14 Ways to Handle Angry Dissatisfied Customers Online |  |
- 14 Ways to Handle Angry Dissatisfied Customers Online
- Online Marketing: How Much To Spend
- Ten Help Desk Solutions for Better Customer Service
- Apple iPad Mini and RIM News Show How to Reposition Your Company
| 14 Ways to Handle Angry Dissatisfied Customers Online Posted: 05 Jul 2012 11:00 AM PDT Decades ago, unhappy customers would have to write a letter to let a brand know how dissatisfied they were with a product they just purchased. It was a private matter between company and client, and a lack of response from a noteworthy name wouldn't be unheard of. After all, letters in the mail do occasionally get lost.
However, filing a complaint today is now an incredibly public affair that can tear apart both the fledgling startup and the household brand. From the "Thumbs Down" button on YouTube to the poorly moderated comments on blogs, people have no problem expressing their distaste for something and telling absolutely everyone they can about it. We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation only nonprofit organization comprised of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question to find out how they deal with those who blast their dissatisfaction from behind their computer screen:
Here's what YEC community members had to say: 1. Learn to Empathize “Understand why your client or customer is upset before providing any solutions. Empathize by putting yourself in their place and understand how they were confused, disappointed or frustrated.” ~ Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems 2. Avoid the Blame Game “Instead of focusing on who is at fault, just focus on making the situation right for the customer.” ~ Josh Weiss, Bluegala 3. Switch the Medium “If you’re confronted with a nasty blog post, email or forum post about your company, try to engage with that customer on the phone. Most people would never say the things they write online (especially when they feel they’ve been taken advantage of). By switching communication mediums and proactively calling the customer, you can diffuse a situation much easier than doing so online.” ~ Matt Mickiewicz, Flippa 4. Don’t Engage Online “It’s so tempting to want to acknowledge, better understand or fix a complaint online. While you certainly want to address the issue for the customer — so that the complaint is a footnote rather than a reoccurring theme in your online profile — you don’t exhibit professionalism when you handle your business in an online chat forum. Get the customer’s contact info, then take it offline.” ~ Alexia Vernon, Alexia Vernon Empowerment LLC 5. A Second First Impression “You don’t want a customer’s anger to be their most recent impression of your company. By going the extra mile — offering them a free product, calling them to check in or sending them a gift in the mail — you’ll help shift their frustration into satisfaction.” ~ David Adelman, Reel Tributes 6. From Angry to Advocate “Many times, your angriest client can become your best advocate. Chances are good that you can make them happier then they were before their problem. Angry clients need help, and you need to give it to them to make them happy. You may have to invest some more money or time, but the payoff will be worth it for you in the long term.” ~ Louis Lautman, Young Entrepreneur Society 7. Kill Them With Kindness “Whenever possible, do absolutely everything you can to go out of your way — above and beyond — to make the angry client happy. The worst thing you can do is ignore a client’s complaint. Seek to understand why they’re unhappy and do everything you can to make it right.” ~ Matt Cheuvront, Launch 8. Honesty Travels Far “People know when you’re saying a few prepared sentences to get them to relax. Determine what the client/customer is upset about, reading between the lines if you must, then have an honest conversation about how you will remedy it. Doing this out in the open on your social networks can show the character of your company, and if the person is being irrational, your community will recognize it.” ~ Pete Chatmon, Double7 Images 9. Go With Your Gut “When a customer complains online, sometimes they kjust want something for free. Would they say that same online comment to your face? Most likely, they won’t. Find out what the problem is and if they just want something for free, then “fire” them. If you bend over backwards for one customer like that, then more will expect it, causing you to lose time and money.” ~ Ashley Bodi, Business Beware 10. Address It ASAP “In today's online world, it's important to address issues before they get out of hand. Respond to the negative comment with a resolution or offer to speak with the customer offline. If it's unfounded, perhaps turn to your company blog or social media platforms to explain the situation to current customers so they don't think you've ignored it completely.” ~ Heather Huhman, Come Recommended 11. Go Public “You will upset customers. The worst thing to do is to sweep it under a rug by deleting their complaint online or simply ignoring it. Take ownership for their disappointment, then do everything you can to resolve their issue. Do this publicly so that other customers know that you have a culture of excellence.” ~ Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches 12. Are You Sorry? “Too often, those words are never said. If you simply start your conversation with “I’m sorry,” you might find that’s all someone is seeking. We often want to say, “I’m sorry but…” and everything after this phrase is all the customer hears. Instead, tell them that you’re sorry and listen