Years ago I read that 75% of the ‘walk’ buttons in NYC weren’t even connected. They existed only to make pedestrians think they had some control over their wait. How much better is your web site’s contact form?
A few weeks ago, I wrote a story for the New York Times about pop star Katy Perry and her just-released song, ‘Harleys in Hawaii’.
The focus of my story was just how much of a gift was the song, and its associated music video, to Harley-Davidson?Clearly, Christmas came early to Milwaukee, because in the first couple of weeks after its release, the song was streamed about 20 million times, and the YouTube video was viewed something like 12 million times. Perry, who has on the order of 100 million followers on social media, also put up dozens of Tweets and IG posts relating to it.
Since I wanted to put a value on that engagement, I made a list of three top specialist agencies in the ‘influencer marketing’ space and approached them using their web site Contact forms.
The three specialists I approached were Obviously, Kairos Media, and Viral Nation. To those I added a powerhouse digital agency from my hometown of Kansas City: VMLY&R.
So, four agencies in total. every subject line was the same…
Journalist enquiry: New York Times
Every company also got exactly the same text delivered in the message body, asking an executive to provide a ballpark estimate for a very large-scale social media engagement by a pop star with a very large following. If they were interested I’d forward specifics. I made it clear I was only looking for a ballpark estimate and an executive’s top-line impression. Something that would take half an hour of an assistant’s time, and ten minutes from an exec.
VMLY&R could have provided someone, to be cited as an expert in a hot marketing area, in a feature story in the New York Times. But it simply never responded at all. Not even a “No thanks,” or “Sorry but we’re swamped.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Obviously must have an employee that gets a push notification when a Contact’s initiated. They got back to me within two minutes. The gist of their response was, Sure, we’d love to comment, can you give us more information?
In between those extremes, fell Kairos and Viral Nation. Someone at Kairos wrote back to say, We Googled your name; you’ve written some cool stories, how can we help you? Someone at Viral Nation wrote to ask, Can you provide samples of your work in the Times? TBH, that felt a little snarky, and I gave them a snippy response to the effect of, “Try entering my name in the search bar on NYTimes.com.”
Years ago I read a story somewhere about walk buttons at crosswalks in New York City. Someone at the city admitted that 75% of them weren’t even connected. They existed only to give pedestrians something to do while they waited for the walking man to light up. Some firms’ Contact Forms give me the very same impression.
Of the three companies that responded to my Contact requests, Obviously responded quickest, and with an immediate 'Yes’. CEO Mae Karwowski was also the most engaged and engaging person I spoke to. If I had been a potential customer looking for an influencer marketing agency, instead of a journalist, my choice would have been easy.
A prompt, cheerful, and above all human response to Contact forms is a critical part of your brand’s Customer Experience.
When a company like VMLY&R just doesn’t respond – or like Viral Media issues a response that’s vaguely off-putting – it’s not even as good as a disconnected Walk button. I mean, eventually, the pedestrian will get where they’re going. But if you don’t respond to that Contact request the customer will, well, just walk. And, quite possibly walk away with a negative opinion about your company as well.
In the case of my story for the Times, I eventually spoke to the CEOs of Obviously, Kairos, and Viral. They provided wildly divergent estimates of the value of Katy Perry’s song to Harley-Davidson, which certainly suggests that the whole ‘influencer’ branch of marketing is still far from an exact science.
I expected that. But one thing that caught my attention was, when I ranked each CEO’s degree of engagement and enthusiasm, as well as the amount and quality of insight provided – that ranking was precisely the same as the ranking of their initial responsiveness to my initial contact.
If I’d been a potential client looking for an agency in that space, my decision would have been easy. Maybe I could have made my choice before even speaking to them, based on the quality of that initial response.