c.pdf

5 Reasons Why Your Online Presence Will Replace Your Resume in 10 years

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

We’re seeing more and more recruiters use the web as a place to search for talent and conduct employment background searches. This trend is set to increase year over year and I’ve been predicting that an “online presence search” will become as common as a drug test since 2007. Your online presence should consist of your own website at yourfullname.com (a domain can be purchased at GoDaddy.com using promo code FAN3). This website is the core of your online presence and if you optimize it effectively, it will rank number one for your name in major search engines such as Google. Also, your online presence should contain social network profiles, with vanity URL’s, on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter at a minimum. I would also get listed on sites, such as Spokeo.com, and obtain your Google profile.
By claiming your web presence, you’re protected from other people, with the same name, claiming it before you. You also gain control over how you’re perceived online, and thus what employers find out about you when they conduct their search. A recent study by OfficeTeam shows that more than one-third of companies feel that resumes will be replaced by profiles on social networks. My prediction is that in the next ten years, resumes will be less common, and your online presence will become what your resume is today, at all types and sizes of companies.
5 reasons why your online presence will replace your resume:
1. Social networking use is skyrocketing while email is plummeting

More and more people are using social networks to send and receive messages. About 90% of U.S. Internet users visit a social networking site each month, reports Comscore. Usage of Web-based email has fallen 8%, with the biggest decline among 12 to 17 year-olds, with an almost 60% drop. Although, you may think of this as a generational trend, the highest growing demographic on Facebook is 35+, and LinkedIn caters primarily to that demographic, too. Employers are reviewing your profiles to see what kind of person you are outside of work, who you’re connected to, and how you present yourself. Each gives clues to how well you can fit into the corporate culture. When employees don’t fit in the culture, there is turnover, and it costs the organization thousands of dollars.
2. You can’t find jobs traditionally anymore
In order to get a job, you have to be creative, attract jobs to your website, and network constantly. Applying to job postings, in newspapers and online, won’t get you anywhere and is becoming completely ineffective. Susan Adams, of Forbes.com, shared a survey by webjob.com of recently employed job seekers found that 23% of those surveyed found their job through ads. By building your online presence, employers can find you and thus you have more opportunities. If you don’t have an online presence, you won’t appear to be relevant and you will be passed over for more savvy applicants that have visibility. You need to be creative in your job search by developing your own product, eBook, viral video, or personal advertisement. Finally, you need to treat your life as one giant networking event, and meet as many people in your field as you can.
3. People are managing their careers as entrepreneurs
In the career field, the term “Careerpreneur” describes a professional who manages their career like an entrepreneur, always searching for the next big opportunity. My colleague, Scott Gerber, author of “Never Get a Real Job” says it best: “you need to create a job to keep a job.” A survey of 1,623 Gen Yers, conducted by Buzz Marketing Group, Scott’s Young Entrepreneur Council, and presented by LegalZoom, finds that more than 35% of Gen-Y’ers have jobs have started their own businesses on the side in order to supplement their income. This shows that the younger generation understands that there’s no job security and that they can build companies to offset their low wages. Another study revealed that 84% of employees plan to look for new jobs in 2011 (up from 60% a year ago). It’s too easy to get laid off now, which is why you need to build your online presence before you need it, and constantly look for the new opportunity that will further your personal brand.
4. The traditional resume is now virtual and easy to build

Have you ever created your resume using Microsoft Word? I’m sure you have, but those days are quickly coming to an end. Professionals are going to start using LinkedIn’s “Resume Builder” tool to turn their LinkedIn profile into a resume that they can use to submit to jobs. In this way, LinkedIn profiles can be used passively and actively in the job search process. Employers use LinkedIn as a search tool to find top talent, and job seekers use LinkedIn to leverage their network in support of their search.
5. Job seeker passion has become the deciding factor in employment
Your online presence communicates, or should communicate, what you’re truly and genuinely passionate about. 83% of job seekers would rather have a job they love than a job that pays well, according to to a SimplyHired.com survey. On the other hand, I firmly believe that you won’t be able to obtain and sustain a job without passion anymore. There is far too much competition and employers like to see people who are enjoying their work because they will be more productive and help foster a stronger corporate culture. Your best bet is to develop your online presence and focus your job search around what you’re passionate about instead of what will make you the most money. You will soon see that your passion will make you more money than your thirst for a higher wage!
Dan Schawbel, recognized as a “personal branding guru” by The New York Times, is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, a full-service personal branding agency. Dan is the author of Me 2.0, the founder of the Personal Branding Blog, and publisher of Personal Branding Magazine.

