Are You Really Listening to Your Customers? 7 Important Areas……

Yep…uh huh…right….click, click, click….no, I’m listening…seriously, I’m listening….click, click, click…what? Can you say that again? 

 

Sound familiar?  It’s the cadence of corporate life these days……we are half-listening, which in my view, is not listening at all. 

 

Strategic listening is becoming a competitive advantage for companies.  And for those who truly listen, they are realizing that it is not as simple as it sounds.  When done well, it becomes incredibly powerful – it is the cornerstone of your online strategy. 

The reason is that strategic listening involves a number of variables.  It’s the nuances of listening that lead to the breakthroughs.  Conversations provide clues that three-ring binders never could compete with.  Leaders talk about where conversations occur, who has influence and which words are most powerful.  They are developing their own knowledge base that only gets stronger with time.  Followers are still talking in conference rooms looking at slides with pie charts and using group-think to debate what may be happening. 

 

It’s time to look at the “walk” as well as the “talk” in listening. 

 

Here are 7 important areas in strategic listening. 

 

#1 – Location, Location, Location – remember the old adage that the three most important factors in buying a home are location, location and location?  Same with conversations.  Know where your customers hang. 

 

#2 – Share of Conversation – throw away the slides showing positive, negative and neutral comments.  When data makes you guess what is happening, you don’t have data, you have just  “collected noise”.  Leaders know exactly who is driving share of conversation for their brand….with precision….they know what is happening behind the pie charts, graphs and tables…..they don’t guess.

 

#3 – Customer Expressions of Faith & Concern – they are equally important.  When a customer takes time to tell you what they think, either via a rating and review or a complaint or by answering a question, they are giving you a view into their way of thinking.  What do your most active customers actually care about and how is it trending?  Is your knowledge real-time or is it based on data that is months old?  Do you know exactly?

 

#4 – Ideas – customers like to do three things…share ideas, share product knowledge and provide each other with solutions to problems.  Customers can’t wait to provide you with their best intellectual capital.  All you have to do is grant permission by asking them in an idea site or on the phone when they call technical support.  Let your customers loose and watch what happens.  

 

#5 – The New Language – leaders know the exact words their customers use when they are talking online.  They don’t think in terms of keyword dictionary spreadsheets.  They think about the language of the customer.  Search is about customers using their language to find what they want.  Too often, our search strategies actually don’t reflect the prioritization of the customer’s words of choice.  Pretty amazing to me.   

 

#6 – What’s Bothering Me – many companies hope to avoid calls with complaints, but, in reality, you can learn so much.  Imperfect companies improve immensely by listening, learning and sharing what they are being told…..right away.  And we all know there are no perfect companies..yet.

 

#7 – How Customers Learn – now that you are listening to your customers, you develop an understanding about how they like to learn.  For example, maybe it really does make sense to start telling your story via video.  Or a certain group of customers would prefer to only receive information via their smart phone.  Do you know how they like to learn? Or how you want them to learn?

 

When you become a strategic listener, the world opens up along with opportunities for your brands.  What was that? Huh? Click, click, click…just a second….yep, be there in a minute…huh?  J

 

Push out the noise in your corporate life…..it never was helpful to begin with……make the customer your learning center every day.  Just make it happen....

 

Enjoy, Bob

 

WCG Headlines PR Week's List of Agencies to Watch in 2010

A big thanks to the folks at PRWeek and all the staff at WCG for a stellar year that led to the Editor's Choice award for the top agencies to watch in 2010.  PR Week noted WCG's growth in headcount and revenue, as well as rapid expansion of creative and social media capabilities, as indicators that WCG will indeed be one of the top agencies to watch in 2010.  Other agencies that were recognized include MS&L, Waggener Edstrom, Next Fifteen, and Ogilvy PR Worldwide.

