Are You Two Timing Your Customers

Nice. The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz is a book that covers stuff like this, but those ideas are not being applied to the web and social networks/media by anyone yet.

I like it when I need air in my tires, it says, Pay $$ OR go ask clerk for Complimentary Air..... so I don't pay..... unless they are closed. Of course it is a local store, and they mostly know me, as I buy my gas there. So is it customer service...customer perk??? oh well, as long as it works when I need it.

For me, Eyebee, Justin Levy, Stephanie Valentine and Angelika Ilina hit the nail on the head...

Try to keep things as simple as possible, make sure all your 'online gateposts' clearly signal back to your main website's contact page, or use Gmail for processing everything...

Also, because people seem to try to satisfy all needs for all eventualities, I think it's better to have a clear idea of your ideal client/customer and design your 'contact marketing' around that one person. If that makes sense. ;-)

Need coffee!

Like you I have profiles on mulitple sites, but am only active on a few. The way I manage it is to post notes in my FaceBook and Plaxo profile, which say.. I don't check this very often, if you want to reach me go to my Twitter.com/roundpeg or smallerindiana profile

Everyone is different - some people prefer to call, some to e-mail, some to text message, some to send a message via Facebook, etc. And even people's age doesn't play a big role - it's not only teenagers that prefer to text - many in their 30's and 40's do, too.

So, you almost can't have too many options to cater to the way people prefer to respond or communicate. That's why direct response ads always include at least 3 ways to contact - phone, mail, and web site. And these ads have been consistently tested and proven to result in more sales.

Classic Entropy Factor

Sounds like the company who built the pump didn't have atone with user experience knowledge, and decided not to think about use case scenarios.

You're right on this, Chris. It's something I've thought about a lot. But I'm not sure of the solution. What is the magic formula? How do you maximize social media for best results? Twitter, right now, seems to be king, especially if someone's as sophisticated as Guy. So, I guess it would be wise to invest a big chunk of your "social" time there. But then what? And don't tell me it depends on your goal or your business. Obviously it does. But I'd like to hear YOUR formula. I think that could be a whole new blog post.

FACEBOOK?

This is why I love reading your blog so much. I have just been pondering this issue, what I call social media boundaries. If you go to trainings on how you should create and market your online presence, you just get confused. Some people say Facebook, some people say Twitter, some people say do it all (those people must not have a life). I drive all my traffic to my website and my blog and the contact info is the same on both (my friends have my persona info that is separate). At the beginning of this year I decided to set some social media boundaries so that I could stay sane, still have an online presence, and respond well to the people who contacted me via selective channels. I feel like I give better service that way and I'm certainly happier. Thanks for bringing this topic up. It's timely for me and quite thought-provoking.

Thanks for the question.
I have both Linkedin and Facebook, and twitter updates to facebook.

The only divides, on purpose is family, friends and colleagues. However, as relationships develop, the line blurs. More importantly , today is the what; my content and purpose. As it come into focus, I am rebranding me, professionally and focusing me personally and spiritually. My electronic neighborhood will be a deliberate choice. Thank you Chris and Peace. jro

As with everything else nowadays, I think an online presence comes down to simplicity. Everything that sells today does so because it is simple or convenient--user-friendly and catered to laziness. With most people managing at least two email accounts and umpteen social networking sites, communicating with anyone is always a decision--should I call? If so, what number? Work, home or cell? Forget calling; I'll just send them a message online. But email, IM or through a social networking site? Which email or site? For those who are all over the internet, don't put those trying to reach you through such complicated decisions. People don't like to make them today, where everything else is so simple. Make it clear the best way to get a hold of you, and check that account more often than the rest.

I think it may not be so much that people don't know where to contact you as so much as it is either:

1. They contact you on the service that *they* feel most comfortable with.
2. They think that by using a different service other than the one(s) you refer to the most (i.e. email) they will have a better chance of moving up in your overall queue.

For anyone that really interacts on multiple services, I think this is a common issue. My Achilles heel is LinkedIn messages. I always respond to invites to connect but any other mail, I have the best intentions but somehow that mail system just doesn't pop up on my radar like others (including, for me, Facebook).

Nice image Chris. I run into this pitfall a lot.

I often come into a project right after my (wonderfully competent) salespeople have sold a client a number of social media technology solutions. It can be difficult convincing folks not to put all of their shiny new social media toys in front of the customer at once, but I always make the effort. It's important on several levels to keep things simple:

1) Don't confuse people with too many options (as you and some of the above comments have stated)
2) Focus your member/customer activity to increase the number of serendipitous interactions (if you invite 10 peple to a party in your 10 room house, you usually put them all in the same room and not one in each, right?)
3) The simpler the presentation, the easier it is to explain to a potential contributor what the value is that they'll get in return for their contribution.

And by the way, I'd steer clear of sticking one coin in one slot and two in the other. I'm no expert on vending machines, but I'm willing to bet big that that wouldn't work.

What an EXCEPTIONAL word picture!!! PERFECT!!!

I'm sure to the manufacturer of the device, everything is perfectly "clear". As a user of the device, I'm euqally sure that once you've invested a few "coins" incorrectly, you'll eventually "figure it out" so you can get air in your tires.

