I have been VERY harsh in my analysis of Google's execution of their Gmail roll-out. Well it is time to mention one thing that I think Google is doing well with the roll out of Gmail, and that is the invitation method of rolling the service out. Getting users to try a new online service can be difficult for many companies, even for a powerhouse like Google (just look at how poorly Froogle did before a link was placed on the Google homepage). By rolling out the service via user invitations Google is wisely allowing current Gmail users to market their product for them.
I had a conversation one day with Brodie Keast (EVP of TiVo) and he is a big believer that it is one thing for a company to tell consumers how great their product is, and it is an entirely different and better thing to have actual consumers talk about how good the product is. Google is doing exactly this by allowing the service to grow virally through its current user base who is enjoying the application. Now if only they had gotten all this done about a month or two ago, I wouldn't be so critical of the overall execution.
P.S. - On a side note, it appears that Google reacted today to Yahoo's increase in free storage by giving all Gmail users 3 more invites to the service.
No comments:
Post a Comment