I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
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Tash
Hiding email addresses leaves a sour taste
Do you think email addresses should be hidden or open to your clients or members?
A business making it hard for customers to email them just doesn’t make much business sense to me. Yet that’s exactly what one organisation is doing to their members…
Today, I received an email from an organisation I’m a member of. {Disclaimer – I am only a member there because I haven’t made the time to move elsewhere – that time is now a high priority.}
Replying to emails
I did not like today’s email – I mean it was laid out ok and was polite and appropriate as far as the wording went, but I am not happy with the content. Largely because it showed that organisation is using member money to fund something completely unrelated, public and providing no obvious benefit to members.
I hit reply to tell them what I think. I doubt my voice will make a huge difference but I would feel better to be honest about it.
However, the email comes from a no-reply address.
Instead, I went to their website to grab their email address to use instead, but they only have an online form. So I even went as far as checking some letters they’ve sent me in the past – also the contact form URL instead of an email address.
So I can’t reply to the email.
And I am left feeling they are hiding from members. Feeling they are hiding from complaints. Feeling a bit uncomfortable and like I’ve touched something dirty with the way they are keeping contact details secret.
Selective email address use
Spam is awful – I hate it. So like many others I avoid putting my email address online in a way that spam bots can find it.
Yet that doesn’t mean my email address is hidden completely.
It is on my business cards, letterhead and certainly is the ‘reply to’ address for my html newsletter.
Other organisations put their email address on their site as a graphic – bots being unable to read graphics (well, so far anyway!) – or in words (eg write AT wordconstructionsDOTcomDOTau is an acceptable way for me to share my email address online.)
And it’s not like I’m talking about a small organisation that can’t cope with emails – a sole trader or other SMB may need to manage contact options, but a big business has more staff and even dedicated staff for customer service.
Is limited promotion the same as hiding?
What do you think?
Are they protecting themselves from spam or from complaints? Are they hiding their email address, even from members, or is it a reasonable business decision?
And I’d love to hear what you have done to promote or hide your email address, too.
One coin, two sides; One budget, two perspectives
There are always two sides to a coin, two side to a story and two perspectives to view things by.
Which perspective do you chose? Or does it depend on the sides of a coin?
On Tuesday, the Federal Budget was announced.
I’ve read quite a few summaries of the Budget so I can write updates for clients. Some are better than others, of course.
Perspectives of the Federal Budget
However, my point relates to how small business is impacted by this Budget. Noting that small business got very little direct mention by the Government in this budget.
A number of business groups have released their view that Government ignored this significant sector of our economy. As advocates of this diverse group, they are annoyed because small business don’t appear to have been included.
Yet another business group or two has put out the view that small business was lucky to have avoided the attention big business got in the Budget. I for one am glad we don’t have to report PAYG each month, for instance.
Both views are based on the same fact (little mention of small business) but are looking at it in different ways. I found that very interesting.
Annual report tasks can be outsourced for many benefits
While there are a few tasks you can outsource when preparing an annual report, one I love is checking edits.
Early drafts may contain a lot of edits!
That is, when the designer returns a draft to me, someone else goes through and checks the designer has implemented all the changes I requested.
Why check everything? Well, I trust the designers I use, no question about that. However, they are human so may have missed something or misunderstood what I wanted. Or they could have made a simple error (eg made $654 into $664 instead of $646).
Benefits of outsourcing edit checks
Having someone else check those details has two major advantages in my eyes:
- I don’t have to do it! Ok that is really a third reason as my original point was that it saves me time to not have to do it, but it’s not something I enjoy either
- by not reviewing those small details as often, I am better positioned to actually read the report and thus spot issues with the flow or tone of information. If you see the same words and images over and over, it gets much harder to see errors – like putting space between writing and proof reading
I guess you don’t need to find a highly skilled person to outsource checking edits, either – as long as they are detailed orientated, it isn’t a hard task. I am lucky to have found someone I trust for many tasks as he not only checks edits have been made but will suggest other potential improvements he notices, too.
Outsourcing frees up time
To me, this is the perfect example of outsourcing and leaving me more time to use my writing skills.
What is the perfect task for you to outsource?
Do you outsource that task?
