CUSTOMER SERVICE - article index

• Applying Psychology to Internet Marketing By Terry Dean 
• 'Hit the Road, Jack!' Giving Difficult Customers THE BOOT!  by Harmony Major
• What Ever Happened to Customer Service?  by Harmony Major

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Applying Psychology to Internet Marketing 
By Terry Dean 

The best advertising writers are those who have some knowledge of psychology. We are not dealing with "new" people online. We are dealing with the same people who have the same desires they have always had. 

The style changes a little online, but the same approaches that worked one hundred years ago will also work today. Don't forget that. 

Advertising mediums change. Effective advertising does not, because effective advertising is based on a knowledge of human nature.

Remember the first principle of advertising. Your prospects are inherently selfish. They will ask one question of everything your web site does, "What's In it for Me?"

That is the first question you have to answer with your web site. It has to tell and show your visitors what's in it for them. What would they get out of ordering from your site that isn't available anywhere else?

Below are four aspects to the human make-up which you can and should use throughout your Internet advertising.

1. Curiosity is a powerful motivation.

Just about every information product you see advertised has the word "Secrets" in the ad somewhere. People are afraid to miss out on something. They are curious to find out just what those secrets may be. 

Use this to your advantage. With information products, I love to write the sales letters so that they hit on the curiosity hot button. You can take advantage of this factor of human nature by providing some of the results which were achieved through your information system, but not actually revealing what the system specifically is. 

You will notice that I do this a lot in the bullets that I create to go in the sales letter. They will tell you that there are 3 insider secrets to ______, but they won't tell you what the 3 secrets are.

The purpose of this is the pull on the curiosity of the reader...and cause them to order.

2. Extravagance at a bargain price.

People want to keep up with the Jones'. They want the absolute best, but they want to feel like they got it at a bargain price. No one wants to feel that they paid too much for anything. So, you need to give them an impressive value at a bargain price.

In many products and cases, this simply boils down to explaining the exact process it took to create the product. For example, with an information product, it may have taken you 5 years of research and $20,000 in testing to come up with the information in this product. If so, tell them about it. 

When your company builds a widget, it might search the country for the best wood available. Half of the wood in the factory is rejected. You have over 60 people who actually work on the wood to create the product you sell (in the ad itself you would tell people what many of them do), and you may have 5 people who put it through a strict 13 step test to assure it's quality. 

Even if all of your competitor's go through the exact process you do to create the product, it will still be effective for you to tell the story to your customers. This is called preemptive advertising. The person who first tells the story is the one who garners the trade. Anyone else who seeks to follow them ends up looking only as a copycat, not the originator of the system.

Once the customer understood the value involved in the product, they were glad to be able to purchase it at such a bargain price.

What process does your product go through that will add a value to it in your customer's eyes?

3. Fear of Failure and of Making the Wrong Decision

This is the biggest barrier that we have to overcome throughout the selling process. People are afraid they are going to make a bad decision in buying your product. They are afraid you are going to rip them off and not provide them with the product they are expecting.

Everything that you say as an advertiser is immediately looked at with a grain of salt. People have been lied to before when it comes to advertising, so they look at your ads wondering if you are any different. Unless you find a way to overcome this fear of "being taken" in your prospect's eyes, you are not going to close a majority of sales.

There are basically two aspects to overcoming this resistance. The first way is by presenting and adding credibility to your ads. Credibility is produced through your "proof" and through the testimonials which you provide. 

It is often said that salespeople without testimonials have skinny children. It is next to impossible to build the credibility you need in the eyes of your prospects without testimonials.

The second way to overcome this resistance is by giving a risk free guarantee or a better than risk free guarantee. Let your prospects know that they can return then package for any reason. 

Plus, give them several bonuses in the package which they can keep even if they return the package for a full refund. 

An even better method of overcoming this buyer's resistance is by allowing them to try out the package for free, and having them pay for it at the end of the trial period. Which one you rather buy from? Would you rather buy from the person who gives you the horse to try out for a week and allows you to pay later...or the person who requires up-front payment?

