Organizing ideas and communicating clearly
By susan | March 27, 2009
A recent survey of 120 blue-chip American companies found that a third of employees wrote poorly, a problem businesses spend more than $3 billion a year to correct.
- ad for “The Harvard Business School Guide to Better Business Writing.”
Those stats may be understated, if you include all that goes into communicating with documents, emails, and proposals. But let’s take that as reported. The one-third of your employees who do not communicate well in writing have other valuable skills. That’s why you hired them. That’s why you keep them around. (If not, you should not be keeping them around and let them find a better path.)
I’m not a big proponent of forcing skills on those who do not show a natural aptitude; rather, I’m a fan of encouraging people to serve according to their aptitude. And supporting them in doing what they do best. Yes, for those who show in interest in developing better writing and communications skills - support that desire. Buy them the HBS guide, send them to seminars.
For the rest, team them with people who *do* know how to write (if that will be required on the team). Let each serve your organization according to what he or she does best. And, if at all possible, do not devalue any of what they do. Whether it’s the ability to pick up the phone and make friends (and potential new business) with anyone under the sun, or whether it’s having an amazing memory for the details of other employees’ lives - and lifting the mood of everyone around them, or just about any other natural talent that holds up your organization; find a way to reward that.
If you need help with documents, proposals, presentations, or marketing communications, there’s an entire industry to support you with that. (Call me; drop me an email.)
Meanwhile, if that stat holds up, may I recommend supporting public education in any way that you can? I don’t know if the literacy statistics in America today are tragic, or simply indicators of new forms of communication emerging. There is more to communicating than just words.
But I have noticed over the years that some of my favorite people to work with, not to mention the C-suite level of corporate titans, did not get there with good writing. If it matters in your business, you can always get help and support with that. Reward everyone who helps you grow, no matter what they do. And you will keep growing.
Topics: customer experience | No Comments »
Shaking Up Everything, And It’s Good
By susan | March 3, 2009
When all the dentists in the world recommend soft bristles for your toothbrush, why are manufacturers still making medium and hard bristles? This doesn’t affect me that much directly, except when I go to buy a toothbrush and the soft bristles are sold out - in the color that I want. (That’s a separate issue; I see a color, want it, and discover it’s only available in medium or hard. Yes, I want the perfect product every time, and sometimes I did not know what that was until you showed me.)
It often seems that we get stuck in doing things the way they have always been done. Which leads me to the opportunities available in this shaken-up economy. When everything is running pretty smoothly, there is so much natural emphasis on keeping things as they are. I don’t know if that is productive. RIght now, with so many bets off the table, there are wide open spaces everywhere you look. Wide open because companies are afraid to move, to step forward, to do something. That’s a whole lot of opportunity for those who are willing to act, and at the risk of adding yet another metaphor here - to drive right into that big wide open space.
The best news is that in the current market climate, everyone is more free to ask this question: Why have we always done it this way?
Asking more questions tends to lead to better and more creative solutions. I am really looking forward to seeing what comes out of all this; especially in what will be created by those who are willing to move forward regardless of what “everyone else” is doing.
As for the dentists of the world, I do not know if all of them recommend soft bristles, or if it only seems that way. Maybe there’s more creative action going on right now than I think, and it only seems that a lot of companies are stuck right now.
Whoever gets unstuck first probably wins. That’s my bet.
Topics: customer experience | No Comments »
Simple tip for your online surveys
By susan | February 20, 2009
When you’re creating an online survey, what is the most important information you wish to receive? The profile information of your respondent, or the answers to your questions?
Profile information, which includes date of birth, sex, and income, may be useful for some purposes. It’s also most likely to be skewed or unanswered on a voluntary survey. So if you ask those questions first, you risk losing people right away. What if those same respondents had answered all of your other questions and then dropped off at the end? Would you rather know their vital stats? Or would you rather be able to factor in their other reponses - which, presumably, is what you are really wanting to know?
Please, please, don’t slow down your own survey at the start! Ask the most interesting questions first, the easy questions, the ones that make people genuinely interested in following the questions to see where they lead. Then, at the very end of it, after you’ve given them something really enjoyable to do (offering their opinions on a topic of interest), you can ask politely if they are willing to share some of their vital statistics.
