‘I have amazing things planned for you,’ promises the Lord. ‘I’ll be by your side at all times—I’ll never abandon you! You have every reason to smile; your future is looking bright! When you cry out to Me for help, I’ll rescue you. And when you seek me with all your heart, I’ll come running! No matter how far from Me you’ve drifted, I will find you and bring you back home. You can take that to the bank!’
— Jeremiah 29:11-14 (RRPV)
A godly wife is the most precious treasure a man can find! Her husband can trust her completely, and she fills his life with beauty and grace.
— Proverbs 31:10-11 (RRPV)
Many of you are in positions where you aren’t looking for a career change. Nevertheless, imagine for one moment that you are looking for a new job. You find some possible positions you believe you’ll be perfect for, spend hours honing your resume and cover letter, and secure an interview. You walk into the interview wearing scrubby blue jeans, a t-shirt, and your favorite sneakers.
Now can stop imagining. Would you take that prospect seriously? Most likely not. And neither would a lot of people.
At a recent chamber of commerce event I asked members how the appearance of a site influenced their purchasing decision. The consensus was that they would leave the site and look for another company to purchase products from if a website did not look professional. This is not just limited to my small focus group. One study put out by eMarketer found that 68% of U.S. online shoppers distrust a site that does not have a professional appearance. Another study found that 75% of consumers make judgments about a company’s credibility based on the website’s design.
If you’re not listening or not sure how or where to start listening, here’s how you can start today (for free):
-
Google your name, company, and product or service name.
- Use Technorati to search what bloggers are saying about you.
- Find a forum where there may be users of your product or service.
- Look for sites that allow users to review, such as Google Maps, Yelp, or ones more specific to your industry. If someone can review your product or service, then chances are someone has.
Can’t find anything mentioned about your business or organization? Send me an email and I’ll give you some ideas on where you can start listening.
A frustrated Gorillapod customer left a comment on a blog one day talking about how his Gorillapod broke…again. The owner of Gorillapod left a comment on the same blog apologizing for the bad experience and told the customer to contact him so they can send a new one, this time the “beefier” model to guarantee it wouldn’t break again.
Jim Noble wrote a review on eBags.com after the zipper on a bag he purchased broke. The review simply noted he liked the bag, but the zipper’s design was weak. Since eBags tracks reviews, they sent Jim a new bag. But they went one step further by writing and thanking Jim for making them aware of the flaw, and notified him that his advise was being passed on to the manufacturers so future bags wouldn’t have weak zippers.
The M.D. Anderson Cancer Treatment Center thought the reason cancer patients chose them was because of their reputation of staying on top of technology and medical advancements. As it turns out, they were wrong. Through an online community where cancer patients could share their stories and support other patients, M.D. Anderson learned a number of valuable insights. One being that patients were consistently waiting one to four hours before at their appointment before they finally saw their doctor. With this and other insights, M.D. Anderson could focus their marketing message on what the customers really valued, not what they thought the customers valued.
I could tell you many more stories just like these, but these three should help you understand why listening to your customers online is valuable to the success of your business and why you need to be listening.
I know your time is limited (but I want to share this for your benefit), so here are seven high return redesign investments:
- Make it simple for you to listen to and talk with your customers. This could be a blog or discussion forum.
- Professional, appropriate, and attractive design. This includes high quality images.
- Well thought out and easy-to-use navigation. If your prospects can’t find what they are looking for, they’ll go to your competition.
- Add search to your site. Mandatory for sites with 100 or more pages.
- Add an e-newsletter. This adds value for your customers.
- Persuasive content. Write informative product/service descriptions that give your customer the info they need and entices them to contact you.
- Search engine friendly. Make it easy for search engines to find you and rank higher (I will be covering this in a future newsletter as well).
What changes have you made to your site lately that increased your sites value in the eyes of your customer or prospect that could be added to this list?
When a prospect visits your website, what are their impressions? Do they find the information they need? Do they leave your site quickly? Do they take your desired action and contact you?
If you don’t know the answer to these questions, there are two ways to find out.
The first way is to study your website usage findings (using an analytics program). This will show you not only the number of visitors coming to your site, but more important data revealing the length of time visitors spend on a page, what page they click to, how they came to your site, and much more. The second and perhaps best way is to simply ask.
Let six of your best customers know you are redesigning your site and ask for their honest advice on the following questions:
- “What is your ‘initial’ impression (re: design, content, ease-of-use)?” You could ask them to rate it on a scale of 1-5.
- “What parts of the website are confusing, mis-leading, or lacking?”
- “If we (your company) could add a new feature that would bring value to you, what would it be? (e.g. blog, support forum, video tutorials, etc.)”
- “What do you like about our competitor’s website?”
- “In general, how can we improve our website?”
After you look over their advice, do you see similar comments? I.e. perhaps multiple customers noted that adding product training videos would be beneficial.
With this information in hand, you are now ready to put your money where it will have the greatest benefit. That’s something any business can appreciate. ;)
How are you planning to achieve a better web presence that meets your customers’ needs that includes the greatest benefit for the remainder of this year?
Developing relationships with your customers and prospects is the most effective way to promote the growth of your business. While face-to-face interactions are best for meetings and closing deals, it is impossible to meet with all of your customers and prospects weekly just to build these relationships. This is why it is vital to have a consistent and thoughtful way to communicate with them on an ongoing basis.
The most intimate way to communicate with your customers and prospects is through an email newsletter. I say “intimate” because:
-
It is personal. Your customers have given you permission to email them on an ongoing basis (permission to build a relationship).
-
You promise to provide value. In exchange for your customer’s email address, you promise to provide value they can use to better their business or themself.
-
It is consistent. You promise to deliver it to their inbox on a consistent basis (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly).
-
It keeps them in touch with you. It answers a different customer need than your website does; that is to keep in touch with your company (versus product or service information).
-
It helps you become transparent. It allows for the opportunity to give your customers insight into you and your business, thus being more open and leading to trust.
What do you think? If you already have a newsletter, how is it working for you? If not, what is stopping your from starting one?
With so many businesses promising one thing (think those big juicy hamburger ads from McD’s) and delivering another, Les Schwab still amazes me every time I pull into their parking lot. See, Les Schwab employees don’t wait for me to come to them, they run (literally) to me, find out what I need, and direct me to where I need to go - just like their ads promise.
Les Schwab does so many things right: excellent and friendly customers service, build trust, great warranties, clean buildings, good prices, and free popcorn with a comfortable waiting area. As a business you strive to give great service and more, but is there a point where good is good enough? What about the long-tail of service, what about improving upon the little things?
These are the things the customer never expects. So what does Les Schwab’s long-tail of service look like? I think it would look like this:
- Check the spare-tire pressure (because it is no fun to be caught with an almost flat spare-tire).
- Grab my email address while I am purchasing new tires and send me an email notification telling me “now would be a good time to have my tires rotated for free.”
- While you have my email address…
- Let me know of “special offers” only for previous/current customers.
- Send me a newsletter (once a month is sufficient - no more, no less) with tidbits of information such as recalls, safe driving tips, winter driving info, how to evaluate the condition of studded tires, how to increase the longevity of my tires, etc.
- Free flat tire changing clinic for those who aren’t mechanically enclined.
What other forms of long-tail service would you add? What would the long-tail of customer service look like for your business?
