LOYALTY SCHEMES, ARE THEY FOR YOUR PRACTICE?

Loyalty schemes as strategically deployed programmes to aid to Patient Retention

Loyalty schemes are becoming more and more prevalent in the retail world and indeed beyond to the service industry. These schemes are not really deployed in our industry to any real extent. I think an introduction of a loyalty scheme can and will help your business in the long term. The mantra in our business, particularly at present, although in some quarters it is nothing new, is Patient Retention. We all know that in order to survive in the current economic climate we need to retain our Patients and in doing so we will see a growth in new business through customer referral. I have written before here along these themes and I am constantly thinking about tactical applications that will encourage that strategic goal.

In my day to day work in Widex Ireland I am on hand to advise and support our accounts with business and marketing ideas to assist them with their business. Here at Widex and I mean Widex internationally, we are committed to supporting our customers to grow and prosper. This is not all altruistic of course, it is grounded in the belief that if our customers prosper through our support, so shall we. Their success is by extension our success. This attitude is enshrined within Widex and has been since the inception of the company, I think we as a company have become famous for forging long standing business relationships with Partners as opposed to just selling to Customers.

Enough of the love fest already, I just give it as background as to why we are constantly thinking about ways for you, our customers to succeed, that and the hope that Mike (the big Gaffer) says, this guys a genius. Stop laughing Miller it could happen! Back to the point, Loyalty Schemes, so how will we introduce it and what will we offer. Also, what do we expect back from the scheme, the scheme, no matter its extent will involve some investment, whether that be time resources or money. In order to assess some of these questions we first have to understand what a loyalty scheme is and how it applies to our business.

So a loyalty scheme is defined as the following:

LOYALTY SCHEME:

• a scheme to keep the business of existing customers, e.g. by special
  discounts for loyalty card holders
  

So in essence it is a simple concept, in application is where it gets interesting. The immediate questions that are raised for me are:

• What Customers?
  
• What discounts?
  
• On what products?
  
• Loyalty Card? Now you are having a giggle right?
  

Ok, lets have a look at the preceding:

What customers? Hell allllll of them, even people who aren't your customers. When you start a good loyalty club, advertise it, anyone can join and avail of the discounts on the products or services you define. If they want either the products or indeed the services if you include any, they are either hearing instrument users or they know somebody who is. If you didn't sell them the last set of instruments lets try and make sure you sell them the next set of hearing instruments. So start your loyalty club and advertise its advent, advertise it as open to anybody on sign up. Include a reference to it in all your advertising, web, news media, leaflets, practice brochures etc, oh and it is a perfect opportunity to send a meaningful communication of real value(I talk about these a lot) to your existing customers.

What discounts? That is for you to decide, but they have to be meaningful and of value to your customers and more importantly to people who are not your customers yet. You need to look at it from a purely economic point of view, the cut in margin can be made up in volume sales. Another key thought here is that attracts new customers and helps to retain old ones is a real cheap lead. How much do you think it costs you via traditional marketing to generate a lead? If all it costs you here is a cut in margin and a few pence for mailing and loyalty cards, that is a pretty cheap lead.

On what products? Okay, this is where it becomes an interesting tactical exercise, you need to ask yourself what do I wish to achieve with this strategy. You also need to ask yourself what do my customers want and what would they value from me? I think there is actually a meeting of needs here, it would be nice for most businesses to increase revenue from regular purchase ancillary products. The core regular purchase ancillary products in our business are batteries and clean and care products, clean and care products are something that I am sure we would all like to encourage as they bolster instrument reliability and reduce failure and service costs. So for both us and the Patient the purchase of clean and care supplies are a win win. So encourage the sale through discounted products and do so in a way that brings benefit to you through offering discounts through a loyalty club. You can also consider in the medium to long term offering discounts on new sets of hearing instruments, again perhaps you are reducing margins, but we all give discounts to returning Patients. A loyalty scheme formalises this and also removes the need to discuss discount because you have set it.

