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Electronic communication fall- down: is it hubris, lack of responsiveness or just plain inefficiency?

Jul 28, 2020 Robert Kaiser, electronic communication, responsiveness or inefficiency


The extraordinary time we are living in has had one decided effect - more people than ever are turning to the Internet to make contact and conduct business. Companies, large, medium and small who offer online commerce as part of their business activities, have seen online business growing in leaps and bounds as customers in ever larger numbers are making use of the convenience and relative safety of conducting their business online. 

 

Financial services have been leading the way for years and who cannot say that online banking services offered in the banking sector have made life so much easier and less complicated for their customers? To visit an actual branch of a bank is nowadays a rarity. Retail has been following the online trend with great success. Yet, there are, it seems, challenges in attempting to come into contact with some organisations because of a seemingly unexplainable urge of anonymity and hiding behind a great-looking electronic shop window that leads nowhere. 

 

Very few websites reveal the names and contact details of their key management and even when this is absent, there is no name or contact detail of anyone with whom one can get into contact with, except a space to enter a message under the “Contact Us” tab on the website. If you are lucky, they may provide a telephone number and address. If your luck continues, the telephone may even be answered, but that is no guarantee that the person on the other end:

  • Knows what he/she is talking about, or
  • Puts you through to an extension that is not answered and defaults to voicemail where you leave a message that is never responded to. Should you in desperation attempt to enter a message on the facility provided on the “Contact Us” tab, what is the chance of actually getting a reply?

 

My experience is: very, very rarely.

 

Many businesses do not seem to realise that their telephone systems and websites are their electronic shop windows and as much as one would berate a salesperson or receptionist for not promptly attending to a customer entering the premises, it is just as important, if not more so, that the same principle should apply when it comes to online contact. Online contact is online business, so why offend a potential customer by ignoring him/her when they enter your electronic premises? 

 

It has even been found that large corporations ignore formal PAIA requests, despite a big hoo-ha on their website about the PAIA Act and transparency of information. Try and address a request to the contact details in some businesses’ PAIA Manuals and see how far you get; more often than not, a blank wall !

 

Electronic chat functionalities are not the answer either, as these could be unresponsive and not exhibit proper understanding of a customer’s needs.

One is tempted to come to the conclusion that unresponsiveness and the anonymity syndrome one comes across when attempting to contact a business can be ascribed to one of two factors:

  • Hubris : we are so big , we can afford to treat enquiries with disdain; or 
  • Gross inefficiency to such an extent that online contact is just not managed and there is no accountability for this function in a business.

 

Possible solutions to consider:

  1. Your Company website is an expensive electronic shop front. In many instances, even printed advertisements promote a company’s website as the place where one can find out more. The realisation of how important a website is and how it can mean more business or less business for the concern is a good place to start.
  2. Invest in a competent person to take charge of enquiries logged on your website and aggressively manage this function to ensure that even the most irrelevant enquiries are dealt with courteously and promptly: your good company image requires that this be done and depends on it ! 
  3. Train your switchboard operator properly in order that he/she knows how the business functions and is able to connect calls to the correct person.  
  4. To a caller, your switchboard operator is the first line telephonic contact with your company; he/she should be able to speak coherently, courteously and professionally. Calls that are put through to specific persons should be followed up by the operator if the extensions are not answered and not be left to some tinny automated voicemail function. Proper messages should be taken and relayed to that person, with follow up. If calls are not returned, the errant person should be reported to management.
  5. Edit your company website for grammatical errors and ensure that the language used reflects your company’s professionalism. Some websites make you shudder in disgust at the poor standard of language and just plain negligent grammatical and typo errors!
  6. Don’t neglect to update your Company website regularly to reflect any changes. Neglect can cost you valuable business. 

Proper online contact, whether telephonically or through your company’s website, has become a vital part of your total operations and will continue to grow in importance in the future. Don’t gamble with your company’s image, business potential and the manner it is projected to your customer base!


 

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