Cultural Clues:
Tips to Tailor Your Business to the Internet Culture

Three words help define the unique culture of the Internet -- "free," "information," and "privacy." Of course, the Internet has changed dramatically from the days it was the sole playground of grad students and computer geeks, but some of the culture has remained. Businesspeople need to understand its peculiarities, and then leverage these to land sales.

The Attraction of "Free"

"Free" has always attracted starving grad students laboring on master's theses from the windowless dungeons of University Library. Perhaps socialist smoke from professors' pipes makes academics believe the world can run on free services, I don't know.

But "free is beautiful" is deeply imbedded in the online culture. Rage that the Internet has been taken over by "Commercial Interests" (spit out those words when you say them) is past, but the expectation of "free" is still with us. (Of course, "free" has been a magic word for direct mail copywriters for decades, but that ruins my grad student myth, so keep it quiet.)

As you plan your company's Internet strategy, "free" should play an important part in it. Offer something free and the world will beat a path to your door. Better yet, offer many things free, and become a Destination Site. Then sell them something while they pass by.

Information Is the Currency of the Web

The quest for information drives the Web. Oh, yes, people like entertainment and Community (be sure to spell Community with a capital C, mind you), but don't underestimate information. Businesspeople and serious shoppers are driven by their need for information far more than their desire for games and chat.

This means that your site must be information rich. Don't worry about offering too much information; there's no such thing. Oh, there's information overload, so you need to offer the information in digestible chunks and provide a carefully designed navigation system to get your visitors quickly where they want to go. But don't skimp on information

Are you annoyed by those companies that don't tell you key details you want to know? Like price, for example?

"We don't want to say everything on the Web," those marketers whine. "We want to force people to give us their phone number so we can make the sale on the phone."

What they're doing, though, is sending potential customers scurrying along to their competitors who understand Internet culture well enough to satiate this hunger for information. Find more subtle ways to encourage visitors to leave you their contact information, like a free report (remember "free"?) or a free subscription to an information-rich newsletter. You don't bludgeon visitors into giving you their contact information. You'll know better how to coax it from them when you understand the third of these cultural clues.

Desire for Intimacy with Privacy

I hate chatrooms. You know the kind -- where CutsyBabe cosyies up to MachoMuscle. What sparks this intimacy is the thick shield of privacy. For all you know CutsyBabe could be a wallflower spinster or a kinky guy. Anonymity allows -- no, encourages -- this human desire to be known. Anonymity offers the requisite safety for intimacy to occur.

The take-away lesson here is not to install a chat room on your business site. I've seen few business chatrooms that don't echo when some timid soul inquires, "Is anybody H-E-R-E?" The lesson is: understand your visitor's desire for privacy. If you can do that, your visitor may reveal a great deal about himself.

Write a careful Privacy Policy that respects the privacy of your visitors. If you state in your data collection form something like, "We respect your privacy and never rent or sell our lists," with a link to your full policy, that will allay fears, and you'll increase your sign-up rate substantially. Don't ask for more information than you absolutely need, but leave space for any comment your visitor desires to communicate.

The reason you find so many rabid anti-spam advocates on the Web is not because their computers came without delete buttons. It's the perception that you've invaded the privacy of their e-mail box without their permission. It doesn't matter whether this Internet cultural value makes sense or not. It exists. Accept it. And don't send unsolicited e-mail unless you care to risk your company's reputation -- and possible lawsuits.

Of course, the Internet culture is more complex than free, information, and privacy, but learn those and you'll be well on your way to speaking Internet without a foreign accent.