Loyalty Card? Yes please, nice shiny pieces of plastic woohoooooo. I love em, makes me feel all growed up! Sorry I digress, a good quality loyalty card is in the scheme of things quite cheap to have printed, then individualizing it is easy with some of the desktop printing solutions designed for this purpose. Get a well designed loyalty card printed up, even better if your till system scans codes, you can entry the data on it and the production and scan of the card at point of sale can automatically apportion discount. In this manner you can also capture ongoing data pertaining to purchasing and design and customise individual offers to your Patients. Of course none of this works as well if you do not have good CRM systems coupled with good point of sales systems. But don't let that put you off, it can be done manually, just design your CRM in order that you can record purchases on it in a way that you can search and quantify. The only way to manage and grow your business is by knowing all the data.

Please feel free to comment and tell me why I am wrong! J

15 reasons why you should wear two hearing instruments, sort of

Actually Seventeen reasons why you should wear two hearing aids

Taken from "Binaural Hearing aids: The Fitting of Choice for Bilateral Loss Subjects", Sergei Kochkin, Ph.D.

The following is the sum up of a survey undertaken by Sergei Kochkin several years ago. I have posted on it before but I thought it was ultra important to do so again, particularly now that Widex has introduced interear functions in the Clear hearing instrument platform. In order to get the very best from the hearing instruments you really need to wear two.

The interear features already have been described as giving the most natural sound and as more and more of our famous research and innovation is brought to bear on the processor and data exchange services the instruments will become even better and the underlying reason to wear binaural hearing instruments will be stronger.

So I would like to add two more reasons, although they are really just relevant if you are wearing Widex Clear hearing instruments,

Widex 1. Preserving Interaural level difference

Interaural level is important for preserving localisation

Widex 2. Preserving temporal cues

Again, this is important for preserving localisation.

Localisation is key for ability to tell the direction of a sound, it also allows you to build up a sound picture which will also assist you further with the understanding of speech in noise. Here are the other fifteen reasons.

1. Better understanding of speech

By wearing two hearing instruments rather than one, selective listening is more easily achieved. This means your brain can focus on the conversation you want to hear. Research shows that people wearing two hearing aids routinely understand speech and conversation significantly better than people wearing one hearing aid.

2. Better understanding in group & even noisy situations

Speech intelligibility is improved in difficult listening situations when wearing two hearing aids. However, advanced binaural technology tends to perform better in noise than the older (linear) technology.

3. Better ability to tell the direction of sound

This is called localization. In a social gathering, for example, localization allows you to hear from which direction someone is speaking to you. Also, localization helps you determine from which direction traffic is coming or where your children or grandchildren are playing. Simply put, with binaural hearing, you will better detect where sounds are coming from in every situation.

4. Better sound quality

When you listen to a stereo system, you use both speakers to get the smoothest, sharpest, and most natural sound quality. The same can be said of hearing instruments. By wearing two hearing instruments, you increase your hearing range from 180 degrees reception, with just one instrument, to 360 degrees. This greater range provides a better sense of balance and sound quality.

5. Smoother tone quality

Wearing two hearing instruments generally requires less volume than one. This results in less distortion and better reproduction of amplified sounds.

6. Wider hearing range

It's true. A person can hear sounds from a further distance with two ears, rather than just one. A voice that's barely heard at 10 feet with one ear can be heard up to 40 feet with two ears.

7. Better sound identification

Often, with just one hearing instrument, many noises and words sound alike. But with two hearing instruments, as with two ears, sounds are more easily distinguishable.

8. Keeps both ears active resulting in less hearing loss deterioration

Research has shown that when only one hearing instrument is worn, the unaided ear tends to lose its ability to hear and understand. This is clinically called the auditory deprivation effect. Those wearing two hearing instruments keep both ears active. In fact, wearing one hearing aid when two are required might result in greater deterioration of hearing loss in the unaided ear than when wearing no hearing aid at all.

9. Hearing is less tiring and listening more pleasant

More binaural hearing aid wearers report that listening and participating in conversation is more enjoyable with two instruments, instead of just one. This is because they do not have to strain to hear with the better ear. Thus, binaural hearing can help make life more relaxing.

