Open Letter to Google

Open Letter to Google

Dear Google

I’d like to table an opportunity for you to lend a voice to the reality of Climate Change.

What if you asked every customer to spring-clean their google account. Be it email or photos. Clean-up what they don’t need. Delete the unnecessary backed-up media files. Unsubscribe to newsletters they never read. De-clutter.

This will mean decreased load on the Data Center and consequently Save Energy & Save Cost.

Display the green footprint for every user converting data deleted into energy saved.

Behavioural changes need nudging and so does being conscious about our environment.

You have the power to catalyse 1.5Bn Gmail users into environment friendly netizens.

Save the Planet!

Death @ Email

Emailing has varied styles and I have found mine. There are different personality types, the whole MBT analysis can sensitise you and help appreciate your colleagues’ communication style. Some folks are comforted with greetings, exchange of pleasantries, long notes and others aren’t. I belong to the latter.

Here is what email etiquette means to me:

1. To, CC and BCC are real categories. Use them. To is for the people the action lies on-they are addressed directly and you expect them to reply, CC is those who need to be informed, BCC I usually use to move someone out of a conversation thread. Yes, it is a polite exit and one that people usually thank you for. Oh, you did know this! Now let us use it.
2. Make your email count. Its not always the content but whom you get the mail from that often determines its importance. So if someone often hits reply all, marks me on emails with no action, I stop being attentive. So yes you just lost spotlight in my inbox. Who knows I have a special folder for you too.
3. Its important to you, but is it important to me? Give context, build relevance. WIFM is key, and a successful communication style, IMHO.
4. You said a lot of things but I don’t know why! What’s the desired action? Did you write because you need to be understood or because you are particularly fond of literature? Ah! it is the cryptic documentation. One for the archives.
5. Which brings me to bullets. Hell am a big fan of, to-the-point emails. They save time and get things done. No fancy language or storytelling. If I want to feel warm and fuzzy, its definitely not on Outlook.  Rapport building is best done in -person. Try getting a cup of coffee or easier still, smile at your colleagues in-person.
6. Its terribly important, and you choose to send an email! Hmmm. I agree it is crisis, that can wait, till I get to it. Immediate attention on emails is an oxymoron. No, I don’t constantly check emails because there is real job I do. Give reaction time and kindness will be returned, like all good things.
7. Re: Lets talk anytime tomorrow and close. (Please read: this can be sorted over 1 phone conversation, does not need a group huddle, conferencing,  appointment)
   1. Re: Re: What time shall I call you?
   2. Re:Re: Re: 1130 am. If it works please send calendar request. Else, please pick a time from 3-5pm. (Fine lets be formal)
   3. Re: Re:Re:Re: Thanks. Will call at 1130. Sending calendar request
   4. Silence
   5. Re: Re:Re:Re:Re: Sent request. Please accept
   6. Silence
   7. Re: Re:Re:Re:Re:Re: Thank you for accepting
   8. 9. 10. 11.12 …..We will coordinate till cows come home, better still we will hit Reply All.
8. Read Receipt: Sales people who use read receipts are a huge put-off!! Insecurity isn’t flattering. Its the equivalent of an offline sociopath, a stalker. Please use the feature sparingly. Policy matters, legal you know that kind of important stuff, a category your email does not make it to.
9. Man is a social animal, we love to seek email companions by marking our managers and managers of those whom we write to. My reading of this is that either you don’t feel empowered or you don’t feel confident enough to manage the conversation. The first is a managers fall, the latter yours, and it’s a vicious cycle. Trust your manager to know all the effort you put in without looping them in. Try pulling your weight-find your place, else seek help on how to.
10. Treasure hunt. That + sign, on a long mail trail. There needs to be a capping on how many emails can be in a thread before someone is added with + and no context. Goes without saying that no one bothers to share the attachment that’s at the heart of it all.
11. Hello, I am calling you. Pick up your phone/ You missed the call/ Your phone was busy. ROTFL need I say more.
12. Emails do have a cost-to company both monetarily and as employees time & productivity. Lesser the better.
13. Oh and I just have to mention this last one. It is not revert but respond. Revert is to go back to original state. So unless you mean that you read my email and it rolled off your back into nothingness, please respond not revert.

Hit me up with your email style in the comment box. We may find some common pet peeves.

Ubers, Olas & Merus: Ride the app wave

Price wars,  Acquisitions,  PR crises, New Segments, Geographical expansion, Mobile wallet,  Cutting edge technology, Alliances,  Ecosystem of driver-preneurs, Dynamic pricing, Investor Funding, Promotions & Offers, Data Analytics, Services, it is all happening in the world of technology enabled radio taxi hailing apps of Uber, Ola, Meru and more. While opportunities abound to grow market share, am going to pen down some potential cross app integrations. App integration, in my opinion is a key B2B lever for acquiring customers. A distribution network which can catapult the touch-points for bookings.  The northward statistics on mobile usage is stodgy. The application of this trend, however, is exciting. Customers demand and deserve a seamless integrated user journey, on-demand, at the touch of a finger-tip and most importantly in their native environment. Which are these native environments?

