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Once upon a time, a request for an email address was a sure fire way to be able to reach someone. Now, as recent research shows, email usage amongst the next generation has dropped by a staggering 59%, and for the vast majority of the rest of us, email has quite simply become a burden.
So, how do you get in touch and stay in touch?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems have been solving this problem for the last few years and we need to start learning, fast, from these solutions. But, that simple question: “How would you prefer to be contacted?” no longer has a simple three phase answer: email, snail mail or telephone.
What we need to consider now is far more complex. As social networks expand and people become more au fait with their smart phones, tablets, and alternative ways of communicating, you need to find the communication medium of choice for your customers and contacts. And you can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that for the vast majority of people – email is not IT.
Spam is not the only problem. The sheer deluge of emails into your average inbox each day means that many people are just ignoring email as a means for communication. And for instant communication, as the #blackberrycrumble showed this last week or so, even your smart phone cannot save you if something more major goes amiss with email servers.
People are relying on a variety of mechanisms to stay in contact and as a company, it is now down to you to learn and adapt to the chosen communication channels of choice for your users. Whether that is Twitter, Facebook, SMS, email, a phone call, or a visit. And then within each of those channels, you may need to understand more comprehensively how your user uses that channel to stay informed.
So, for instance, post something on Twitter as a reply to a tweet I have sent or as part of a conversation I was involved with, and I will only know if it includes @myhandle. I simply do not have time to constantly monitor Twitter so the only way you can reach me is a DM or a replytome. Start a conversation on Twitter with 3 or 4 other people and you will see how Twitter handles start to fall off quite quickly in 140 characters.
Post something on a Facebook page for a client and how will I know unless you tell me?
Understanding how each of those you contact uses social networking and communication channels is becoming a must. Look at those in your office and close family. Do you know the best method for contacting each of them, according to their preferences, which will raise an instant response? If so, then you need to start applying similar knowledge to your wider address book.
For instance, don’t leave me a voice message or expect me to spot an email in the several thousand which arrive each day. Instead, a DM on any of the social networks will arrive as an SMS to my mobile phone. However, you will never know how I set up my personal devices to receive my personal communications, so you need to guess until you know. And then when you know, you need to target me in the most effective manner possible.
Here are some examples:
x: will only answer emails. Thinks SMS are the spawn of satan and will not answer. Ever. The smartphone lives in a box waiting to be sold as a heritage item, like an Atari.
y: loves Twitter. Always picks them up within moments, even at the dead of night. Other than that….
z: checks email weekly. Chooses 10-20 emails to answer only. Facebook, LinkedIn, and social bookmark sites such as delicious and Digg are monitored constantly.
Worrying? It should be if you are relying on email to reach your target audience. It is time to get personal and understand how your audience wishes to communicate. A good CRM mechanism is essential and a full appreciation of the cost of NOT reaching your audience with your messages will force you to look into these solutions.
What does your company use?
Companies are adopting social media because it has ‘come of age’. No longer is it the unproven, new kid on the block, and we are even seeing a small percentage of companies abandon their websites in favour of a purely social media presence. (Source: Network Solutions)
One of the social media traffic-driving methods is to use Twitter. There are, broadly, three ways to use Twitter:
1) As a broadcast mechanism
2) As a research tool
3) As a conversation tool
Let’s consider each in turn and its place in your social media marketing strategy.
Broadcast Mechanism
One of the simplest ways to reach your audience is to use Twitter to disseminate information about updates to your website, blog, brochure, or to announce sales, discounts and special offers.
However, this requires you to have an audience to reach. In order to gain followers, they need to a) know you exist and b) find your tweets of interest, meaning that they will share them and act as evangelists to their own followers.
As a research tool
For those in active industries, Twitter is an ideal means to find breaking news, watch your competitors, and follow events and news. This use of Twitter can mean taking a far more passive role and needing to engage less than if Twitter is being used for marketing and promotion, as in the other two usages given.
As a conversation/CRM tool
This is easier for smaller companies who inevitably need to engage in far fewer conversations than a large corporate, and can therefore develop deeper relationships with potential and existing customers. For larger companies, if Twitter is to be used in this way, it is wise to assign a number of people to the task and ensure they communicate well as a team.