Think about ways where you can overcome the buyer's resistance by offering a more risk free proposition than all of our competitors.

4. Exclusivity

People like to get a "special" deal which is made just for them. They like to be told that they are special. They like to have their names mentioned. They like to have their names engraved on the objects that they purchase. 

I have learned how to apply this factor to my own sales. I run a subscriber only special to my 30,000 ezine subscribers now once a month...People love it. They are getting something for a special price or with a special bonus that isn't available to the general public. They are getting it just because they are one of my newsletter subscribers.

All successful Joint Ventures are also based on this element of exclusivity. A special deal was created with the list owners partner ONLY for their customers. No outsider can participate. The list owner cares so much about their list members that they negotiated to get them this special price or special deal. These endorsed types of mailings have been known to produce sales rates as high as 10% - 20%...which is completely unheard of in any other venture.

"FREE" without an understanding of the value is actually dangerous.

Along the same lines, the word "FREE" is actually being overdone online. To some people it appears that everything is free online. Using the word "Free" without explaining the actual value involved does not profit you according to final sales figures.

When you are giving away a freebie from your site, it isn't your goal to just attract visitors I hope. You are not after freebie seekers. Your final goal should be to sell more of your products and services to your visitors. This is not accomplished through just handing out the most freebies. 

This is accomplished through explaining the value of your products and services...then offering the freebie. Claude Hopkins recorded that even back in his time you should never offer a sample to anyone unless you have had the chance to tell them your product story. 

Unless you have actually had a chance to show them the value of your offering, it could possibly diminish the value of your actual product.

Tell your prospects the actual value of the freebie. Then, tell them "why" you are offering it free. If you just listed the value at $97, but never told them why it was worth $97 or why you are giving it to them free, then your statement is worthless. You must both explain why the free product is worth $97 and why you are giving it to them for free. Tell them that you know letting them use it for free will get them hooked and that they will keep coming back for more. Tell them why it is free...or don't offer it at all.

This is why there is so much confusion online concerning giving freebies away at web sites. Some experts recommend giving away freebies. Some recommend that you don't give anything away. It is all a matter of understanding and showing the "VALUE" that you are giving away for free...and if it brings your visitor back to order from you. The ordering process is what you are after.

Remember the marketing statement, "Tell me why, and then I'll buy."

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Terry Dean, a 27 Year Old Indiana Farm Boy, Reveals His Secret Formula for Generating New Automatic Streams of Internet Income For Any Business In 72 Hours Or Less...Free Report: mailto:formula@bizpromo.com
http://www.bizpromo.com

 
'Hit the Road, Jack!' Giving Difficult Customers THE BOOT!
© 2000, by Harmony Major

Have you ever heard the adage, "the customer is always right?" Yes? Well, it doesn't apply to home business owners and entrepreneurs. No, I haven't lost my marbles. It's true. This CAN NOT apply for home-based businesses, and you'd better believe I'm going to tell you why.

NOTE: Before you go and get "boot happy," realize that this article is NOT to be followed as standard customer service procedure. It should be used with care, VERY rarely, and hardly at all. Knowing how to deal with difficult customers is imperative for quality customer service.

A small business owner simply can not afford to treat all of his or her prospective customers with the same level of service. Why? It's simple. Home business owners need to be selective, to a degree, in order to keep business running smoothly, and to satisfy the prospects that DESERVE satisfaction.

You have to become the type of business owner that would rather kick a few of the "bums" to the curb and give other customers excellent service, than to try to please everybody all of the time ... which just isn't going to happen. By adopting a rule of "the customer is always right," home business owners are setting themselves up for financial suicide ... and here's why

A home business is usually very small, and is ordinarily run by only ONE very dedicated person. And, no matter how much they'd like to think so, this one person can't be all things to ALL people. For this simple reason, entrepreneurs run a very high risk of spreading themselves too thin and, when this happens, business is sure to suffer.

"So, how do I avoid this," you ask? It's simple, really.

