Customer Service

• 25 Wall Textures Pack for Photoshop licensed under Creative Commons. Smooth! (pun intended) [Link: Graphic Identity]
• Web Designer Wall
• List of Free Press Release Sites

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• How to Make Candles in the Crockpot: Go figure. Just threw out a few candles that were no longer burning, but still had wax. [Link: Mom2Amara)
• If G-d had a Facebook page…
• Top 10 Best Gadgets of 2008
• Touching Strangers: Richard Renaldi spent the year asking total strangers to touch. Then he took their photos.
• UPS Regifter: Showcase of popular regifted items.
• Coding Horror
• Fix Ya: Tech support manuals and troubleshooting. Not just for gadgets.
• OhGizmo!

Short list. Didn’t use PC much this week due to thumb surgery. Not patient enough for one-handed typing and too goopy to avoid sounding like a drunken writer.

Ever receive a link to a business web site where you can’t figure out what the company does? The home page sounds like something from the company’s fancy and non-sensical mission statement. Unfortunately, many companies rely on content from their business plan and other internal documents.

I had a brief client who did this. The filler content came from the business plan. So what the company did wasn’t instantly obvious to the target audience. So I massaged the content, webified it, and shared a draft with the client.

She preferred the business plan. I couldn’t believe it. But then, she knew her business well and it would make sense to her.

I explained the approach I took and the reasons for them. It didn’t convince the company, so we agreed to part. Reflecting on the project, it was good that it didn’t work out. We weren’t compatible and it would’ve been a miserable project. Easier to get out earlier rather than later.

Different Businesses, Different Needs

A business web site should quickly communicate what it does. It largely depends on the company’s business. If it sells products, can you tell what kind of products? Is it a secure site? Reputable? I’ve seen too many commerce sites with no names or company details on their about page. This screams the site isn’t credible or trust-worthy.

Professional service businesses need to communicate what services they provide and include names and bios as people matter in this case. These sites should list companies and industries they’ve served. Testimonials are also powerful.

Designers do well in including a portfolio of their work on their web site.

At the end of every project, try to obtain testimonials and permission to publish information about the project (such as posting the design for a portfolio and publishing case studies). Better to do it as soon as the project ends while it’s fresh in everyone’s mind.

An Example…

IBM is huge and does many things. Its home page doesn’t begin to tell the company’s story. About the only valuable information is “Migrate to a mainframe.”

“What does a smarter planet look like?” implies the company supports more efficient technology — but it’s still a broad question and it doesn’t give me an idea of what IBM’s involvement is with a smarter planet. Click it and it provides jibber jabber about what people want to do.

The first couple of paragraphs are the only problem. The rest does a good job of showing a bulleted list of problems, the solution, and what IBM can do.

“IT managers, are you building or blocking transformation?” Click it and the page tells a different story that doesn’t quite connect to the headline.

Should you insult the manager? Or is it touching a nerve that managers will want to click the question? People will argue for and against this. Besides, the picture takes up too much of the page pushing down important content.

At the bottom of IBM’s home page is “What IBM can do for …” and lists different industries and careers to help the person go in the right direction. Smart move — maybe it should be more dominant on the home page? IBM does have a wide audience and this solution works in helping them along.

I like the home page image and the moving cars. It still takes up a lot of above the fold (area before scrolling) space — a problem with many sites today. It takes effort to find the heart of the content.

I believe I’m a resourceful person. I try to find answers on my own through support pages, FAQ, research, search engines, and other resources.

But we can’t find everything we need. We may need to contact people who have the information or the knowledge stored in their brain cells or on the computer’s hard drive.

A Story… a Story…

I visited several large sites in need of reaching someone. They had no contact information whatsoever. At best, they’d have “info@”, “sales@”, or “support@.” I found an email address like this that worked for one of my contact needs.

It bounced.

… And it bounced the next day (just in case the server was hiccupping).