Making a change can attract interest
On my way to Canberra yesterday, I listened to the flight attendant’s safety message.
A fire truck is a not-so-boring safety precaution at airports
Obviously we are meant to do this every time we catch a plane but it isn’t the most interesting speech you’ll ever hear so it is, uh, challenging to stay focussed on it.
On Tuesday, the Qantas staff acknowledged one of the complaints about these safety messages by starting the presentation with
We know you can operate a seat belt, but we want to give you a few tips on using ours today.
A different message
It was a bit more human to acknowledge most people are smart enough to use a plane’s seat belt so it felt friendly and more interesting than ‘here’s how to do your seat belt up’.
However, just the fact that it was different to the usual safety blurb got my attention. And kept me listening to see what other changes they’d made to their message.
Unfortunately, that was the only deviation from the normal approach.
It certainly wasn’t like Air New Zealand’s safety video!
Nor is it now standard at Qantas. My return flight used a video to present the safety message and it was routine. And I didn’t really pay any attention to it.
When’s the last time you listened to a flight safety message?
When’s the last time you consciously changed something in your business to keep it fresh and attracting attention?
A great idea but poorly implemented
great service makes us smile
Let me tell you a story of a great idea from a service provider…
Great service…
Today, I received a SMS from my daughter’s school telling me (and other parents on the list) that the kids had arrived safely at camp.
I think it’s a great idea to give feedback like that; it builds trust and loyalty, reduces parental concern and therefore probably means fewer calls to the school to check all is good.
Many similar activities could do this same thing quite inexpensively. For me, it’s something like an emailed ‘your annual report has gone to the printer’ or ‘I submitted that guest blog post for you.’
Can you think of a way to use this idea in your business?
but details count.
The problem with today’s message, however, is that my daughter left yesterday so I would have hoped they arrived at camp about 24 hours before I got the safely arrived message.
Yesterday, the SMS was a great idea.
Today, not so much. At best, it makes them look a bit silly or slack. At worst, it worries parents about why it took 24 hours longer than expected to arrive at camp!
As they say in comedy, timing is everything!
* Image courtesy of 123RF
Limiting information engages imgaination
Today I heard a webinar based on the book The Laws of Subtraction (6 simple rules for winning in the age of excess everything). Matthew E May, author of the book was interviewed by Suzi Dafnis of ABN.
His third law hits a similar theme to what I often write so I wanted to share it.
Limiting colour can engage and stimulate imagination and thought
Law #3: Limiting information engages the imagination
This law is commonly stated as the cliché ‘less is more’ and writers are often told to ‘show not tell’ for more powerful writing.
Giving all the facts leads to overload and disinterests people so I suggest writing as little as possible to suit the message.
But I like Matthew’s twist – I believe it is true that too much information stifles imagination. Giving enough information to set a foundation is enough.
What information can you limit to get people’s imagination working in your favour?
Matthew gave the example of Steve Jobs launching the first iPhone – he showed one, explained some of what it could do and then said no more until it launched a few months later. And something like 20 million people signed up to buy one before it was on sale. That’s a lot of people acting on limited information, isn’t it?
* Image from Word Constructions
Adding an online chat feature – good idea or not?
Maybe it seems a little back to front. I mean, first I reviewed some online chat software and now I am writing about whether or not adding online chat to a website is worth considering.
For me, that’s the order things have happened – I did the research because a client asked me too. And now I am thinking about adding chat to my site as well.
Of course, I could wait a while and see how chat goes for my client… Yet again, their business is so different to mine that any data would probably have limited value.
So what’s so good about offering online chat functions?
Here are what I see as the reasons for adding chat to a website…
- you appear approachable and interested in helping potential clients
- it is simply another way people can choose to contact your business
- you can solve issues quickly – no waiting for emails or loosing people because they can’t find the answer they want from your site
- some people prefer to interact online instead of via the phone – and I suspect this tendency will increase
- an online chat can be quicker and less intrusive than getting a phone call
- by answering immediate questions, you can learn what people want to know when visiting your site – and maybe what is missing (or hard to find) from your site
- it’s a relatively simple way to make your website more interactive
- as a service provider, it can also be a great customer service tool for existing clients
- for someone like me, knowing how to use a new feature can be beneficial in advising my clients
And what’s NOT so good about adding chat to your site? 
