Think about it…most organizations have default e-mail addresses that are like this: “Info@YourOrganization.com”, Connect@, Contact@, E-mail@ or something similar.  We have all seen it.  I am guilty because I have suggested and set up such e-mail addresses for organizations I have worked or volunteered for.  I did it for my church too!

However, people want to connect with people.  People want to know there is someone at the receiving end of that e-mail.  Today they want a “name” – a real person to “talk to”.  People want a personal experience.  I think perhaps the time has come to become less corporate, less impersonal, and more real.

It’s time to change.  Give people a real person – maybe it is you.  Let them e-mail someone who will respond and make their customer experience a real-life exchange of information.

What do you think?  Is it time for personalization or should we stay status quo?

Image via Flickr: KahoKubo

Print publishing in its many forms is bleeding.  Big metropolitan newspapers, magazines of all genres, and books are suffering.  Some of it is the current condition of the economy, more of it is the influence of digital platforms online that are killing the need for print products.  As a result advertising revenues have dropped significantly and the print publications are becoming dated and irrelevant in our culture.

So, what does this mean for the church?  Churches need to be aware that information distribution is decidedly moving to electronic platforms.  Debates can be had for the love of “print” and I for one still love a good printed book.  But let’s be realistic.  As more information travels through online channels and through mobile devices like laptop computers, smart phones, and portable reading devices like the Kindle, ministries must begin to transition as well.

Some Don’ts

• Don’t waste money advertising your church in the Yellow Pages – take your listing but don’t buy an ad.
• Don’t advertise in your local newspaper – feed them a press release and maybe they’ll do a story on you but don’t spend money on ad space.
• Stop printing church newsletters – start using e-mail, your web site, and social media to communicate.

Some Do’s

• Do make sure you have a well designed and up-to date web site – a professional web presence for your ministry is critical for getting information to potential new visitors and connecting and communicating regularly to your current members.
• Do use e-mail to communicate within your church – using an e-mail management tool will give you better looking messages for newsletters and can manage multiple lists if you have a larger church.
• Do experiment with social media – tools like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, and other social media platforms can give you exciting and cost effective ways to engage with congregation members online.

As print media is being left in the dust I would encourage you and your church to build an electronic tools strategy. You don’t have to do it all.  You don’t have to do many things all at once either.  Rolling it out in steps, phases, or stages can keep the shock factor to a minimum and can let people embrace the changes slowly.

Please, do something and do it well – with excellence.  Once you can prove the effective integration of one or a couple electronic platforms or tools the better they will be embraced by any who may be hesitant.

What are your thoughts?  What have been your experiences?  Do you agree that it is best for churches to minimize their purchasing of print media?

Church Contact Form

So what would be the solution?  Today, a web site contact form is the best way to go.  Forms are easy to create, easy to customize, and easy to manage.  The key is to keep them simple.  Forms without the proper “authentication” can also be subject to nasty SPAM.  So, make sure your contact form has a human-validation component.  There are many ways that contact forms can be added to a content management systems as plug-ins or programed into your site.  It may cost a wee bit more in your site design but it will be best for everyone involved.

Format The User Experience

Not only does a contact form kill SPAM but it actually enhances the user experience.  The final added benefit is that you can ensure that any required information that you might need is included in the form.  No matter what, please keep the form as short, sweet, and simple as possible.  Long forms with too many required fields frustrate people.  Only ask for information you actually need to serve the request.

Want a sample of a contact form? See the contact form I have here on Marketing Integrity…

What are your thoughts on contact forms?  Does you church have one?  Should it?

Image from Flickr courtesy Matthew Oliphant

He is right, most often, most organizations create a generic Info@YourDomain.com e-mail address.  We see it all the time so we assume that is the way it should be done.  As some of the discussion in his post’s comments section conveys, yes you probably should have the Info@ address as a default because that is one people will assume exists.  However, to make your church or company more unique and to have your message and brand resonate and connect more with your customers or contacts, you should brainstorm something more unique.

It certainly is making me think about how I am branding my e-mail…I think Navigate@MarketingIntegrity.ca may be an option. What do you think would be a creative solution for your organization?

We all hate to be bothered at home when we are in our “personal” place or space. For as long as I can remember, I have been receiving telemarketing calls from non-profits doing fund raising to businesses trying to arm twist me into their services. The past few weeks here in Canada have seen the telemarketers going at a torrid pace to get in their calls before people can sign up for the new Do Not Call registry. I have had at least one call each day for 3-weeks and some days multiple calls. In fact, this morning I got a call at 8:30 AM and the guy was calling me from Vancouver! That would be 4:30 AM his time. I told him to go get another coffee! This bombardment has only served to spur people on towards registering to have their numbers removed. It has raised the agitation level of Canadians toward telemarketing to an all new high. As I wrote that sentence I received my 3rd telemarketing call of the day!