… … And it bounced again more times than Tigger.

So I went to the mother ship site and looked for a contact there. Hey, I was determined to serve my client well! Found a generic email address (info@) and within 30 minutes, I received a reply from the head executive along with two others!

The executive cc’d others and provided the contact’s name and email address. That person had the info I need. Another person asked where I had found the original email (the Tigger one) address as it wasn’t supposed to be a valid one. It was in a few press releases from this year as well as on a web page somewhere.

Why Didn’t You Figure out the Email Address?

It only took about a week to land the right contact. Oh sure, I know how to figure out email addresses and have done it many times. In this case, the only name I had was a big shot and I didn’t want to bug him.

I remember once emailing someone and received the response of “How did you get my email address? It wasn’t public knowledge and only insiders know it. You must work here.” Yikes.

Make It Easy to Reach You

Amazon is massive. Yet, I never had trouble contacting the company when needed. The company does a good job with its customer service emails. Other companies like T-Mobile have an awful script that sounds condescending, over-sugary, and provides more wasteful content than helpful.

No one should have to work hard to find out how to contact you. What if it’s a PR opportunity? Potential customer? You just never know.

Ensure people can find you with these in mind:

• Include Contact in your main or global navigation.
• List contact information on every page. What kind of information depends on your business and your customers. Local businesses probably should list the street address along with a link to an interactive map so people can figure out how to get there with minimal work. Bonus points for listing hours of operation. Smart retailers include a toll free number on the top of every web page and any place where it’s logical to have contact information.
• Consider your visitors’ contact preference. Some call. Some email. Some even fax. You may not use the method much, but unless you want to cut yourself off from potential business — be open to what the person contacting you wants.
• List an email address. You might have a form (like I do) to avoid spammers. Some forms, however, have too many fields and turn off the visitor.

No company is “too big” or “too much of a hot shot” for people to contact them. We’re not asking for the email addresses for the likes of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

One more bit of advice: Even if it takes time for you to find the answer to someone’s question or you can’t respond in full within a day or two, respond to the person and let them know you’re on the case. We should all apply this habit in every aspect of our lives.

A friend wanted to know the status of her order as many of us had received ours. She received no response in over four days. Yet, I received a reply within a day (my order was missing one thing).

Yes, technology compels us to expect responses within two days. We just have to make do and it only takes a moment to say, “Got your message. I’ll get back to you within a week or so.”

“Gaily bedight
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.”

– Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe

Businesses don’t have to journey long to find Eldorado of marketing. Most companies start right by establishing a Web site. However, some don’t make the most of having a Web site or build it without considering the requirements for building successful Web sites.

Some build Web sites more like elaborate brochures touting the company’s many qualities and competencies. A few companies, like Amazon.com, and retail giant L.L. Bean, have turned these online retail brochures into success stories. Many try to replicate this success with uneven results.

Web pages tend to require prospects to find them. Then, if the customers find them, they forget about it when they need something.

A few businesses counter these problems by complementing direct email offers with their Web sites. For example, a reader visits Amazon.com to look at the latest fiction releases. Later, the reader starts receiving emails Amazon announcing new releases of fiction, and some accompanied with a discount. These emails contain links taking the reader to the Web page.

Mining Internet for Prospects

Almost three-quarters of American adults are online with half of those having a high speed internet connection at home according to Pew Internet. They still use the Internet for two primary purposes, email (93 percent) and research to find information or driving directions (over 85 percent).

A JupiterResearch report indicates that over 40 percent of email users say that email compelled them to make at least one online or offline purchase. The report also emphasizes the importance of delivering relevant information in emails. Combine email marketing efforts with social networking to have the greatest impact. JupiterResearch also reports over half of business professionals with decision making power say that advertisers have the best chance of reaching them by internet and email.

A successful online marketing plan takes advantage of all online marketing tools including emails and social network sites. A newsletter should contain links to the company’s blogs, RSS feeds and social network identities and vice versa.

