Being Seen To Be Listening

If you haven't read the Cluetrain Manifesto, give yourself a few moments to go buff up on the whole idea of "markets being conversations". It's an interesting idea worth mulling over for a while and think how it might matter to your business.

If markets are indeed conversations, they what evidence that anybody is talking to you do you show on your site. The very least your company need to be doing is Being Seen To Be Listening because it's what your customers have come to expect. Not listening isn't an option anymore. 

So, how can you be seen to be listening? There are actually a whole raft of things your site needs such as FAQs, forums and blogs with comments all of which can help but aren't THE answer. Anybody can add a forum to a site and most forums have tumbleweed blowing through them eerily. Lots of companies create fictional Frequently Asked Questions pages and then never update them. This isn't listening and more importantly it doesn't look like listening. It looks like someone looking like they're listening and you know how bad that is.

The real issue is that by taking a Cluetrain or listening-oriented approach to your website people can solve their own problems, people can help each other solve their problems meaning you don't have to. And the by-product of these conversations is usually the golden nuggets of feedback and suggestions.... pure gold.

Open up your listening channels, open more listening channels, introduce your customers to the real you rather than a Contact Us web form. Just because you opened the channels they won't all get used, but if you don't ask you don't get. And if you aren't seen to be asking, well, it looks like you really don't care and your potential customer will simpy wander off to see someone who does.