Toast, new mobile app that helps diners keep an eye on the tab

The Toast iPhone app allows you to start a tab at a restaurant, linked to your credit card. You can see what’s on your tab and divide it exactly as you’d like among several diners. (Maybe you want to split it down the middle, or pay only for what you ordered — especially on those occasions when your companion downs a few cocktails and you’re sipping cola.) You can set an amount for the tip, and settle up whenever you’re ready. Toast eliminates all that back-and-forth with the check, your credit card, and multiple copies of the receipt.
On the restaurant’s end, Toast provides an iPad that is plugged in to the cash register. (Toast currently works only with POSitouch point-of-sale systems.) That enables wait staff to enter orders the way they usually do, and have them magically appear on the app that diners are using. Servers can also get background on customers by clicking on their profiles on the tablet: who comes in frequently, tips well, or often brings in big groups. “One problem that most restaurants have,” Fredette says, “is that as they hire new staff, their regulars aren’t recognized.”
Eventually, Fredette plans for Toast to do more. He sees it as an establishment’s “connection with their customers,” a way for them to ask you for feedback, or to share your experience on social media. There will also be a way for restaurants to send you special offers (of course.)
When we tried it last Thursday, a few things went awry, as is often the case with demos of technology that’s still in development. Our server, apparently new, had never heard of Toast. Fredette mentioned the name of another server who had used the system. A tab got started with Toast, but it only included Fredette, not me. So we asked again, and finally we were both included on it. (Servers see pictures of diners using Toast pop up on the tablet next to the cash register, and click them to add them to a tab.) Then, I could see the items we ordered on the screen of my iPhone, and Fredette and I could choose which ones we wanted to pay for. We also noticed that someone had added a mango iced tea to our order that we’d discussed with the server, but hadn’t ordered (or received.) We asked for that to be removed, the old-fashioned way, and it was. Despite the snafus, it was nice to have a way to split the bill in a very granular fashion (I paid just for my fish sandwich and side of polenta, which were $2 more expensive than what Fredette ordered), and also to pay and leave exactly when we were ready to do so. With large groups, Fredette pointed out, Toast deals fairly with that scoundrel who always dashes out fifteen minutes before everyone else, plunks down a $20, and then forces everyone else cover his overage.
Right now, Toast is only deployed at Firebrand Saints. “We wanted to get it right at one place first, and then it becomes an easier sell to other restaurants,” Fredette says. “And we hope people will tell their friends about it.” He says that eventually, the company hopes to charge restaurants a fee in exchange for helping them cultivate a larger, more loyal customer base.

'Personalized Persuasion' Is The Future Of Marketing, And It's Only Just Begun

Today, companies are able to test messaging in real-time, trying dozens of variants to discover which ones create the desired behavior most efficiently. But so-called “A/B testing,” which is designed to find the best solution for the average user, is rapidly being replaced by far more sophisticated methods designed to optimize on an individual, per-user basis.

Mass customization, of the kind used by Amazon to predict which products to offer based on past behaviors, is increasingly supplemented with “personalized persuasion,” whereby the psychological technique used to appeal to the customers is tailored to increase the intended action. Companies not only customize their experiences to give customers what they want, but they also keep tabs on users to present their messages exactly how the user wants it.

ADAPTIVE MARKETING

A recently published study in Personal and Ubiquitous Computing demonstrated how matching the right persuasion technique with the right customer outperforms traditional methods. The study tracked the results of an email campaign run by an unnamed company selling a product similar to the Fitbit or Nike Fuel band.

Users wore their devices throughout the day to track movement and calories burned. They then uploaded their data by connecting the device to their computers. Doing so gave the wearers insight into their fitness levels and prompted them to take steps to improve their health.

However, shortly after customers started using their devices, the company noticed something was going very wrong. Users stopped connecting them. With no data uploaded, customers weren’t getting the results they wanted and that meant no advocates to spread the word about the benefits of the product.