That last instance is the most likely place where having staff tweet could benefit your company, although keeping others within the company up to date with news, competitive behaviour and so on, can also be extremely valuable.
So, let’s look at staff using Twitter to market the company. There is the obvious use as given above of a dedicated team (or individual) who manages all uses of Twitter in the company name. However, this misses the opportunities presented by involving a wider group of staff in the Twitter promotion of your company.
If this is to work, there need to be ground rules laid down from the outset. For instance, is it wise to allow your staff to tweet about the company on their private Twitter accounts? Probably not, is the simple answer. Is it wise to prohibit staff from using Twitter at all? Again, probably not. Most staff will find a way to access Twitter e.g. on their mobile phones if you ban access.
What is required is a means to allow company employees the chance to tweet about and for the company, but without diluting the message by incorporating it into their own private Twitter account. And all guidelines require an understanding of how Twitter works, and how it can benefit the company if used wisely.
For instance, if each member of staff who wishes to tweet has their own corporate identity on Twitter, and each tweets to their own set of followers, then you have the potential for engaging a far wider audience. This can be seen by large news agencies whose reporters often have their own Twitter identity, whilst each newsroom – Breaking, Tech, World, and so on – also has a stream. This allows followers to watch for favourite journalists as well as follow specific subjects. Hence, permitting a far larger audience across all streams than would be likely from a single all-inclusive account.
So, Increased Reach is a major benefit of allowing staff to tweet. The sum of the parts is far greater than the whole could ever be.
The major con of all this is managing accounts e.g. when a member of staff leaves, you need to withdraw that account to prevent misuse by a disgruntled member of staff. This may prove difficult if that member of staff has changed their password for precisely this purpose, and so security should be managed. Errant ex-employees can have their accounts closed down by Twitter directly, so then again it is not too much of a concern.
On an average day, you may spend time on Twitter, aggregated news sites, dedicated news sites (eg BBC, CNN, NHK), Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Digg, delicious etc.
What generally happens at the end of the day is you have anywhere up to 100 tabs open that you mean to come back to. But, tomorrow is another day. And the whole round starts again…..open a tab, read a little, click a link, watch a video, tweet, new tab, follow a link, new tab, download a white paper, new tab. ETC.
So, how do you stand out in this endless round of websites and social media impact?
Somewhere, in the recent 1,000 sites I have visited, (ie in the last 3-4 days) is a site that caught my eye. Sadly, because of the insufficiencies of the search engines to revisit the sites I have been to in the last day or two, I cannot lay my hands on it. But it stood out.
Which, you have to admit is rare for a website. Why did it stand out?
Because it behaved exactly the same as an app that I use on the phone – FourSquare. Little pop up saying I’d earned the New Visitor (or similar) badge as I entered and scrolled through the article I had found on one of the major news aggregation sites. It also linked me to others who had found that interesting. Some of whom I know and respect.
Enough to stay? Nope. But the article was good and had links to other related material. So, I clicked within the site links and started reading more. (Good sign – we like sticky sites that help you find other content of interest).
A couple of pages later, I got a new badge and was encouraged to register to the site to keep my badges. And return. By then, I was actually quite interested in the site and knew I would return. So, Sign up- easy, email plus first name.
I kept reading, bookmarked a few items as relevant for my research, and inevitably, eventually, moved on.
No-one from that website has been in touch. My life and requirements for writing have moved on so I haven’t searched for them. I can’t remember where that site is for the life of me. I could go through each day’s bookmarks but I simply don’t have time.
That website has a willing visitor, if I could only remember where it is. I don’t have time to look, but a single email reminder saying:
1 week ago, you looked at the following articles…….. Since then we have added all this related news….
and I’d be there in a flash.
If you create sticky content, add funky functionality, and set up CRM systems that allow you to keep in touch with those who fall over your website….please, please, please use them!!!
Customer acquisition carries a far higher cost than customer retention, so it is vital that you look after your customers once you have found them.
However, it is surprising how many businesses, particularly small business where the resources are often limited, fail to keep in touch with their customers.
There are multiple ways to do this, and it need not be expensive. Here are 5 quick and easy ways to make sure your customers remember you.
1. Have you sent all your existing and past customers a Christmas card yet? It needn’t be at the expense of trees – send a digital Xmas card. It’ll also give you a chance to clean up your e-mail distribution list for 2010.