10. Feeling of balanced hearing

Two-eared hearing results in a feeling of balanced reception of sound, also known as the stereo effect.

Whereas monaural hearing creates an unusual feeling of sounds being heard in one ear.

11. Greater comfort when loud noises occur

A lower volume control setting is required with each of two hearing instruments than with just one hearing instrument, resulting in better tolerance of loud sounds.

12. Reduced feedback and whistling

With a lower volume control setting the chances of hearing aid feedback is reduced.

13. Tinnitus Masking

About 50% of people with ringing in their ears report improvement when wearing hearing aids. If the

subject has a hearing aid in only one ear, there will still be ringing in the ear, which does not have a hearing aid present.

14. Consumer preference

When given the choice and allowed to hear binaurally, the overwhelming majority of consumers choose two hearing aids over one, when they have a hearing loss in both ears.

15. Customer satisfaction

Research with more than 5,000 consumers with hearing loss in both ears demonstrated that binaurally fit subjects are more satisfied than people fit with one hearing aid. Nature gave us two ears for a reason just like it gave us two eyes and limbs. So logically, just as you use both eyes to see clearly, you need two healthy ears to hear clearly. Before you decide on one hearing aid try two. Your hearing health provider can demonstrate to you the binaural advantage experience either through headphones (during testing), probe microphones, master hearing aids, or during your trial fitting. Decide for yourself.

Thoughts on the current market outlook

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In my position at Widex Ireland I am constantly out and about in our market place meeting with Dispensers and discussing the ongoing business outlook. The overwhelming response is that business is harder this year than it was last year, when you discuss it in a more in-depth way several things become clear. Our market place and our customers have changed, not only has our marketplace and customers changed but some of the larger players within our market are changing as well. They are becoming better at what they do, better at dealing with Patients and better at retaining them. You will need to change with the changing reality if you want to continue to compete. With a view to my ongoing discussions, these are the points I consistently hear:

• New Customers are few and far between
• Any new Customers are better educated pertaining to Hearing Instruments
• Any new Customers are more aware of ongoing care required
• Any new Customers are shopping around for price
• There is a perceived massive reduction on ROI on traditional marketing
• 60 to 70%, and perhaps more in certain practices, of business written at present, is return business
• A large part of what is termed new business written is in fact Patient referral business

I think the preceding points are representative of the industry outlook in Ireland, from my discussions with owner Dispensers across the world, but particularly in the USA, it appears that this situation is in fact relatively representative of the industry worldwide. I would like to address these perceptions because I do not necessarily believe they are exactly true as stated.

With reference to the new customers, from manufacturers figures worldwide, there has been little or no drop in units sold internationally. However, there has been a drop in average sales price per unit, this may or may not be weighted by sales to public health services(traditionally much cheaper units sold at volume). In other words, there actually appears to be the same amount of new business been written year on year and in some markets there has been an increase in units sold.

New customers being better educated, this appears to be borne out by the figures and indeed by my conversations with Dispensers. For the first time, Patient expectations and levels of technology for the most part are aligned. By that I mean, we are managing Patient expectations better, the information that they view on the internet and receive from others is also in line with what current technology can deliver. Hearing instruments from most manufacturers are approaching a sadolin moment (they do exactly what they say on the tin!).

Confidence in low end and mid end technology to meet lifestyle requirements is at an all time high, that combined with the present economic conditions is in fact pushing average sales price down. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as perception of hearing instruments and their ability to assist with loss changes so will the volume of units sold. Don’t necessarily think about the units that are sold, think about the large proportion of people with loss who do not purchase. The people who purchase hearing aids are only at the most 10% of the people who may be assisted with hearing instruments. That is a huge un-tapped market, whilst the reasons for this are multiple and complex, perceptions of hearing instrument efficacy plays a part.