If you’re getting less than a stellar response rate, this could be one of the reasons.
Recently I’ve received links to a couple of surveys where I opted out right away, for two different reasons. The first one began with open-ended questions on a topic where no open-ended examples came to mind. So I was not clear on what they were asking, or how I could help. It was too broad. Generally it’s great to include some open-ended fields for response, but not so much that it looks like a blue book for an exam.
The second survey began by asking for my birthdate. Besides requiring me to use that little series of fussy drop-down menus for month and day and year, it failed to engage my attention. My birthdate is not a topic of interest for me. It also indicated to me that the survey as a whole might not be well-designed. And so I walked away.
If it starts out as an engaging topic, respondents might be willing to proceed. This is so easy. Just try that next time, and see if it works. Bonus points if the respondent thanks you for how much fun it was to answer your questions!
Topics: consumer behavior, market research, marketing, online marketing | No Comments »
making users feel smart
By susan | December 18, 2008
Quick post here, because it’s been said, and stated very well, at:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/80398-if-your-users-fail-your-website-fails
Scott Karp opens that article with this assertion:
“On the web, in the age of Google, design has no margin of error, and there are no stupid users, only inadequate designs.”
The same approach should be intrinsic to market research, and marketing for that matter.
Topics: customer experience | No Comments »
Contracts that you might want to read.
By susan | September 1, 2008
A while ago I was considering the volume of contracts we encounter with every piece of software or new web download, but I came up with zero solutions.
In the alternative, I did jot down a few notes for contracts that I might enjoy reading. As follows.
Contracts That People Would Read:
- Web/software agreement by Dan Brown
- Real Estate contract or lease by Anne Rice
- Product Warranty by Dr. Seuss
- Non-Disclosure Agreement by John Le Carre
- Contractor/Builder agreement by Stephen King
I haven’t figured out yet who should write the credit card agreements. Maybe Thomas Pynchon.
Topics: customer experience | No Comments »
Cellular dreams and wireless parking.
By susan | September 1, 2008
In the long time since I last posted, I had started a couple of drafts with the following titles:
1. I have a (cellular) dream.
2. Wireless parking on the streets of San Francisco.
It seems I was excited by both at the time, but I forgot what I wanted to say. The first was intended to include a list of what I wish to see from cellular providers, but most of that is common sense (with more freedom for customers as the general theme). Billing transparency and the ability to see how a phone works before you buy it, could be a good start. I shall expect neither in my lifetime, and perhaps one day I will be pleasantly surprised.
I was most pleasantly surprised by the second story — regarding the streets of San Francisco. They had developed a way to wirelessly track available parking spaces and to send that information to those who most needed it: people driving around looking for parking! What a concept. Or as I wrote in that first draft:
I am amazed and delighted when someone delivers a solution that sounds as good for individuals as it is for the community — and for business.
Perhaps there was little else to say. I was rendered nearly speechless by that story.
As a frequent pedestrian in Manhattan, I could be equipped with a cellphone with GPS and a simple “parking” button. As I pass by a legal parking space that is unoccupied, I could push the button. That signal would be transmitted to drivers in the vicinity looking for parking. I wonder if those drivers would be willing to pay for the service? And if my participation would be deducted from my bill.
Of course, there should also be a way for drivers pulling into that space to send a signal saying “I got it” — indicating to other drivers that it is now taken.
Right. That would never work. (And over at Engadget, where they were covering the story in more timely fashion, it seems they had some of the same concerns.)
Kudos to San Francisco, because New York hasn’t figured it out yet. But I do love the idea of combining the best of wireless technology with solutions that help people — and save on exhaust fumes.
Topics: customer experience | No Comments »
Email answering service
By susan | April 20, 2008
All it takes to see a new business opportunity is to spot a problem.
Another one arrived today courtesy of Randall Cross’s piece in the Times, Struggling to Evade the E-mail Tsunami. Before I explain, I’d like to pause for a second to respond to that title. Let’s put aside the issue of using the word “tsunami” to exaggerate, and focus on the word email. Or as the Times calls it, “e-mail.” Does that word really require a hyphen? I stopped using the hyphen years ago and I don’t know who else is using it besides The New York Times. But email is a perfectly good word all on its own, and given the context of Cross’ article and our information overload, should any of us be spending time with hyphens where they are not absolutely required?
