Why does no one read my blog – when is comment too much comment?

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Chris Warburton

cat-1056662_1920Last year I decided to publish articles on LinkedIn.  I had seen some great articles and wanted to share my insights too.

Not being a natural writer (I always preferred maths/science at school) this felt a bit daunting.  I already had my own blog, but admittedly it lives in what I would describe as the ‘cul-de-sac’ of the ‘information superhighway’.

Publishing on LinkedIn felt like going mainstream, easily found and visible to the world.  However, I hoped it would help me explore some interests, share some of my ideas and hopefully find my writing style.  Putting myself out there a bit more seemed like a good idea.

So I wrote my first piece.  Taking inspiration from the women’s world cup on at the time, it highlighted leadership qualities which are also relevant in the modern office.  Everything was written, re-written, edited, re-edited.  I attached a photo and with a nervous finger pressed PUBLISH.

As the little red icons started to appear in the top right hand corner of people’s screens, I quickly turned to see the stats: 10, 20, 50 people, it was being read… what a buzz!  I even had some nice comments (thank you).

And so I have been hooked, trying to publish something new, thought provoking and relevant each month.

However as I gained experience and the articles have started building I have also noticed something interesting.

  • After an initial burst of interest, the number of views of each subsequent article have flatlined or decreased.
  • I was not alone.  As I published more I noticed other people were starting to publish too.  It was as if we had all discovered it together – at the same time.
  • It felt like there was more comment out there, all looking for visibility….  it was getting a tougher market, harder to get new readers.

This got me thinking.

Is this really a trend?  When is comment too much comment?  Is too much content being posted, are readers losing interest?  If so, just how do you maintain or increase your readership?

Whilst readership is important, (how do people know what you are saying if they don’t read your blog), this should not be the sole goal for publishing.  I believe you need to decide your own reasons and objectives.  For example, is it to explain new ideas, engage in discussion or just reach a new set of contacts?

Without this, it is a quick race to the bottom, with funny pictures, pop quizzes and one liners.  They are extremely popular, but add little value and people see through them, not remembering who or what was posted.

Once your reason for writing are clear, it is also worth setting out your own set of publishing guidelines.  There is plenty out there on writing great articles, however here are a few of my own thoughts on guidelines.

  1. Think carefully about the headline.  Just like any newspaper: great headline, summarise the points early, explain the points and summarise again.
  2. Keep it positive.  Explain even negative points in positive terms, not critical.
  3. Have an engaging point or non conventional view.  Readers are better engaged, even if they don’t agree with your point of view.
  4. Be personal and authentic.  The audience wants to hear from you, not from an imaginary persona, especially in a blog article.
  5. Don’t make it verbose or too long.  Short, snappy to the point is more popular… (I struggle with this one!).
  6. Link and reference well.
  7. View, like and engage with other bloggers.  Likes, comments, shares, all spread blog posts to your network.

Lastly: caution with kittens…  I accept the line is blurring and pictures of cute kittens are fun, but try to stay focused on your objective and message, use with caution, only to re-enforce your point.

Why does no one read your blog, is there too much comment? 

There has been an explosion of ideas and the interaction is undoubtably a positive thing.  As a reader it can be harder to filter out the noise and as a writer harder to reach the reader.  However I am not sure that number of views really matters in the long term.  Engage the audience and they will return.

After all, an engaged reader is always many times more valuable than one which is not.

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Think you are in control?…. think again

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Chris Warburton

power-plant-344231_1920The other week I wrote about the changing face of contact channels… the ever increasing need to ‘speak customer‘.

There is however a more fundamental change underway… as customers’ ready access to information is having a broader influence, beyond just how we contact a company… we increasingly have a desire to be informed and in control of each decision that affects us… it is a growing view and getting stronger each year.

How did that happen?

To help describe this phenomenon, there is a concept in psychology called the ‘locus of control’.  In this theory people sit on a continuum, somewhere between having a purely internal and external focused centre of control.

Simplistically speaking, someone who is internally focused believes they control the outcomes…. someone externally focused, the outcome is a consequence of factors they don’t control.

A good example we can all relate to, a student getting good marks on their exam.

  • Internal locus…  ‘I did great because of my hard work and ability’
  • External locus… ‘I did great as I was lucky with the questions on the day and had a couple of easy questions’

Same work, same output, just a different view on how they got there.

Traditionally companies and consumers both also fall into this spectrum too.

  • Companies have tended to have internal locus of control…. ‘we have a great product’… ‘we think you should buy it’… ‘this is want you need to do next’… ‘you use it like this’… a more paternalistic approach, they are in control.
  • Consumers on the other hand, have tended to have more external locuses of control… ‘it is a great product’… ‘they have my best interests at heart’…’lets do what they say, they will look after us’… ’there is nothing I can do, it is the process’.