To try and solve the problem, the company crafted four emails urging customers to connect and upload their data. They sent a standard email message to a control group and also sent alternate versions that simply substituted a short paragraph utilizing one of three persuasion techniques, similar to those applied in the opening lines of this essay. From there, they tracked how users responded.

Interestingly, when a randomly selected group of users of the service was asked which message they thought would be most effective in persuading people to action, they picked the email below, which employs the authority persuasion technique.

Dear <name>,

How are you doing? We hope all is well. It is 3 days since the last time you connected your Activity Monitor.

Experienced coaches recommend frequent uploads of your activity data. This will help you to gain more insight and be more active!

We would like to remind you to connect it to your PC soon and stay in touch.

Sincerely,

<the company>

Although most respondents predicted this email would be the most effective, it performed much worse than expected. So much for the wisdom of the crowds.

In fact, the test concluded that the best performing messages were those tailored to the user’s preferred persuasion method. For example, if the customer performed the intended behavior (i.e. plugging in the device) after receiving a message using a scarcity persuasion technique – “connect now before it’s too late!” they would receive future messages using that same technique.

This form of personalized persuasion outperformed other test groups. After the system learned the customers’ preferences, the messages tailored to users beat the response rate of the standard email by nearly 20 percent. Improvements like these add up to huge returns when applied to marketers sending millions of messages.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?

But the field of personalized persuasion is in its infancy and marketers and researchers are still learning the limitations and rules of the practice. For example, a study appearing next month in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising reveals some non-obvious truths about the application of the tools of persuasion. Namely, that when it comes to the tools of influence, more may not always be better.

The study’s simple experiment compared click-through rates on Google text ads attempting to influence people to take a mock survey. The study tested the use of multiple persuasion techniques per ad, such as social proof, authority, and scarcity, versus an ad with only one of the techniques used.

For example, while one ad might say, “There are only 18 hours left to participate in this study.” Another said, “Only 18 hours left, & Professor Ford recommends it. 100s took it.” Averaged over multiple trials with similar ads, the study concluded that the click-through rate of the single-method ads were double that of those using multiple persuasion techniques.

TALK TO ME

Though the test was basic, the implication that companies may be subjecting users to persuasion overload is an important consideration for marketers. It appears that adding too many persuasive arguments may arouse suspicion and increase the likelihood the ad will be scrutinized. Potential customers may also find this approach to be too mentally taxing, whereas using just one clear persuasion method may be more easily understood.

Finally, according to Maurits Kaptein, one of the authors of the fitness device study and founder of Science Rockstars, a company specializing in persuasion personalization, “Marketers are realizing that people are more than numbers. We are all different and have certain aversions to particular techniques more than others. By throwing everything at a customer, companies may be increasing the odds that any one user sees something they don’t like.”

By singling out one persuasion strategy per person, companies are addressing customers in the way that best suits the user. In the age of increasing personalized data and a greater understanding of the tools of persuasion, companies will no longer need to communicate with customers as an amalgam of an “average user” that doesn’t actually exist. Instead, by marrying psychology and customer data, smart companies will give customers more of what they want: someone who speaks their language.

Read more: http://www.nirandfar.com/2012/10/mass-persuasion-one-user-at-a-time.html#ixzz2GCIYIy8Q

Smart Marketing Trends for 2013

1. Visual Storytelling – Thanks to image-centric sites like Pinterest and Instagram, 2012 became the year of brand visualization. Visual content is now in higher demand than ever before and brands must step up and tell their story through more than words.

2. Social Responsibility – As socially conscious Gen Y generates even greater financial success, it’s imperative brands help this generation appreciate their social influence as a strategic priority in 2013.

3. Actionable Data – With improved technology came significantly better marketing data in 2012. The key in 2013 is determining how to make this data actionable.

4. Focused Content – 2012 was the year of content marketing with brands realizing the important role it plays in influencing purchase decisions and driving search traffic. However, content strategies had little focus and lacked strategy. Set clear objectives in 2013 to realize the true power of content marketing.

5. QR Codes – Quick Response (QR) codes would take off in a bigger way in the U.S. than they actually have, though they are a dominant communication tool in many other countries. QR codes are square bar codes smartphone users scan to be taken directly to a targeted Web page. 