So, what impact will the new registry have on the business? I think it will throw up a giant wall as people register in droves to make the insanity stop. For those who do not register, they had better get ready for the onslaught. Businesses and non-profits will have to find a new way to interrupt people’s lives with their messages. E-mail spam never tasted so bad! It is at an all-time high and companies find more clever ways daily to break through your filter. At least with e-mail it is much easier to hit delete than it is to make the phone stop ringing!

I have to go now…it’s time for me to register my number for do-not-call status…the question is, how long will it take for the ringing to stop?

What so you think? Is telemarketing dying?

There is a term coined by Lawrence Lessig in 2004 called E-mail Bankruptcy. Apparently he decided to close an e-mail account after an overwhelming receipt of garbage messages compared to legitimate ones – and used the term to validate his actions. I can relate. In addition to all the junk and SPAM e-mail I receive (over 10,000 in that 12-day span) however, I do in fact receive way too many e-mails that are indeed legitimate. Our corporate culture has tilted heavily towards defaulting to reliance on e-mail when often a phone call would be more appreciated and probably resolve the issue faster, more effectively, and more personally.

Today, when faced with the daunting task of sifting through, processing, and dealing with hundreds of e-mails I wanted to declare e-mail bankruptcy. I really wanted to “select all” in my in box and just hit delete. It is kind of like the function in Google Reader when you can “mark all as read”…and have your do over or the chance of starting with a fresh, clean slate. One has to figure, that if the requests were really important, people would send a follow up e-mail. In fact, it was amazing to discover that many of the supposed needs, requests, and FYI’s had already been solved in my absence. I really feel I wasted today reading endless, mostly useless e-mail. So, I think the e-mail bankruptcy term should be refined to include the deletion of “while you were on vacation” e-mails.

Since I am not sure what the solution is, I think every employee should be allowed one e-mail bankruptcy declaration per year. Just select all and hit delete. Maybe then the positive rest effects of the vacation would not be worn off during the first day back at work!

What do you think?

Today, on one of the blogs I subscribe to: Chris Brogan’s Community and Social Media, Chris writes an excellent post titled Writing E-mail That Gets Answered outlining several of the things I was thinking, but had yet to formulate into an intelligible written form. In particular I like his tips on doing a follow-up e-mail. We all get backlogged and forget things or miss deadlines. E-mail follow-up is becoming a necessity, and we really need to learn how to do it tactfully. Chris suggests three simple steps of brevity, a simple summary, and deadline reminders.

Now, I really don’t need to duplicate the writing effort. I figured I would alert you to Chris’ post, encourage you to read it, and hope that we all would implement some or all of the tips he suggests. That should make all of us a lot more efficient, effective, and ultimately, more productive. Nice work Chris, thanks for sharing your wisdom!

Today, I was involved in just such a situation. There was an inventory issue I was trying to resolve and I sent an e-mail inquiry to a company to get a status update. What unfolded was an e-mail exchange between 6 people all bouncing back and forth with different details. As the customer in this exchange, what resulted was a bombardment of e-trails that went on for over 2 hours and well over 20 e-mails before the barrage came to an end.

What I have learned from this incident is that when you are serving a customer, it is a much better experience for them if you as the company representative(s) would do all the behind the scenes investigation and then conclude the process with one (and only one) phone call (or one e-mail if you must) to report on the findings. It was a very chaotic experience being tossed around in e-world by 6 people all to get one simple question answered.

I believe we have lost the art of the human-touch. Simply picking up the phone and making that personal contact would leave a much more positive impression than being lassoed in a web of e-mails by a group of people who are face-less, voice-less, e-representatives. When you do this, you leave your customer feeling dazed and confused. Treat your customers like people and not an e-mail, and you will have a customer who feels valued, appreciated, and well taken care of.

Few people in the industry are celebrating spam’s 30th birthday during the beginning of May this year, however the email menace has afforded us an opportunity to review just how prominent it has become. During the month of April, 80% of all email was spam, with that number jumping as high as 87% at times.

WOW! 80+% of all e-mail sent is SPAM. That is outrageous isn’t it? Are you surprised?

The important lesson here revolves around permission based marketing. In your organization, please ensure that you get the permission from your contacts to send them regular e-mails. Get their permission before you send e-newsletters, special offers, or coupons. Also, make sure you never sell or share your e-mail list with anyone. It is a privilege to get an e-mail address from your customer. Treat it as private property and with the highest respect. A simple rule is to treat their e-mail address as you would want your own e-mail treated. None of us likes to have our time wasted or our e-mail address abused. If we remember this in relation to our customers, we will build a much better rapport with them. Essentially, only send them an e-mail if you have something of value to add to their day. Then your relationship is golden!

Please share any of your SPAM or Permission-Based e-mail marketing insights or reactions…