And, this system has worked well up to now.

Matching expectations, a change and now conflict

Typically there has always been a pretty good match of expectations between these groups.  Customers trusted that the company had their best interests at heart and the company was rewarded with long term loyality from these customers.  It is after all one of the reason we have brands and brands we like.

However with an increasing move to online, low cost and self serve functionality, we, as customers, have become ever more used to making decisions on own own.  We value independent advice and with the increasing access to data are sometimes more reliant on other customers for recommendations than those of the company itself.  For customers, the locus of control is gradually changing…  from external to internal…. they want, desire and believe they have more control over outcomes.

Unfortunately, not adapting as a company, can lead to customer dissatisfaction and sometimes even conflict.  Examples of this can be seen across multiple industries; the medical profession, government services, financial services to mention a few.  It can be a quick way to erode brand value and customer trust.

For many companies this change can represent a challenge to traditional, established business processes… these have been designed to closely manage inventory, products, policies, procedures and control the customer experience…. they also tend tend to be fairly linear in approach….. making the change can be hard, but to stay competitive a shift is required.

The good news

Fortunately all is not lost, and just as in ‘speaking customer’, making a simple change in mindset can help us all prepare.

  • Design new processes in terms of customer options… multiple alternatives from which the customer can choose.
  • Provide transparent, clear information these options, choices and costs… customers value ‘independent advice’
  • Educate customers on these choices if needed.  Take time to explain pros/cons to them… it is their decision not yours
  • Once decided enable customers to follow their ‘customised’ process… be transparent on process and progress
  • Feedback and be open to changes… it is okay to make changes

Sounds simple, and in many ways it is, however this does often require a more fundamental change in the business model and process design.  In addition each of these ‘options’ need to be designed, with and eye to profitability for the business, within controls so the processes do not descend into chaos.  It cannot happen overnight.

Speaking is also thinking

A challenge…. certainly.  More work… yes, however it also comes with a rather large slice of good news.  Customers are ever more happy to take control, self serve and help you take cost out of the business.  This is evolution not revolution, we just need to make the mind shift….. start to ‘speak customer‘ and also ’think customer’ as we move forward.

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Speak customer, not contact channel

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Chris Warburton

I caught an interesting news story last week.

The chairman of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield, was speaking at the National Retail Federation in New York, explaining how he thought ‘the age of multi-channel is over’.  His argument:  Thinking in terms of online and offline channels is dangerous.  This whole concept of ‘the channel’ is retailer speak not customer speak… customers really just don’t care too much about the exact channel they use.  Even ‘omnichannel’ is a term to be avoided.

I agree with his thinking.  This is also true in the customer contact centre world.

Contact Centre Strategies

Channel performance, cost and effectiveness is of course important.  It is the lifeblood of running a successful and profitable business.  We have all have spent many hours talking contact channels, relative effectiveness vs costs, strategies and even launching new ones… video chat anyone… and yes there has been plenty of talk of omnichannel.

Whilst this is all great discussion, it is still internal contact centre speak and there is the danger this dialogue can seep through to impact the customer and change their view of your product.

Paper statement fees, premium rate call numbers, self serve websites, all spring to mind.  Financially sound decisions – for sure.  A difficult customer message to communicate – certainly.  However were each of these developments ones the customers appreciated, understood or just tolerated?  Which did you want and was this expected?

In the current, increasingly socially connected world, comparisons are ever more easily made and missteps quickly magnified.  The importance of ‘speaking customer’ at every point is growing.

Speaking Fluent Customer

So in the hubbub of daily activity it is important to make the time to step back and think about the larger picture.

  • Do we really think about the customer’s process or are we really focused on improving our own?
  • Do we speak the customers language or are we mainly focused on training them to understand ours?

At the end of the day customers really focus on getting their question or problem resolved.  They do not care how much it costs the company or whether it offers incremental cross sell opportunity.  It just needs to be easy, quick and as painless as possible… oh and by the way, everything needs to be seamless and link together..!

Easy to say, difficult to do

To Sir Charlie’s point, this transformation can be subtle and not is not necessarily easy.  Afterall investment in IT, process design and data analytics can all be required.

However of arguably greater importance is the change in mindset of the team itself.  The good news is this is something that can cost very little and something we can all start to change today.

Whilst I would be the first to argue all processes are linked, ‘speaking customer’ does enable default decisions to be based on a customer centric approach.  Any deviations are then conscious, quantified, deliberate decision, where the consequences are known and understood.

A First Step

It is said ‘every journey happens one step at a time’.  But it also doesn’t start until you recognize the need to move and decide to take the first step.

So although we may all say we run ‘customer centric’ and ‘customer experience focused’ teams today, it maybe a good day to step back and quietly ask do you really fluently ‘speak customer’?

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