People who need people
Question: Where did we as a civilization and business culture lose sight of the fact that we’re all people? Hmmm. Did we ever really want to acknowledge that? It’s a lot easier to hurt or scam a faceless other than a real person.
Marketers bombard their fellow human beings with ka-ka they personally wouldn’t want (or believe); cutting heads has become an accepted and applauded way to “improve results” and our business communications are increasingly impersonal (You gave us your money, now go ‘way. Don’t call us, don’t write, just keep sending those lovely checks!)
Thanks to great spam filters, I get very little if any junk email. However, since I’m a customer of Verizon, Comcast and several others, they send me emails fairly regularly (often in response to one of my queries). And, that’s fine. It’s much better to have the information than not, particularly since companies often use the “We told you” line when a customer questions why their bill just increased by some ridiculous amount or a service was discontinued.
However, my BIG pet peeve is the total lack of humanity in any of them. #1 on my Peeve Parade is when the subject line starts in big bold caps, “DO NOT REPLY” and then goes on to give me boilerplate information with no way or info provided to contact anyone if I have a question or problem (”Valued customer” that I am, I have to go dig up the 800 number for the huddled masses and leap through voice prompt hoops).
As Seth Godin blogs, “bits are free” so with a little work, those DO NOT REPLY emails could actually get me to spend more money (and tell others about the great service.)
Of course, simple communications ain’t all that simple. It’s a fine line between friendly and fake - even offensive - closeness. Marc over at Being Reasonable sums it up nicely in “Does Emma have bad breath?” Yes, I want to be acknowledged as a person, I don’t need you to be asking personal questions.
Related Posts (semi- to full rants): Cutting heads doesn’t equal efficiency. Customers - service versus processing. No, we never ever want to talk to you, our customers.
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February 23rd, 2006 at 10:59 am
This has actually been acknowledged in some places as one of those playing-field levellers in the online space. No matter that Amazon.com has a really big marketing budget and gets lots of ink in the business media. Online microbusiness booksellers will almost always give you better service (don’t fuss — I said almost).
One of the things that happens when you’re small is that every customer is important. AOL was like that in the early days (I first logged on with the DOS version of PC Online). So was eBay. Once they reach critical mass, it’s almost like they don’t care about whether they satisfy a “mere customer” anymore because there are plenty more where you came from.
Geez. Personally, I hope I never get so big (or rich) that I forget or ignore my customers, or make them feel unimportant to me!
February 23rd, 2006 at 11:12 am
Ah, Dawn - there you go reading my mind. I just sent you a piece on Micro Biz on the Web. (Sorry, folks, you’ll have to read MicroEnterprise Journal to see it!)
Maybe I’m a hopeless optimist and incredibly naive. But I still think a company can be big and still retain that personal touch. But it’s got to be part of the culture (not just CEO lip service) and they have to value their employees.
February 26th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Herding cats: Wrap-up for Feb. 24…
Let the third week of February 2006 go down in history as the week that Malcolm Gladwell started blogging, an event that’s been noted by pretty much everyone in the marketing blogosphere (now, includng us). Wonder how fast *his* Technorati……
March 9th, 2006 at 11:09 am
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July 31st, 2006 at 3:49 pm
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September 21st, 2006 at 8:12 am
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