We need to talk: when conversational marketing sucks
Are there four more dreaded words in the English language?
I know the stereotype: you immediately visualized a woman, a man, and a relationship in trouble. But we all dread those words. They could just as easily come from your boss, your housemate, or your father. Nowadays, they’re coming from every company looking to have a “conversation” with you so they can “engage” more. It makes me cringe to hear it, and I’m a conversational marketer!
The prevailing New Age wisdom is that it’s always best to talk about things. But, let’s face it, sometimes you just don’t feel like it.
Sometimes you just want to do your thing, without having to discuss it or analyze it or debate it.
Last night a friend told me she had signed up as an Amazon affiliate, when she had initially wanted to go with Barnes & Noble. “Amazon just made it so easy,” she said. “They anticipated the different types of people who might be signing up — from techies to non-tech businesspeople — and gave a clear, automated path for each of them. With BN, on the other hand, I had to have a [shudder] dialogue with them.”
One of my biggest frustrations since moving to New Zealand is the number of times I’m forced to interact with a human being when I don’t think I should have to. Plane travel is a prime example. I prefer to book my flights in the middle of the night, after work and exercise and dinner and dishes and telly. I want to spend as much time as I feel like exploring every possible routing and date option, and then I just want to buy the thing. For overseas travel, this is an impossibility in New Zealand. The only thing you can book online is a straight round trip, and since I always have stopovers and visit multiple cities, I have to do my travel shopping during the day and with a person.
I hate it.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that I am a passionate proponent of keeping humanity in the equation. But a part of that humanity is understanding that sometimes we just want to be left alone.
Companies engaging in conversational marketing need to understand it has its place, and that its place is not necessarily at the point of transaction. Some purchases need to be talked through personally, with questions being answered and hands being held. In general, though, once we’re ready to buy, we want smooth, clear, simple systems that let us do what we want with a minimum of fuss.
This is true in relationships as well, by the way. Sometimes it’s healthy to talk things out, but sometimes you just need to let go and move on. Relationships are like plants. Yes, you need to stay on top of the weeds, but if you only worry about pulling weeds and ignore the water and compost and fertilizer, your plant will die.
So if you feel like having a conversation, leave a comment. If you don’t, don’t. It’s up to you.
Just let me know…