From PR Week:

"WeissComm, once a traditional healthcare PR shop, used 2009 to expand its offerings further into social media and creative services through a number of acquisitions and hires. It says it expects revenues for 2009 to increase 40% year-over-year.
 
The acquisitions set a tone for the San Francisco-based agency, especially during a year where many firms were cutting budgets and staff. Going into 2010, it is well positioned for more growth.
 
With its integrated offerings, the firm is more than poised to take the lead as a counselor and strategist on issues relating to the FDA's policy on online communications, healthcare reform, new technology, and the growing consumer health sector.
 
If the FDA develops guidance for social media and online communications, the firm, which has been a key partner in developing social media strategies for some of the largest pharma companies, can guide its clients through changes as a true adviser.
 
WeissComm's acquisitions will also help it develop client relationships outside the traditional pharma and biotech sphere. Yet, many firms are remaining cautious about 2010. If budgets don't increase and revenues stay flat, the agency could face challenges in maintaining its success."

http://www.prweekus.com/editors-choice-2010-who-to-watch/article/160360/2/

Dear CMO: A Letter From Your Customers

Column as it appears in Sept. 28, 2009 AdWeek

I spend my days analyzing what customers are doing online and talking with CMOs and their teams. I've often wondered what the 1.67 billion folks online would say if they could share their thoughts in our meetings. Here is what I imagine they would  say:
 
Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. CMO:
 
We don't know who you are since most of you are not online, but we hear you're very important to  us. We don't recall many of you asking for our ideas, but we thought we would provide them anyway. Here's our top 10 list. 
 
1. You are welcome to join us. No offense, but we don't need companies anymore, at least like we used to. We're part of a "liquid network" and we're loyal to great content, which we can easily get online. We're sure we go to a lot of places that don't show up on your media buying plan, but that's OK. Which gets to our next point.
 
2. E-mail and trees: please start saving more of both. We don't really respond that much to catalogs anymore and we're tired of promotional e-mails that speak at us. We love when companies speak directly with us, like HP (hp.com/hpinfo/blogs/index.html) or Intuit. Even better when you ask for our ideas, like Starbucks (mystarbucksidea.force.com). It's easy to get to know you when we're having a conversation and then we can decide when to buy. How's that for a concept?
 
3. There are 365 days in a year. For many of your companies, we only buy something from you once or twice a year, but we like your brand. Would you mind finding ways to be relevant to us all year round without trying to sell us?  We really do think about travel and technology all of the time, but not in the ways you may think. Become part of our world. 
 
4. Video rocks. We like to learn much more via video than copy. It's one of the reasons why YouTube is now the second-largest search engine. It would be great if you realized this is a more important channel. Just check out the facts, we're there.
 
5. Personalize search.  Why do we always have to go to a destination site to begin a search? It's so annoying. Can't we integrate Google or Bing into our favorite community? What's keeping us from getting there?

6. Ratings and reviews. So glad you started doing this, but now we have a blizzard of them. When there are tens of thousands to choose from, we have to admit we start tuning out. Can we please evolve this area so we can see what our peers think? Remember, we seek out peer advice three out of four times before a purchase, so we'll bet the conversion numbers will work.
 
7. Technical support. We're told CMOs "don't do technical support." We just want to let you know that you should. It's so easy to improve our experience with your brand. For example, do you know that more than 90 percent of us will never call you this year? Yet, we may have issues. We figure it out on our own or via our technical support team-our peers. It would be great if you focused on the larger population, rather than wait until we call you out of desperation.
 
8. Languages. We're not all the same, which we know you know intellectually. But why aren't you having conversations with us in at least the 10 languages that reach 90 percent of us? You see, we only make decisions of importance in our native language, probably just like you. 
 
9. Our phones. We love our phones and we're getting more used to them as our primary device, along with our laptops. Any reason why most of you don't offer SMS alerts or make it clear which mobile apps are best for us? With a few billion phones in the world and 3G taking off, we hope this moves up the priority list. 
 