to their issue.” ~ Erin Blaskie, BSETC 13. Meet the Demands “If your customer is furious and wants a refund, give it to them. If they want to exchange a product, let them. If they want to talk to your boss, hand over the phone. Any minor inconvenience or money lost will pay for itself tenfold over the life of the customer when your good service turns them into someone who is raving about your business.” ~ Sean Ogle, Location 180, LLC 14. Fire Them! “This might sound contrarian, but often, it’s the right thing to do, especially if you’ve followed all the other great advice in this article. Of course, refund their money if that’s an issue, and wish them the best. Just remember, you can’t service everyone and it’s best to focus your energy on clients and customers who are the right fit and alignment for your business.” ~ Michael Margolis, Get Storied Angry Online Customer Photo via Shutterstock From Small Business Trends |
| Online Marketing: How Much To Spend Posted: 05 Jul 2012 08:00 AM PDT Are you promoting a product online with a finite budget? Or maybe you need to follow a measurable marketing plan at your larger company? Imagine you have $5,000 per month for online marketing – how do you go about spending this?
Boil It Down To One Customer Let's say, I am selling a software product for $100 per month subscription. How much would I pay for a new additional customer? In other words, if I can simply pay to acquire another 40 or 50 customers per month, what would I be willing to part with? To answer this, you should calculate the "Life Time Value" (LTV) of your paying customer. In other words, how many months does one customer continue paying the $100? If the answer is 5 months, then your LTV is $500. Of course, to earn $500 you would not spend more than this amount on acquiring a customer. There are lots of equations, depending on the product, to derive the ideal acquisition cost. But I believe the situation is different for everyone. For example, in venture-funded software companies, or newer ecommerce companies, folks spend an insane number of dollars to acquire customers (at first), because they are trying to capture a large portion of the market and create their brand name. In other cases, there is stiff competition in what you are pursuing, and thus you will need more marketing muscle. However, my view is simple – you should spend what you are comfortable with. I will be chewed out by analysts and math geniuses for suggesting this approach, but I have my reasons. Unless you have a strongly defined goal, such as, "I need 1000 paying customers to launch the phase 2 of my idea," you should spend based on: 1.) The cash you have available for the next 12 months 2.) all other costs that you have to account for, from the $500 revenue per customer Of course, not all costs are variable (on a per customer basis), but you should assume that you are not going to acquire 10X customers in the next couple months. But Where Do I Spend My Money? After all the above calculations, you may conclude that you are comfortable spending $100 to acquire one new customer. Since we do not have a specific business or product example, I am going to stick to my software subscription model from above. Let's assume you will scout out all the different options such as Google Adwords, email newsletter campaigns run by reputed vendors/partners that serve your audience, online banner ads and ad networks. "Scouting out" means you will have to make an estimate (educated guess) on what traffic is going to give you one new customer for every $100 spent. Let's look at this example to understand how to make this guess better: You are setting up an Adwords campaign with a total budget of $1500 per month ($50 per day). The keywords that you want have suggested bids of $3/click for the first page. Assuming your budget gets utilized every day; this translates to 500 clicks for the month. From your site's past traffic data, you must have calculated the number of visits that convert to customers. For example, if 10% visitors sign up for the trial, and then 10% of those pay – your result for the Adwords campaign would be 50 trials (10% of 500) and 5 paying customers (10% of 50). At $1500, that translates to a $300 acquisition cost. Three times more than your $100 comfort level. So maybe Adwords is not for you. The only way to find better channels is to either experiment with a few different networks or get references and reviews from advertisers going after the exact same market. On the flip side, keep in mind that you need to stick to a campaign for at least 4-6 weeks. Doing something for a week and calling it a failure is simply not enough data. While assessing different ad networks, ask them what their average CTRs (Click through Rates) are. This is relevant when you are paying per impressions, instead of per clicks. These networks will take a fixed sum of money from you and promise, let's say, 200,000 impressions. But you need to know the average clicks that advertisers get on those particular sites. Online Marketing Money Photo via Shutterstock From Small Business Trends |
| Ten Help Desk Solutions for Better Customer Service Posted: 05 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT Customer service is mission critical or so we often hear from experts. Beyond trying to manage a complaint, why is it so important? If you don't have a process for managing customer requests, questions, or technical difficulties, you may be reducing your profits. The following ten help desk solutions, also known as customer support software, are all aimed at refining how you guide your customer to satisfaction and loyalty.