If online chat was perfect for every website, we’d all have it, right? So here are some downsides to adding an online chat function…
- it costs money – there is quite a range of prices but you are likely to pay for the software and maybe hosting
- it will take time to set up - choosing a supplier, adding the code to every page on your site, customising the system to match your site/brand/clients
- there may well be time and money in getting a designer involved to integrate things nicely into your site
- it’s a new tool to learn how to use
- it’s potentially a distraction – being interrupted as you work and having a new set of stats to look at and worry about
- if you can’t be online a lot of time when your clients may expect you to be, it may give an impression of being unavailable or disinterested. Most software shows you are offline – yes, people can leave a message for you to get back to them, but not all will and the offline message may not be great. Some software has the chat button disappear when you are offline so that could be a solution if you are frequently unable to monitor chats.
- it may not suit your audience. Taken to extremes, a blind audience is more likely to prefer phone calls to online chats, but there would be less extreme examples where chat would be a waste of effort to install
- being live, you need to think faster than if answering an email or even updating social media. If writing (or writing clearly with good spelling) is a struggle or you’re concerned with being 100% accurate, then an online chat feature may be intimidating
Making the choice
Have I missed any other points to consider?
I think it’s also important that a website gives the right impression. Do you think online chat is suitable for professional businesses or perhaps just for more informal or technology businesses?
Or put it this way, would you ever use an online chat feature on a professional website?
Poor surveys are time wasters…
I’m busy, you’re busy and I suspect even people (including Government employees) writing surveys are busy.
So why do people put up silly surveys and waste everyone’s time?
Throwing time away…
Late last week I was asked to fill in a survey Government-run gathering information to help small businesses – a worthy cause so I completed the survey.
But some of the questions were a waste of time – not only were they hard to answer, I doubt they will give meaningful results so it has wasted everyone’s time.
Poor survey question samples
Here are some of the worst questions I answered, with my comments to explain why I didn’t like these particular questions.
Q1 – is your website interactive? Can you edit it yourself (eg online forms, content)?
A1 – yes or no
What is the correct answer if my site is interactive but I can’t edit it, or if I can edit it but it isn’t interactive?
Q2 do you use a still or video camera for work purposes?
A2 – Yes – what do you use it for?
Um, for taking photos or videos? I wonder how many people gave that answer! I decided to be nice to them and answered ‘take photos for use in my blog’
Q3. who is your local IT service company in a, b and c?
Personally I had no idea! And what did they mean by local anyway – same suburb, same city, same state?
The question perhaps makes more sense if you assume they want to know who I used for those services or maybe they were trying to ask ‘do you use a local IT service company for a, b or c’.
Q4. how do you get business advice and information?
A4 – rate each option in the following list {which includes trade magazines, state gov department website, dept of broadband, communication & digital economy}
The list did not include professional advice (accountant, coach, etc), online articles/blogs or government business info sites which were the first three things I thought of! Yet it included such specific things as a government department site and the dept of broadband, etc which I have never heard of!
When giving answers, it is important to review the list to ensure it covers enough breadth – or change the question to indicate it is a narrow aspect being researched.
Q5. do you or any of your staff telework? (work from home connecting to the business network and database)
How do I answer that – I work from a home office so I am nearly always connecting to the business from home but I don’t think it is really telework when the network is also at home!
Do they want me to include sub-contractors/suppliers as staff or keep ‘staff’ to mean employees?
Maybe this post will compensate for the wasted time as at least we can all learn what not to do in our next survey or feedback form!
My strong recommendation is to always get an outside person to read a survey when you think it is finished because they will spot errors in logic, assumptions and inconsistencies better than you can.
What are your survey stories? Have you found they are harder to write than they appear? Or maybe you’ve come across some time-wasting questions like these ones. I’d love to hear them – although it would be nice to think most surveys are well done!
Making websites sell for you
The right website elements = sales & money
If you run a business website, it makes sense to have it help you sell stuff, right?
But have you ever looked at your website to see if does help you sell stuff, or if it makes hard work for your potential customers?
A recent review of websites…
I have been looking for some software for a c lient without any prior knowledge of any relevant suppliers. So I was relying entirely on what I found online.