New customers being aware of ongoing care needs, again this is not a bad thing for our industry. If you in fact give a comprehensive care package with your hearing instrument sale, you have nothing to fear. If you don’t, you better start thinking about giving one! Alternatively you may look at this an opportunity to increase unit volume and ancillary revenue. Perhaps if you run a parallel pricing scheme. One pricing scheme that includes hearing instrument price and ongoing care package and another that just includes hearing instrument price with a separate payment structure for aftercare packages, or indeed aftercare visits. You can even mix these up offering the hearing instrument and two years care or the hearing instrument and three years care etc.

New customers shopping around for price, this is a common reality in all spheres of business. I think you should pitch your price to your market segment, with an eye to your competitors. By that I mean, if you are a boutique practice that deals with high technology consumers and your practice setting reflects this, well then by extrapolation your prices can also represent this within reason. However, if you are working out of the boot of your car or in clinics in less than salubrious conditions, your prices also need to reflect this.

A perceived massive reduction on ROI on traditional marketing, I have heard this consistently and assumed it to be correct. However, I have over time concluded an interesting idea, it came from the term itself, “traditional marketing”. The adverts that are being run are exactly the same as has always been run, there is no real change in the content or overall feel of the adverts that are being run. Our demographic is increasingly sophisticated, we know this to be true, then we pitch to them with the same adverts, through the same channels that we have always done. Does anything about the last statement seem odd to you? Change up your advertising, change your layout, try a new pitch, investigate other media channels. Use eye catching visual humour in your advertising where possible, use eye catching visuals all of the time.

Return business, it does appear that the key to ongoing success and even growth is return business. Practices that I service who have traditionally high percentages of return business are doing very well at the minute. If your practice does not retain Patients, you need to sit down and honestly ask yourself why? Then you quickly need to deal with the issues, it will not affect your business levels short time, however in the medium to long term it will stabilise your business income.

Patient referral business, I am afraid this is an extension of my last paragraph, if your Patient won’t return to you for another set of hearing instruments, why would they refer their friends? So in short, what can we take from the above, what action points can you take?

Although things are hard, there are still customers out there, in order to get your share of the market you need to think on your feet. You need to consider all media channels for marketing and you also need to consider new elements in your practice as marketing avenues. You need to consider every Patient as a long term investment and a marketing vehicle in their own right, and you need to do it today. Design your practice and practice procedures around this concept, if you have traditionally done that, well done! You are doing relatively well already, if you have not, start now. Your business will feel the effects of that change in the medium to long term.

In my next post I want to discuss some ideas I have around non traditional marketing channels and how you might integrate them into you practice in a relatively cost neutral way. 

Your web strategy, Facebook, Twitter, or not?

Image via CrunchBase

If you are a follower of Widex Ireland, you know that we post some content and tweet a lot of links pertaining to social media and web presence. In my recent posts here I have been concentrating on web presence pertaining to your website.

Whilst I was writing the last post I touched upon the concept of web presence strategy, or online strategy. I actually realised that some people neither have one or completely understand what the phrase means or how it refers to their online presence.

For instance, my strategy is to connect to both my customers and indeed end users through several online media channels, this blog, facebook, my space, youtube and twitter to be exact. Oh and probably Google Plus when they realise they forgot to invite me, they’re busy, probably just slipped their minds! The underlying strategy and overall long term goal is to build a community of both Dispensers and end users for Widex internationally.

I also wish to positively affect these peoples buying decisions and increase their perception of and loyalty to, my adopted brand. Those are my long term goals and overall strategy, in order to attain this I have to apply and follow clear tactical guidelines and actions.

Chief among these guidelines for me would be:

• Honest, human interaction with all my followers
• Good, well written, factual and clear content
• Content that is of interest to my target market
• Honest and immediate interaction with my followers
• Educational content

The tactical actions I take pertaining to these guidelines are:

• Regular tweets of own content
• Regular re-tweets of content of interest
• Cross platform posting of tweets to Facebook
• Regular posts on the blog
• Cross platform postings of the blog to Twitter
• Uploading of videos to youtube and cross platform posting of same
• Clear

My online presence is multi platform because this allows me to reach as many possible followers as I can. However, this approach is time consuming and challenging. There are several tools that allow me to reduce the time I spend on our presence, however, they do not reduce the challenge of posting diverse and intelligent content. Stop laughing at the back please, wesley Miller said I was intelligent, although, he was giggling at the time?