At first, a product or service is what attracts a customer's interest, but it is often the reputation a company has for service afterward that determines whether they come back or not. It also drives word of mouth recommendations, online and in real life. Live Chat, Ticketing, email support are just a few of the things that make tracking a customer request easier. Call logging, a knowledge/information center that reps/agents can pull information from quickly when answering questions and the best of these have social integrations so you can keep up with what's happening around your brand and company name on Facebook, Twitter, and beyond. The biggest value of a help desk is that your customer information is in one central place. If a customer calls in at another time, around the same request, any employee can help them or pass their call to the appropriate department. Here are ten that you might consider: Desk.com from Salesforce.com is one of the dominant players in the help desk space. No credit card required for the free 30-day trial, then pricing starts at $1/hour for part time agents you might have or $49/mo for each full time agent after the first one (which is free). So, in a nutshell, a one person shop could use this support tool for free. LiveHelpNow helps keep your business up and running 24/7/365 with its web-based software. Plans start at $21/month after a 30-day free trial. FreshDesk offers the first agent free on all its plans and special pricing for startups and nonprofits. 30-day free trial, then plans start at $9/month with hourly pricing for additional part time agents. They have catchy names on all their plans too: Sprout, Blossom, and Garden. SmarterTrack has one low price of $15 per month; for each agent that you want to add. 30-day free trial. I like the self-service option for customers who want to research their own answers. It includes a "Who's On" functionality so you can see visitors in the support community area. TalkDesk is more focused on being a voice platform so you know who is calling you. They tie into CRM systems and I include them here because they let you track interactions with your customers. You would likely need to add a help desk option to realize the full power of their system. 14-day free trial; has a free plan for one agent, and then $49/month per agent. ZenDesk is another market leader with a powerful help desk solution. You can customize ticket views to prioritize customer requests. I like that they put on educational webinars every week. They have a starter plan that donates your $20 purchase (for one year of service) to a children's hospital. You can have 3 agents on their $20/year plan, if you qualify as a new company. Regular plans start as low as $24/month/agent. 30-day free trial. Zoho offers almost every application a small business could need. Their help desk option is called Zoho Support and they offer "free for one agent" package, then $12/month for each additional agent. 15-day free trial. Kayako offers both a web-based and a pay-once full download software for its customer support/help desk application. There is a free 30-day trial, then $29/month on the SaaS version. The download version starts at $599 for up to ten agents. Helpdesk Pilot has 15-day free trial, then $895 on an annual basis for five agents for their downloadable, host on your own server version. Their cloud version is called "HappyFox" and starts at $39/month for 3 agents. HappyFox is here. They do have a free plan, too, if you scroll down. Helpdesk Pro offers a few different options that might work for some business owners. After a long 60-day free trial, they have a $29/month for unlimited users on their "sponsored" advertising-supported version. The next level is $59/month for unlimited agents. Efficiency leads to lower expenses and improved profits, but not every business owner knows how to get there. Help desk solutions may be the key to improving employee productivity which in turn yields greater customer satisfaction because you have eliminated bottlenecks in the communication process (and elsewhere). Keep me posted on what solutions you are using and why in the comments below.
