I once had a boss who used to talk about old-time marketing and used to say "test breakthroughs, not whispers." I'll be honest, I never really was sure what that meant in terms of new-world marketing, because so often in testing and building web startups, the early signs of buy in are just that: whispers.

Case and point? Today we got an early-morning order via an Adwords ad.  The search term for the shopper?  "Air Filter Subscription."  One visit to the site. One trip through the shopping cart, and "click", a new soon-to-be-happy customer for On Time Air Filters home delivery service.

I don't write every new customer, but I did write this one.  Jed, I said..."can you remember what made you aware of the fact that there existed an 'air filter subscription' service."  I mean, I wanted to know.  Was Jed at a great party over the holiday weekend, and someone started gabbing about the wonders of routine home air filter delivery? Could happen.

Jed being the decent sort wrote right back, and Jed...said:

"I think I heard of it somewhere as a blurb or online, but I honestly don't remember -- but wherever it was it stuck.  If I come across it again I'll let you know for certain.  The model makes so much sense it's silly not to sign up."

Did you catch that?  "Silly not to sign up!" Naturally, we now love the real Jed and Jeds everywhere who are starting to hear the buzz about on time air filter subscription and delivery services like ours.

It's a whisper, but increasingly based on our analytics, becoming an audible patter.  We'll be patient, continue providing great service, getting the word out, and hoping for louder yelps sometime soon.

Filed under: Sue Heilbronner