10. Your role. We don't know each other, but we hear you're the leader of our experience, so to speak. All we ask is that when you're running important meetings inside your company and doing lots of PowerPoints, which we hear is critical to success, don't forget we're outside of your building. The world is a better place with your full attention.  Until then, remember we'll be here when you can make it out. 
 
Yours truly,
 
The 1.67 billion customers of the online world

Bob Pearson is chief technology and media officer of the WeissComm Group, and chief evangelist of the Social Media Business Council. He can be reached at bpearson@wcgglobal.com.

How The Customer Experience Can be Revolutionized in Tech Support

If you work at a company, think about how many customers you have worldwide.  It’s probably a lot. 

Then realize that the average company interacts with less than 10% of its customer base each year.  Said another way, the average company does not communicate with more than 90% of its customer base each year.  And, the 10% who are calling or inquiring are often dissatisfied, which prompts the call. 

Why is this happening?  Well, it’s simple.  We like to hang on to old models until they don’t work effectively……and then hold on even longer in hopes that we might be wrong…….and then wait to see what our peers are doing before we dare make a move to transform a model. 

The current technical support model relies on people calling us by phone or inquiring via email.  In other words, if you  can find us online or you have enough patience to wait online on the phone, it is possible you might get helped.  It’s also possible you might just waste your time. 

I have tremendous respect for people who work in technical support.  They are on the front lines everyday with the customer and, in many respects, no one has more impact or more knowledge of the customer.  Many are heroes and I’ve found they deeply care about the customer.

However, the model they are forced to work under is often what I call a dinosaur model.  It’s time for  its extinction. 

Here’s why. 

When customers are looking for answers, they generally do one of four things.  They utilize search to find an answer online.  They go to a specific Q&A area online like Yahoo! Answers.  They check out their favorite forum for answers.  Or they ask their peers for advice in their own community. 

They increasingly do not call a company unless they have exhausted their options. 

We live in an age of self-sufficiency due to the increasing capabilities of the web.  Customers will  find their own answers without us.  They would prefer to ask their peers, who they believe to be completely unbiased.

The answer is simple.  Unleash the passion and expertise of today’s technical support team at your company.  Reverse the technical support model and spend the majority of the day providing answers online for your customers.  Participate in forums, answer questions on Yahoo! Answers, understand where your customers go for information via search and ensure you  are on that first screen.  Tell your own friends how to get info on your Facebook page.  And then, when the phone rings, answer it, but be prepared to let your caller know where they can go for  information in the future.  Become part of the longer term solution to encourage self-sufficiency.

The result will be the best customer experience ever experienced by your customers.  They will be amazed and appreciative at how they can get help without calling or  inquiring.  You save both time and money.  And, if  you do a great job online, the word of mouth will quickly travel offline. 

All it takes is courage to change your model.  Courage and a dash of innovation. 

All the best, Bob Pearson

Do You Know Which Language Your Customers Make Decisions in?

Think about yourself.  When you have an important decision to make, you want to do it in your native language. Your first language is the “language of decision-making”.   

In many respects, the world hasn’t changed a bit, regardless of geography or language.  Customers have always wanted the same things.  We want to comprehend what we will make a decision on.  We want to gain input from our peers, so we feel comfortable we have enough information to make the right call.  And, we want to do business with a company who cares about us as customers and treats us like part of their community.

A few years back, our family lived in Switzerland, a country which has German, French, Italian and Romansch as it’s four official languages.  One of the greatest gifts we received, and there were many, was not the time we were up in the Alps or hanging out by one of the lakes.  Rather, it was learning what it is like to make decisions outside of our comfort zone.  We learned what it is like to be an outsider looking in. 

It’s not fun to make decisions in a 2^nd or third language.  You can’t digest content online information quickly or at all.  You can’t understand the nuances of a live chat. And you’re not always sure if the “deal” you saw online is the best deal.  Essentially, the lack of ability to fully understand the language leads to self-doubt and a lack of trust that you are making the right decision. 