From Small Business Trends |
| Apple iPad Mini and RIM News Show How to Reposition Your Company Posted: 05 Jul 2012 02:30 AM PDT New Apple iPad and RIM announcements following negative projections show how you, too, can reposition your company, ignore the critics, and reinvent your product or service. Setting a new direction may be the best way to beat competitors or turn your business around in tough times. Here’s more. The Tablet ShrinksApple iPad mini casts big shadow. The company that revolutionized the tablet market is trying to reassert its dominance with a new iPad model featuring a 7 by 8 inch screen. One of the prices of being an innovator is that competitors will often enter the field trying to outdo your product or service. The best strategy is to keep innovating. Bloomberg Innovation cloaked in mystery. As it has done in the past, Apple is employing theatrics including an air of mystery to market its rumored new iPad mini device. We don’t all have Apple’s resources, but as an industry leader, you can certainly use any attention you already command from customers to educate about your new direction. Don’t be afraid to spread the word. MacRumors Maintaining a competitive advantage. Another interesting point about the rumored launch of a new, smaller tablet, is its pricing, possibly between $249 and $299. There’s not always a need to undercut competitors on price. Analysts suggest Apple rivals are having trouble competing with the $400 iPad with devices as low as $200. BGR RIM Plans ComebackRIM will empower people. The central message from Thorsten Heins, CEO of RIM, in a recent open letter to the public is “Don’t count BlackBerry Out.” Don’t give into critics or negative thinking. After suffering setbacks, your company, too , can pick itself up and decide to do something new. All it takes is the determination to change direction. The Globe and Mail Sales will stink. Heins concedes there will be some hard times to get through. The company is planning a new product launch in about six months. Until then sales will be down, but better times are coming. You’ve probably faced some difficult challenges in your own business. It takes time to change course. Be patient and realize that reinventing your company doesn’t happen over night. eWeek The shape of things to come. A leaked “road map” of devices set to come out of RIM as the company transitions its approach shows some interesting things on the horizon. A report suggests two new BlackBerry 10 phones and a new tablet are among gadgets on the drawing board that could be in consumers’ hands sometime next year. Repositioning requires a revolutionary approach. Let’s see what these new devices will offer. TechCrunch Reinventing Your BusinessDo you have what it takes? With three quarters of the UK’s small businesses planning significant growth over the next three years and 47 percent of UK small businesses planning to introduce new products and services into the marketplace, it’s a cinch that some of these businesses will be reinventing themselves to get the job done. Here is some inspiration any business owner can draw from. Real Business Even the big guys need change. EBay was once a revolutionary concept in online sales, but its revenue has plateaued, causing the company to fall behind rivals like Amazon as the e-commerce ecosystem evolves. Today a new team is working to reinvent Ebay to recapture prominence in the online sales market. How can you reinvent your business to lead your market with innovation? Fast Company Changing your story. Sometimes the key to reinventing your brand can have to do simply with changing your customers’ perceptions. Take the television advertising campaign for Dutch beer maker Grolsch, which is using a savvy visual narrative to reposition itself to enter the world beer market. The key is how customers perceive the brand. Marketing Week The key to competition. Under the old approach, businesses found a competitive advantage and sought to exploit that advantage for greatest profitability, at least until competitors entered their market and forced competition on price. In the new hyper-competition model, Tim J. Smith, managing partner of Wiglaf Pricing, says the goal should be constant reinvention and self-disruption before competitors can enter the market. The Wiglaf Journal From Small Business Trends |
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