1. Target your advertising to attract the RIGHT kinds of customers. The "good" kind. ;-)

Avoid using hype and never, ever, under ANY circumstances, advertise your business or service to be better than it actually is. If you advertise to people that are looking for hyped-up offers and unrealistic excitement, you're ASKING for trouble.
 

2. Work only with customers that are willing to work with YOU.

Sure, the customer is usually right in most cases, but no one is right ALL of the time. And, reasonable people are the ones that realize this. They're also the ones you want to work with. Have you ever had a customer that, no matter what you said, or what you proposed, they were STILL dissatisfied? Even if you agreed to do EXACTLY what they requested of you, AND MORE?? This is the kind of disgruntled, trouble-maker that's just looking for trouble, and you happened to be the gullible target.
 

3. Don't stand to be treated rudely or disrespectfully.

If you're a successful and professional business owner, that means that you're always willing to make amends to please your customer, and to correct any situation in which you were at fault. And, since you're the type of business owner that respects their customers, you should also receive the very same respect. If you don't and you've tried all you could to make them happy, kick that customer to the curb! They'll literally be more trouble than they're worth later on down the line.
 

4. Focus 99.5% of your energy and attention on your "good" customers, and you'll always be successful.

Don't fall for the old "they just want to be heard" garbage. If someone wants attention, they should act like adults and speak up! Being obnoxious to get attention is for three year olds.
 

If you remember and follow those four simple guidelines in your day-to-day business routine, you're sure to be one step ahead of the game. A difficult, troublesome customer can take TWENTY TIMES as much work and effort to attend to than a customer that's willing to be reasonable.

And, if you're like me, you get a hundred or more emails a day. What's twenty times one hundred?? Let's just say a LOT more time than I have to spend babying rude and unprofessional customers. What about you?

For anyone that challenges this way of thinking, remember that you don't have to answer to them. Let THEM have the headache of dealing with irate customers, and save yourself the trouble.

NOTE: Read 'What Ever Happened to Customer Service?' to find out how to convert your worst customers into your best referral sources, at http://ExpertOnEbiz.com/articles/service.html. Knowing when to draw the line is imperative. Good luck!

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Harmony Major is the author of Yahoo! Secrets, where she reveals how YOU can drive HUNDREDS more visitors to your site each day, by getting a #1 listing on Yahoo. Don't just settle for "getting listed." Use her instantly-effective tactics to boost your site traffic with a TOP Yahoo listing! Visit: http://YahooSecrets.com

What Ever Happened to Customer Service?
© 2000, by Harmony Major

Have you ever been fortunate enough to experience this seemingly extinct concept called "customer care?" If so, you're one of the few that has yet to experience true customer service online. More often than not, we get terrible service, discourteous service, or a complete and total lack of service. Sound familiar yet?

Have you ever sent questions to a company you were thinking of buying from, but only got half of those questions answered? And, the ones that were answered were only HALF ANSWERED themselves? If so, did you follow through to buy from them? Probably not.

These are all things we need to think about and take VERY seriously as online entrepreneurs. Not only will offering excellent customer care set us apart from the majority, but it will also increase sales and profits when our clientele realizes that we actually DO care about their buying experience, and we actually DO care whether they leave with a quality product or service and with all of their questions answered.

So how do we ensure that our customers genuinely feel cared for, and their business valued? Take the following 3 common sense steps to stop customer complaints BEFORE they start:
 

1. Answer all questions thoroughly and enthusiastically.

When someone asks questions about your product or service, they're expressing a STRONG interest in buying what you have to offer. Don't force their spending dollars elsewhere by sending incomplete answers or taking days to respond to their e-mail. And when you do write back, don't make your prospects feel like the response was a chore. After all, if they knew everything you know, they wouldn't need to buy what you're offering!

Feel honored to explain the answers to their questions, and make sure they understand. 68% of customers don't follow through on the sale because of a perceived ATTITUDE *or* INDIFFERENCE toward them by the owner, manager, or an employee. [Source Customer Service Institute, Silver Spring, MD] So remember, they CHOSE to do business with you! Realize that decision, and honor them for it.
 

