#6 New York Times Bestseller
#1 Amazon Business Bestseller
#1 USA TODAY Money Bestseller
#1 B&N.com Bestseller

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It’s a nice compliment for the book, but it says something bigger about the word of mouth movement. This is more than marketing, it’s a philosophy that spans all businesses and all industries.

This is about earning the respect and recommendation of our customers. It’s about building a trust, loyalty, and love that will carry the good guys at the good businesses through good times and bad.

And hey, it’s also a lot more fun too.

So to all of you who pre-ordered, blogged about the book, and shared it online and off — thank you for helping to make this word of mouth movement possible.

P.S. The book is available at Amazon, B&N.com, and in bookstores everywhere. And we had such a strong response from our workbook giveaway, we’ve decided to extend it. Just send your receipt for the book to editor@wordofmouth.org and we’ll send you our 16-page Word of Mouth Workbook (PDF).

But it wasn’t as big as we expected, and we discovered a critical reason why:

We changed the name of the event — it used to be called Word of Mouth Supergenius — without any testing.

Here’s what happened — people thought that it was an online course instead of a live conference. The word course implied online training to many people. We also failed to use certain trigger words that indicate that something is a live event: Summit, Expo, Conference, Boot Camp, etc.

Many of our most loyal fans had no idea that there was a conference, even though they definitely saw the promotion. It just didn’t connect somehow. They were disappointed when they found out later, and we lost a huge opportunity to serve them.

Lesson: Test, test, test any new name. You’re not going to know how it works until you start using it.

During the few months we were planning it, everyone kept saying WordofMouth.org — they kept dropping the word marketing. Even employees and contractors who were working on the project.

That was a problem. If our own team couldn’t get the name right, how would our customers find the site?

So we killed the project until we could get ownership of WordofMouth.org.

It was incredibly lucky that we caught the problem before we launched. We would have sent all of our confused customers to someone else’s site.

Lesson: Test, test, test any new name. You’re not going to know how it works until you start using it.

Just as important: Every kid gets a free shirt with the Zoo Snooze logo on it. And everyone other kid in school finds out about the Zoo every time the shirt is worn. (And because it was a Cub Scout trip, dozens of kids in the same grade all have the shirt.)

Lesson: Don’t just think about the experience. Think about the word of mouth experience afterward. Giving away a $5 shirt may be all it takes to turn customers into evangelists.

Lesson 2: It’s a shame how few businesses understand that souvenirs are critical word of mouth tools and not just a way to milk your customers for extra cash on the way out.

We talked about it, we told people, we kept it, and we tell more people when our daughter carries it around.

Probably cost them 30 cents — which is about 10 cents more than a throw-away box.

But the conversations it starts are priceless word of mouth advertising moments.

Can I find that item I’m looking for?

• Tune your internal search engine to match top search terms to product pages.
• Put top sellers on home page. People buy on impulse or recommendation.
• Match the landing page to the marketing campaign. Use vanity urls for offline advertising.
• Test your categories, naming and navigation with customers. They’re less intuitive than you think.

Can I find something that interests me?

• Put top sellers on home page.
• Add related items to a product view.
• Add relevant, topical-based shopping navigation or search.
• Add interactivity to pull visitors into your site or a page.

Do I really want this product?

• Display larger product pictures.
• Show the product in action.
• Headline the results your product promises.
• Feature benefits in the copy.
• Make it easy to read – bullets, short sentences/paragraphs, conversational.
• Add substantiated recommendations (“4 out of 5 dentists…”).

Can I get it for the right price?

• Add a limited time promotion to a product or category.
• Use Free Shipping (#1 online promotion).
• Show a good, better, best options.
• Show comparisons to competitors.
• Slash through pricing.
• Repeat the deal or promotion on every page.

Can I trust this company?

• Clean up the site design.
• Add testimonials.
• Add security certifications.
• Add affiliations.
• Get listings in BizRate, Froogle, Epinions, etc.
• Show your personality.
• Increase the font size.
• Less is more.
• Highlight your money back guarantee.
• Include privacy, contact us, about us pages.
• Add a phone number.

Can I checkout easily?

• Add a call to action on every page.
• Copy the best-practices in cart and checkout.
• Add reassurance statements (security, guarantee, etc.).
• Add a phone number on every page.

Read the full original post here.

One of my favorites — random compliments for users of MailChimp:

The more people you get through your door, the more chances you have to earn new fans, customers, and conversations. A few opportunities to do it:

1. To take a nap
2. To learn something
3. To save them a trip
4. Check it out: Black & WTF

1. To take a nap

Get people in the door by giving them a unique experience they can’t get at other stores. At New York’s Coco-Mat — makers of handmade mattresses – they invite you to stop by, get lunch (they serve it every day), and even take a one, two, or three-hour nap. And the best part: There’s no catch. You’re welcome to leave without buying anything and there’s no pressure. And it’s all because, as founder Paul Efmorfidis says, when it’s time to invest in a mattress customers will think of them first (and he guarantees they’ll tell friends about the napping experience).

The lesson: You already sell great stuff — so what can you do in your store to encourage customers to come in, try it out, and tell a whole bunch of friends about it?

Learn more: Daily Mail

2. To learn something

Brick and mortar stores have a huge advantage over the online folks: A venue to host real-life events. Go to any REI store, for example, and they’ll have an amazing list of outdoor and athletic-themed classes you can take. Some have a small fee, but most are open to the public at no cost. This fantastic program means each and every store is more than just a place to buy stuff, they’re a place for outdoor enthusiasts to learn something new and meet others like them.

The lesson: Giving fans and customers a chance to learn something useful (and not just buy something) is a great way to get them through the door.

Learn more: REI

3. To save them a trip

One way to get more people in the door is to save them a trip to somewhere else. A partnership between Marco’s Pizza and Family Video is doing just that. In more than 350 Family Video stores, Marco’s is opening a pizza shop. Walk-in customers are able to place a pizza order while browsing for a movie, and folks in a rush can call ahead for both. It’s a great partnership that helps both Marco’s and Family Video — because as great as Netflix and Hulu are, they still can’t get you a pizza.

The lesson: A smart partnership can help you keep happy customers coming in by pulling off something your competitors just can’t do.

Learn more: PSFK

4. Check it out: Black & WTF

Check out this great blog of old black and white photos that prove we were taking goofy pictures long before the internet age.

Check it out: Black and WTF

But there is something you can do to reach my kids and make me happy: Teach them something. Teach them something that can be a family activity.

Great example: Lowe’s Kids’ Clinics. I’m happy to have Lowe’s help my kids get more interested in doing stuff that I’m interested in doing.

(Of course, this is the secret to all great marketing: Give me something of value and I’ll appreciate you. Shove stupid ads in my face and I’ll resent you for wasting my time.)

Smart, smart, smart.

It’s not just another car dealer logo or “turbo.” It’s about the customer, not the car.

It makes your car into YOUR car — and gives you a reason to connect and converse with other Subaru owners.

Lesson: Community isn’t an online thing. It’s in the real world, and it only takes a few $1 stickers to start one.

You can spend $500,000 to launch a custom community platform and integrate it into your corporate experience and marketing plan.

Or you can grab some free software, add your logo, and launch it. If people show up and enjoy it, then you have a success, a business case, and a reason to invest in it and improve it.

Guess what? It’ll be a better community, too. All the research in the world isn’t actually going to tell you what your fans want. Your fans will … after you get them talking.

So start easy, call it an R&D project, and skip the over-thinking.

Great example: The Friends of BNSF Railroad community. In just a few months they’ve exceeded 10,000 members. This gives them the a ton of happy fans and more feedback than 400 focus groups.