supporthuman.cx
The Mark II bookmark: a phantom (menace)
## Why I bought it (like an idiot)
Several months ago, I gave in to the sweet, unrelenting pull of consumerism and bought the Mark II bookmark, āa smart highlighter that collects your ideas when reading, and turns them into personalized insights.ā
I did it for a few reasons, the first being the most important: I read a lot, and I highlight and annotate a lot. I do this for pleasure but mostly for work: the _Support Human_ newsletter often requires research, and Iāve been working on (yet another) side project that requires a metric ton of research, much of it in physical books because thereās either no ebook version available or because it was a lot cheaper for me to buy the work used.
Now, thereās a few ways writers like me go about organizing their notes and research. Iāve seen many use a notecard system, in which they write quotes, notes, and the source/page number on a notecard, then file the notecard by theme or category with notecards from other books theyāve read. This way, they have all their research in one place, easily organized by whatever they want to write about.
Others use a dedicated reading journal, or type up their notes and then print it out into a binder for a specific project (Iāve done this in the past) or use a notes app like Obsidian or Notion to organize it.
Personally, I love handwriting my notes; the physical act of doing that means whatever Iām working on stays with me longer, and Iām a nerd for organization systems. Unfortunately, when youāre researching in bulk, these are all pretty tedious systems. If I were a full-time writer, I donāt think it would be so tedious, but alas I am not, and Iāve found that I simply donāt have time to commit to such manual methods for recording my research and notes.
Or, more accurately, Iāve been _forced_ to commit to these methods, which is why you havenāt seen or heard anything about this side project.
Enter the Mark II. (I hoped, anyway.)
## What it can do (maybe)
The companyās website describes the Mark II as a āreading companion that helps you capture, organize, and revisit what you read, without breaking your flow. You can highlight, speak, or capture ideas in the moment, and theyāre instantly structured into a system to search, revisit, and build off from.ā Mark II is supposed to recognize text on paper, on e-ink and standard screens, and handwritten text.
Thereās a companion app that (supposedly) organizes text scanned with the Mark II, which the company claims ābuilds your knowledge system automaticallyā by creating categories and collections from the text. It has a (possibly experimental?) ISBN scanner so you donāt have to manually enter book information, and you can export quotes and annotations to the notes app of your choice (including Obsidian and Notion).
There are also AI features that allow you to āchatā with what youāve saved, but Iāve found that even the most powerful AI models hallucinate research even when the source material is easily accessible, so Iām not interested in those features and wonāt use them.
As you might have guessed at this point, all of the information about the Mark II above comes from their website or from what I assume is paid coverage in random tech blogs and YouTube channels, because itās been on preorder for several months and it doesnāt appear that the tester units they sent out were meant for anything but private testing.
Even those whoāve received their bookmarks have only posted pictures of it in the box, and although the companyās founder has been busy on The Social Media Platform Formerly Known as Twitter1 making odd shortfilms and talking about the product, their website and YouTube still have no practical demonstrations of the Mark II.
That, and the general lack of communication around pretty much anything about the Mark II, has not inspired confidence. In fact, I'm starting to think that I've been bamboozled, that this was the physical equivalent of vaporware, and Iāve spent $159 on a beautiful, if impossible, idea.
## A phantom (and a menace)
I had hoped that, months later, Iād actually have a Mark II to tell you about in this piece. In fact, this was originally written as an introduction to a review of the bookmark,2 but this experience has been so irritating and the companyās poor communication so egregious that the only thing to do is to review the shitty customer experience instead.
If youāre new here, it might help to know that my expertise is in customer support, which Iāve been doing and designing for tech companies for well over a decade. That means that CX is something I care a lot about and something I get really annoyed about when it falls short.
If youāre a regular here, though, you know the customer experience for any product, physical or otherwise, starts well before anyone actually has it in their hands.
