Webmaster tips & trix   contact | privacylink partnersfree website content
Home » Articles » Miscellaneous
Articles

» Affiliate programs
» SE optimization
» Miscellaneous
» Newsletters & E-zines
» Promotion
» Web design
» Usability
» Domain names
» Create income
» Web writing
» Hosting
» Guerrilla marketing
» Accessibility
» Web credibility
» Data recovery

» Archive

 


Special articles

» Google tools/services
» Yahoo! tools/services


Visitors are not created equal

Last week's editorial about good customer service, especially online, brought quite a few comments from you. Some were good. Some were bad. While the good praised the efforts of those companies offering superior service, some were critical.

"You can't make a profit on the Internet if you try to please everyone," one said. I agree that you can't please everyone. But I also agree that, if you try to do so, such as by giving away something for free without getting compensated somehow, you will be driven into the ground.

(With the recent wave of "dot-bombs," more and more freebie providers are seeking some sort of compensation in order to stay afloat. To the scorn of many, they have either started to charge for some services or accepted third party ads. In fact, in response to harsh criticisms Chris Pirillo, the publisher of one of my favorite *free* ezines Lockergnome.com, offers this manifesto: http://www.lockergnome.com/manifesto/.)

But I found the criticisms I received in relation to offering at least a certain level of customer service to be interesting since I believe that customer service is not only a business activity but also a fundamental Internet marketing system.

My very first job, at the age of 15, was as a cook at a local McDonald's restaurant. The minimum wage at that time was only $2.54 an hour -- and that's in Canadian currency! The American equivalent was $1.72. It might only be 15 years ago but things have surely changed in the last 10 years, and even 5.

But to say that my compensation was low would be unfair, since this seemingly underpaid job was probably one of the greatest learning experiences I ever had. I may not have known it at the time, but what the experience taught me was how important customer service truly is, particularly in my own businesses.

Many people fail to recognize the fact that customer service, even complaint management, is a fundamental marketing system. The most powerful promotional activity there is and will ever be is the proverbial "word-of-mouth." And online its power is amplified a gazillion times. Why is that?

In sum, the answer is one single word: Credibility.

Statistics show that when a person is happy with a company's service, she will make it known to about three other people. But when a person is dissatisfied, 10 will get an earful. And those 10 will believe far more what they hear negatively than what they would have been told positively -- especially by a company's own, self-serving marketing.

Take, for instance, the case of a customer's experience at a Nordstrom store told by sales trainer Ralph Robertson.

Nordstrom, a chain of department stores in the US, recently opened a branch in Alaska. A few days after its grand opening, a man came into the store demanding a refund for some winter tires he bought and with which he was not happy. Cheerfully, the cashier refunded the money without asking any questions.

"That's not uncommon," you might say. But the highlight of this story was not the refund -- far from it. The location that Nordstrom actually took over was a tire plant that has since closed its doors. And the tires that were returned were actually bought from the location where Nordstrom now stands.

On the web, customer service and its viral qualities are more significant. The word not only gets out much faster but it is more credible. A small review in a local newspaper can cause some reaction, be it positive or damaging. But online, people who suffered negative customer service experiences can easily vent their frustrations electronically to the whole world.

Poor service and the lack of integrity online may not seem as important to many people. But in actuality the underlying and oftentimes inconspicuous negativity it may cause can come back and bite you. On the web, bites (or bytes, in this case) can indeed be worse than the barks, as words online carry more weight. Why? For two reasons:

  • Roger Dawson, in his bestselling book "The Secrets of Power Negotiating," wrote, "If it is said, it could be true -- but if it is written, then it *must* be true."

  • And words online stay around for a lot longer than any other medium -- including the fact that their flow is impossible to stop. Websites, newsgroups, chatrooms ezines or email can travel faster and further than mere word-of-mouth (Dr. Ralph Wilson of http://wilsonweb.com/ calls it "word-of-mouse.")

A mentor once said to me, "Implication is more powerful than specification." While I usually use this phrase to demonstrate that implying superiority is more powerful than stating it (in instances where one's expertise is implied instead of outright declared), the negative aspect applies just as well.

In other words, if you offer poor service or lesser value than what you claim, the mere implied notion that you are offering poor service on a regular basis can kill you in the long run.

But unlike TV, radio or printed publications, websites like http://www.epinions.com/ or http://www.planetfeedback.com/, which provide feedback from people like you and me, give the online consumer more wherewithal, and are more credible, than what any watchdog organization (like the BBB) could offer.

In fact, I believe that this is Amazon.com's greatest asset: Not it's patented one-click application but its instant reader reviews, which accompany each book it sells -- and which you can't obtain in any ordinary physical bookstore.

Case in point: One day, in the middle of my IT marketing class in college, one of my students, who's an employee of a large and reputable high-tech firm in Ottawa (Canada) (which shall remain nameless for obvious reasons), asked me: "How credible is http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/?" I asked why.

He said that, after their new site launched, it was inundated with traffic. But when they found out that the site was the featured "Daily Sucker" from Flander's WebPagesThatSuck.com, the feeling was not as positive as one would imagine. My answer? "You were inundated with traffic, weren't you?"

Today, websites offering consumer feedback are growing. In addition to search engines offering reviews, complaints and consumer resources, such as http://www.complaints.com/ and http://consumerdemocracy.com/, there is also a new breed of search engine that ranks pages not by their keywords or link popularity but by their ratings. Take, for instance, http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/ and http://www.omniseek.com/.

