Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Last week I discussed the highs and lows of websites but two of the things I didn’t mention were being followed around the Web by advertising from companies whose websites I’ve visited, and the potential to ‘chat to an advisor’.
I work across two industries – cleaning and FM, and the kitchens, bathrooms & bedrooms sector. As you can imagine, I visit a lot of websites, looking for contact details that should have been included by the PR companies that sent the release, or for other information, or for images to support the story (which should also have been included).
There’s an exhibition coming up and it’s following me around the Web like a bad smell. How can I tell the advertiser it’s wasting its money; that I’m not a potential exhibitor and that I’m unlikely to visit its website again in case this harassment (as that’s what it feels like) continues for even longer?
Being able to chat with an advisor can work two ways. I’ve had good interaction that’s left me with such confidence in the organisations that I’ve written great things about them. Sometimes though, it can all go horribly wrong, as an episode last week showed…
An email landed in my spam folder selling a fleet tracking service. As both the industries I write for have fleets in their thousands, I thought I’d ask for more information to share with you.
I wasn’t able to reply to the email because my Internet Service Provider had seen it as a threat, so I visited the company’s website. It turned out to be one of those I was berating last week but it did redeem itself by offering a ‘chat with an advisor’.
Oh dear…
I explained very briefly about the email, that I was never going to be a customer but that a story shared with Cleanzine’s 100,000-plus readers could attract customers if my details could be passed to the marketing department so they could send me some information.
“Amy left the conversation” (without comment). I was asked for feedback on that conversation. I hesitated. “Amy returned to the conversation”. She asked me to fill in my details (I’d already given them) and said someone would contact me with pricing and further information. My response?
“You’ve not read what I’ve written, have you?”
Needless to say, my subsequent feedback wasn’t complimentary – and the company won’t be getting a write-up in Cleanzine either…
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Yours,
16th June 2016