Avoiding Multi-Million Dollar Blunders: A Case Study

The Downfall of x10

x10 invested a significant amount of money and trust in pop-under window advertising through platforms like Yahoo, the online version of the New York Times, and MSN. They also utilized pop-up windows that appear when you download something from the internet.

However, the issue with x10 wasn't the pop-under or pop-over windows. The problem was their narrow product offering. Despite receiving over 25 million visitors monthly, 70% of their visitors left within the first 20 seconds. This indicates a lack of interest or value in their website and products.

The Narrow Focus of x10

x10's product range was too limited. They attempted to introduce a slightly larger range of products, but it still seemed very narrow.

One of the major mistakes x10 made was failing to partner with a significant array of related online businesses. This could have provided an additional source of revenue through commissions. Despite the massive traffic flow, they were unable to tap into their visitors' wallets.

Even small businesses can partner with companies like Dell Computer, Delta Airlines, Visa Nextcard, and American Express through affiliate programs like those offered by Linkshare.

Missed Opportunities

With such a large amount of traffic, x10 could have offered visitors a referral affiliate program. This would allow visitors to refer friends and family and earn a little something for their efforts. However, x10 was slow to implement this and when they did, all they offered was a credit to be used on their products, which people didn't seem interested in buying.

The Importance of Entertainment

x10 overlooked the value of entertainment. They sold attractive, palm-sized cameras but only described them. They could have easily become a major entertainment center for their millions of visitors by showing how their cameras worked. This would have given visitors a reason to stay longer and return for more.

The viral effects of word-of-mouth, or word-of-mouse, could have kept those millions of visitors coming to their website daily. It would have also allowed them to scale back on their advertising campaign expenditures.

The Lesson from x10

This case study shows that even if you have millions of dollars to spend on exposure and you get millions of visitors to your website, it won't do you any good if you don't know what to do with them. A little creativity at x10 could have gone a long way.