Apathy - The Lurking Danger to your CS Strategy

Adam Joseph, Founder, CustomerSuccessManager.com

No matter how good your people, tools and processes are, there is a significant lurking danger that will see your CS strategy fail - customer apathy.

One of the most common issues that I hear from Customer Success Managers is that their clients are not engaging with them.  Yet, when challenged with how they should try to correct the situation, typical responses are often to repeat the behaviour that didn’t work in the first place, for example:

   "I will email them again”
   “Let’s get another ‘check-in’ meeting arranged to see what’s going on”
   “I don’t want to bother them, let’s give it another couple of weeks before we try again”

What can you do to convert unresponsive customers into engaged contacts that you can have meaningful, on-going dialogue with?  This blog sets out to discuss some of the major causes of customer apathy and what corrective action you can take.

Email Blindness

You might have seen the illustrative graphic of what happens in a typical “internet minute” in 2018.  The numbers are truly staggering, from the 266,000 hours of Netflix being watched to the 1.1 million “swipes” on Tinder.  By far the biggest segment of all is the amount of email being sent; according to the research, 187 million emails are sent in an average internet minute during 2018. 

This trend is on the increase, the “internet minute” for 2017 shows that 156 million emails were sent.  Although it is difficult to corroborate the research methods used to create these “internet minutes”, it does point to a significant conclusion – email is hitting its saturation point and losing its effectiveness as a communication tool. 

However, email is still the de-facto method that many CSMs use on an almost exclusive basis to communicate with their clients.  There is definitely still a place for email; indeed for technical, first-level support, contractual or commercial communications it’s vital to have critical points documented.  However, if it is used almost exclusively to communicate how the customer is going to get value from your solution, it is going to significantly diminish your key points.

Ask yourself whether email is really the best channel to send your message (especially if you have already used it previously but received little or no response).  There are a variety of other communication methods that you can use that may yield better results.  For example:

Direct Customer Interaction:
If you need to be further convinced about the importance of direct customer interaction, bear in mind that published studies indicates that 93% of all daily communication is non-verbal.  Email alone can never capture strong indicators of customer happiness/displeasure (e.g. facial expressions, gestures, posture, vocal pitch, etc.).  Indeed, the sentiments behind how something is written in an email can be widely misinterpreted by the reader.  Typically, routine direct customer interactions would include:

• On-site visit (or coffee shop nearby):
  • I am a big advocate of using your location to your advantage – draw out a “heat-map” of those customers who are based geographically nearby and seek out a personal meeting.  Building a personal relationship with your contact will be vital in establishing credibility, trust and understanding. 
• Phone/Video call:
  • Although it doesn’t have the same level of intimacy as an in-person visit, a phone/video call allows you to bring your personality to the fore and establish a dialogue that email alone just cannot accomplish.  Questions/comments on both sides can be responded to in real-time and help remove any road-blocks that are stopping the customer getting value from your solution.

In order to arrange the direct customer interaction you obviously need to make initial contact to begin with.  A short, factual email to the customer telling them why you want to meet with them and what is in it for them may help.  However, if you customer is suffering from email blindness it might not elicit a response.  Sending a calendar invitation containing the same information can be especially useful to get your contact to respond.  This way, the onus is on your contact to take action (e.g. accept/decline/propose a new time) for something that is already tentatively in their schedule.

Social/Professional media (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.):

• I have often found that sending a message to someone via social / professional media elicits a prompt response.  If your contact has notifications enabled on their mobile device your message will "pop-up” on their home-screen and immediately attract their attention.

 Physical Mail:

• The vast majority of communication is largely driven by on-line methods to the point where physically receiving something through the mail-room is something of a novelty.  For example, in a previous role we would send new clients a “Welcome Pack” containing a User Guide, personalised log-in information and a thank-you card from me personally welcoming them as a client. 

Mobile messaging (for very short and concise messages):

• SMS/WhatsApp messaging will typically appear as a notification on your contact’s mobile device and get their immediate attention. 