6. Mobile Payments – Mobile is the next frontier, and in 2013, consumers and brands alike will embrace their mobile devices as ecommerce platforms. Mobile wallet providers, which store credit card information for easy payment, are gaining traction. It goes without saying that if your site isn’t mobile friendly, you’ll want to tackle that quickly.

7. Social Commerce – Consumers have more access to more information about their friends’ purchase decisions than ever before, thanks to social media. Happy customers can easily tell thousands with their likes, tweets and reviews. Capitalizing on social influence as a way to build your brand will be a key strategy for winning brands in 2013.

8. Repurposed Content – When writing copy this year, consider the various places in which you can share it – website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or your email newsletter. Write adaptable, modular copy that can be used across all platforms to avoid redundancy

Alta Bicycle Share Business

If communal bikes can make it in New York, can they make it anywhere? Alta Bicycle Share aims to find out.

Alta Bike Share president Alison Cohen hopes New Yorkers take note of her 10,000 communal bikes. 
Thanks to the advent of docking stations and fee-paying requirements, bike-sharing networks now thrive in cities around the world. Paris has about 20,000 community bikes. Hangzhou, China, boasts around 60,000. In both cities, the fleets are effectively cogs in metro mass-transit networks: They offer an alternative to taxis, or an efficient way for tourists to see the sights. That will be the case in New York, though emphasis will be placed on using the bikes as a "last mile" link for residents going to and from bus or train stops. "They're made for short trips," says Janette Sadik-Khan, New York's transportation commissioner, of the city's bikes. "They're for transportation, not recreation."
That stance is reinforced by Alta's fee structure: If you decide to use a city bike to tour Central Park for a day, you'll weep when you see the charge. New York's bike share, like the Alta-run systems in Washington, D.C., and Boston, relies on membership fees. In New York, you can join for the day ($9.95), week ($25), or year ($95). You ride free for 30 minutes at a time (or 45 minutes for annual members). After that, you're charged a hefty escalating fee for every additional half hour--for weekly members, first $4, then $13, then $25. Thus, a tourist could easily rack up a $150 tab over the course of a weekend. On the other hand, a commuter with a yearly membership who uses the bikes only for their last mile could make out well--paying just 26 cents a day, by the city's estimate.
It's too early to predict whether these pricing schemes will translate into U.S. bike-share systems that rival China's--or for Alta, a big business. Cohen is certain New York's system will make money; when the profits start arriving, they will be split between Alta and the city, which is investing in bike lanes to make the sharing plan viable. (Citibank and MasterCard get the benefit of free ads on docking stations and thousands of bikes.)
Still, the road to profitability is no sure thing. "The biggest challenge is balancing the system," Cohen explains. Bikes have to be where they're needed, when they're needed, which is why Alta will have fleets of vans moving them around the city at peak hours. Wireless links in the docking terminals will enable Alta to monitor vacancy, and many of the bikes will be equipped with GPS so Alta can analyze usage patterns and adjust allocations. (The terminals, which are solar powered, are movable, so demand in one location can easily be addressed.)
The juggling of 10,000 bikes will keep Alta busy. If the system grows in the coming years--as projections say it could--Alta will really have its hands full. Its vans, too. And that's just in New York. Cohen's crews will be doing the same thing in the other cities that have--or will soon have--Alta systems: The company is expanding its Boston and Washington, D.C., fleets, and just opened a 300-bike system in Chattanooga, Tennessee--"the first of its kind in a midsize southern city," says Cohen.
She adds that Chattanooga will be closely monitored as part of a data-collection experiment. "Tennessee is one of the most obese states in the U.S.," Cohen explains. Her company is working with the University of Tennessee to look at share data and measure its impact on Chattanoogans' lives. So the benefits from bike sharing could extend past the anticipated ones--cleaner air, easier commutes, giddier tourists. We may soon hear riders bragging about the calories they burned covering that last mile home.

Learned To Share

New York has the biggest bike-share program in America, but not the first. Here's a snapshot of four that have already hit the road.

Your Online Bio, Supercharged

The skinny on three services that help you create personal webpages to encompass your entire online life.