A Return Path study states that 85 percent of business people sign up for emails. Furthermore, marketers can reach them on the go as an Exact Target study in 2007 reports one-third of business professionals read emails on mobile devices on a regular basis. In 2007, Wall Street Journal writes that 81 percent of American executives subscribe to business-related email newsletters for product and business information.

What do all of these numbers say? Email and Internet are important marketing tools.

Compel Readers to Read the Newsletter

Business professionals get over 50 emails a day with plenty surpassing the 100 emails mark. When opening their email, they have three thoughts in mind:

• Which do I read?
• Which I save to read later?
• Which do I delete without opening?

Rule number one: send your newsletter to people who want it, so encourage readers to opt-in to your newsletter.

Rule number two: provide value in your newsletter so they continue subscribing, opening, reading, and acting on your emails.

Most marketers want to thump the company’s chest by talking about great new products or amazing services, touting recent awards, or announcing new hires or mergers. However, the better strategy focuses on the newsletter’s content.

Pull rather than to push with your content by offering articles that explore issues, open dialogue, and solve problems your readers face. Do you care about Company ABC blowing its horn? Americans receive too much email, so they trash anything smacking of a pitch.

Keep your newsletter in the “read and saved” by making sure your content meets the following criteria:

• Relevant: The content speaks to the customer’s interests and not your company’s.
• Anticipated: Distribute on a regular basis so people expect your newsletter to arrive around a specific time, but don’t publish so often they tire of hearing from you.
• Monitored: One of the best online marketing channels benefits is reporting. Monitor how readers are looking at your newsletter and alter it to conform to their interests.

Email newsletters with timely, interesting articles have a greater likelihood of readers forwarding them to others, which increases the number of readers with time. Everyone who reads the newsletter and decides to opt-in to a company’s turns into a qualified lead. Business to business newsletters remain an Eldorado in a Web 2.0 world.

As the Edgar Allan Poe poem ends with one modification…

Down the Valley of the Shadow,
“‘Ride, boldly ride,’
The marketer replied-
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’”

• 25 Ways Social Media Prepares You for the Downturn
• Twitter source: Who is following you that you’re not following and vice versa: www.mytweeple.com, www.friendorfollow.com, www.lessfriends.com.
• When a Client Can’t Afford You: Why It’s Still Better to Bid High: Sound advice.
• How to Write a 50,000 Word Novel in a Month
• Sucking the Suck Out of Presentations
• How to Start a Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio
• Why Companies Should Outsource Web Content
  

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language. Be warned that some strips are not suitable for young’uns. Strong language, adult situations.
• Ever struggle to accept a friend request? Here’s a great Offbase comic.
• Upside Down Dogs: Aww…
• Lego Artist: Wow!
• Duarte’s 2007 Pumpkin Contest Entries: 2008′s contest is coming soon. Too cute and creative! I’d love to enter… but I couldn’t come close to 1 Up, Feed Me! (love the movie), Identity Theft, Infern O’ Lantern, The Hand Cramp (I hope its creator is over it… although I can see why)… just to list a few.

Call me goofy, but I loved singing “The Name Game” as kid:

Meryl, Meryl, bo-beryl,

Banana-fana fo-feryl

Fee-fi-mo-meryl

Meryl!

Yeah, yeah… I know how some immature kids like to use names like Chuck and Mitch. I’m sure you’ve heard your share.

I’ve always been fascinated with names, how they came to be, and their origins. So it’s no surprise that I do naming projects. Coming up with names can become a brain consuming process. By that, I mean your brain goes on a roll and just keeps spitting out names, words, and ideas — good and not so good.

You have many options and resources to play the name game to find a perfect brand for a product, company, blog.

