Everybody wishes each other Happy New Year, Merry Christmas or whatever the social norm is for that day/moment. However, without going into a philosophical discussion about purpose or meaning, we can all agree that there are norms when it comes to wishing these things.
In other words, there are socially acceptable combinations of words that are there to show the intent of politeness. Same as “How are you”, “How have you been” or “Are you all right”.
Despite that, one can say the same phrases noted above with a different tone and the other one will actually answer whether he or she is all right — whether they’re hurt, feeling down or odd. Why?
Because we have a sensor somewhere inside that tells us about the intent of the other person.
In the same way, we have a reaction called buyer resistance. When someone is trying to convince us of something and we make a subconscious remark that, based on their body language, their tone and the way they act, their intent might not be aligned with what they say.
Our sensor pops up and tells us that it looks like the other person might do this to benefit at the cost of our good sake — that’s not good business, we might say. Consequently, that’s why we can be attracted to people with the same level of honesty as ours. Too much honesty from the other person and we can get scared, though.
Let’s get this out of the way, people for whom this is written must have some degree of honesty and candour. The reason why I write this blog is to provide as much value as possible for free based on the experiences (life or business experience, for the very few times on this website, not the chagency experiences — surprisingly) I’ve had with working with tech CEOs.
Why?
Some might be quick to call it content marketing. It is content and it is marketing. The intent? I had a thought one day that we have to advance as a civilization because one day surely we’ll compare ours to another. We might as well be on top. Call that selfish but there’s very solid proof that it’s the reason why you’re alive today — surviving instinct.
That’s my intent extremely long-term. Getting back closer to the present, the intent is to help tech businesses get to the point where users fall in love with what they do as a company. I’ve been studying and doing this for my whole life and this is what I’ve got to say about how to reach those summits.
There’s no course, book or secret to be bought that I’m hiding for later. My agency works with very few people and it’s not for everyone. And I can go on and on but this article isn’t about me (it doesn’t look like it, does it?)
What’s your intent? What’s the basis of what you do? I called myself out — now let yourself hear yourself, if you’ve got the guts.
Because what comes after is users seeing it. Here’s what I’d say an example of good intent and the reason why I started talking about New Year’s. This email was like no other, perfectly woven with what Google Maps does and simply a token of gratitude from them.
It’s even got some nice stats like how many steps I’ve got left ’til the moon. Cool? Yeah. Relevant? Not really, I wouldn’t die if I wouldn’t know that. But it caused a reaction within me.
P.S: My self-awareness levels will surely be deemed as poor by my future self so chances are it will be the same for yours. Don’t let that stop you though — for the time being, this is it.
About Ch Daniel
I run chagency, an experiences design agency that specialises on helping tech CEOs reduce user churn. We believe experiences are not only the reason why users choose not to leave but also what generates word of mouth. We’re building a credo around this belief.
I’ve also created an infinitely-valuable app for sneaker/fashion enthusiasts called Legit Check that impacted hundreds of thousands over millions of times – check it out at chdaniel.com/app
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