(via the Consumerist)

I just posted a story that raises some interesting questions that I’d love to hear your opinion on.

Up to now, the stories I’ve posted have been first hand personal experiences.This is my story. It’s something that happened to me personally and I am sharing it with you.

But the story I just posted is different. It’s not something that happened to me. It’s something that happened to someone I trust and respect. And because of that trust and respect, it affects the level of goodwill I feel towards the company in question.

So I’d love to know what you think. Does a “second hand” story like this belong on Sutori or should the focus of the site be first-hand experiences?

And if both types of stories work, should they carry equal weight or should first-hand experiences have more impact on the overall goodwill?

Please leave a comment or feel free to drop me an email at john (at) sutori (dot) com.

“A ‘Satisfied Customer’ is eight times more likely to switch to a competitor than a ‘Delighted Customer.’”

-Branding expert Ed Delia recounts the key takeaway of a seminar he attended on the topic of “customer attrition”.

‘Barely satisfied’ and ‘delighted’ are a mere 5 notches apart on the Sutori goodwill meter, but from a business impact perspective they are clearly miles apart.

The good news for businesses is that if you listen carefully, your customers will tell you exactly how to make that journey.

The good news for customers is that there are now more places than ever (Sutori included) for you tell businesses what they need to hear.

. . . and if they still don’t listen, there’s always that whole switching to the competition thing to fall back on, too.

This very funny video tidbit from Stephen Colbert raises some interesting questions that are relevant to Sutori.

• What happens to the good or ill will you feel towards a brand when that brand changes its name?Does a rose by any other name smell as sweet–or stink as bad, as the case may be?
• Can a new name wipe the slate clean and help you forget old grudges and bad experiences?
• And what about the reverse? Can a new name undo of the goodwill that name has earned in your mind and force the company to prove itself all over again?

So how about it? How have name changes, mergers, acquisitions etc. affected your perception of the companies in your life?

• Thanks to mashi13, I now know that a sometimes all a broken ipod requires is a good beating.
• Thanks to latiamh , I now know that Proactiv aren’t really very proactive when it comes to customer service.
• Thanks to irishtrish, I now know that Amazon are doing something right.

“I did a little math. If every customer purchases exactly two items (an underestimation, I’m sure), then K-Mart goes through approximately one mile of paper every 3,017 customers.”

Here’s a scan of the actual receipt.

Yowsa!

To me, this story is a good example of why Sutori exists. There are lots of places on the web where you can review products but not enough places where can you send a message to companies about other things that are just as important.

(Via the Consumerist)

Funny stuff, but I think there is a good, valid point to be made in there somewhere. It would be great if more of the value created by social media could find it’s way into the real world, don’t you think?

Maybe not as stamps on a booty though.

In fact, we’re actually cooking up something sort of similar to help Sutori come to life offline. Stay tuned.

Many props are due to the talented John Owen, who created this new explanatory illustration. It’s the first thing you see on the home page now . . . unless you’re logged in. I think it really captures what Sutori is all about.

Thanks John!

We chose the story capsule first because it’s the fundamental browsing unit. The summary view of a story that users can skim through as the decide when and if they want to go deeper.

Here’s what it used to look like.

And here’s the new version:

The biggest changes are:

• Instead of representing the stories goodwill rating with a single block of color, we show the entire spectrum of goodwill with a dot to represent this story’s rating (far left).
• The agree/disagree numbers are clearly identified as such.
• The name of the company is now featured right next to the title.

Early feedback has been mostly positive, although some of you have indicated that without the thick blocks of warm color the home page looks a bit colder. Hopefully, the improved usability makes up for this aesthetic trade-off.

As always, we’re dying to hear your thoughts . . . so what do you think?

So what do you think? What works? What could we do better for Version 2?