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65. e-Branding 5: Cut the FAQs
by iKnow
65
E-BRANDING 5: CUT THE FAQs
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We’re all individuals, as the Monty Python team reminded us. When we have a question, it’s our question and we want an individual answer. Maybe a thousand people have asked it before, but it’s still irritating to visit a website, click the “contact us” button and get redirected to a page that says “check here fi rst to see if it answers your question”. It rarely does, and even if we do fi nd an answer, it makes us feel as if we’ve been fobbed off.
The idea FAQs, frequently asked questions, were an early feature of websites, and in the 1990s they were quite helpful. They were designed to help fi rst-timers to understand how the website work. Since then they have been expanded on some sites, in an attempt to answer every question that a customer could possibly ask. The expense put into creating these massive, interactive FAQ sections must have been huge, and yet when you come to the box at the end that says “Did this answer your question”, the answer is generally, “Well, not really, no.”
Replacing people with FAQs puts a barrier between your brand and your customers, something which is likely to send them off in another direction.
Innocent drinks have a banana phone. They really do, and it’s shaped like a banana. You can call it at any time and talk to someone
who works there. They also invite you to drop into their offi ces for a chat. You really can. And if you email them, you get an answer.
In practice • The fewer mistakes you make, the less likely you are to get complaints. If you’re dealing with too many customers calling to report faults and errors, the answer is not to hide the contact details and direct customers to the FAQ section, it’s to fi x the problems. The problems are damaging your brand, and FAQs won’t help. • Train your people to listen to problems and offer solutions. • A small percentage of people enjoy complaining on principle. True, they can be a massive pain. But most people hate to complain. Encourage your customers to report anything wrong, like they would report a gas leak, helpfully. Thank them, act on it and your brand will have their support.