 

Chances are good that your bio on the company website includes little more than a headshot, title, and career history. A new breed of service lets you create personal webpages that encompass your entire online life. Then you can include the link in your e-mail signature. Here are three options to suit different needs.
Rebelmouse
The look: Collage
This service lets you create a Pinterest-style front page for your social-media posts. Link RSS feeds and social-media accounts, including Facebook and Twitter (sorry, no LinkedIn). After a few minutes, a page pops up displaying your posts, which are updated in real time, along with your bio and photo from Twitter. Cost: Free for a basic account, then starting at $3 a month for premium features
About.meThe look: Photo driven
A simpler option, About.me lets you design a one-page site with a photo, bio, and buttons that link to your accounts on Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, and other social networks. You can upload a photo or choose from 21 stock images of scenic locales. You can also customize colors and fonts. Then, you can see how many people visit, where they come from, and what they click on. Cost: Free
VizifyThe look: Infographic
Vizify aggregates information from your social-media accounts, including posts, photos, and your career history. Then, it creates a homepage filled with bubbles that present the information in infographic form (click on a bubble for more information). You can change the color scheme, add your own background photo, or choose from a gallery of images. You can also track site traffic. Cost: Fr

Things You Need to Know About 2013

Online education is going to blow up.

"Education is at a major crossroads in terms of the exorbitant cost and the lack of direct correlation to improved life outcomes," says Amish Jani of FirstMark Capital in New York City. In other words, expect to see lots of innovation in this space. Andy Hines, a futurist who teaches at the University of Houston, sees opportunities in online programs for professional certifications and in "catch up" degree programs for people who started college but didn't graduate. "The percentage of people who graduate has been flat for a long time," Hines says. "If we could reach that huge body of people in limboland, we could see a nice boost."

24/7 personal health tracking will go mainstream.

In 2013, consumers will increasingly turn to digital tools to monitor and improve their health through exercise, sleep, and diet. Sales of wearable fitness-tracking devices like Fitbit are forecast to hit 90 million units in 2017, and the market for sports and fitness apps will exceed $400 million in 2016, according to ABI Research. And increasingly flexible and sophisticated sensors—embedded in clothing or shoes or attached to the skin like bandages—will help speed adoption and enable always-on monitoring. "This will explode in 2013," predicts Unity Stoakes, co-founder of StartUp Health

Disruptive design will win.

Products such as the Nest thermostat and the Plumen CFL light bulb are just two recent examples of a trend we can expect to see a lot more of in 2013: start-ups shaking up stale product categories through the power of design. "Disruptive products are king, and innovative designs will challenge the status quo in ways that previously wouldn't have been possible," says Scot Herbst, of Herbst Produkt, an award-winning product-design firm. "Being small and nimble and new can free a creative mission from all of the antiquated standards that established players suffer from."
 

 

2013 Trend: Plastic Will Be Passé

Without credit cards, getting paid will get a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper.

 Smartphones are displacing credit cards the way plastic once toppled cash. Google got the ball rolling, with Google Wallet. Now other big names are getting in on the game--AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile, for example, are collaborating on a mobile wallet called Isis.
But the biggest game changers so far have been--no surprise--entrepreneurs. Square, a start-up launched in 2009 by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, offers simplified credit card processing via a credit card reader for mobile devices. Merchants can use Square to swipe cards on a smartphone or tablet instead of a traditional credit card terminal; customers can use it to pay via smartphone, à la Google Wallet. And Square's straightforward fee structure--$275 per month with 0 percent processing on the first $250,000, or 2.75 percent per swipe--has proved to be a welcome alternative to traditional models that charge merchants as much as 5 percent of the purchase price, plus additional fees.
Dwolla, an online and mobile digital-cash network based in Des Moines, takes things further, by cutting out credit cards altogether. The brainchild of Inc. 30 Under 30 honoree Ben Milne, Dwolla allows users to transfer funds directly between bank accounts, from a computer or smartphone, for a flat fee of 25 cents per payment, with no charge for transactions of less than $10. The company's MassPay feature, meanwhile, lets users send funds to as many as 2,000 people simultaneously, and has staggering implications for any business with a payroll. In April 2012, Dwolla was serving 15,000 merchants and processing more than $1 million in transactions daily.
Going into 2013, e-commerce increasingly means m-commerce, and optimizing mobile payments will be key for any business that sells online. Purchases made on mobile devices in the U.S. are expected to total $11.6 billion in 2012, nearly double those made in 2011, and are forecast to reach $31 billion in 2015, according to eMarketer. Roughly 34 percent of people surveyed by IDC Financial Insights in 2012 reported making mobile purchases, up from just 19 percent in 2011. That's impressive, especially when you consider how many potential buyers have looked--and balked--because the process for making purchases on a smartphone was just too unwieldy. (Ever tried tapping your credit card number into a form on a 2- by 3-inch screen?)
Chicago-based start-up Braintree saw opportunity in eliminating abandoned shopping carts. It offers a simple platform to enable one-tap purchases from mobile websites and provides customers with online and mobile payments processing--including in foreign currencies--for 2.9 percent of the purchase price plus 30 cents per transaction, with no monthly fees or minimums.
As customers use their smartphones for shopping, the devices will become a primary conduit for directing targeted coupons, rewards, and other special offers. Belly makes digital-based loyalty programs; think of them as electronic versions of the classic "buy 10 get one free" punch card. Merchants track purchases through an iPad; consumers use a smartphone app. Already, companies are getting creative with rewards: A sandwich shop will name sandwiches after repeat buyers; a grocery store lets loyal shoppers cut the line. Bottom line: The boring business of payment processing is getting pretty sexy. And that's good news for your business, too