Do not forget, I am endeavouring to cater to two very different audiences, Dispensing professionals and end users.They both demand differing information around the same topics. This is a constant challenge for me, I need to design content that will be of interest to both audiences on a regular basis if I indeed want to carry both audiences along with me on my travels.

It is indeed not always possible, for instance this post and the last few preceding ones have been part of our business support ethos, something that is very strong in both Widex Ireland and Widex Internationally. Your average end user has no real interest in applying an online strategy. The closest they tend to get to online strategy is remembering not to post on facebook drunk, although that is indeed one of my own closely held strategies.  The average Dispenser probably would like to know about online business strategies.

I have barely touched the surface of my online strategy and indeed the use of social media, it is a subject that is exhaustive. I wish just to give bare outlines and indeed the points I think are imperative. 

Before you move forward with any online strategy, I would caution you to think carefully about what the long term goals of that strategy are? I would then clearly lay out the steps that you will take to attain those long term goals. The question you should clearly ask yourself is, why do I want a website, or facebook page, or Twitter account? If the answer is because my competitor has one, then you will do yourself a great disservice by obtaining one.

The initial step that should be taken by any business is the fundamental one, the foundation that all of your presence will be built on, your website. You need to treat your website as a living document, it should constantly change and evolve. Acceptable webpage design even as little as two years ago is now very dated looking. Has your webpage been updated in the last year, if not, why not?

I am speaking of your content here, not even your site design, your business regularly has events in its yearly life cycle, such as marketing campaigns, product offers, new additions to your price list, changes in your price list etc. These are ideal opportunities to update your site, keeping your content fresh.

In fact, in order to keep your site high on page one of the search engines returns, you need to update your content regularly with a view to constantly changing keywords and tags to reflect current search terms. This alone should drive you to tend your website carefully and often. These regime should include careful and honest assessment of your site design.

If it looks dated, change it, include a news segment that is regularly updated with cross links to an offers page where you keep your latest practice offers updated. Add a blog page that you update with content on a regular basis, the content you can use is endless, but always put your own spin on it. A viewer will spot canned content a mile away and their perception of you will be affected.

Always remember, you are dealing with the perceptions of not only existing, but prospective customers. Their perceptions of you are implicitly your top priority. their perceptions are what will make them pick you as a provider or indeed move on to somebody else.

The foundation step, before you move into any social networks is to ensure your website is right for you, ensure it represents you as you would like it to.

Included in the preceding paragraphs is an outline of how I utilise several on line platforms, my web-presence, to achieve my long term strategy. The question is, what is your long term web-presence strategy and how will you achieve it?

Tips to help you with your website or blog.

Image via Wikipedia

I have been thinking more and more about web presence and the perceptual effect that a site has on a prospective Patient. The following is a summation of my own thoughts and some of the elements that I have noted on the web.

There is a lot of information out there in relation to business web presence and strategy. From using keywords to optimise your site for search engines, to your actual ongoing strategy for having a web presence. The latter is something that a lot of companies just do not think about in a in depth manner. Simply put, why are you on the web and what is your long term strategy for your web presence.

If you do not think clearly about this question and then utilise your strategy effectively, you are wasting your time. I will come back to this subject and explain further the concepts and practices that pertain to long term web strategy in another post.

The overall goal for your website is to attract and keep visitors. If you have undertaken the hard work to have your page highly ranked in the search engines, or indeed you have undertaken some marketing to increase your web traffic, it makes sense to ensure your visitor stays on your site. These tips may assist you to accomplish that goal.

What are some of the ways you can improve the overall chances that a customer will stay on long enough on your website, to become interested in a consultation or purchase?

