Rants & Raves: If you're going to misrepresent automated feedback requests as handwritten, RESPOND!
Junior advocates please 🥲
TW: Pettiness
Today’s article is going to be short and sweet, especially considering yesterday’s novel. It’s Friday bb.
I got an email the other day with the subject line “Hey:”
The person who sent the email was actually the author of a post I had recently used. Though it had some silly drafting errors and differences in screenshots from in-environment examples (which we all make with the long tail of functional content) I was ultimately able to get it working. However, the less technically initiated may struggle.
So imagine my delight when the author emailed me personally asking for feedback about their service and my initial impressions! Not only could I give feedback, I could maybe help future readers of the tutorial by correcting those mistakes!
I thought this was pretty cool and a hell of a lot more initiative than I ever displayed when I was starting out as an advocate, so I replied.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And then the author looked at my LinkedIn. “Cool” I thought. “Now we’ll talk.”
Nah.
Reactions to this email depending on source, ordered by increasing generosity:
If a real human typed this email and clicked send:
Least Generous
This is a community killer. If a representative of a company reaches out to ME and then snubs me, it kinda hoses any warm fuzzies I had about the product.
Medium Generous
They don’t have time to talk to your dumb ass. They asked for feedback not a 1 on 1. Although… if I reached out to a community member and they attempted to over-engage, I would probably encourage it, that’s a power user in the making, baby!
Oh well, to each their own.
Most Generous
Oh they probably forgot or got overwhelmed! They will get back to me at some point in the future.
If a robot bleep blooped it into my inbox:
Least Generous
Man, these people are really bad at growth hacking. I should probably avoid using a platform that hires people this blatantly incompetent.
Medium Generous
Wow, I can’t believe I fell for that. Guess that’ll show me to engage with cold call emails.
Most Generous
Even though it’s shitty to trick people with bot emails, they probably diligently work through every reply sending thoughtful and detailed responses. I just need to be patient.
Petty Recommendations:
If you cold call someone on an email and they respond 3 hours later, maybe get back to them within 5 days.
If you are growth-hacking with the title “Hey,” maybe set up an alert on whatever automated marketing software or filtered inbox you use to actually catch responses.
Maybe even go as far as to automate a followup “thank you” if your bot gets a response.
This is what product surveys are for. Why not just send a link from an honest automated account with a survey link?
When it comes to technological annoyances, developers are not a forgiving people. When it comes to outright misrepresentations, they get mad.
Saying you'll do something and not doing it is worse than not doing it in the first place.
If you’re going to be sloppy, don’t do it in my inbox.
And one last bonus thought for you lucky kids playing at home:
Remember, LinkedIn surfaces profile views, but it doesn’t have to.
To everyone who didn’t bot spam me this week: Goodnight, good luck, and happy weekend ☺️.