So which are the languages that matter?  Well, twelve languages reach approximately 90% of the online population.  They are Chinese, English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portugese, French, German, Arabic, Hindi, Dutch and Italian. 

What’s even more amazing is the pace of change.  There are 298 million people online in China.  81 million in India.  67 million in Brazil.  38 million in Russia.  26.5 million in Turkey.  23 million in Iran and 20 million in Poland.

The only guarantee I can give is that the languages that matter will change significantly with time.  Russia and Hindi are likely to become leading online languages within the next five years.  There are over 300 million people who speak Russian today and approximately 500 million who speak Hindi. 

When we work in social media, we often talk about the importance of having conversations with our customers.

Global companies will increasingly realize that having conversations in native language represents a big opportunity for companies and a future sigh of relief for customers.

Connecting with customers means speaking with them on a personal level in their language.  It does not mean translating a website and crossing your fingers that it will work. 

 All the best, Bob   

When Will E-Commerce Become E-Community?

When E-Commerce started to gain traction in 1995-96, many people thought that online sales would be cute to watch, but not substantial.   After all, how could customers trust giving their personal information to a company online?  How could they review a product as well as they could in a retail setting where they can touch, feel and discuss the product with a human being?  I mean, come on, who would have been crazy enough back in 1995-96 to think this would really be a substantial source of revenue?  Well, how about Amazon.com, iTunes, Dell and many others.  E-Commerce is now mainstream.   That game’s over.  

 

And now, in 2009, we’re ready for another revolutionary change.  One that will be met with equal skepticism.  It’s the long overdue morphing of E-Commerce into E-Community.   Think about how we make it hard for customers today.  We ask people to visit us at our .com and at sites we build for specific brands, including social media sites – a proliferation of places that are often unconnected.  We are too site focused.  We are too transaction focused.  Most companies are trying to get customers to visit and buy, hopefully in one visit.     The customer doesn’t visit for long on a site, but we sure hope they buy when they are there. 

 

There’s only one problem.  Customers spend <1% of their time making purchases online in their entire lifetime.  99% of their time is spent browsing and socializing with peers.  In other words, they have often made their decision before they visit.  And they are not that likely to be talking with your company directly before they make this decision.  Their peers are more likely to influence their future purchase once they leave your site than you are.

 

Imagine you are running a local camera store in a mall.  What if your customers had to go to a different mall to find out about your cameras because you only provided pricing and content on your cameras, but they didn’t get enough context to help them decide?  What if they spent most of their time asking their friends about your products before they came in to your store?  And what if you realized that all of the advertising in the world didn’t help them make better decisions, since it really just increased awareness and they still had to answer their questions outside of your store.  To cap it off, when customers visit your store, you are never really sure who they are or know what they want until they decide to buy or leave and then it is too late.   You are really analyzing your customers habits after they leave, not before they arrive.  If this was the case, you would realize you had a model in need of major improvement. 

 

Online, this is basically what happens today.  Customers ask peers 75%+ of the time for advice on what to buy.  They go to different sites than your own to figure out what to buy.  They are influenced far more by blogs and search and forums, e.g. valuable peer-driven content, than they are by ads.  If they are convinced by an ad to visit your  site, they often realize they don’t have enough information, which is why they most often leave to learn more before they come back, if they do.  And since they are only visiting your site for a transaction, you know very little about them.  If you have single sign on, you may know their purchase history, but you don’t know their passions, what they like to talk about online and how they want you to relate to them.  You are not really partners.  You don’t have a strong long-term relationship.  You have a .com that may provide a wonderful transactional experience, which is great…..until the next purchase is ready to be made.     

 

Customers want to visit less sites, engage in the conversations that matter to them and do it in an environment where they can gain their peer’s input and decide when they want to socialize or browse or buy.  They want a community to be their community, not yours. 

