Just Saying Hello!
Of Updates, Tech Trends, and What's New.
Hello Everyone!
I’m experimenting with a new format type this week - a roundup post. Here’s a snapshot of what’s happening in TechMadeSimple land this month:
Focus areas:
Exploring the Ghost newsletter platform for the next premium post update similar to the one on beehivv.
Evaluating Payhip as an all-in-one platform for ebooks, courses, and coaching.
A QuickTips Post on Substack and other tools, including how to TL;DR articles.
Summarizing insights shared at a recent global management consulting event where I spoke on Customer-Centricity.
Offering consulting —Special thanks to those who have provided proactive feedback; it’s much appreciated!
I've also been writing more on Notes. One recent note covered the CrowdStrike/Microsoft Azure issue that created a global nightmare.
My recommendations were partially validated by the CrowdStrike CEO, who admitted their test data was flawed and committed to rolling out software updates in a limited fashion going forward (see points 1 and 2 in the note image above). Expect my detailed insight article on this incident soon.
I accidentally found a helpful feature in Notes: downloading them as images. It is useful if you wish to save time and repurpose notes across social media.
Tip: Select ‘Save as Image’ from the ellipsis (…) menu.
‘Medium’ Update
Medium now allows writers to choose which stories to paywall, rather than blanket paywalling all posts. However, applying paywalls to past posts individually can be tedious, especially with a large number of stories. A bulk-apply feature would have been a valuable addition.
Is Responding to Feedback a Lost Art?
Companies need to improve how they gather and respond to user feedback. Those that practice listening to customers (regardless of weightage) set a very high bar of customer responsiveness.
Email feedback is outdated.
With AI, teams can parse and prioritize requests more effectively and sense customer sentiment better using leading indicators.
Having a direct feedback channel also creates the perception that a brand is listening, rather than users feeling like they are shouting into the void.
The 2021 Salesforce report on “State of the Connected Customer” surveyed over 15,000 consumer and business buyers in 29 countries to conclude that customers have a universal dislike of being just a number to companies and that 71% of consumers have changed brands in the previous year. Further:
91% would buy again after a positive experience.
71% have bought based on the quality of an experience.
Back on Substack, I haven’t received any direct or indirect response from Substack’s leadership team on my many feature suggestion posts though I continue to persist! :-)
Did you know companies monitor social media to manage their brand reputation and discover celebratory stories?
Substack
Organic1 searches for this publication are gradually improving (150 clicks in 30 days!) after three months!
Although not as dramatic as Medium’s visibility, this improvement required adjustments in Google Search Console, adding tags to Substack settings, and enabling indexing.
It’s not a beginner’s task, and the platform could improve by offering more support to help users get discovered, rather than leaving it entirely to individual writers.
This week, a Substack bug caused inaccurate subscriber counts for some writers, including me, creating confusion as there were no ‘Email disabled’ notifications.
Thankfully, the issue has been resolved for some, but other writers have reported similar problems in the past.
If you were affected, consider raising a support ticket, and setting a daily reminder to export your data.
This way, if the issue persists, you can manually restore lost subscribers by comparing current data to your last backup.
Exciting news on the AI front
OpenAI has launched a new chatGPT-based ‘Search’ prototype. Join the waitlist here!
I wrote why a regular Google search cannot hold up against a genAI-based search in this article first published in ‘Illumination’ in January 2023.
As a thank you for your support, I've removed the paywall from the archived catalog for a limited time. Browse nearly 70 articles on Substack, Medium, AI, UX, and digital cheat sheets. If you would like to upgrade, here is a 30% off forever discount offer.
Was this update helpful? If you are interested in sponsoring content or being a guest writer, please email me at hellotechmadesimple!
Google keyword search results listing your site based on relevance and authority using various secret sauce factors. Good indicator of efficacy of keyword matches in content, and indexing.
Keep persisting Jayshree! Your suggestions for Substack's leadership team make so much sense.
Hello back!