2. Take measures to guard against preventable disasters.

This one speaks for itself. Things like sticking to established policies comes to mind. An online contract is mutually agreed upon by both the provider and the consumer. Don't jeopardize client relationships by going against contract terms, and don't try to invent conditions later on down the line. If there isn't a written or verbal agreement on something, it's not enforceable.

Not only can this type of practice lead to a fat lawsuit, it's just plain unethical! Fewer surprises equals happier customers.
 

3. In the event of some inevitable disaster, keep your customers informed!

If you run a web hosting service that's experiencing downtime, don't wait until your client *finds out* that their site has been down for a week. Let them know what's been happening, and please, don't make THEM contact YOU.

Keep your clients aware of everything your company experiences that may have an affect on them. Not only will they appreciate your taking the time to keep them informed, but your technical support department won't be bogged down with heated calls and e-mails from disgruntled clients that don't have a clue of what's going on!
 

But, although you can take precautions to try to prevent customer complaints, please also remember that some complaints will be unavoidable. Even so, just because they're unavoidable doesn't make them incurable. Take the following 3 steps to turn more of your disgruntled customers into happy, referral-giving clientele:
 

1. Find a way to resolve the complaint fairly ... then stick to your word.

In most cases of dissatisfaction, your customer will ask for a refund. However, don't make the common mistake of thinking that refunding their money is the end of the problem. If you do, the customer won't be leaving with any more than they started, except for a disappointing experience with your company ... and that's NOT what you want. So, you might correct the situation AND offer them something of value for their time and trouble.

For example, I run a website design service in which I design a client's website how they specify, and also set them up with a product to sell, and the ability to accept online payment. The estimated completion time (without the advantage of express service) is 2-4 weeks.

The only refund request I've ever gotten on that service came from a client that was upset that the two week date was fast approaching, and I hadn't begun to start on her site. The client that I was working with prior to her kept introducing new changes and requirements, which meant more work for me AND a longer waiting period for my newest client. When it didn't look like I'd be able to start and finish her website before the two week time estimate, understandably, she requested a refund.

It wasn't this new client's fault that her site wouldn't be completed as estimated, so here's what I did. I honored her refund request immediately, AND offered to set up her five page website for free, as originally planned. Was she satisfied with that? You bet! And, did I prevent a dissatisfied customer? Definitely! These are things the kinds of things you have to do to keep your business on its toes.

But, when doing something as generous as offering free services to your customer, remember that they'll likely not value the service as much as if they had to pay for it. You could create a website for a client, have them use it a week, and discard it for another site. They may not even use it at all. So, take this into account when coming up with ways to satisfy your disgruntled customer. You'll avoid disappointment in the long run.
 

2. Follow up on your customer's complaints to be sure that their needs were properly met.

After you take that special action to win your dissatisfied customer over, check back with them after a few weeks. This doesn't have to be anything more than a quick e-mail to see if they need anything else, and to see if the arrangement you made for them has been working out.

Not only will this show that you care about your customer's satisfaction, it also shows that the arrangements you made for them were genuine attempts to make them happy. This can also get you more word-of-mouth referrals!
 

3. Treat them as your most highly valued customer(s).

Winning a customer over after they've decided not to do business with you again is no small feat. So, if you're able to change their mind about it, they deserve extra special treatment! Offer them VIP discounts on future purchases and continue to value their patronage as if it were their very first time shopping with you. I guarantee you -- your courtesy will go a long way!
 

Knowing how to satisfy customers and KEEP them satisfied are both very important parts of excellent customer care. Whether it be before or after someone has done business with you, make sure that it's always a pleasant experience, and give them as much personal attention as you possibly can.

If you know how to effectively resolve customer complaints, rebuild credibility with follow up letters and calls, and make the customer feel valued, you'll never be short of business OR profit!

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Harmony Major is the author of Yahoo! Secrets, where she reveals how YOU can drive HUNDREDS more visitors to your site each day, by getting a #1 listing on Yahoo. Don't just settle for "getting listed." Use her instantly-effective tactics to boost your site traffic with a TOP Yahoo listing! Visit: http://YahooSecrets.com

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