In-App Messaging (via the product):

• Your product is the one common denominator that is typically used by all of your customers.  In-app messaging can be a great way to communicate messages in bulk or at a “site” level.  Although it will be difficult to configure this at the individual user-level, it is typically one of the most powerful ways of communicating key product updates (e.g. new releases, maintenance info, etc.).

Email Best Practices

Despite the many challenges with email communications, there are some best practice approaches that can help improve your chances of getting a response.   For example:

• “Call to Action” Subject Lines:
  • In a long list of unread emails, it is vital that your subject line really stands out.  Use succinct “calls to action” or at least pique the recipient's natural curiosity and interest.  
• Use Assumptive Language:
  • I would suggest that you use assumptive language (i.e. “we will go ahead unless we hear otherwise”) rather than ask for permission (i.e. “can we please get your go-ahead to…”) to do a certain task. 
• Brevity over Longevity:
  • Unless there are mitigating reasons (e.g. project follow up, meeting notes, etc.) try and keep your emails concise and to the point.  Always use language that is going to resonate with the customer and ensure that it passes the “so what?” test.
• Demonstrate your Subject Matter Expertise:
  • Always try to demonstrate your subject matter expertise (e.g. product, client-centric knowledge, industry, etc.) when you feel your knowledge could really benefit your customer.
• Never “Check-In”:
  • Don’t just “check-in” for the sake of it. Always ensure that each communication has a specific purpose and have a clear understanding of what constitutes a successful outcome.

It’s All About the Message

Of course, understanding the optimal delivery method for your communications is only half the battle.  If your customer does not deem what you are saying is important then it is highly likely that your message will never be acted on.  Here are some suggested approaches to ensure that your message will resonate loudly with its intended recipients:   

• Relevance:
  • Reassess whether you have properly articulated the business benefits of your solution in a language that is going to resonate with your customer.  If not, compose a highly personalised communication that does this.

• Take Responsibility:
  • Can you reduce the burden away from your customer and take on some of their actions yourself?  If they are over-stretched, this proactive behaviour will be hugely appreciated.
• Leverage Existing (internal) Relationships:
  • Can you leverage the primary Sales contact and/or person who signed off on the deal (assuming they are different from your existing contact) to help you win your day-to-day contact around?
• Don’t stalk!  
  • If your customer hasn’t responded to multiple communications (i.e. more than three) I would suggest sending a response such as the below as a final request:​

Moving On

​Naturally, there is nothing more frustrating than chasing a customer for an update only to find out much later that they have moved on to a new role; either internally or externally.  Here are some suggested methods to help ensure that you keep track of any status changes to your contacts:

• Leverage Results from Marketing Campaigns:
  • Check for email bounces from either your direct 1-2-1 emails or from Marketing campaigns.  Email bounces don’t necessarily mean that your contact has left their business but well worth checking up on to understand the root cause.

• Social/Professional Media:
  • Check their LinkedIn profile / Twitter feed to see if they have changed role and/or company.
• Leverage your other Contacts:
  • One of the most effective ways to avoid being blind-sided by an unresponsive contact is to ensure that you have a deep and broad customer network. If you have not heard anything back after the “Closing the Loop” email template that I described above, I would advocate moving onto another contact (whilst copying in your original touch-point).

In Conclusion

Customer apathy is largely driven by two key factors; what you are saying (i.e. message relevance) and how you are saying it (i.e. the communication channel).  As the common adage goes, “insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results”, however very often we do exactly that when it comes to communicating with customers. 

​Take this opportunity to re-asses how you are communicating with your customer base and change-up your strategy to those who have become unresponsive.  I sincerely hope that this blog has given you a fresh perspective on how to approach these contacts to re-establish dialogue and create a meaningful relationship going forward.  I would also love to hear more about the techniques that you have used to re-engage with unresponsive contacts; use the “Comments” section below to share your thoughts with the wider community.