1. Make best friends with reference resources: Dictionaries (rhyming and specialty), thesauri, Flip Dictionary, word references, anagrams, etc.
2. Ask clients about themes. Some clients may already have a theme going or planning on one to help with branding.
3. Ask clients about their interests and favorite things.
4. Ask clients what names they like and dislike.
5. Use interests, themes, etc. and research them until you’re dizzy.
6. Make an initial list.
7. Mix and match words.
8. Create variations of words and phrases.
9. Subscribe to Marcia Yudkin’s Name Tales newsletter.
10. Have POP! Stand out in Any Crowd nearby for use.
11. Use a domain naming tool. I’ve heard how some of these tools use your search to grab domain names. But not all do that. Unbelievable. Blog entry: Brainstorming domain names.

Sometimes I go crazy in the process and my head won’t stop seeking names and playing with them. I’d be playing with my kids, hitting tennis balls, chauffeuring and my head would as play jigsaw puzzle with words and names. If something good comes to me, I quickly capture it in my TitaniumBerry (it ain’t black) so I’ll have it when I return to my desk.

So if I like names so much, why am I stuck with plain ol’ meryl.net? For the same reason web designers struggles to design their own web sites. Besides, I might as well as capitalize on my uncommon name and put a positive spin on it after has given me fits for years (I struggle with the “r” so I tell people “Meryl like Meryl Streep, two-syllables-not-one and rhymes with Cheryl.”

Oh, great… I have an old team song going in my head…

“Meryl’s my name and basketball’s my game. Blue is my color and …” I’ll stop there. Oh, now I have a Sesame Street song in my head… “We All Sing with the Same Voice.”

My hair is black and red
My hair is yellow
My eyes are brown and green and blue

My name is Jack and Fred
My name’s Amanda Sue
I’m called Kareem Abdul
My name is you

I live in southern France
I’m from a Texas ranch
I come from Mecca and Peru
I live across the street
In the mountains, on a beach
I come from everywhere
And my name is you

Stopping now before my brain becomes a jumble of names, words, and songs.

Jakob Nielsen reports seeing a 9 percent improvement on company About pages. I rely on About pages when looking at companies either for research or for buying from them. I still run into the following problems:

• Struggle to find the About pages when they have one: they shouldn’t be buried or hard to find. “About” deserves top level navigation because it’s about earning trust and credibility. I shouldn’t have to use the search box to find them.
• Receive little valuable information: many companies provide only an overview that tells nothing about the company and what it does: sometimes it sounds like the company posts its useless vision or mission statement, which rarely makes sense to most of us (and sometimes employees, too!).
• Find no information about employees or executives. It helps to have some bios on the site along with photos. This puts a human face behind the company.

When looking at About pages, I expect to find the following (at a minimum):

• Instant understanding of what the company does. I shouldn’t have to read the whole page to figure out the company’s business. Unfortunately, this is common. The home page should also make it obvious what the company does.
• Contact information: Some companies put this on a Contact page, but it should also appear on the About page. Depending on the business, it also helps to have contact information on every page — it could be a toll free number for businesses selling products or an address for stores.
• Bios and photos: Again, people make the company and it adds credibility. I’ve seen too many sites selling products without bios — which doesn’t give me much comfort in shopping with them. Whose bio should appear depends on the company. Small companies might list all employees while large companies list the CEO and vice presidents.

Other useful About content (not all of these would appear on the About landing page), but not a requirement of all companies:

• Fact sheet: Basic information about the company including when founded, milestones, key bios. Sometimes referred as company backgrounder.
• Press page: This contains press contact’s information, media kit, list of press releases (linking to the full release), list articles appearing in (with links to full article or a file containing the article), photos, and logos.
• Company history: Where the company came from and where it is heading.
• Investor information: Provides the information investors want to see such as financial reports.

What other things do you look for when researching a company or considering doing business with them?

You’ve heard me whining about my back and hip problems — well, maybe not that much as I don’t like to whine in public. Turns out I have a herniated disc and an inflamed piriformis muscle. Let’s just say together they make one big “OUCH!” The doctor recommended an epidural steroid injection (ESI).