 

The future, I believe, will involve the convergence of E-Commerce sites into E-Community sites.  Leaders will create communities that enable customers to gain the benefits of contextual browsing, so relevant content is at your finger tips (if you want it).  Blogs and forums will be fully integrated.  You will be able to co-shop and co-learn with your peers via remote access technology, so a fellow customer can walk you through the site in a live manner and answer your questions, whether they are on purchase or support.  Ratings and reviews will be more personal, so you can ask the reviewer for more information or you can ask peers to help you do an instant review together on your own.  You can save your content in a browsing cart for later use, if you want, since you might not want to buy something for months.  And you could do all of this without ever seeing a single banner ad, pop-up or any other annoying reminder. 

 

For customers, it would increase your knowledge.  It would be peer-driven.  For companies, your representatives who earn the trust of the community will be welcomed as peers, since you are there to help customers enjoy their long-term experience with your brand.  The participation would be direct and personal and it  might actually become your favorite place to learn, shop and hang out.

 

I believe it is the future.  And years from now, it will seem rather obvious. 

 

All the best, Bob

Do you have a second chance to form a first impression?

I believe you do.  But you need to be an expert at knowing “where” impressions are being formed online about your brand before you have any chance of making a positive impact that your customers will appreciate.
 
We know the ways to make a bad first impression…that’s easy…fill up people’s in boxes with emails….create annoying banner ads….write content by committee….this list is long.  It would be funny if it wasn’t so true.
 
The analogy of how to do this well online is remarkably similar to offline.  It’s not rocket science.   For example, I give full credit to the offline experts who have never assumed that a customer’s first impression occurs when they walk in to a store to buy a product.   They know you need to reach the customer many times pre-purchase via advertising, circulars, the phone and much more.    The only problem, of course, is that virtually all of these ways to reach folks offline involve raising awareness or creating a call to action that is fairly routine.  They don’t involve the building of a relationship with the customer.
 
Fast forward and here we are with a wonderful basket of tools, techniques and platforms to help companies talk directly with customers.  We can learn from their insights, help with their issues and provide them the content they want, rather than the content we hope they want.
 
Progress leads to raised expectations on what to expect from a brand interaction online.  And, as it becomes increasingly easy to find the content you want wherever you want it, customers are realizing that it is far more effective to form their own impressions, at their convenience, ask their friends for insights and buy when they are ready.  The customer is in charge.
 
This rather important shift in where impressions are formed speaks to the need to know where your first, second and third impressions are formed.
 
Here’s what we know.  In the online world, less  than 1% of a person’s time will ever be spent buying products in their entire lifetime.  99% of their time is spent browsing and socializing.   The first impression is formed by search for the majority of the world, whether it is Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Baidu or other local search engines.  We know that 3 out of 4 people ask their peers, not companies, for advice before they buy.
 
So if peers influence is increasing and most of one’s time is spent outside of your site or store, where are folks?  We know this answer, of course. Facebook has surpassed 200 million users which would make it the 5th leading nation, larger than Brazil…..Twitter is adding millions of users…and there is LinkedIn, Orkut and much more.   Our “hang-out” is becoming a normal part of our lives.
 
Leading companies have realized that peers can include people at companies, who are trusted sources of information and are a real part of the community.  Examples range from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos to RichardatDell to Scott Monty at Ford to Frank Eliason at Comcast.    I know I pay attention to what they say.  I trust them.
 
If you work at a company, here are a few questions to think about.
 
Who at your company is part of your customer’s communities every day?
 
What are customer’s saying about your product right now?
 
How are your products being reviewed and rated, formally and informally?
 
What will be the first impression of your brand today?
 
There has never been a better time to engage directly with your customer.   Think twice about your next email or banner ad and think about the impression you are making.  Is it the right one?
 
All the best, Bob  
 
Note: I’ll be participating on a panel at the Interactive Austin ’09 conference Monday, April 27th.