2. Write a regular newsletter and email it out. When we say “regular”, it may only be monthly, every three months, or even annual, but make it regular so your customers expect it.And don’t forget to archive it on your site as extra content, and include links in your email so people visit your website. It could include news about new products, clients, exhibitions and shows you have attended, or discounts and special offers.
3. Add a blog to your site. This means that you will need to come up with regular content, but that needn’t be difficult. Pick a time schedule you can keep to, eg every Thursday or the first week of every month if you have limited time and resources.
4. Use the social networks and tools that are available. For instance, create a fan page on Facebook, use Twitter to inform your customers about sales or special offers, join Linkedin and add your news to your profile or discussion groups.
5. Send a present. It might just be a pen with your company logo on it, but every little reminder of you is good. Especially when the present is useful. (I love receiving dongles/memory sticks. And I often watch and read the content before deleting it
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Out of office autoresponders are a great thing. In some ways. If a client is trying to reach you about a particular aspect of a campaign, a notable development, a question about how to promote a new product etc, then it helps if they know that their account manager is out of the office this week, and who to contact instead.
However, if your out of office autoresponder is not ’smart’, then it will reply to every ezine, newsletter, client enquiry, spam email and so on, ad infinitum. The actuality of that is that you will undoubtedly make enemies with the very people you need to foster relationships with. Any by this, we are not talking about spambots or people who have bought your email address from some dodgy listserv seller.
If you want to know how to ensure that your Out of Office auto reply mechanism is keeping people on side rather than alienating them, the blog post linked to in this sentence is a MUST READ.
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I have just had an interesting experience.
I subscribe to newsletters, blogs, forums, RSS feeds, tweets, etc etc all over the world, on many different issues, to keep up with trends, stats, and word of new developments, in many sectors.
I sign up to receive information from websites, more than just daily.
And I have just been knocked back by a potential supplier. For no good reason except idiocy.
To explain, let’s imagine you are a widget dealer in the US. You might not be hugely interested in exporting your widgets right now to Europe because of the dollar rate. Or because the media are busy telling all of us how bad the economy is.
But I might be very interested in buying your widgets, covering the shipping and currency costs, and potentially becoming a very loyal customer in the future. Right now, I stand to make a fairly hefty profit selling your goods in the EU into an empty niche in the market.
But you don’t know this. Nor do you know that everyone is thinking like you and battening down the hatches and there is a market opening for a risk taker like me.
I just need a supplier. Whom I can contact easily.
Who are you to say whether, without knowing me, I have found an alternative use for your product? Or a new market? Or that I am willing to take a risk? Without hearing from me, you won’t ever know that I exist, will you?
So, why, when asking for more info in an online form on your website, have you failed to look beyond the US and accept that not only might my UK zip code / post code be wrongly formatted compared to US ones, but my phone number might not conform to your standard number of digits either?
I have just been totally frustrated by a form for a company I really want to get in touch with. Their email address bounces, their online form refuses to accept that I may live anywhere other than Alaska to Yukon, and if I didn’t know some other tricks, they would have just permanently lost a potential customer.
And the CRM system behind the site now has a ton of duff data in it!
Luckily, I am determined when it comes to finding where and who people are online, but many others are literally just one click away from your competitors.
If you do only one thing today, go and look at your website with an eye for OPPORTUNISTS.
All over the world right now people are seeking opportunities for investment. These opportunies may not occur in their own country, but are very likely to be occurring in other nations. This is what the global marketplace is all about.
You can’t be expected to be every one of those people or companies seeking opportunities, and think of the amazing ideas they have, but you can at least be ready to hear from them.
If your website locks these chances out, because you have taken a parochial view about who your customers might be, then you are the loser.
Your business stands to lose potential commercial opportunities that will stand the test of time – because you have good customer relationship management, imagination, a great product, and more – just because you have a form set up by a webmaster who thought all your customers would be in the same geographical region as you for ever more.
A quick checklist for every single company out there with a website right now:
Basically, make sure that your customers can connect with you. NOW!
Or throw the entrepreneurs of this world from your doorstep and don’t ask them to come back.
Many of you seem to be…..check you are not one of them.
