Surprise, surprise: customers don’t trust company blogs
Is this a surprise to anyone?
“Not only do blogs rank below newspapers and portals, they rank below wikis, direct mail, company email, and messageboard posts.” (People Don’t Trust Company Blogs)
The Forrester report goes on to encourage ways in which companies can make their blogs more relevant and more genuine, to try and reclaim some of that goodwill.
My thought is: not that many companies are interesting enough to merit a blog.
If you have an eloquent CEO or group product manager or other evangelist in-house, that’s not a problem. But I’m guessing more often blog content is generated in the same way as it was at one of my past companies: “Intern, write a bunch of blog posts and date them every week or so.” This is how company blogs end up with rehashed press releases or a description of the in-house poker tournament last month.
No, I don’t really care who went all-in, unless it was the CEO and that’s your way of telling us you’re going under next week.
Blogs imply timeliness and consistency in a way that other communication channels don’t. People expect to see three, four, or six months between press releases. If they see a blog with the last entry three months in the past, they assume it’s been abandoned.
So you need to post often. And it has to be good.
Forrester says, please don’t stop blogging. I say, don’t focus on the solution, focus on the problem you’re trying to solve.
Preview new functionality: not sure a blog post is the best way to communicate this, especially if you’re seeking feedback. I’ve liked the experience of seeing a few screenshots or a quick demo in the context of a short survey. It makes me like my consumer input may actually be listened to and acted upon.
Transparency, AKA Admitting You Were Wrong: if it was serious and affects a majority of customers, it deserves homepage billing. If it affected only a portion of customers and you know the damage is contained, communication via email – quickly – may be your best bet. You may not want unaffected people to know about an issue that will never affect them.
Community: This may be blogger heresy, but I think a blog is a terrible way to build community. As conversation goes, it’s incredibly one-sided. Company talks, people can only really comment on the topics you raise. At Yodlee, we had a bulletin board for our customers, and that gave us incredibly open commentary from our users. (Sometimes harsh and hard-to-stomach commentary, but you can’t shy away from listening. The truth can be hard!)
A human face / Personality: This is great when it works, a la 37Signals. You get a true sense of their personality, the way they think and listen and learn. But I don’t think it’s always even appropriate.
My work with usability testing and financial software taught me that people don’t want to think of their bank as “human”. Sure, they want to talk to a human when they have a problem. But they’d prefer to think that anything involving their money is automatic, regulated, infallible.
You have to ask: does being “human” differentiate you? Is it a reason why a customer would choose you over your competition? If you’re a housekeeper or a tax consultant or you sell baby clothes, probably yes. If you sell pacemakers or provide plumbing services… maybe not so much. The one place where I think everyone needs to be “human” is their Careers section – but again, the solution to that problem is not a blog.
“If you want to be a thought leader and helper for your customers, and you blog frequently about those customers’ problems and solutions, then you can generate trust. This takes time and effort, but it will enhance your company’s reputation and it’s worth it.”
In the end, I don’t disagree with this. But please, no more pocket queens and a third queen on the flop.
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Update: Janet Fouts writes along similar lines, with Facebook May Not Be Right for Your Business.
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Tags: blogging, Communication, listening
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