Since all this happened on Friday and the doctor does injections only on Fridays, I managed to get an appointment for the injection late Friday. But I had no idea it was more involved than a standard cortisone injection, which happens in the doctor’s office. I went home and researched ESI on what little information I had.

I realized it was as much work as an endoscopy. No eating or drinking, involves anesthesia through sedation, and an xray to ensure the doctor inserts the needle in precisely the right place between L4 and L5 (bottom two lumbar vertebrae). He had to do it twice because of the thinning disc between the two vertebrae.

Had to show up 1 1/2 hour early (yuck) to register. Well, I limped and followed the signs to registration only to find I went to the wrong desk. I needed to go to outpatient registration. Never saw separate signs for that. A worker retrieved a wheelchair and took me to the right desk.

The woman at the registration desk was a delight and worked smoothly through the paperwork. As soon as we finished, she called the patient area and the nurse arrived within five minutes — wow! No long wait. The long waiting came in the preparation and going into the surgical room — but that was expected.

In the prep room armed with a bag full of magazines, I looked around the room reading the signs on the wall. The first one I noticed asked, “Tired of us asking the same questions over and over?” “Good! That means we’re doing our job!” The gist of the sign was that asking repeatedly questions wasn’t a sign of one hand not knowing what the other was doing — but to make sure they had the right patient, the right procedures, and the right notes such as what medicines was the patient allergic to.

That sign earned my respect and provided comfort. Instead of aggravation when asked the same question, I felt safe and secure. Several other signs posted on the wall had similar information. What a great way to to be proactive with patients already grumpy from not eating and drinking and having to wait.

The nurse updated me throughout my process in the prep room. She also announced whenever she was about to do something such as take my vitals and put in the I.V. Ack! I saw the I.V. was going into my hand. Arm — no problem. Hand and wrist area… problem due to bad experience when I was 14 (let’s just say both wrists turned into pincushions).

She talked through the I.V. insertion process including cleaning it and verifying I wasn’t allergic to latex or iodine (another safety check). She did a beautiful job with the needle that I barely felt it. Bless her.

The procedure was supposed to be at 4:30pm, but I didn’t go in until 5:00pm. I knew it wasn’t the doctors’ fault because they were in the staff area. They were probably waiting on the surgical room’s availability — something I wish someone had let me know about. The was the only complaint about the whole service — not bad!

My husband had to chauffeur our kids after dropping me off, so he couldn’t get there until near the end of my stay. The staff had no problem reaching him and bringing him to where I was after the procedure.

I have to go through this again in two weeks. I can only hope the staff I get will be as wonderful as this one especially the nurse who will insert the I.V. (the hardest part about the whole thing). I share this because it shows great customer service is possible even in an industry bogged down with paperwork, strict procedures, and insurance pains.

As a deaf person, I love technology and it helps connect me to many people. But even I can’t believe this true story from Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development, Inc and I disagree with the conference leader’s actions.

{Begin story}

I attended the Inbound Marketing Summit here in Boston. It promised several excellent speakers, offered lots of interesting topics, and the entire thing was blogged, twittered, flickred and videoed from start to finish. So I put on a suit (yes, I own several) and headed on down to the Cambridge Marriott.

That’s when things got interesting. The keynote speaker addressed a packed room of about 300 people. He spoke for 40 minutes or so, after which they opened it up for questions from the audience. Sort of.

Because as it turns out, the only way you were allowed to ask a question was by emailing it or Tweeting it to the front of the room. The conference leader then selected the questions he liked and read them to the speaker.

Huh? I’m sitting ten feet from the stage, but if I want to ask a question, I have to mail it in? If you ask me, this makes about as much sense as telling restaurant customers that the only way to eat in the dining room is to first have your meal delivered to your home and then drive it back to the restaurant.