Stratford-upon-Avon, the town with too many hyphens, gets a pass on this from me. I am much too fond of the town that is a glorified museum for all things Shakespeare to mess with their hyphens. But please. Should email get the same respect as Stratford-upon-Avon? Would Shakespeare himself have used a hyphen in the word email? And which of his characters would have received the most emails?
Better to focus on today’s characters who receive too many emails. And today’s report. Because yes, if Romeo and Juliet had been equipped with cell phones and SMS, they both may have lived happily ever after.
Mark Cuban and Michael Arrington receive over 1000 and 2000 emails per day respectively (non-spam) and neither wants a secretary. Of course not. Even though that’s the obvious 20th century solution to such a conundrum, these are 21st century guys. So are all the bloggers who receive hundreds of comments and emails each day. They don’t do secretaries. So to speak.
So what’s the solution? A new one, to make this market happy. Not an old one, revisited from the past. Something that sounds new, uses web 2.0 and open source, and — this is the most important part — makes them feel good about using it.
That’s right. It has to feel like something so cool and fascinating that they would be all over it, knocking on your door to hand over their emails. So your service could review, cull, deliver what they want; while taking care of the rest of what they don’t want and still keeping them honest.
It’s an open source world. Do we hear an open source solution coming?
Part of it would be automated, of course. For example, they don’t want another desk in their office next to them. And they definitely don’t want to pay benefits and healthcare. They want the personal touch addressed to emails. They know, better than anyone, how woefully inadequate automated content searches are in delivering the most basic human understanding of an emailed query. So for that part of it, human brain power would be required. It’s faster, more efficient, and can see things that no computer can.
I believe there’s a lucrative opening here for a range of providers. And we are not talking about a market of two. Okay, so out of the 70 million blogs tracked, only 15 million were active last year. But according to Arrington’s TechCrunch, the top fifty thousand blogs earned $500 million in revenue in 2006.
So it’s not that these 21st century characters can’t afford a secretary. They just want you to show them something better, hotter, and cool. Good luck on reaching them through email.
Topics: customer experience | No Comments »
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity
By susan | April 15, 2008
Several years ago I had a boss who brought in a large wooden plaque and hung it on the wall of the office for all to see. The sign read: “simplify, simplify, simplify.”
One of my co-workers looked up at the sign, bemused, and asked, “shouldn’t it just say ’simplify’?”
The problem with simplicity is that our brains don’t want things to be that simple. So in order to learn simplicity, it seems we have to practice. Remind ourselves three times a day: simplify! Right.
The New York Times is suggesting that people over the age of forty want simplicity in their technology products. I most heartily agree. I also disagree. I believe that all people want simplicity; and it’s mostly the definition that varies from person to person. We love both simplicity and complexity at the same time.
But there’s a tremendous beauty in simplified solutions. One of my favorites is the wind turbine, along with solar panels. Maybe those are not as much fun for some people as building big drilling machines and digging muck out of the ground to run our cars and heat our homes. I believe there’s room for both!
So when I call for simplified technology, or more simple solutions, it’s not that everything always has to be simple. It’s finding out what is simple for whom, and who wants simplicity in what product or solution. That’s where the complexity comes in. There’s also a beauty in that complexity. Otherwise what would we all do for fun?
Topics: customer experience | No Comments »
Wowowow designs it right
By susan | April 11, 2008
The new site for women over forty, of which I am one, is one of the first I’ve seen that is designed for eyes over forty. It seems to understand its target market and give visitors an appropriate customer experience. Offering a remarkably beautiful clean design with large headlines and lots of white space, it seems also designed for reading on screen, and not just clicking through or watching videos.
I don’t recommend this for all sites, certainly not those targeted at teens and twenty-somethings. They seem to prefer tiny fonts in many cases, so long as it looks cool. And perhaps because their parents can’t read it? But yes, absolutely, if you want people over the age of 40 (men and women) to stay at your site and read some content, please make it readable!
