Thursday 17 June 2021

False Hope

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @HousingITguy
or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

Lately, I have spent a lot of time at my local Bike Shop (LBS) now we are in the new normal, which does a really good job I have got to say.

I use it, as I don’t want to lose it. That's my advice for a lot of your local businesses, in the current climate. Use your LBS, real-ale pub, local shop instead of the supermarket, because you will actually really miss it, if/when its gone.

It’s got a great website showing all the great stuff they do, services they provide and of course telephone number, contact form and an email address too. No webchat, but (well) do we need it. A contact page and form, is of course a default that any web designers these days would provide. Although as my LBS demonstrates, just because there is a contact form and an email address, that does not mean that anyone will receive a timely response from that channel, or in fact there will be a response at all!

When I ask my LBS about the contact form, the guys brush that off as 'well we have been busy, so probably haven't been checking it'. Clearly it would be better to not even have a contact form or email address, as it just gives false hope that this is a way that anyone can interact with the shop. Why not just have a note on the contact page to tell customers (& prospective customers), phone us in normal working hours (Mon-Fri 09:30-17:00) perhaps. I am very forgiving of my LBS, as they are quality. I have understood phoning them is how I get the best out of them.

I see this with social housing organisations I work with too, often offering false hope via website, portals or social media accounts. One example I saw this, a landlord had a 24 hour service centre. If a tenant/leaseholder phoned in at any time, they could log a repair or initiate & sometimes complete some other enquiry. Alternatively, a form on the website looked like it was automated, but actually wasn’t and often took four days to be fully looked at. Here, it would have been better to just take that form down, just give residents the 24hour contact number.

Social Housing Social media, such as Twitter can also give false hope, if the account is not monitored, or maybe is just really an outward comms account. I encounter this a lot as I get quite a few enquiries each month from Twitter based tenants, often critical of their landlords ignoring them. Often here too, its false hope that fosters this dissatisfaction. If a social media account will not be replied to 24/7, tell everyone clearly about that and what alternative channel to use. Where landlords have contact forms etc, set some expectations how long it will take to get a response, or again alternative channels to use.

If we stop giving our customers false hope, they will be more inclined to pick the right channel for the right issue and based on their priority or degree of concern. Knowing how fast it will be reacted too and having confirmation that the request/interaction has been received can be very reassuring, via a supplied Works order, request or issue number.

Suggesting customers can follow up based on that number, can be useful too and clearly tie different parts of a related conversation together. There is nothing worse than customers repeating their full story every time, when we probably have half decent CRM, which should be capable of recording a full timeline.

Let’s see more 'true', rather than 'false' hope in our omnichannel.

Checkout my LBS here.

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Related Post: These days, why getting your web portal to curent standards, an external web partner can be essential?  


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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Laura Marling - False HopeLaura Marling - False Hope.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.


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