Google has made it hard to tell ads from regular search results. With a bit of CSS, though, you can make the ads stand out so that it’s easier to tell them from the organic search results.

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I was excited by the features the Garmin 210 offered, but myu initial faulty unit was a HUGE disappointment. Between terrible signal acquisition and a heartrate monitor that broke almost immediately. Fortunately, the replacement unit has been a lot better.

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Is your unsubscribe form losing you customers? Just because they don’t want your newsletter, don’t make them hate you

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A minor usability problem on an after-purchase survey leaves your correspondant less than happy. And that’s bad for the merchant. So a shopping experience that was a 9 or 10 out of 10, remains so, but the good feeling for the merchant is subtly damaged by poor interface design on the part of the third-party customer survey service they use. A shame.

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So do testimonials help with credibility? Not this one! I’m sure that’s a real quote from a real family, right?

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Aardvark is a relatively new service launched by some heavy hitters. But everything about the signup process sets off my spidey sense. Danger! Danger!

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Bottom line: Paypal Buyer Protection on Ebay is pretty much useless if you have to make a claim and can actually be a smokescreen for scammers. And more to the point, don’t buy software on EBay. I should have known better.

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We all know birds of a feather flock together, but we’re often unaware of how frequently we flock with birds of our feather. Even when we say we are uninfluenced, the opinion and action of the crowd often get us to behave in ways we do not expect and can be used against us to influence our actions through the principle of social proof. (part 3 of 3 in the series on Weapons of Influence).

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Consistency and Commitment are usually good things, but what about when underhanded marketers or other persuaders get us to subtly commit ourselves before we know what they’re after and then play on our desire to be consistent with our commitments? This is used against us every day. (Part 2 of 3 in the series on Weapons of Influence).

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Robert Cialdini’s book Influence discusses several “Weapons of Inflence”. This first part examines the power of reciprocation — our need to give back to someone who has given something to us — and how this is used to influence us every day in our buying decisions and in other areas. Parts 2 and 3 will look at social proof and comment and consistency.

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