Shut Up and Listen:
What Users Are Saying

In every relationship there's a time to talk and a time to listen. This is especially true in B2B and B2C relationships. Organizations need to be aware of their users' needs and feelings toward their brands. Yet, when it comes to our websites, we're great at rambling on and on telling our audiences about who we are and what we do. But can a website really help us be better listeners? This month, we explore a few ways we can use the internet to listen to our customers and ultimately use their input to better serve them.

Social Listening. Social media has made it easier than ever to listen in on what users are saying about your organization, products, cause, or service. Numerous search engines have emerged over the last few years that allow you to search social media and blogs for mentions of your brand and even have social media alerts sent to your email. One of our favorites is Social Mention, which not only displays your search results but organizes them, providing a ratio of positive to negative mentions and a rating of how passionate users are about your company. Other social media search tools to check out are HowSociable?, Tinker, and IceRocket. If your organization has a Wikipedia page, sign up for Wiki Alarms to be alerted by email when someone has edited your company's page so that you can stay on top of what's being said about your brand on the web. Google Alerts will also keep you up to date on internet mentions of your brand, especially in the news.

Soliciting Feedback. Users don't always come out and tell us what they're thinking, sometimes we have to ask them directly. Companies like Panera Bread and Old Navy have figured out a way to do this, running periodic feedback campaigns where they print a code and url on receipts so that customers can take online surveys about their shopping experiences. Audiences often need some incentive to do this, such as being entered to win prizes or cash for completing the survey. JetBlue has taken this process completely online, sending an email to customers after certain flights so that they can take a survey about their experiences flying with the airline. Soliciting feedback through email or social media outlets like Twitter or Facebook, which users can respond to instantly, is likely to yield a higher rate of response than asking them to go online at a later time. But the first and perhaps the simplest step toward collecting feedback online is a basic contact form, clearly and accessibly displayed on your website.

Analytics. Direct communication accounts for only half of a complete message, the other half lies not in what users write, but what they do. That's where Web analytics come in. Many businesses are content to track basic figures such as unique visitors or page views. “However, there are an endless number of factors and elements that can and should be measured," says Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief of Website Magazine. "Perhaps the most difficult part of Web analytics as it stands today is determining which KPIs (key performance indicators) to use. The sheer volume of available KPIs can be overwhelming, as can the multitude of ways to compare the data they present." Prestino recommends tracking in-depth analytics such as visitors per conversion, lead, or order. This will tell you how many visitors your site needs in order to achieve its goals and indicate how well your website and promotional channels are working together. Other important analytics to consider measuring are page views per visit and cost per lead. Prestino says these figures can respectively help you to determine how deeply users are delving into your website and how to get more value out of your promotional investments.

Listening is the first step toward improving your company's relationship with its online audience. But listening only benefits your brand if it's followed by analysis and action. Once you've heard what your users have to say, the real work begins. Make sure you understand your users' needs, wants, and concerns so that you can determine what solutions you can offer and how to effectively communicate them. Even more challenging, can be putting these ideas into action. But with the new year and new decade upon us, there's no better time to resolve to better serve your customers. Try some of these ideas to begin a listening campaign, learning from your findings, and ultimately building a more knowledgeable and empowered brand.

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