Mark is a small, young company, but as the name suggests, there was a Mark I, so theyāre not totally inexperienced in this space. Even if they were, basic marketing wisdom is that the more potential customers know about your product, the more sales youāre going to get. And basic _customer service_ wisdom is that if there are production or other issues that are going to delay the customer receiving their purchase, you gotta communicate that.
Iād prefer to be baffled at Markās silence in the run up to (and even after) the Mark IIās release, but as time has marched on with very little news about it, Iāve progressed to pissed off instead.
## (...and also a farce)
In the months since I ordered the Mark II in July, I received exactly 4 emails from Mark: my order confirmation on July 14, a reminder to check my shipping address on September 3, a notice that the Mark II would start shipping on September 22, and a minor shipping update on October 6.
Sorry, sorry, there was actually one more: this really confusing email from the founder on October 10:
Mind you, they sent this to someone who has already preordered the bookmark. Why would I be interested in preordering another, when the one I already bought is nowhere in sight? Also, their order page has not changed since July, so how is this news worthy of an email?
Which is frankly wild considering it isnāt even Q3 anymore.
Iāve received nothing about how development or manufacturing was going, nothing about it or the appās features, and no answers to frequently asked questions. Nothing that you would expect a company to do to elicit excitement or anticipation of their product, and no care for the customer experience outside of (I assume) trying to assuage concerns that the Mark II might be an elaborate scam.
And no, I donāt count tweeting occasionally on Twitter as marketing or customer care. I would never, ever advise a company to put all their eggs in one basket, let alone a basket that a lot of their customers actively avoid because most of the other eggs are rotten.
Posting on one social media platform is not marketing, and it definitely isnāt customer support. Nor does it help that Mark generally comes across as unprofessional on Twitter: including forcing their customers to prompt them for delivery timelines, publicly calling out their manufacturer for production issues, posting weird and vague quotes that donāt have anything to do with the product, and boosting a supposed product reviewerās tweet and then not addressing that there was never a review.3
And to add insult to injury, Mark posted this on Twitter earlier today:
Oh yeah? How about the fucking bookmark I paid $159 for? Is that coming soon?4
And the answer to that question ā which is only available on Twitter! ā is apparently no:
Have I received this same update as a paying customer? Nope!
POSTING ON TWITTER IS NOT CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION. Itās also absurd that it took this long for you to even post _that_ somewhere public, when the rest of your comms have been so boastful and self-congratulating. Again, I have to assume that even this update only made it out because of reactions like mine, and IT IS STILL EMBARRASSINGLY INADEQUATE.
When youāre selling a product like the Mark II ā expensive specialty hardware that the customer cannot try before purchase ā the only thing customers have to be confident in is the company itself. Itās the most tangible thing they see until the product is actually in their hands, and if they never hear from the company, or what they do hear is inconsistent or unprofessional, that will not only impact customer sentiment overall, but it can also color their experience of the product when they actually start using it.
I will forgive a lot if I just know what's happening and why, and so will most customers. But leaving the people paying you hanging only invites speculation, and speculation leads to distrust, and distrustful customers leads to a death spiral for both your product and your company.
Communicate with your customers. I should not have to tell you this. This doesnāt even rise to the level of specialized consulting advice!5 You ought to know that you have to tell people who gave you money literally anything about their purchase!
Mark, if youāre reading this: this is an extremely precarious situation you're in, and it will break your company if you don't do something. The best time to set customer expectations is at the very beginning of your relationship with them. The next best time is now.
(BUT ALSO: for dog's sake, talk about your product anywhere but on Twitter. Stop wasting your budget on random short films and use it to actually demonstrate your product in action. I dunno, maybe send a single informative email about it. Go crazy!)
Anyway. Mark: this is bad CX and you should feel bad. Be a real company and get your shit together, please.
1. Which was/is a bad sign in and of itself ā choosing to be on Twitter and only Twitter to market your product is a hell of a statement of the companyās values.
2. Get ready for a hell of a tonal shift.
3. Although I guess we know why now!
4. You will be unsurprised to learn that it was this tweet that prompted me to (re)write this.
5. Which you also clearly need!
