Re: UKNM: Underwriting phone bill

[Clay Shirky]

> Er, are you serious?


I do this for a living. How much more serious can you get?


> You can't actually measure how long anyone looks at a page - you can

> only measure the time spent between various clicks within your site.


Right, which is why its good for a shopping site: state tracking +

submit click = time on site. 


> Using this scheme would encourage people to open up several

> browsers, go to several stores, and spend forever going from page to

> page, dropping the line every now and again.


No. My scheme is per store, not via the ISP, and the discount only

appears if you buy something.


> Besides, almost everything available on the net is

> cheaper anyway - there's your discount!


I have bad news for you - the truth is not what counts. The customers

perception of the truth is what counts, and with metered calls, the

customers perception is that time on site is costing them money, even

if the truth is that comparison shopping will more than save that

money back. You can try to convince yourself that this shouldn't

matter, but it *does* matter - metered calls mitigate against the

feeling of comfort needed to drive ecommerce.


> Also, why this hangup with UK v. US - the trade off in both

> locations is free ISP or free calls - you can't have both.


Right, but unmetered calls + free ISP is better for shopping (and

therefore ecommerce) than metered calls + free ISP. I am trying to

think of ways to let UK ecommerce companies benefit from the same

structural advantages that US companies enjoy.


-clay 

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