2013 Trend: An App for Every Waking Minute

Do you have a mobile strategy? Even if you do, you probably need a new one.

  Nearly half of all Americans own a smartphone. Globally, mobile users are expected to outnumber desktop users by 2014. And the amount of time we spend on mobile devices is growing fast--currently an average of 82 minutes a day, more than twice the amount of time spent two years ago.
"Consumers are accustomed to--even addicted to--always-on, anywhere, anytime connectivity, and the next 12 months will see them push their mobile lust to obsessive, occasionally nearly insane degrees," says David Mattin, lead strategist at Trendwatching.com. These multitasking users are looking to fill microamounts of time (sometimes just seconds) throughout the day and rely on a constant stream of customized data to help them decide where to go, what to do, and what to buy. Businesses that are attuned to mobile consumer behavior can take advantage of these "mobile moments."
Making sure your online presence is optimized for mobile is a no-brainer. A study commissioned by Google found that three-quarters of visitors to a mobile-friendly site will return, but 79 percent of those who find a site difficult to use on their mobile devices will give up and go elsewhere. Do you also need an app? Probably. Minutes spent per month on apps more than doubled from March 2011 to March 2012, according to comScore.
The smartphone, though, is just one of the new screens that businesses will need to grapple with. In 2013, we will see a continuing proliferation of screen sizes and device types--phones, tablets, desktops, Web-connected TVs, and touchscreens in retail and other environments--to accommodate different uses, hand sizes, and personal preferences.
What does it all mean for you? "We're sure to see more mobile commerce arise in new and interesting formats," says Jeremy LaTrasse, CEO of Message Bus, an app that enables messaging across e-mail, mobile, and social networks. Apps will have to be tailored to appeal to on-the-go smartphone users, and they will also have to work with the more leisurely tablet experience.
Boloco, a chain with 22 burrito restaurants on the East Coast, has embraced an all-screens strategy. It offers online ordering through its website and a mobile app (with a 10 percent discount), "mayor" privileges for customers with frequent Foursquare check-ins, touchscreen kiosks to speed wait times, and TV monitors in Boloco outlets showing videos about where the food comes from. Since Boloco introduced its app, online and mobile sales have grown fourfold, at an average check of $9.05, compared with $7.51 for all sales.
Getting ready for total appification is, admittedly, a tall order. Not only must you build apps and other tools, but you also have to formulate a cross-platform marketing strategy and ensure compatibility across different devices. But a host of start-ups is thriving by providing the back-end services. Jay Jamison, a partner at BlueRun Ventures in Menlo Park, California, calls them the "arms dealers of mobile-app infrastructure." They include Parse and StackMob, which give developers quick, easy ways to build apps, and Twilio and Urban Airship, which help automate things such as SMS messaging and location-based notifications.
Fortunately, you don't need to be everywhere or do everything. But you do need to be in the game.