However, you're dead on when it comes to your online presence. In the "real world", a lack of air in your tires could FORCE you to invest the time and coinage into making that device work - while online there are no barriers to a prospective customer "driving on" and finding the next gas station.

Further to my comment about email. I use Gmail for al my email - business and personal. So, even though I have more than one address (with filtering applied at my end), they all end up on my screen in my Gmail inbox - i.e in one place.

It's just the ones that I can't get there, such as services like Facebook, that are left on the periphery, and why I do NOT promote such services as a point of contact.

I actually came across the same exact machine about a month ago at a convenience store and had a similar reaction. Since I had scrounged up the quarters in the first place, I went in and asked the cashier which side the money went. The cashier had no idea.

I tend to be a two-sided air compressor too, maybe more sides, and appreciate this reminder.

What I've found though, is if we have a clear understanding of ourselves and our place in things then our "who we are" message becomes more clear to others. Until we know who we are, how can we convey that to anyone else? So the first step is figuring which coin slot activates our own internal air compressor, then getting rid of the other slot.

Sometimes I feel torn between the proliferation model that says be everywhere you can be (while being consistent, true to your message and supporting as many folks as possible), and the strategic hub idea (your (did you call it universe?) idea--where you have a central place that all other activities are leading viewers, customers and participants back to.) It seems wonderful to have a cornucopia of you out there--but that doesn't absolve you of your responsibility to lead folks, be in charge of your own message and make it clear what you want folks to do. Otherwise, they'll do what's natural--whatever they want.

The proliferation model is the buckshot bunny version--I'll hit something and may end up with a large litter of followers--but then how do I feed them? Find them good homes? The strategic hub is the key: if you are everywhere, with oodles of choices, what do you want them to get out of it and how have you designed a feedback loop to bring that knowledge/doing back to your hub so others can see how it's done&gain from it.

This will be obvious if you go look for me: I haven't figured any of this out--am still patching my hub from the last series of buckblasts. My second! interim site will be up this week and I hope I and it will make more sense to everyone and to me. Gosh I hope this machine doesn't take my money. . .

Dy

This is the biggest problem of Windows 7 today and was a huge disincentive for buying Vista before it. Having a max of two versions, "Home" and "Professional" would increase MS sales considerably.

As far as multiplying presences, wouldn't the number one contact vector be email (direct or via contact form), or am I too 1.0?

Oh, the agony of choice. As James Carville, Clinton's 1992 advisor put it "If you're saying three things you're not saying anything." (His better known quote is "It's the economy, stupid.")

As for the agony of communication overload, it deserves a separate post. You have your email, contact manager, CRM, countless social apps, DMs and you end up bewildered and confused between the browser windows and applications. Interruptions consume 50% of your workday. There's only one solution, a unified activity stream for each relationship. We at Relenta are working on it and in fact are 90% there.

Chris,

LOL! Last night I wanted to email you a little have-you-seen-this, so I went to your contact page, where I was faced with several choices. I finally decided on the last, "all else" option but then realized the email address didn't sound familiar, so I dug through my blog to find a comment you'd left and emailed to that address.

(I know you probably have them all go to one central address but I didn't want to look like I couldn't follow directions... and then I couldn't!)

Me? Well, I think I'm crystal clear (it is what I do for a living, trying to get the experience right), but once in a while I hear that some aspect of the experience at the blog or at the website wasn't clear. Oops! Every time I hear about something that's causing user difficulties, I assume there are a hundred folks who couldn't be bothered to tell me standing behind them (like the old saying), and I get right on fixing it. For me, responsiveness is the key, because imperfection is the rule, not the exception.

Regards,

Kelly

I blogged about this last year, saying that the proliferation of communication channels was causing brainfreeze and disconnection of society. Try to keep a handle on the number of internet-information-inputs (i.e. channels of communication) you subscribe to.

See the original post: "Information Overload, Brain Freeze.. Brrr!" http://econominted.com/?p=58

If you are going to open your front door, be prepared to serve each guest.

Notification of messages, tweets, DMs, wall posts, comments, etc. are very common and can be sent to mobile devices as they are left. The question is, are you prepared to answer those that need answering?

So, I'm not sure the question so much is having too many avenues -- quite the opposite, you need to be where your audience is. The better question is whether you have a systematic way to field the incoming "mail" for lack of a better word in one place, and then attacking it like it was one giant inbox.

When I do something, I always try to remember to incorporate the "KISS". It is probably one of the very few tactics that I learned in my school days that are very relevant and useful in the real world today as well.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

Nice. Simple analogy to inspire people to re-think and simplify their on and offline presence. I always ask clients to spread out everything their company has produced over the past year on a conference room table -- brochures, ads, web page printouts -- and step back. Then we analyze: Does it all look like the same company is producing it? Is the look consistent? Is the message consistent? If the answer is no, it's time to re-think and simplify.

It's very true. It's easy to open a site for a project, and then another and another. The Facebook situation that you describe is very real for me too. I've had people get annoyed with me, because I didn't respond to their Facebook messages in a timely manner. I use two main email addresses however - one personal, one business. I should make these more prominent.