"How can we reduce friction?" It's a question my friend, fellow Association Professional, investor in PropFuel, and board member, Amith Nagarajan frequently asks in reference to processes in the association world and in our business.
There's friction everywhere and friction reduces our ability to get things done "smoothly". D'uh!
Think about the registration process for a conference, or the process someone goes through to buy anything on most sites. High friction.
Now think of Amazon 1-Click. Zero friction. In fact, it's almost too easy. I find myself buying way more than I need. (ok, no joke, I just paused writing this because I thought of something I need. I ordered it on Amazon in 30 seconds. No Friction.)
When it comes to capturing feedback, friction is all around us... Surveys are the worst.... "Take our Survey" buttons are one source of friction. Lots of questions, more friction. Challenging questions, friction. Asking information you should already know, like name, email and organization... FRICTION.
And that's why surveys get a 7-10% response rate, unless people are highly motivated to power through the friction.
So we asked ourselves how to reduce the friction in creating an automated platform for capturing feedback.
- We created questions that could be answered right in an email.
- We reduced the length of the survey and increased the frequency.
- We made the experience pleasing by reducing the number of clicks and distractions like a progress bar and tons of questions.
- We made the process of creating and sending high frequency questions easy in feedback campaigns.
- We created a bank of questions to reduce the friction associated with making up questions.
- We created AMS connectors, which are preconfigured integrations that take 40 seconds to set up, so that you don't need to import lists.
By focusing on LOW FRICTION we created a platform that drives amazing response rates and one that turns our customers into raving fans.
So what processes are in your organization that you think have way too much friction?
What are the points of friction and how can you eliminate them? Of course it's always easy to start from scratch, but that's not always possible. So start by creating an "As-Is" process diagram. Then create a "To-Be" process diagram of what you WANT the process to look like. Once you have those, you can begin to focus on the gap.
Break out the sandpaper and eliminate that friction, both internally and for your members.
You like the idea of reducing friction in your member feedback process. Reach out. We would love to show you how!
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