Now as for the name, I am withholding judgment because I’ve been wrong before. I can only speak for myself: I got a little dizzy typing in “wowowow” and making sure I had the correct number of w’s and o’s and not one too many. Typing words in English is very fast if they are words. Typing strings of letters can be more challenging. Wowowow seems, to me, to be a string of letters.
I can only assume that the site’s founders (who confessed to Charlie Rose that they had great difficulties coming up with a name) are using bookmarks or clickable icons on screen to reach their own site. And perhaps I’m unusual in more often typing a url to reach a site.
So I will have to come up with a better and faster trick for reaching wowowow.com, or practice a lot with both ring fingers. I only know that it could hamper the number of visits I make or how easily I get there. And clearly, as always, great content has to back up the design. So far it looks pretty good to me and I wish them well. I only wish they had asked me about the name first. I could have given them several alternatives that are still available, on the open market.
Topics: customer experience, marketing to women | No Comments »
I’m feeling lucky and your appendix works
By susan | April 8, 2008
Does anyone still use the I’m Feeling Lucky button on Google? I remember trying that a couple of times in the dark ages of the Internet. When internet still began with a capital I. The first time I ever saw Google. I suppose it must have been 1998.
The results of clicking on I’m Feeling Lucky were amusing at best and haphazard at most. For one thing, not much was out there or available to find. Even if it delivered the best possible results for your search, the answer was fundamentally: it’s not here yet. Not on the web. Nothing was very well sorted. And google was not yet a verb. It was more of a game just to see what would show up.
In the interim as both Google and the web became quite useful, I was not clicking but using the Enter button. Type a search and hit enter. Rinse and repeat. The I’m Feeling Lucky button was the appendix of Google for me. It had not been removed from the body but had no discernible use. I did not see it anymore.
As it turns out, your appendix may have a use after all. In one of my favorite ways of gleaning new scientific information - through the viewing of network television dramas with decent writing and research, I heard that tidbit on Eli Stone. Oh my, I was trying to give you an ABC official site link to Eli Stone but the page took forever* and when it finally loaded a commercial for LOST began playing. They lost me on that one, so the link above is for IMDB’s listing of same. You can visit the ABC site if you want.
According to a conversation between Jonny Lee Miller who plays the lead character, and Matt Letscher who plays his brother, the appendix aids in digestion. I believed it because writers don’t make that stuff up. That’s the kind of information that a writer stumbles across and finds fascinating and later uses in a story. More to the point, it’s too easy for anyone to check the facts on the web. So I believed it. But okay I will check and confirm, as follows.
I googled these words: “appendix purpose aids digestion” and there you have it. Several links came up confirming what they said on the show, that it appears as if your appendix may have useful bacteria that aids in digestion. If you select Google’s I’m Feeling Lucky button on that search, it will take you here to a useful article.
It also makes sense! To me, the story that the appendix is useful is far more believable than the old story that you didn’t need it and doctors could just remove it anytime. I’ve also been watching the John Adams series over at HBO and being reminded how doctors used to remove blood from people in hopes that it might make them feel better.
I started out to tell you a story about how I tried the I’m Feeling Lucky button again today. Realizing that a lot of things have changed in the last ten years, and Google is a better Google, and the web is a better web. So if you type in ‘imdb’ plus a partial name of a film, and click on the Lucky button, it will take you right to that page on IMDB.com. The result was exactly what I wanted to see.
It reminded me of how long distrust can stay in a customer’s mind, for so many years, and how little it might take to get them to trust you again. If only you could get them to click on that Lucky button that they tried so long ago and did not work. Because things may be improving all the time; but without a little proof of that, your customers are not necessarily going to stick around or revisit the same place twice.
So I may develop a new habit. When I’m feeling confident about Google’s ability to deliver results, I could hit Tab twice and then Enter. Most likely this will be in combination with an already trusted site; for example, in this case that would be IMDB and not ABC.
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* (regarding the use of the word “forever,” if it feels like forever to your customer, then that’s exactly what it is — even if it was only sixty seconds)
Topics: customer experience, google, trends, web services | No Comments »