Hi Scott,
I'd like to start by saying that I think both you and Wisper produce very good products, within an increasingly competitive marketplace, with a diversity that is such to make any comparison difficult.
I would however, say that my thoughts on the Wisper range are virtually a cut-and-past job from my previous post, in that "what you see is what you get", i.e. on the face of it there are no customisable options. Though perhaps as the bulk of Wisper's range seems to stem from a single core design (the 905 frame), the aesthetic decision is clearer, i.e. you either like it or you don't, and so choose your spec more by individual model, though this is set to change with what sounds like something of a departure in the 1006.
Again colours/braking options/to suspend or not suspend/motor options (eg. is it possible to get a 906 frame with a 905 motor?) etc.
But before I get stuck in a oneupmanship contest between rival manufacturers, I'd like to say that the notion of customisation is more than a practical one in my view, it's to do with the customer taking ownership of their expensive purchase from the outset, as let's face it, it's not like buying a tin of beans. It's something that I hope you as manufacturers would want to become an integral part of people's lives, and from a business standpoint - cause them to wax lyrical to their friends about. I think an emotional attachment from the earliest possible moment is key to this kind of engagement. To you, it's just another unit in a box, to the individual customer - it's something else entirely, it's their bike.
By allowing a potential customer to play around with the options, better still having a website clever enough to reflect the cosmetic changes in real time via an updating image, they begin to take ownership of it before they've even clicked the "buy" button. It becomes something uniquely theirs.
Whereas to get them to call you personally, is a very different form of psychological entrapment, it sucks people into to a relationship with the retailer rather than the product, and the more time that is spent finalising/negotiating the spec, the more the customer feels duty bound to buy it. This is far less positive an experience in my view, as the customer, from that first call/email, has their sense of freedom to extract themselves from the deal eroded. The notion of a "quote" does something to break this, but allowing an instant, at least ballpark quote from your web-page, still puts the customer far more in the driving seat (or should that be saddle ).
Oh, reasons I bought my 905se City, range, speed, aesthetics, cost, control system, in no particular order, though cost was a governing factor.
Cheers,
Stray.
I'd like to start by saying that I think both you and Wisper produce very good products, within an increasingly competitive marketplace, with a diversity that is such to make any comparison difficult.
I would however, say that my thoughts on the Wisper range are virtually a cut-and-past job from my previous post, in that "what you see is what you get", i.e. on the face of it there are no customisable options. Though perhaps as the bulk of Wisper's range seems to stem from a single core design (the 905 frame), the aesthetic decision is clearer, i.e. you either like it or you don't, and so choose your spec more by individual model, though this is set to change with what sounds like something of a departure in the 1006.
Again colours/braking options/to suspend or not suspend/motor options (eg. is it possible to get a 906 frame with a 905 motor?) etc.
But before I get stuck in a oneupmanship contest between rival manufacturers, I'd like to say that the notion of customisation is more than a practical one in my view, it's to do with the customer taking ownership of their expensive purchase from the outset, as let's face it, it's not like buying a tin of beans. It's something that I hope you as manufacturers would want to become an integral part of people's lives, and from a business standpoint - cause them to wax lyrical to their friends about. I think an emotional attachment from the earliest possible moment is key to this kind of engagement. To you, it's just another unit in a box, to the individual customer - it's something else entirely, it's their bike.
By allowing a potential customer to play around with the options, better still having a website clever enough to reflect the cosmetic changes in real time via an updating image, they begin to take ownership of it before they've even clicked the "buy" button. It becomes something uniquely theirs.
Whereas to get them to call you personally, is a very different form of psychological entrapment, it sucks people into to a relationship with the retailer rather than the product, and the more time that is spent finalising/negotiating the spec, the more the customer feels duty bound to buy it. This is far less positive an experience in my view, as the customer, from that first call/email, has their sense of freedom to extract themselves from the deal eroded. The notion of a "quote" does something to break this, but allowing an instant, at least ballpark quote from your web-page, still puts the customer far more in the driving seat (or should that be saddle ).
Oh, reasons I bought my 905se City, range, speed, aesthetics, cost, control system, in no particular order, though cost was a governing factor.
Cheers,
Stray.
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