Tag: social media

Within a stone’s throw

FabrizioLeave a comment

Your urgency is not your customer’s urgency.

You might have a plan, investors that demand that you grow, the idea that 30% year-over-year is the only measure of success, a team that is competitive and wants nothing more than their bonus at the end of the quarter.

But that is you. And honestly, nobody cares.

Think about your customer’s plan instead, what their investors want from them, how they define success, what their team wants to achieve in the next 90 days.

And if your first thought is “it depends”, you might be right. Most likely, though, you are just trying to sell to anybody who comes within a stone’s throw.

Focus. And learn.

The good enough time

FabrizioLeave a comment

We know we should add the salary ranges to our job ads, but we are reviewing the salary level for internal employees and we do not want to send the wrong message. As soon as we are done with that …

I know I should take on new challenges and find something new, but I have this very important project to take care of. As soon as I am done with that …

I know I should spend more quality time with my family, but I am having a very busy period at work. As soon as that is over …

We know we should get to posting more often on our blog, but we have no good writer in our team. As soon as we can hire one …

The fact is, there’s never a perfect time to do the things we are supposed to do.

There’s a good enough time though.

It is now.

Fix my issue

FabrizioLeave a comment

Three reasons why this is a great customer service interaction.

05:46 PM | Me: Hi! We made a mistake when trying to change the credit card linked to our account. Basically, we put the wrong e-mail address, and now I have paid for a fully new account instead of payment for the account we already have. Messy, eh?

05:46 PM | Bot operator: If your scheduled payment failed, please, refer to attached Help article for instructions on how to re-process it.

05:46 PM | Bot operator: [App: Article Inserter]

05:46 PM | Bot operator: Did that answer help, or are you looking for something else?

05:46 PM | Me: Talk to a person 👤

05:46 PM | Bot operator: Sure thing! Ahrefs typically replies in under 4m.

05:48 PM | Person from Ahrefs: Hi there thanks for reaching out. Which email address did you pay by mistake to?

05:49 PM | Me: The original account is with *emailaddress*, I paid now with *emailaddress*

05:49 PM | Person from Ahrefs: I will check with our billing team to help move it over to the correct account

05:50 PM | Me: Thank you. Is there something I have to do?

05:50 PM | Person from Ahrefs: nope, please wait for 2-3 hours for the change to be complete

05:50 PM | Me: Thank you!

06:07 PM | Person from Ahrefs: Hi there, the switch is done. Kindly check *emailaddress* and confirm? Please let me know if you have any further questions.

  1. The person helping actually read the first message in the chat, avoiding to ask me to repeat the problem or other silly information – as so often is the case.
  2. In two instances, the service did underpromise and overdeliver – first for the waiting time, then for the time it would take for the change to be effective.
  3. The interaction was straight to the point and focused on having my problem solved – no how are you?, no hope you will have a sunny day!, no I am sorry to hear about your issue.

All in all, a billing issue was solved in 21 minutes, and I got exactly 4 minutes of interaction with a chat bot and a customer service rep.

Note: a couple of bonus points for the tool that Ahrefs is using, that first suggested a relevant article from their knowledge base in the attempt to fix my issue without interaction, then allowed me to download the full conversation without having to ask anybody.

Sanderson

Fabrizio1 Comment

A few of things to take away from Brandon Sanderson (popular writer of fantasy and science-fiction) breaking Kickstarter in the past week or so.

In event of crisis

FabrizioLeave a comment

If your company wants to write a public note about the current situation in Ukraine – or any other crisis for what matters -, make sure that falls into one of those two categories.

  • You are letting your audience know about something deeply impactful you are doing, or plan to do, that could change the situation for the better for a good portion of the people involved.
  • You are directing the attention of your audience towards someone or some other organisations that can actually do something deeply impactful and might need additional support.

And always remember, even at a time like this, silence is an option.

Stay strong.