Liars! Why Talking to Your Customers Is So Important
We’re all (too) familiar with the "This program has stopped responding" message when Windows decides to crash something. You know that little message that pops up after the error? The one that says "Report this bug?" What does Microsoft do with that information? Does it actually go anywhere? Does it suffer the same fate as Dwight’s complaints against Jim, stuck under Toby’s desk in a big trash bag? Or does that information actually help Microsoft debug and improve their OS/software?
The problem is, I have no idea what happens to that information. And that’s why I hardly, ever, hit "send." Why would I make the extra effort to contribute something if I have no idea if my contribution will matter? This, unfortunately, is an all too common error in customer service and marketing (which, I happen to think are one in the same). Companies, or inviduals for that matter, request user generated content with the promise that it will help "shape the future" or "make a difference," but what happens all those suggestions?
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Blog + Email = Success
We're always recommending that clients complement their new web sites with marketing strategies that will drive traffic. With online marketing talk focused mainly on the realm of social media, well, call me old school, but it's inspiring to see impressive returns using good old fashioned email.
One of our clients, Rebecca Shambaugh of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, came to us last summer to redesign her company's site. She was open to the idea of blogging. She had just written a book and was no stranger to getting her ideas and experiences in writing. However, her core audiences aren't guaranteed blog readers. So what better way to reach more traditional corporate audience members than by email, a tool they're comfortable and adept at using?
So, whenever this CEO publishes a new post on Becky's Blog, she also sends out a quick email to about 2,500 contacts. The email is usually just the first paragraph or two of the blog post with a link to read the rest on the site itself. Since she started this process in March, she's averaged a 37 percent click-through rate of those emails that were opened; meaning that of the 20 percent (500) or so who open the email, nearly half (250) click through to read the rest of her posts online.
That's about 250 readers who likely don't have RSS readers and who almost certainly would not have received her blog content otherwise.
Email catches flak with spam abounding, but it's still a viable, core component of business online.
Wrestling with Big, Old Lists
Recently, a client posed this question (I’m paraphrasing): "I have a list of 350,000 email addresses that I collected over the last 5 years. I don’t know how many of them are legitimate. I haven’t used their email addresses for anything before. I want to announce our re-launch and re-engage users. What’s the most cost effective way to get value from these email addresses?"
The first thing I did was verify that all 350,000 email addresses had, at some point, been willingly provided by individual users. The client confirmed that, while it may have been five years ago, all of these people gave an email address willingly. This is essential, but may still not be good enough (see below).
The second thing I focused on was the idea of "cost effective." Most ESP's will charge for every email sent. Therefore, it’s tempting to find a way to scrub the defunct email addresses prior to sending the message. I’ve heard of people using email validators; but, I haven’t used one myself.
Quickly, however, I shifted my attention to trying to understand the potential value of this big list. What makes these email addresses precious to the client? Conversely, what’s at stake if we misuse them?
YackTrack Tackles Distributed Conversations
It used to be so easy to follow conversations in that quaint old world of the blogosphere - simply follow the comments and track the other blogs linking to the site to read what others were saying. But then Digg and social bookmarking services showed up and extended the conversation to other social sites.
Then Twitter arrived and roundly disrupted the entire conversation by blasting it out into a fragmented scattering of 140-character questions, ideas and comments.
The digital conversation is now truly distributed. How do you keep up?
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Hey Facebook Lexicon, Track This: Disappointment
I recently posted about Facebook’s new chat feature and white paper, and while I debated writing yet another Facebook post, this new feature is just too good to pass up.
Social media platforms are beginning to realize the need for statistical validation. In other words, people need to see some numbers to back up the buzz. Awhile ago, I mentioned YouTube Analytics. Now, Facebook brings you the Facebook Lexicon. Facebook Lexicon allows you to search for keywords that have been posted on Walls--be it a profile, group or page Wall. The details of exactly how it measure’s can be found here; but suffice it to say that it missed the mark.
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