• Make your call to action obvious on your home page. There must be a clear and concise call to action on your home page. In the case of our industry it could be  a headline such as “Free Hearing Test Provided”, “Providers of Bespoke Hearing Solutions”. Be sure to include the solutions that you are providing also, however, do not get text heavy, detail the solutions as links. If they want more information they can click through to a more in depth explanation. The place to click needs to be obvious, practically shouting “CLICK ME, CLICK ME”.
• Write great headlines. Attracting readers is a big part of your motivation. But don’t write outrageous headlines that do not match your content. Like traditional advertising, you need to ensure that you are not entering into any false advertising.
• Improve readability. Add white space and ensure you are using fonts that are clear and attractive. Get rid of any clutter, think clean lines. Readers are more likely to stay on a site where it’s easier to see the information that they wish to see. Include clear high res pictures on your pages.
• Have videos on the site. In our industry it is relatively easy to source high quality videos from manufacturers, embed them in your site. Several people within the industry are making their own videos, if you do it, make sure your production quality is high, the content is good, the presenter has a relatively decent screen presence and the finished video is edited and outputted in a relatively high resolution.
• Include Patient testimonials. Ask your Patient’s for testimonials, if you have indeed treated them properly and provided solutions to their problems, they will be happy to provide them. Don’t be embarrassed to ask, a large proportion of your Patients would normally be happy to help you in some way. These testimonials will add authenticity and allow a prospective Patient to begin to trust you and your claims, they also may increase the chances a prospective Patient will look a bit deeper around your site.
• Have a blog page on your site. Ensure the content is good, of interest to the potential customer and well written. Your blog the information provided and the tone it is provided in tends to be more informal, it is where your prospective customer finds out about your knowledge and ability to provide advice.
• Keep the important information above the fold. Users need to see the core of your message without having to scroll down.
• Make it easy to find information. Do not make it difficult to find information on your site. If somebody can not find what they are looking for easily, they will go back to the original search and try another company.
• Have a prominent Search Box. Users need to have an easy way to find just what they are looking for. Make your search box enormous, ensure that any and all permutations of a search entered will lead them to what they are looking for on your site.

Look at your site from a prospective Patients point of view. What do you honestly think of your site and what elements on your site would drive you away?

The changes in our Patients.

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I recently read an article pertaining to the changing nature of Patients, and stop harrying from the back, Widex Ireland contrary to the rumours can read, but I digress. The article was actually in reference to the changing knowledge profile of Doctors’ Patients, however it was thoroughly valid to our sector. It really started me thinking, and after we identified what the burning smell was and the fire brigade had been sent away, this is what I come up with.

When I first entered practice, only a short few years ago, Patients who attended my practice were not particularly knowledgeable about either their possible condition or any of the many instruments that may be available to them. Questions of this nature where nearly always answered with what could be termed a generic answer. If you asked what do you know about hearing instruments? The answer tended to be not much, but I know there is the small ones that go in the ear and the ones that go outside the ear.

Again, if you asked the same question about hearing loss, you would either get a not much or again a generic answer pertaining to age. Over the years I began to notice this changing, it was initially a slow affair, with one or two Patients a month surprising me with more specific knowledge. It still really amounted to slightly more targeted but generic knowledge, such as a brand name in the case of the hearing instrument question or perhaps a clearer definition of a hearing loss.

Usually when I discussed this with the Patient, it transpired that the source of knowledge was usually the internet. At that time it was unusual for our Patients, our Demographic to utilise the internet for anything, let alone searches pertaining to hearing loss and instruments. But I believe that this has changed radically.

I no longer practice, can you hear the sigh of relief?, but in my function with Widex Ireland I get to speak to practising Dispensers every day. What I have found is that Dispensers report that more and more prospective and existing Patients express opinions with real knowledge. Thoughts about their particular pathology of loss and perhaps its’ aetiology, they also express much better knowledge about the instruments that are available, mentioning not only brands but also platforms or indeed instrument configurations.

With this in mind and also my experience on the multiple social platforms that Widex Ireland uses, it has become obvious to me that a large part of our customer base is not only web literate but that number is increasing exponentially daily. They are being taught their new skills through active retirement clubs, government initiatives, even by their sons, daughters and grandchildren.

