The Lifestyle Connection

balacat — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:04:22 GMT

Dell: Women! We have a laptop for you, come look.
Women: It's obvious that this is a laptop for people who aren't serious computer users.
Dell: But there are tech tips!
Women: Umm...no, these are just fun links.
Dell: Ok, we've listened to your complaints, now it's called a Lifestyle.
Women: These are some really cute accessories and mapmyrun is a fun site, but a lot of us are serious computer users with technical backgrounds.
Dell: Well you're not the right demographic, why are you here?
Women: Wait, what? But you just said you had a laptop for...
Dell: That's right, a laptop for women.
Women: Listen. I hate you.

Look, you made a great computer with super cute matching accessories for people who aren't computer savvy. Why not just say that in the marketing? You can't keep insisting that this is for women and then make snippy "well you're not the demographic" comments when different kinds of women show up. Just call everything what it is - for example the infamous Tips section, you're correct that the audience this stuff was built for won't want a bunch of technical jargon, so just call it Fun Links so no one will be offended when they click on it and find a bunch of fun links.

Catering to Women or Patronizing Them?

Think customers: The 1to1 Blog — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:28:15 GMT

There's a fine line between catering to a niche customer group and creating a different experience that essentially says, "Here's a nice, easy way for you to understand what we do, since you wouldn't grasp what we provide like our other customers."

Boinkorama — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:56:46 GMT

It is unbelievable that a company that has several pending legal actions that involve alleged sexual discrimination against women would even think about targeting a sales campaign to women.

www.cbsnews.com/.../main4560135.shtml

techgirl9449 — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:07:29 GMT

Um, exactly WHEN is the tech tips section going to have technical info?

If it has already been updated, then I shudder to think about what was there before.

DELL-Laura B — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:30:32 GMT

Thanks for your continued feedback on the site. We continue to make changes and would like your recommendations on additional content you would like to see especially related to tech tips. Thanks for your help.

DELL-Gina Q — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:57:33 GMT

I see there are a couple of people commenting that they are having problems commenting on the Della Tech Tips site. I have not been able to reproduce any of the mentioned problems but would like some additional details. If you've had problems posting a comment on the Della site please send me a private message by clicking on my name and then click the private conversation button on the left and give me any error messages and a step by step on how to recreate it and what browser you are using. This way I can try to recreate the problem.

robynfirebringer — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:55:04 GMT

When I first saw the Della site, the first thing that came to mind was this was something that was more akin to something related to *** & the City, or "..... next top model", to be quite frank I half expected to see an article about Paris Hilton or Victoria Beckham, and one of these netbooks enhanced thier everyday life, to be honest this is not a well thought out marketing campaign from respected IT company.

It doesn't matter who its aimed at, if you want to get organised than thats fine, the so called tip here can be done with a mobile phone, a filofax, a pocket diary, or a calendar on the wall at home and a little time set aside each day, or some simple time management skills, yes all of this can be done or enhanced by using a laptop or a netbook, etc, encouraging the use of online tools I support working web development and managing several websites.

But this site does nothing for the brand of Dell, and has serioulsy lowered my belief and trust in the brand.

I would also be quite interested in how they can justfy this marketing tactic in line with any Equality policy Dell may have, i.e gender & sexuality, treating each fairly without demeaning them. Somehow I don't think if they had done a similar site for men, or a Nation specific site it would have had quite the same tone or inclination?????

I know not everyone is as Technical about IT and computers and some of us, but this website doesn't come across as being Technical, it feels and acts more like a fashion / lifestyle guide, and both the techy & the homemaker in me are offended they maybe for different reasons, but do both they agree that this isn't really acceptable

And If this is what Dell are thinking in relation to marketing for Women & Technology, the gods help us were doomed, equality has just gone back into the dark ages.

Femanon — Wed, 20 May 2009 05:32:18 GMT

Wow. Insult the intelligence of potential female customers? Play to obvious feminine stereotypes from twenty years ago? Good job Dell! It's not oppressive, it's not really all that offensive in and of itself, but I'm with some of the others on this one...Dell, you are disappointing, you could have done better.

Also: You've known about the page error in the tech-tips section for long enough to have had it fixed by now. Awfully convenient that it isn't, yes?

neacow — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:35:34 GMT

Dell needs to pay attention to the customer anger:

1. acknowledge the anger so that you can
2. diffuse the anger because
3. the biggest issue is ultimately going to be how you handle your customer's feelings and
4. respectfully allow them to vent their feelings in a supportive way that allows them to get it out and off their chest. then
5. an apology is usually a good place to begin to do damage control - even if you cannot fix the problem, you can at least be kind, offer alternatives, etc. customers respect your position as long as you respect theirs.

silkekyt — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:04:23 GMT

Can't seem to add a comment on the Della tech tips page ("The comment's body was empty". Great way to prevent further negative feedback!"), so I'm leaving it here:

A lot of men aren't technically savvy; I'm a unix sys admin, and I meet many every day! Where is the Dell site for the non-technical male?

I've been considering replacing my current Dell laptop (because it's getting a bit long in the tooth), but this has put me right off. And although one insulting marketing campaign wouldn't stop me buying Dell servers for work if they're the best for the job, this whole thing does leave a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to Dell, and doesn't help.

Still, from what you say here about your sales, clearly (and annoyingly) bad publicity is better than no publicity at all...

That said, I'm glad to see the changes since this was first released, and that you are listening. I'm still boggled that this went through god knows how many people who thought this was a great idea before being released to the public, but better late than never I guess.