Designed by Krista
Web Design

It surprises me how often companies overlook this basic marketing component: responding quickly to customer inquiries. You will make your company stand out among your competitors if you respond to customer emails the same day or the next business day. In fact, you will stand out if you answer your email at all!

I did a website redesign for a client a while back and I was checking the status of their “information” email box – they had an email from a potential client that was 15 months old that they had never even opened. I had another client who called me for a consultation – he said that he had phoned over 30 web designers and I was one of 3 who returned his call. With a simple phone call, I immediately put myself in the top 10% of web designers! However, keeping on top of your email takes time – here are 6 tips for keeping pace with email and phone messages.

1. Know your limits: Most people have a preference for email or phone – figure out which one you prefer and publicize that method more strongly. For my client with the unread message, I chose to post only phone contact information, because no email is better than ignored email. For myself, I play down my phone contact information because I respond more quickly to email messages.
2. Reduce Spam: It will be easier to respond to valuable email messages if you reduce the number of messages you have to work with. See what your web-hosting provider offers – for my BlueHost clients, I recommend SPAM Assassin (set to a SPAM score of “3″) in combination with Account Level Filtering.
3. Call people at the end of their workday: If you phone people near the end of their workday, you will tend to get their voicemail, in which case you can leave them a quick, informative message. Alternately, if they do answer their phone, they will be motivated to keep the conversation short so they can get home.
4. Keep email replies short: This will take you less time to type, and your customers will appreciate it, because it will take them less time to read. Furthermore, people will tend to reply in kind with a short and sweet message.
5. Use copy and paste: If you have already replied to a similar question before, don’t recreate the wheel. Just copy the text from your previous response and alter the text as needed for this particular situation.
6. Answer frequent queries on your website: Prevent unnecessary calls and emails by posting the answer to questions on your website. This is actually better customer service, because it saves your customer a call or email to you. When they do contact you, the call will be better qualified, because they will have answered their basic questions by reading your website.

Put these tips in use today, and put your business in the top 10% of your field!

A recent study of customer satisfaction shows that the most important factors for your customers are perception of price, appeal of merchandise, website functionality, and product information. Foresee Results performs an annual survey of large retail websites to analyze customer satisfaction, and you can learn from the experience of large “e-tailers” like Amazon, Netflix, and Apple – the leaders in ecommerce customer satisfaction. According to this study, improvements in these four areas increase the likelihood that your customer will purchase now, purchase again, recommend your site, and become loyal to your brand. Who wouldn’t want that? See how you can improve your ecommerce conversion rate by making changes in these four areas.

Price

Price became a top priority factor for customers this year, likely due to the recent economic downturn. Obviously, everyone likes low prices and deals, but note that the actual price was less important than the customer’s perception of the price. Does your pricing and shipping seem fair and competitive to your customers?

Merchandise

In the past, the appeal, variety, and availability of stores’ merchandise has been the primary determiner of customer satisfaction. This year, it is still a top priority factor, though slightly overshadowed by price. Do your products seem fresh and appealing to your customers? Are they in stock when your customers want them?

Website Functionality

Functionality seems to be the first area that business owners try to work on for improved conversion rate, and it is indeed important to maintain or improve in this area. However, the study results indicate that merchants will get a better return on investment if they focus on pricing and merchandise, while not losing ground in functionality. Is your website convenient for your customers to use?

Content

This element refers to the accuracy, quality, and freshness of information on your site. Customers value quality information about your products, so you must continue to provide it, but it’s probably not necessary to make this a major focus for improvement. Do you give your customers the information they want about your products?

How customer satisfaction impacts ecommerce success
ForeSeeResults US Holiday Retail Satisfaction Index, 2009

A friend just collected a bunch of goodies for her birthday, and there were a few which were new to me. Here is a list of my favorites, including the new ones from Katie (thank you!). They all offer freebies for your birthday – mostly just for signing up for their mailing list. Enjoy, and let me know if you have some to add! (happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…)

Alfy’s Pizza: Free mini pizza the month of your birthday
Baskin Robbins: Free scoop on your birthday
Cold Stone Creamery: Free “creation” on your birthday
Denny’s: Free kid’s meal for children under 10
Duke’s Chowder House: Register for frequent coupons, 2 free dinners, and a free dinner for your birthday.
Gordon Biersch: Free offer for your birthday (I think it was “buy one, get one free”)
Hollywood Video: Free rental on your birthday (valid for everyone on your account)
The Keg: Free prime rib dinner during your birthday month. (Fill in the form and check the bottom to receive special offers)
Old Spaghetti Factory: Free kid’s meal on their birthday
Qdoba: Get a free Qdoba card in their restaurant, then register it online. After every 10 meals, you get one free, and a free meal on your birthday, too. (TIP: My husband and I each keep a card registered, so we can both have birthday meals!)
Red Robin: Free burger on your birthday
The Ram: Join MVP club to get “buy one, get one free” coupon right away, then a free Mile High Mud Pie on your birthday
Starbucks: Free drink on your birthday. I have differing info on this: some say you have to have a gift card, register it, and put your birthday on there. Their site says you have to have a Gold Card. One person said you just tell them it’s your birthday. In any case, I added my b-day to the account profile on my existing card.

I recently purchased an HP Photosmart C8180 All-in-One printer, and it works like a dream. I can print to it via my wireless network, so I can finally print when I take my laptop off it’s docking station. I’ve been very happy with it until a couple of weeks ago. All of a sudden, I started seeing a wide black stripe down the center of any photocopy or scanned image.

I researched the problem on their support knowledge base, and found an applicable help article right away. After I tried all of the things listed, I was still having the problem, so I contacted their online chat support. The man who responded was knowledgeable and helpful and didn’t make me re-do all of the things I had already done. (I hate that) He had me try several things that seemed reasonable, and after all of it, there was still a stripe.

So, they deduced that it is an issue with the hardware and they are sending me an entirely new printer at their expense! Plus, I will be mailing the old printer back at their expense. I am very impressed with this. Though I would have been happier if there was no stripe in the first place, this customer service has been really great, and I wanted to reward them by spreading the word!