As I further my understanding of marketers engaging in digital corporate exposure, and the means to capture audience understanding for better marketing and lead generation positioning, I begin to understand that often understanding users may mean – not interacting with them.

The various marketing methodologies and formulas that isolate human behavior, web analytic applications measuring performance and click streams, and forums to understand attitude and reasoning of why users make the choices they make, help better classify the “most likely” approach taken by web users, or most likely reason for approach not taken.

The irony of user communications steps from the complexity of user behavior in person versus online, and to capture situational understanding of behavior trends, likes and dislikes, and the most probable cause for their desire to do business with you, may also be as simple as as asking them in the midst of their web journey: Everything Okay? Feedback? Thoughts?

When survey companies began to create platforms to engage users postpartum of their online experience, the validity of the survey platform is dependent on the recollection and patience of the customer’s experience. What if your site frustrated them?…is it likely that they will take additional time to tell you this? How much time would they devote? Would they entertain questions that had nothing to do with their frustrating experience?

For Example: Bob comes to your site to check into pricing on cell phones. He finds one that he really likes and begins to search by product type through out various sites to find the most cost effective deal. He ultimately finds it – and the price level is $34 less then the next, due to a special offered, but the picture of the phone is not working, and the link to purchase the desired phone will not work either. Automatic feelings of annoyance begin to brew a frustrating image, and experience.

Bob is faced with some choices:

• Keep looking for another deal
• Go with this one and try “Contact US”, or
• Just give up.

Bob decides his experience was too uncomfortable, and decides to leave the page, when a survey pops up…

Do You Mind Taking a Short Survey?

If you were Bob – would you fill out this survey? or would you walk away. I personally would have left. My intuitive feeling is that the site is not looking out for my best interest, and the survey wants my happy testimonial. Good bye!

What if a survey did not pop? What is all along a Feedback button stayed off to the side, just waiting for me to say something. It’s presence like a CS Rep waiting for me to ask a question. Last night I was trying to fix my wife’s very slow Dell, and I was presented with this feedback guardian all along through out my technical online FAQ’s. I was able to fix my problem, and I left feedback saying – thank you. If my experience was less than successful, I probably would have been more negative…but! I would be providing user feedback – in real-time, on the page that made me mad.

Now, if you were the Marketing Manager, Analytics Pro, or Customer Manager, could this give you actionable guidance on how to make this or the next customer happy?

What about the sale that you didn’t get?