1. Healthcare: This could be integration with apps that a hospital builds or for service aggregators like Practo. Either way a single click to a doctor’s appointment and cab booking can be quiet convenient.
2. Travel: From holiday packages, to flight bookings with airlines, train reservations to out-of-station bus rides, everything is online. Yet I have to book cabs separately each time. How I would like my cabbie to receive flight details and pick me up to and fro airport. Partners you ask? The world of Aggregators; MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, Yatra, Airlines: Indigo, Jet; Corporate Bookings, Amex; Trains: IRCTC; Bus: Red Bus. This category is so vast it would deserve a post by itself.
3. Accommodation: Hotels are moving servicing, house-keeping, in-room dining and wake-up calls on their apps. It’s only natural that they will need a trusted concierge to book cabs, online. Aggregators are intuitive; Hotel.com, Booking.com, AirBnB, Oyorooms and the list is long.
4. Events: When booking myself for a play, a movie, a concert only if I could book myself a ride. Bookmyshow, Timescity, Buzzintown, Eventshigh are the obvious choices. Then there are large scale events on Travel & Tourism, Music Festivals, Advertising Awards, Marathons, Technology Conferences which are large enough to have custom application development. How about white label event app publishers like Procialize? People registering for the event would find it very useful to take the pain of booking out of their trip. Oh by the way wedding planning apps are quite the rage these days. Picture getting all those baraatis packed-in for a nice family ride. One logistical nightmare off your back.
5. Real Estate: I have often observed that people scouting to rent or buy properties find it difficult to get to the place on their own. Many times because they are new to the city, don’t know directions to the location, have not got their car yet, are not sure of parking facilities and sometime sheer lazy to drive. A service by 99acres, Magicbricks, Housing, Commonfloor can be quite handy.
6. Marketplace: We speak of buying and selling. Chat and Calls. Collectibles and Connections. How about helping me get there. Navigation Maps or then maybe a cab. Olx and Quikr.
7. Social: Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp all get my location. Can I simply book using a chat window? A tweet? A ping? What more, a group discount?. Now don’t just use social to market but to monetize the market on social.
8. Carpool: Whenever you do decide to cater to this category please do be a part of the carpooling app destinations. I would have loved this facility back in college. More than many would love it today. Carpooling, Tripda, Poolmycar.
9. Classifieds: Justdial is quite a wiki. They now facilitate booking appointments with service professionals like doctors. Am I going to repeat the opportunity? No
10. Beauty: This is not quite an organized sector yet. Let me qualify that. Neither is there an aggregator nor is the individual player technologically savvy. A potential for an entrepreneur to aggregate the bookings and utilize the lean hours. But for those parlors and spas that do facilitate online booking via apps, a ride would complete the experience.
11. Fitness: This is a bit of a repeat customer base category. Only if the customer is not like me. Paying annual memberships when paying them an annual visit. Given the increased emphasis on fitness and multitude of activities spawning, a trip to the Gym in a mall with little or no parking to bicycling trips. A pick up and drop could be a treat.
12. Food and Beverages: The Zomato and Uber integration is rather cool. Love it. Am greedy about more players joining the bandwagon.

Rounding-off number of ideas got boring: Hence 12 🙂

Zomato: Bite on this.

Am adventurous with food, especially when the adventure sits in another’s plate. Am committed to spending hours browsing over where to eat. On many occasions missing the open hours and compromising on my meal. Defeating the purpose all together, I know. Those are exceptions. Zomato is pinned to my start screen, it serves me well. Payback time.

Here are 10 ideas;  some a gravy train, others will bring home more bacon, some are a piece of cake and perhaps very few that you may chew and spit out.

1. Travel recommendations: A partnership with the travel segment should serve your customers well. Think MakeMyTrip, Expedia, Ibibo, Yatra and more. As a tourist am keen to discover new places to eat, am looking for recommendations. It would be fantastic to get that information right up. Book a package and with it get recommended places. Perhaps even throw some deals into the package itself. Help me discover.
2. Location based promotions: Don’t we all love discounts? How we discover them needs to be easier. Currently one zeroes down on the restaurant and then one knows of the promotions running. Why not have promotions and discounts listed separately? Everyone cares for a better ROI. Your users included.
3. Events: Yes, think category. Shouldn’t everything food be there at Zomato. Now I don’t mean be everything to everyone, but listing food events & walks is not too off. Book My Show and or other event platforms could be great partners. Cross app traffic integration. Win-Win.
4. Mobile wallet: Home delivery or dining-in, mobile is my wallet. Click to pay. Seamless and convenient for users. Rich user history for Zomato. Need I say more?
5. Split the bill: Now assuming you are going the mobile wallet route why not solve for a common problem that of splitting a bill. Pay for what you order. Place the order on the app and get your bill. No bad debts.
6. In App Orders: Give me a check box menu, let me place my order, generate an estimated bill, save my address and credit card details, track my order. Serve it hot. No dialing in for orders, reduces manpower dependency and turnaround time for the restaurants, Simply efficient.
7. Home cooked food: You recommend restaurants but then there is a market for home cooked food, not quite organized agreed but could do with the right user base. There are plenty start-ups but do they have scale? Food for thought?
8. Rude food: There are power users and reviewers but I miss a Vir Sanhgvi like content on Zomato. More academic interest, yes. But that’s how one explores, learns and engages. Please excuse the paid bloggers. They don’t yield the kind of credibility anymore.
9. Personalized recommendations: Inundated with social; more feeds, more check-ins, more point of views on reviews, to what end? You know what I bookmark, what I browse, categories I read, where I go and probably if you included some my suggestions what I eat and how much I spend. I deserve some personalized recommendations don’t you think?
10. Loyalty: Now you are not into a loyalty program but in this day and age of decreasing attention span some form of reward is good. Don’t read this as screaming a discount, How about Gourmet Club invite for power users? Occasions I am likely to dine out, Birthdays & Anniversary are a no brainer? Make my date special, make group check-in count. Take a leaf out of American Express.

Holler your business, marketing and product managers and tell me what you think.