I got two responses from my comment on placing names on web pages. One was responsible; one doesn’t understand what business is all about.
First Bobra with a responsible post:
We have individual contacts on our website, and we get tons of spam, but we think it’s worth it from a customer service/sales standpoint. We also believe in answering the phone with a human voice.
And the other from Eric:
Two words:
Spam avoidance.
Are we in a world where our goal is to avoid spam. Most email programs have a spam detector. It can be set to get everything, but then you might miss the email from your mom inviting you to Sunday dinner. So you ratchet it back a bit and a few slip through into regular email.
They if you use Outlook, you have the second line of defense. In my case, about 100 a day slip past Verizon and get into outlook where they are put in a junk mail inbox. I can check them out (takes 30 second a day to scan down them) and then delete them permanently. The two a week that I want to read I can make non spam .
That leaves about 10 or 15 messages a day that get through and are unsolicited. So be it. I am in business and like Bobra I want my customers to be able to reach me or my staff as easily or quickly as possible. Forcing people to go through hoops just to talk to a person at your company, or reach one by email, is counterproductive and frankly impertinent.
Sometimes I wonder at companies that seem to want to keep their staffs incognito. Just who is in charge of sales, or service, or manufacturing. Why don’t you want customers to know names and how to reach them? If I know that I may have to explain the decisions I make to someone they affect, maybe I will think about it a tad longer and perhaps discuss it with others before I lower the boom.
Besides, sometimes I like to read about a Nigerian’s financial problems and how I can help.
JVH