In essence, people are more informed and more sophisticated than ever before. News of poor customer service can travel awfully fast in this dynamic, end-user controlled world we call "cyberspace." Therefore, a company must offer superior customer service if it wants to survive let alone thrive in a hypercompetitive marketplace ... Because, you never know:

The traffic you get may not be the kind you want.

About the author
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter and consultant dedicated to turning sales messages into powerful magnets. Get a free copy of his book, "The 10 Commandments of Power Positioning," when you subscribe to his free monthly ezine, "The Profit Pill." See http://SuccessDoctor.com/ now!

Latest articles

» Change your mind about an eBay bid?
We have all made choices in life that two seconds later we know we should take back. Especially when there is money involved this can become a problem.

» A simple way to create 7 effective autoresponder messages
Email is the Net's most powerful marketing tool. And autoresponders are the best idea yet for marketing with email.

» 7 ways to drive laser-targeted traffic to your website
Getting people who matter to see one’s website is a difficult undertaking if he tries to consider the fact that there are rivals everywhere waiting to pin him down.

» Website valuation: Why standard website pricing methods will emerge
The market of buying and selling developed websites is becoming more and more liquid each day.

» One way links are better than reciprocal links
You probably know by now that where your website ranks in the search engine rankings dramatically affects how many visitors you have to your site. Did you also know that you can change where your site is ranked by being proactive and getting as many one way links to your site as possible?

» How to make visitors stay at your website
The very first thing which you should provide the visitors with is some free interesting reading material.

» How to make your visitors click your ads
Here is a simple solution; Convert your banner advertisement to look like a text advertisement!

» Offline advertising should be a part of your online strategy
Day by day, online business has become more & more complicated and competitive.

» How to sell traffic
Selling the traffic arriving at your site is a good method to increase profits from your portal.

» Make money from online auctions
Online auctions have the best benefit of a vast platform. Your product is viewed by loads of people & hence there is more possibility of finding a suitable bidder.

» Groupware explained in easy terms
Groupware is a term used frequently to describe collaborative software. Groupware is application software that integrates work on a single project by several concurrent users at separated random workstations.

» Timely back up can save you from disasters
Few things which people often back up are e-mail addresses, bank records, photographs, personal records, software’s, music etc.

» Why should one go for autoresponders
Autoresponders are programs which get automatically executed in particular situations.

» Become your own boss - Start your own online business today
A survey conducted by SBA states that two third of new business survives at least two year and about forty four percent survives at least four year.

» Express your thoughts - Creating your own blog!
What exactly is a blog? Technically speaking it is a journal or a newsletter which is regularly updated and can be used by any one.

» Pop-up ads - To be or not to be?
According to a study conducted by the Bunnyfoot University, “The Efficacy of Pop-ups and the Resulting Effect on Brands” Internet users feel harangues and harassed by pop-up ads.

» Why content is king on the Internet
The advantages that Internet holds over the rest of the other communication mediums should not wasted because of the inability to find a comprehensive plan that will bind all these faculties together.

» 10 niche marketing tips
In our increasingly driven consumer economies, the average customer is bombarded by choices. With increased saturation of the market, companies look towards niche marketing to search new, ever-evolving and sophisticated consumers.

» Using free traffic exchange
These days internet has emerged as both, a market and hub for marketing. Unlike the ‘brick and mortar’ world where large manufacturers manage to squeeze out the market bases of smaller companies, the internet provides haven like the free traffic exchange.

» Ten ways to drive traffic to your website
Developing a web site and then letting it grow is like planting a tree and then nurturing it.

» Marketing through keyword articles
One of the most effective tools of Internet marketing is the use of keyword articles.

» Want to make money online? Market a service to businesses
Don walked across the street from his house to mine to announce he had finally retired. "But I'm not ready for the golf course," he said. "I want to make a living on the Internet. What can I sell?"

» Web site design mistakes - Database parameters in URLs
Creating a web site takes thought, planning and execution. Unfortunately, many designs are dead in the water before they are even published as far as search engine optimization is concerned. Whatever you do, avoid these critical mistakes.

» Alexa Toolbar - The ultimate internet tool
There are numerous tools available on the Internet to assist online businesses. A valuable tool that you should use is the Alexa Toolbar. Even better, this tool is free.

» Web site design mistakes
Some wise human once said "Learn from the mistakes of others. There isn't nearly enough time to make them all yourself." Hence this article. Here are five of the most annoying and common web design mistakes.

» Abandonment - Why visitors don't turn into customers
Every good Internet business understands the value of conversions versus hits received. Far too often, businesses become fixated on the hits they are receiving instead of monitoring their hit to sale conversion rate.

» Creative search engine optimization - A case study
Search engine optimization this and search engine optimization that. You read and hear about it all day, but what about your site?


Tools & services to enhance your online business

» Site Build It!
Over 100,000 small businesses of all kinds outperform larger, well-financed competitors. Read about this all-in-one site-building-hosting-marketing system of tools that delivers results.

» Secrets To Their Success
Take a private tour of two "Mom & Pop" web sites every month that earn $100,000+ a year... and discover the exact step-by-step strategies they have personally used to generate these massive profits.