And so as someone who’s been trying to follow in his wife Linda’s example of making the world a better place, I figured I ought to say something. So immediately after the session, I walked up to the conference leader and politely offered my feedback:

Me: “You know, it struck me as kind of odd that with a roomful of real, live, people, the only way to ask a question of the speaker is to send an email.”

Conference Leader: “You can also Tweet it.”

Me: “Wouldn’t it make sense, particularly at a conference whose central theme is “community,” to let people interact directly with the speaker?”

Conference Leader: “Do you have an iPhone? You could use that.”

Anyway, realizing I was getting nowhere, I thanked him for his time and promised to email him a hearty handshake.

Here’s the point. Technology, for all the wonderful things it brings (particularly to us small business owners), can lull us into missing the bigger picture. The Acres of Diamonds, if you will.

My conference leader friend, for example, was so taken by the Internet’s ability to help people connect instantly across time and space, that when offered the real thing, he chose the simulation.

That’s big. But it’s not just him, we all do it:

…We attend conferences and meetings with our laptops open, listening with one ear and typing emails with the other (not that I think you type with your ear).

…We let the phone go to voicemail every time instead of picking it up when it rings, because it’s more efficient to only return the calls that “really matter.”

…We love our E-Newsletter for the way it lets us stay top of mind with our list of contacts, but when one of those contacts emails with a question, we don’t bother replying.

You get the picture: Technology is great, but it’s no substitute for human interaction. And every time we use it to cut the people out of the equation – whether in the name of efficiency, a desire to appear bigger, or some other “too busy for business” rationalization – we miss out on a golden marketing opportunity.

Because in a world filled with unanswered emails, unreturned phone calls and unreachable corporations, sometimes just looking someone in the eye and listening to what they have to say puts you and your company at the front of the line.

{End story}

Does it seem unreal to you? I’d LOVE to have this feature if I should speak at a conference — but not to this extreme. I’m comfortable with public speaking. My fear comes in not hearing the questions asked. So this would make a great work around. Instead of taking this approach, here’s what I’d do:

1. Tell people to send me questions through a Tweet or an IM.
2. Call out the person’s name asking the question.
3. Let the person ask the question out loud while I read the question.
4. Answer the question.

This allows the person to ask the question face-to-face for all to hear while taking the fear of not hearing the question out of the picture. Hmm … makes me wonder if I should speak at sxsw where everyone brings a computer. But what would you like to hear about?

My back problems started in high school while playing volleyball. I tossed the ball in the air and motioned my left arm to slap it with my hand and send it flying over the net and within the boundaries. As soon as the hand gave a high five to the ball, my lower back on the right side (me lefty) gave out.

Since then, back pain plagued me. I learned all the tricks for dealing with it, preventing it, and coping with it. My back thought it needed to give me a new challenge and add a new chapter to the back saga.

It woke me up two nights in a row and hurt so much that a slight movement forced me to muffle a scream to avoid waking up the whole household. Obviously, this problem won’t go away in one or two days yet I need to keep the work going.

Of course, you must take care of yourself or else the problem drags on and the work piles. So work with the problem rather than against it. First, I made an appointment to get pain relief solutions while attacking the problem head on. After all, medicine only offers temporary relief.

Freelancers should have a laptop in addition to their desktop so they can work anywhere. When illness or pain sneaks in, they can say, “HA! I can just move to the sofa or bed to get more comfortable and get my work done. Nice try!”

This may not work when the pain comes from the flu. That just plain knocks out the biggest and healthiest athlete. At least, with the flu — you know the worst will pass within a couple of days. Just sleep and take care of yourself. Email your clients — one word should be enough if you can barely type: “Flu.” I think we all know that means a person will be out at least a day or two and understand. Speaking of flu, got my flu shot today while at the doctor’s.

Ack. my back took a turn when I tripped. Time to pull out the big guns (my laptop) and get comfy. How do you deal with situations when it makes it harder to get work done?