Not surprisingly, I looked at a few sites.
- I started with the top site listed in Google AdWords and found…
- very small font that was hard to read (lucky I don’t have poor eyesight to start with!)
- after 5 minutes, I found a small link on one inner page that showed me a demonstration of the program (for a function I didn’t actually want) – otherwise no screenshots or demonstrations are on the site
- the list of features includes things like “enables businesses to focus on their skills” and “proven reliable since 2000″ – it doesn’t answer questions about the capabilities of the software to the point that it really isn’t a list of features at all
- there was a huge list of testimonials on a distinct page (not near any information) rather than actual information
- there are no prices listed on the site to give me any guidance as to the quality of their product or if it’s within budget
- I decided I didn’t trust them with my email address or phone number so they are not a potential supplier
- So I went to the second site listed in Google AdWords to find it…
- looked much better than site 1 – it was clean, easy to read and not text-heavy
- the prices and features pages were just contact forms so the site was actually information poor
- I noted the footer mentioned an affiliation with a company I know overcharges like a wounded bull so I closed that window, too
- Thus I moved onto the third site in Google AdWords…
- it was professionally laid out, gave clear direction to relevant parts of the site and written with a consumer in mind
- they provide a 30 day free trial which built my confidence in them
- includes a clear list of ‘for $x you get these features’ so I could assess if it suited my needs and budget straight away (and no need to waste their time on a non-qualified customer)
- all packages even include a webinar on how to use the software, available to all my client’s staff - this is a great bonus and probably cost very little to produce
- I trusted this business but the features my client needs weren’t there unfortunately – at least I knew that quickly, though
- Next, I looked at the fourth site from Google AdWords and saw
- lots of white space on the page and an overall professional look and feel
- clear answers to key questions, followed by a list of benefits (eg saves time and improves revenue) and some testimonials – all on the home page
- home page has a button ‘instant demo’ so I can see what is on offer and mentions a 30 day free trial – instantly developing my trust. And 30 days money back guarantee effectively means you get 60 days trial!
- the home page has a feed from their blog – with 3 items from the last two weeks showing me it is current and they maintain their site
- the pricing page is a comparison table of their plans, clearly showing the actual price and included features
- their main menu includes ‘help’ which leads to a knowledge base and a lot more details than I need to know at this stage. Note the excess information was not in my face to overwhelm me, but it easily found which again builds my trust
- I recommended this supplier to my client and we have since trialled the software and it is working very well in tests.
I actually looked at a couple more potential suppliers, but these four showed the absolute importance of a good website to help you sell to prospective customers.
*Images courtesy of 123rf
You can write great client letters
I wrote about an officious bank letter that resulted in me closing my account.
Professional looking letters are part of your brand
There was more to that letter for teaching about good letter construction, so here are some tips for you…
- the letter was on two pages
This was unnecessary, unavoidable and can really annoy readers. It looks longer so is off-putting and is just a waste of effort. With better writing it could easily have been shorter and their letter format included a lot of wasted space. - one line of the letter contained only ‘if:’
It is best practice to avoid a single word on a line (designers call this as leaving orphans and widows), especially such a short word - every number in the letter was written as ‘three (3) years’
Frankly, people can either read or they can’t, so ‘three’ or ’3′ is sufficient - adding both is unnecessary and looks wrong - first sentence is 3.5 lines long…
It was simply too long, both visually and for comprehension. When in doubt, go for shorter. - lack of clarity throughout the letter
The letter went from the consequences to the definition to the impact for me so it was hard to follow – I had no reason to care about the consequences until I knew the relevance and definition!
Remember to explain the relevance of any information first. They could also have improved it a lot by using a sub-heading for the full definition of inactive account – I could skim that section or read it for details without feeling confused. - a missed personalisation opportunity
The letter stated ‘your account referred to above’ – it’s not hard to mail merge (and they were already merging in my name and address!) so why not use ‘your xyz account’ which is more personal and easier to read - an entire section was irrelevant to me
why include a long paragraph, including two bullet points, on offset deposit accounts when I don’t have one? Setting up a conditional rule on this paragraph would be easy to do so it only goes to relevant clients. Or at least have it under a sub-heading so it doesn’t clutter the main letter and distract from the meaning
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