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10 Reasons Readers Don’t Leave Comments

Filed Under Comments, Customer Think, Successful Blog, Writing | 260 Comments

My Secret

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My name is Liz and I have a secret. I read your blog almost every day, but you you wouldn’t know that. That’s because I hardly ever leave a comment.

I know the value of a well-placed comment. I’m pretty good at writing down what I think. Yet, when it comes time to writing a response to what you wrote, some days I can’t quite get my fingers to the keyboard. I start to write something . . . then I leave without posting it.

There are more readers like me than ones who are not. I know. I’ve talked to them. I’ve been talking to them about why they don’t comment. It seems that we have the same secret reasons for not leaving our calling card. We want to leave our thoughts, but things get between us and that comment box.

It’s time we came clean and let you know what they are. Read more

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Kala, a Reader, from Sprint/Nextel Cares

Filed Under Branding, Customer Think, Successful Blog | 5 Comments

Thank you, Kala

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This morning, Kala left a comment to the post I wrote July 11 about Sprint/Nextel.

Hello. I read your blog and am very eager to assist you. I work for Sprint Nextel and would love the opportunity to resolve this matter for you. Please e-mail me with your contact information.

I sent her the emails I had received since I’d made that post public, and within minutes I had a phone call from her.

What a charming lady! She’s not only charming, she’s also in a position to change things. Kala fixed my problem in a few seconds and acknowledged that the system was broken.

How refreshing! I’ve met a telco representative who listens and she makes good things happen for customers. Her name is Kala.

Sprint/Nextel has no idea of her value to their brand.

Thank you, Kala, for your help. Thank you, too, for being a reader.

Smiles,
Liz

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How Sprint Pushes Customers Out the Door

Filed Under Branding, Marketing, Successful Blog | 72 Comments

There’s Barriers, Then There’s Badly Broken

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Yesterday I wanted to switch my son’s Sprint/Nextel account over to online pay. I knew the drill. I’ve done it before plenty of times on plenty of websites. I hit pay bill and enterred the data. They requested a BAN passcode. Huh? What’s that?

BAN Passcode

Under that picture was this disclaimer:

Note: The approval process can take up to 10 business days. If you have a payment due before then, please use another payment method.

I contacted Customer Care online as asked and got this reply 30 minutes later. Read more

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9 + 1 Things Every Reader Wants from a Writer

Filed Under Basics, Comments, Customer Think, Marketing, Successful Blog | 68 Comments

Where to Start

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It can seem complicated to write for a readership that includes beginners to experts. I’ve done it for over two decades. It can seem like there’s too much to consider to meet them all at their own level.

My experience is that beginners and experts are not that different when they read. They might choose to read different things, but we all do. Beyond that difference of content, beginners, experts, and those of us in the middle — all readers — want the same things from a writer. Read more

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9rules List Take 2

Filed Under Analysis, Branding, Customer Think, Marketing, Successful Blog | 9 Comments

Hello

This is me. I’m Liz. I’m the nice one.
I love 9rules Network. This Not a critique of the blogs there.
I never imagined in a million years it would be taken as such.
I’m sorry it was mistaken for that.
My apologies. I am truly sorry if that was not clear..
It saddens me to think someone would mistake this as something like that.
I’m so very sorry to all of you and so embarassed.

So I set the record straight.
I loved 9rules and everyone I met there when I was member and I still do.
Paul Scrivens has only been good to me. I consider him a friend.
This piece was simply meant as study in how quicky readers can sometimes make decisions
That was all.
As my dad use to say, “Only believe 1/2 of what you see, and none of what you hear.”

Sincerely,
Liz

PS. This was a post about the mathematics of a customer’s quick scan. 13,5% of 111 made a “I wanna look later list. Read the post again. There is no critical malice in it. It is an emotional observation of my own behavior.
_______________________________________________________________

Going Down the List Again

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A week ago the 9rules Network announced 111 new sites had been selected to join them. I had the interesting experience of going through the list of 111 domain names looking for the blogs of folks I knew. I learned a few things from that experience that I think are worth sharing.

UPDATE: It seems I need to update this. These are the response of a cursory look through a bunch of 111 blogs that I knew nothing about, except that within them there were a certain number I already knew well. I had a limited lime as I went through list to capture those that immediately grabbed my attention. This doesn’t mean those that didn’t have something wrong. I wasn’t judging a contest. I was supershopping as some customer on timed reconnaissance might do. There is no intended implication that the blogs I left behind have anything lacking. This is about 15 unnamed blogs I happend to pick up on my way through a list of 111 that were selected.

Think of these as observations from the field. Do what you will with them.

  • I don’t pay attention to domain names. I pay attention to titles. That meant I had to check every single one just to be sure I didn’t miss a great blog — a blog that has, for one reason or another, a domain name that is wildly different from its title. If you have a different name on your blog, make sure that folks know about it, before they have to go through search engines to find you.
  • Too much going on and nothing to look at. There were several sites that couldn’t hold my attention for longer than a second. They made it easy to click on.
  • I was in a hurry to get to the short list. Some bloggers actually said they weren’t good enough to be in 9rules. I decided to agree with them. When there are too many choices in a short time space, customers look for reasons to say no. At least I know that I do.
  • On a second look, only 6 of the 15 blogs I bookmarked still hold my attention. I collected what I thought were 15 winners. I went back to check them out tonight. I couldn’t remember what I saw in most of them. Most seemed unremarkable. Had they blown their wad to get in? Did they not stand up to a longer look?
  • This is not the time to think that folks won’t notice. One of the 15 still has the same post up — the post that says it was chosen to be in 9rules.

Only 6 out of 111. Granted I went through the list fast and furious, but . . . even 6 out of 15 is disappointing. . . . I’m going to keep watching all 15 of them. I’ll let you know whether things change.

PS — I still like the ones I knew were great going in.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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