So where am I going with this, wait for it, wait for it, have I ever let you down before? Ok there was that time, oh yes and that other time, oh yes and that….., again I digress. What this means to us is that a large and growing part of our customer base is now online, not only are they online but they understand how online works. They are searching out information pertaining to their ailment and the possible solutions that may be available. When they search for the centres that may supply them those solutions, you want to be there and you want to dress to impress.

Every practice should sit down and devise a strategy for their internet presence, at this stage, although there is a headlong rush towards social media, social networking is not yet key to our business. Don’t get me wrong, it is important and will become more and more important as time goes by. What is important right now is your traditional web presence and how you use it. Your website!Start with your website, before you enter into any social media networks.

If I have clicked through to your website from a search link, you have about five seconds for me to decide to stay. What will make me stay? Level of production quality, clarity, my first thoughts. With this in mind, your landing page and indeed all the sites pages need to be designed with this in mind. It must look professional, it should have high quality pictures of high resolution. The chosen colour scheme and font should speak of professionalism and sophistication.

So, your page has all of this and you have grabbed my attention, I want to get to the information I need quickly, I want a decent summation of the information with the facility to click through to a fuller explanation. I want the click through and summation to be clear, I want it to wave at me. If I click through to the more in depth information I want a back button, a big one so I can see it and I don’t have to think about it.

I want your site to be intuitive and easy, because if its not, I am sure your competitor or his competitor has a site just like that. If you have a web shop on your site or a blog and you should, because again, they may not be a big part of your business now, but that will change. I want easy links, again in the shop I want big high res pictures of what I am going to buy with clear outlines of what it is. I also do not want to jump through hoops to pay you, you make me jump through hoops and I is taking my money elsewhere.

Your site including your blog and your web shop should be easily searched, even if I put a stupid miss-spelt reference, I want your search facility to offer me the option of the right product or blog post.  I do not want to dig through your site for information, perhaps because I am lazy, perhaps because I have the attention span of a goldfish or perhaps because I am just learning this damned new fangled rubbish and your failure to make it easy for me has irritated me enough to go back to Google to look for another vendor.

I finally get to the point, the most important web presence you have is your website, it tells all your potential customers who you are. Its look and presentation tells of your professionalism and the experience while browsing it psychologically affects somebody's perception of you. It can be a fantastic tool for you and your practice or it can be an insidious presence working against you, you need to decide which.

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AS Heard On TV, or not in this case.

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A unique study for Voice of The Listener, funded by Widex, finds 53% of over 65s have trouble hearing what is being said on TV and have pinpointed why.

Lack of speech intelligibility on TV programs, especially for the over 65s and those with a hearing impairment, is a growing problem. This research has thrown up some surprising causes and led to a BBC initiative to resolve it.

The key findings were as follows:

• 45% of programs watched by those with poor or very poor hearing gave them spoken word problems
• 53% of over 65s could not hear speech in 22 identified problem programs
• 29% of programs posed speech audibility problems to 10% of over 65s52% of respondents said that background music “reduced their enjoyment”

The study sample was made of 8500 over 65s, who completed a TV diary that asked detailed questions about their viewing. The results were then analyzed and 22 problem programs were identified with which a significant number of the viewers had issues.

Recordings of these programs were subjected to rigorous sound testing. It was found that background music was indeed a contributing factor, but poor recording and sub standard artist dialog levels negatively affected a greater proportion of programs.

Six programs had added music that masked the voice of the presenter or actor. A further six had poor microphone placement recording indistinct dialog. Seven programs had artists whose vocal performance was at too low a level to be recorded adequately by the microphone.

To its credit, the BBC has responded quickly, it has launched an industry wide training initiative through the BBC Academy. A series of training modules based on the findings are being made available to the whole broadcasting industry. They will also be used in college courses including the National Film and TV School.

Acknowledgements:

Dick Bates, Peter Meneer and David Walker (all former BBC executives) initiated this programme

GFK NOP was both the research company for the BBC Pulse Online panel and the supplementary VLV paper diary project among the over 65s

Louise Wilcox MIBS (Partner DWS Associates volunteered her services to analyze the programs.

Story first Published in Listen, The World of Widex, issue 03, 2011

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