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Don't Listen to Your Customers
by Ross Lasley
There is lots of freely available information on listening to customers – I even found an article this morning titled “Using Force Field Analysis to Listen to Customers”.
Every day, businesses make changes based on what clients said. Managers strive to get valuable customer feedback and act on it. Consultants have built entire firms that will help you listen to customers “better”.
Hogwash. Rubbish. Malarkey. |
You see – all of this is based on a premise that is fundamentally flawed: It assumes people say what they think. They do not.
Think about it for a second – how many people will tell a market researcher that they drink too much or that they lied on their tax return... and yet how many people do? Even worse, people who call businesses to voice concerns (complaints) really get listened to – and yet they represent a really unusual and skewed demographic. Yes, the last time I was at Home Depot I did have some problems finding things, but I sure as heck am not going to call to moan about it.
So, you have companies that are listening to customers and making changes based on it that don't work. You have the dangers of human nature (people lie) and demographics (skewed responses).
What do you do? Don't listen – Watch!
This is where web site statistics come in, the ultimate customer watch tool. Ask 872 people what they thought of your site and what you learn will not be anything nearly as valuable as reviewing the visitation stats they generated.
Web Site Statistics are the information log of what has occurred at your site. Remember those little website counters?
YOU ARE THE  PERSON TO VISIT THIS WEBSITE
Where did all those little counters go? Behind the scenes, and since then, they have gotten much, much better.
You can find out how many people came to your site, where those people came from, what words they used at a search engine to find you, what day of the week they came, what time of day they came, what kind of computer they have, how much time they spent at your site, what pages they visited, what the most common paths were, and lots of other stuff.
However - most people that have a website want to know just three things to start.
- How many people came?
- Where did they come from?
- What did they do at my site (most popular pages)?
With this information in hand you are doing the right thing – you are watching. If almost no one goes to your “About Us” page, you can conclude people aren't purchasing from you on the basis of who you are; and if everyone that goes to your “Specials” page makes a purchase,, yo something is very right on that page.
Use the power of the technology to help you watch your customers – know your stats.
P.S. and of course I do recommend that you also listen to your clients and prospects – just be sure to do it with big mounds of salt.
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 Tech Tip |
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by Michael
McGrath
I've written often of the security steps you should be taking
with your computer system to combat viruses, spam and adware.
Ross has written on the subject often and recently, too.
We've suggested software and filters as the weapons to use
in that combat, and we've received lots of feedback and questions
from clients in response.
I've gone further, even, and suggested you move away from
Microsoft altogether, as I have at work and at home. GNU/Linux
is my operating system of choice, but it's still a little
geeky and not for everyone. Walter Mossberg, who writes for
the Wall Street Journal, also syndicated on Sundays in the
Cape Cod Times, suggested
in September that everyone move to a Mac with its OS X, an operating system
for which there has yet to be written a successful virus.
These are pretty drastic-sounding steps, I know. I do have
something easier to recommend, though. You can't uninstall
Internet Explorer from Windows XP, but you can decide not
to use it for your browsing. The alternative? Mozilla
Firefox.
Version 1.0 was recently released, and Josiah and I have
been using it as our default browser at KISS for some time,
he on Windows XP, me on GNU/Linux (yes, it's multi-platform,
even), and it's a great little browser.
It has a smaller footprint (it uses less hard drive space,
only 4.7 MB) ; it is fast; it uses tabs, which allows multiple
pages to be open on one screen; it has a better pop-up ad
blocker than the belated one Microsoft recently added to
IE; it has a built-in updater both for itself and all of
its extensions, like Flash 7.0, Shockwave and Java; and it
keeps your computer safe from malicious spyware by not loading
harmful ActiveX controls. It's also free, and can
be found here.
USA Today says “If
you can, use Firefox Browser.”
Forbes says: “Better
than Internet Explorer by leaps and bounds.”
Josiah and I say: “Ditch IE. Go, Firefox!”
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