Tag Archives: Customer experience

August 18, 2015 · 9:30 am

Lightening The Load

If there is one thing that seems to have happened over the last 15 years, it’s the growth of ADD.  That’s right – it seems as if most of us have some sort of Attention Deficit Disorder which manifests itself via an inability to stay focused and patient as we use our devices.  After all, what’s more frustrating than clicking on a link and waiting and waiting and waiting for the page to load?  Sometimes it’s due to a lousy connection to the internet.  Most of the time, however, it’s probably due to how the publisher has built the page.  I can hear you muttering that “he’s gone all wonky today” but stay with me.  There is a broader business lesson here.

Web pages are a series of elements.  The page code processes them and does everything from display pictures to send analytics data to a server  to format text to pull ads out of a marketplace.  Each of these things takes a little time and the more of them there are, the longer it takes the page to load.  Graphics intensive content – slide shows, autoplay videos, etc. – take a VERY long time to get ready.  I think part of why people use ad blockers is because they very often cut load times substantially.

GQ, according to an article I read in Digiday, focused on decreasing page load times.   Maybe that was less convenient for their writers or editors, but they decluttered their article pages, moved to a unified content management system, and did some other things that resulted in an 80% decrease in page load times.  That focus on their reader has paid off:

For GQ, having a faster site, along with features like new article pages and article recommendation widgets, has paid off in helping audience growth. Traffic jumped to 11 million uniques in July, the first full month of the relaunch, from 6 million in June, per the site. (Those are the site’s internal Omniture figures; comScore’s July numbers weren’t available at press time). Median time spent on the site rose to 7.8 minutes in July, from 5.9 in June. The benefits have extended to advertisers. With people spending more time on the site, along with bigger and repositioned ad units, the interaction rate on ads rose 108 percent.

The lesson for any of us is that staying focused on the customer experience pays off, sometimes in ways we don’t anticipate (who would have thought ad interaction would rise!).  Maybe lightening the load made their wallets heavier. Not a bad tradeoff, right?

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August 12, 2015 · 10:36 am

The Problem, Not The Product

You’ve probably invested a lot of time in developing your business’ product or service. You might have spent a lot of money researching things such as packaging, color, price, and the best marketing tactics. After all, back in the day before digital, consumers usually had to get in the car and drive to a competitor if they were unhappy with your offer. At a minimum, they had to pick up the phonebook and let their fingers do the walking. So not true today, where your biggest competitor is just a click away. Is all of that investment in product or service design and marketing worth it?

Maybe not. Marketing today is about one thing: explaining to potential customers how you are solving their problem. That means you need, first and foremost, to understand what that problem is. In other words, it means listening. Once you’ve done that, it means speaking to the consumer in words that mean something to them, and not in jargon. Explain your approach to solving their problem. That can reflect your brand persona, whatever you’ve chosen it to be.

You’ll notice none of what I’ve said so far requires the gathering of any personal information about your customer. In my mind, that’s asking them to marry you on the first date. Once they’ve bought in, demonstrating to them why they should share their personal information with you (and how you will guard it with your life) can only make the marketing better. After all, a customized solution to their problems is better than the generic one you already have.

The point today is that developing a pretty product or an appealing service is fine but it’s step 3.  First comes identifying the problem and then the customers who have that issue.  It’s the problem, not the product. How you solve it – and  how you present the solution – is the game from that point forward.  Have you done that? Does this make sense?

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July 13, 2015 · 10:30 am

Surprise Them, Pleasantly

I got up to get a snack while watching sports this weekend. When I returned, the screen on my TV had gone black. The audio was still playing, but I saw nothing. Rebooting the TV and the cable box did nothing and I quickly arrived at the place where my rudimentary attempts at a fix ran out. Time to hit the search engine.

What I found did not make me happy. The most likely cause was the death of the circuit board that powers the backlighting on the TV. Hoping that wasn’t the case, I went to the manufacturer’s site just in case there was an issue that looked like a dead board but was an easier fix. I noticed that customer service was still open and called the number.

The person with whom I spoke ran me through a series of checks. When I shined I flashlight on the screen I could see there was moving video there. He had me scrolling through menus that I could make out on the dim screen to try a reset. Nothing. I braced for what was next as my head started to do the math of replacing a year-old TV vs. repairing it.

The pleasant surprise came next.  The TV is from LG, and we own several different ones.  I am now very glad we do. The customer service rep asked for the serial number and a few other pieces of information.  He then found me a tech in my market and told me there would be no charge for the tech to come and fix the set.  I was so surprised I asked him three different times about potential costs and was told very firmly that there would be no charge.

That should be a  goal of every business: surprise customers, pleasantly.  Standing behind what you sell is one way but there are dozens of others.  Send them coupons out of the blue.  Make sure that humans, not machines, answer their inquiries in every channel.  Ask them for their favorite charity when you screw up and make a donation.  Most importantly – have responsive, available customer service that is empowered to solve problems and not just to placate.

In this case, the local tech reached out to me within 15 minutes of my call to LG.  He had some questions too and we set an appointment for tomorrow since he needs to order a part.  LG couldn’t prevent the circuit board from frying, but they could prevent ME from frying in anger and they have done so.  Nothing like a pleasant surprise, don’t you think?

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