27 Mar RONIN bulletin

Working from home – what’s going on?

As the world adjusts to working from home, we’ve been keeping a close eye on clients’ web and social media stats, to see if they give us any clues about how customers are behaving and whether we can use this to their advantage. In the first four days, there have been some interesting behaviours but not much in the way of consistency to determine whether there are any trends emerging. It’s a bit early for that yet. But I’ll share a few anecdotes with you.

Perhaps a predictable change is that there has been a general shift from mobile to desktop internet access. And because people have more time and space for it, web traffic has increased generally, up to 40 per cent in one case. One client has consistently recorded more desktop viewers than mobile (which is the opposite of what happens under normal circumstances), but we haven’t seen this among other clients, where the balance fluctuates on a daily basis. We will keep an eye on this.

Also, social media activity has increased across the board, although Twitter and Facebook are reporting that their revenues are down because nobody is advertising – this may be an opportunity. One client is showing an increase of 55 per cent in terms of social referrals this week. As well as people having more screen time available, social media is a good way of keeping in touch with the rest of humanity. Consequently, personal video messages work well. We had a bit of fun ourselves with a video message about our WFH arrangements (this was on Monday when it was still OK to have fun with COVID-19) and we got really good engagement.

Coronavirus-related messages also get good engagement but up to a point. Obviously, customers need to know how to get hold of you and how they will be affected by new arrangements and any changes in working practices or service levels. But don’t slip into the inane; “We understand how difficult it is for you in these troubled times… and we can help you get through it.” We don’t need to feel the nation’s pain, customers want us to get on with business and make authentic moves that deliver a tangible difference for them. When this is over, we’ll all remember who we could count on in a fight, so let’s get on with it.

In the wider world, LinkedIn webinars are on the increase. Unsurprisingly there has been a lot more live streaming going on and the video conferencing companies are getting plenty of attention. We’re using Skype for business calls (and getting better at it by the day), plus I use Zoom for my weekly virtual yoga class (yes I do). We also organised a very successful quiz night for 15 people via the House Party app this week, which was a real boost in bringing friends and family together. It’s worth checking that out.

That’s all for now