

iPhone 5 – Learn marketing from today's most popular landing page - JoshLedgard
http://blog.kickofflabs.com/learn-more-dissect-the-iphone-5-landing-pages/

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monkeyfacebag
I'm not a marketing guy, so I have no idea what I'm talking about here, but
shouldn't a call to action include an _action_? Something like (again, not a
marketing guy): get yours today! If the iPhone 5 banner is considered a call
to action by marketing people, the term doesn't seem that useful.

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thomasjoulin
Complete bullshit. If Apple had put a shady HTML form it would have been the
same. People in the east cost put their alarm clock at 3am, I don't think the
design of the page made them change their decision

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ajanuary
There's a reason they started putting their alarm clocks on; they were pulled
in with marketing like this.

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cheald
I think they were more pulled in by brand cachet than they were by this
marketing specifically.

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SpikeDad
I think they were more pulled in my wanting the best phone out there as early
as possible.

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cheald
How can you make that statement with a straight face without realizing that
you're purchasing pure marketing at this point?

Nobody's used it, reviewed it, torn it down, or broken it in yet. You're
stating that it's "the best phone out there" purely on the value of the brand.

(That's not to say that it won't be, but I hope to point out that saying "it's
the best phone out there" is ridiculous when there is literally no way to know
that except for _the marketing that has been done around it_.)

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Tichy
Wouldn't they have sold out no matter what? I mean all they have to do is
produce less devices than they have orders. It's not as if you can buy one
today, or can you?

So wait one day, get 10 million orders or whatever, call Foxconn and order 9.9
million devices. Bingo, another headline for Apple.

~~~
arrrg
Apple being sold out is not great, it's a failure of their supply chain. If
Apple could, they would never be sold out (but they also would want to never
have any stock). They want to make money after all. They certainly do not need
to appease investors by lying about the demand they are getting.

(Though I maybe should add that the iPhone being initially sold out might be
an inevitable failure of the supply chain. It’s not like you can switch
production on just like that and churn out new phones at full speed. There is
some ramp-up. Add to that some pent-up demand, and iPhones being sold out
quickly might be inevitable – though that does at least indicate that the new
phone likely is no dud, beyond that there isn’t much information in that.)

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dfxm12
More headlines = more marketing = more iPhones sold.

Being (temporarily) sold out just adds to the mystique of _any_ device.
Remember, people want what they can't have. Also think of the herd mentality -
if millions of people are buying this, it must be good!

I don't think it is ever Apple's strategy to sell out, but there are reasons
that this is good (as well as bad, like you say).

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arrrg
That's baloney. No marketing gain is wort it not being able to actually sell
something, at lest if tons of people are crazy about what you are selling.

Yours is just a batshit insane conspiracy theory.

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SpikeDad
You're correct of course. Just folks projecting their irrational Apple hate.
Naturally, no company wants to sell out of their product. Of course, no one
considers that it's impossible to make an infinite number of iPhones - parts
and production capacity are the limiting factor.

But why stop to think for a second when you can fire off some nonsense.

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francov88
Great post and detailed analysis Josh.

Thomas - While the design/layout/marketing elements may not have had an effect
on the loyal zealots setting their alarm clocks early, it certain did help
convince those who were on the fence about the upgrade 9not saying it's right
- I'm an Android/Linux user myself and will never buy into the heard mentality
- but it keep making Apple money.

The key lesson here is what elements works well and how you can reapply them
to other industries and products.

~~~
JoshLedgard
Thanks for understanding the point of the post is to educate folks on how they
could learn from best practices. They still had to execute on their marketing.
If you compare their landing pages to the Samsung, Microsoft, or Nokia ones...
it's no comparison.

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jeffehobbs
This was a great examination. Thanks for this.

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tjoff
"Visually the link is below, but the entire section and image is a link."

The only thing that will accomplish is inadvertent clicks. Are you going to
sell something as expensive as an iPhone _because_ of an inadvertent click?

I get quite annoyed if I click somewhere to gain focus or something and is
taken to another page because of it. I can't imagine it doing any good and
cherry picking it as good design seems quite convoluted.

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JoshLedgard
Mom and pop don't like hunting for links. Watch normal people browse the web.
They try to click on anything they think will give them more information about
what they want.

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tjoff
Yeah I watch them all the time. Nothing breaks their trust as much as an
action they never even thought they initiated -> they barely dare to touch
anything.

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tbull007
Nope - this page could have been a MySpace or GeoCities page and they'd still
have sold out.

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indiecore
[http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2...](http://wonder-
tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2&music=9&url=www.apple.com/iphone/)

I dunno...

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JoshLedgard
That's awesome. I'm going to have to use that tool more often. :)

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glhaynes
Amazing how a couple of words in a headline can affect the discussion on the
article. Read it as "Good analysis of Apple's iPhone 5 website marketing."
Yes, they would have still sold out on day one if they'd had a page with just
a "Buy Now" button, an "Under Construction" gif, and a "Netscape Now!" badge,
but these marketing pages will be up for a year or so.

~~~
JoshLedgard
Everyone tests different titles. It's part of marketing.

I'll freely admit to:

1\. Writing a best practices post on a timely subject to grab more attention.
"How to create a good landing page" wouldn't do nearly as well.

2\. Testing headlines to see what drives the most clicks. Although this one
was my first try on Hacker News.

I'll bet over the next 6 months Apple changes the headlines on their landing
pages as well.

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jack-r-abbit
Maybe just my opinion, but I don't think HN submissions should be used to test
which headlines get more clicks. (Wouldn't that pretty much fall into the
"Link Bait" bucket?) The HN Guidelines[1] has some pretty clear, simple text
on submission titles. It mostly boils down to "use the original title...
unless a few of the mentioned cases exist".

[1] <http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

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andreyon
You guys commenting seem to hate or be frustrated about online marketing.

