Greeters ... Pros and Cons

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There has been a lot of activity on various forums and blogs about the use of greeters in Second Life® stores and in particular the use of the profile viewer greeter. Some people feel they are annoying and an invasion of privacy and can’t understand why shop owners bombard them with notes and im’s when entering a store.

Shop owners are limited in their ability to market their stores (venues) and do not have the same tools they do in real life. Radio and television ads are non-existent and walk-by, drive-by promotion is fruitless as teleporting is the main form of transportation. In world advertising is ineffective unless you can spend hundreds of thousands of lindens and at best, you may be able to get people to your store but getting them information is difficult unless a greeter is used. If half the people who came into my store, clicked and joined my group, I’d gladly delete every other type of greeter/info giver I have. But sadly that doesn’t happen. Only a small percentage of people who visit a shop will click and join a group. I know when I shop, I don’t join groups. Perhaps it’s the limit, or the group chats and notices, I’m not sure. However, handing out note cards, popups or ims to people entering your shop is the most effective way a business person can get their message out. After all, it is a business and to be successful, you must keep your customers and potential customers informed. Group notices are probably the best way to do this, but getting people to join your group is the foremost problem.

And yes, greeters are annoying, almost as annoying as group chat and unwanted note cards we all get throughout the day. Sure we can mute them, or simply dismiss them, but I understand how frustrating it is to be in the middle of something when these notes or ims come in. It would be nice to visit a shop and not be inundated with information about the proprietor and the business. I’ve come to accept it as a necessary evil and liken it to the Wal-mart greeter. I don’t think we get extremely upset with the Wal-mart greeter as we enter the store, we just simply be polite and dismiss them. Wal-mart, being highly successful has taken the greeter concept literally and put it to good use.

So what real options are there to get a message out without using greeters? With small to medium size business owners facing stiff competition from real life companies with deeper pockets and of course the Lindens who compete with us every day, the options are few. The lindens have the advantage of posting messages to everyone entering Second Life® while they wait to log in and to give messages while teleporting. It would be nice if we could do the same thing, but I’m sure if it was, the Lindens would price it out of reach so that only the larger corporations would be able to afford it.

I did come across a very interesting concept the other day and I’ll be having my scripter work on it. I ventured out to visit a shoe store on the recommendation of a customer under the impression that I would be amazed with the shoes being sold. Well I never did look at the shoes, I’ll go back sometime to do that, but got completely caught up in something else. First, when I entered the store, I was surprised when I did not get the usual barrage of messages and note cards. In fact, nothing at all. Since I was waiting for the shoes to rez, I looked around the entrance of the store and noticed three highly visible kiosks. Always curious, I checked the name, found it was a customer service kiosk and clicked it to open a menu containing every option the customer and shop owner would want. You could choice from info on and joining the group, info on the store, refund policy, gift purchases and so much more. Everything was in one nice concise place and the kiosk simply said “Customer Service”. WOW. This is exactly what I want in my stores and it takes so little room. No group join signs, info cards, and greeters. Just one nice little kiosk, prominently displayed. I know you’d still have to rely on people clicking on it, but I think with the Customer Service sign instead of JOIN OUR GROUP or something similar, it just may happen. Well, I did.

Okay I had to find out if I could purchase it, so I checked the creator of the kiosk and script and went to his profile. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he has a store or is even in the business of selling scripts. No picks or classifieds and no mention in his profile. I searched throughout Second Life® and XSL but was not able to find anything similar. I’ll send him a note to see if he is willing to sell it.

There has to be a mix in this virtual business world. While I understand the customers and owners points of view, neither one can expect the other to give in completely. Customers need a reasonable expectation of privacy and owners need to get their message out. Personally I think the Customer Service kiosk is a good idea, but I’m sure there is more. Any suggestions?

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Ciao for now.

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Jenny