Got Voice Mail?

"There's not anybody who really cares about using voice messaging the way I envisioned it." According to Gordon Matthews, the inventor of voice mail, he never anticipated that his automated message system would be used to confuse and frustrate business callers. He didn't foresee how many ways businesses could devise to misuse his system. When asked what aggravates them most about modern phone communication the majority of people will say that it is voice mail. Pressed for details, they explain that it is the automated answering process that companies use to screen and direct calls that bugs them, not the basic messaging-taking function. Companies are spending large sums of money to antagonize their customers and it only seems to get worse. When a person needs help with a problem and can't reach another human, the situation deteriorates rapidly. Using the numbers on your touch tone pad is fine when you want to verify your bank balance, pay a bill or have a dry newspaper delivered; but when your pipes are backing up, your new computer just crashed, or a tree just fell on your brand new SUV, call processing may not be the answer. There are advantages to an automated system. It saves money in salaries and benefits. It prevents old-fashioned phone tag by allowing people to leave detailed messages in their own voice with clear and correct information. Voice mail crosses all time zones so people can leave and retrieve messages at their convenience. The disadvantages are that people can hide behind voice mail, often the prompts are confusing, working through the menu can be more time-consuming than speaking to a "live" person, and some people just don't like talking to machines. If your company uses an automated system to process calls make sure it provides the best customer service by following these suggestions: 1. Keep your greeting short and sweet. (No one cares that your menu options have changed. They only want to know what options they have now.) 2. List your menu options according to popular usage. 3. Tell callers how to reach another human early in the process. 4. Think twice before using voice mail for customer service issues. 5. Survey your customers from time to time to see how they feel about your voice mail system. 6. Try calling your own system occasionally and find out first hand what your customers are experiencing. Voice mail can be either an incredible asset to your business or an incredible pain for your customers. Don't force innocent people to spend their valuable time in your voice mail jail. (c) 2006, Lydia Ramsey. All rights reserved. Reprint rights granted so long as article and by-line are published intact and with all links made live.

Gmail is Still Beta for a Reason

I think it was the threat of a Gmail revolution that prompted Yahoo to increase the storage space parceled to its free email accounts last year. (Yahoo’s paid email at the time, of course, gave storage to spare. It’s an example of how the whiff of corporate competition can benefit end users or consumers.) Who remembers rummaging through our Yahoo email accounts deleting emails only weeks, if not days, old? I think Yahoo copied their color coded warning system of diminishing storage space from the easy-to-comprehend terror levels issued by the federal government. Gmail’s arrival, though, changed this – we were ready for something better. Its search-based organization, something we like to see at ConductSearch.com, figured to be a natural step for email world to take. I believe that something better came, too. But, something that I’m unlikely to avail myself to because I, like most, am not ready to forego the free, web-based email I am comfortable with for Gmail’s blessings. Gmail, like Google, was marketed beautifully from the outset. How did they manufacture buzz? By attaching a sense of exclusivity to a Gmail address, that’s how. That’s no small feat considering that Gmail doesn’t cost anything. But, they used the invite system and people, exercising the herd mentality as we’re wont to do, were all over it. Web geeks were all over Gmail and invites for an address even made it to eBay. I have no doubt Google’s marketing department loved that; they might have even put them up for auction themselves. When the hubbub died down a bit I got mine from a friend who works at Google. I admit to all (and to Mike) that I felt sheer gratitude for the address. The marketing worked. That’s about when the magic ended for me. For starters, it seemed as if Google couldn’t let some standard features be, like…freakin’ folders! I had a chat with ConductSearch.com’s IT director who, like me, had and disregarded his Gmail account, as did others around the office. The latest numbers show that Gmail accounts handle less than 4% of email volume and I believe this number is generous. The number one reason for discontinuance was forgetting passwords. In other words, there was nothing compelling enough to get a Gmail account and keep it. I also learned that others, too, didn’t like the way Gmail “revolutionized” email. Perhaps this progress was a little forced. Granted, you can go on any techie board and read how people love Gmail, how effective its spam filters are (might have more to do with that Gmail < 4% penetration), how the flow works, etc. Ah, rubbish. For starters, email is, to me, about communication. And it’s a slower form of communication than IM, so I don’t need it to be cutting edge, just convenient. I want my email ordered. Before computers, when we were waist high in paperwork (I still am, amazingly) we needed folders and labels. Naturally, as email evolved an organizational system of folders and labels by subject or sender was produced. And, hey, look what else developed – trash cans, just like in real life. Love throwing away that clutter. Well, Gmail trashed the perfectly good email format where trash cans and folders ease the burdens of Inboxes. Gmail even makes it tough to delete useless email, too. Google intimates that deletion of email is a non-priority because users are given so much storage space. Baloney. It’s an irksome element and on some level I think it has something to do with the fact that I’m served text ads in my own inbox. People shouldn’t wonder why Gmail is still ‘Beta’, though some joke that Google forgot to take down that label. It’s not a coincidence; Google took a shot at revamping email as we know it and it didn’t work – yet. Unfortunately for Gmail, Instant Messaging has stolen much of their potential thunder and as convergence continues between voice, text, and video – revolutions within a confined space, like email, will not be forthcoming. I do believe, though, that Google has a longer-term plan for Gmail. All the applications that Google develops (admittedly, almost none of it is original or innovative – Google calendar, picture sharing, the free word processing download, to name a few) leads me to believe that Google is trying to integrate an all-involved interactive experience for the web user. I’m pretty sure that Gmail will someday be seamlessly integrated with instant messaging and document sharing within a Google-server based operating system that will free users from any web-borne virus or malicious hacking. Would be an impressive corporate application, would it not? It explains, to me at least, Google’s giant server complex being built on the Columbia River that’s been the source of so much speculation. Jeff Conduct Director of Marketing ConductSearch.com http://www.conductsearch.com t: 1.888.99CS.NYC e: marketing@conductsearch.com