Craft An Irresistible Price By Focusing On Your Users
Price influences behavior. In order to craft an excellent user experience, the price — and how your users interact with that price — must be central to the development of the product, especially applications. No user will welcome an application if the cost is prohibitive. This makes price every bit as important as design, information architecture and wireframing, and it goes deeper than just getting people to click “Buy.” By focusing on users in setting and maintaining a price, you will increase revenue, lower overhead and, most importantly, significantly improve the user’s (read customer’s) experience. Read More
Google Wave is Dead
Google Wave, the revolutionary product, platform and protocol for distributed, real time, app-augmented collaboration will no longer be actively developed and may be shuttered after the end of the year, Google announced this afternoon. Read More
Vanity Purchases Are All About Image Even in a Recession
Vanity purchases occur when a customer buys a product with the intention of using it to enhance or support their perceived personality or, as we call it in the Consumer Buying Behavior tutorial, their self concept. Read More
Train your customers
Yes, you can train them. By rewarding some behaviors over others, by keeping some promises not others, by having some expectations instead of others, you get the audience you deserve. Some things you can train customers to do… Continue Reading
Turn More Visitors into Buyers with Adwords Ad Sitelinks
Ad Sitelinks is a new Adwords targeting feature for sponsored search ads that allows you to extend the value of your existing AdWords ads by providing targeted and specific links for searchers whose keyword triggered your ad. Read More
Over the past six months, Sanlam and Pick n Pay have made a consistent appearance in the top five rated companies in the getclosure customer centricity ratings, and are also listed in the top five companies to work for in the Job Crystal Happiness Indicator:
The getclosure ratings incorporate three important measures: Did the company respond to the customer’s complaint promptly? Did the business treat the customer’s concerns with courtesy and respect? Is the customer left satisfied with the resolution reached?
Nine out of ten of Pick n Pay’s customers who have used the getclosure service are happy with the outcome of their complaints and with the way their complaints were handled. For Sanlam, nine out of ten of their customers are happy with the outcome of their complaints and every single one is happy with the way their complaints were handled. Both companies also have great track records when it comes to responding to complaints on getclosure promptly.
In the Job Crystal Happiness Indicator, Sanlam and Pick n Pay came in as the second and third best companies to work for respectively, with over two thirds of participating employees voting for them as “excellent to work for”.
These statistics demonstrate that staff satisfaction with the companies they work for and customer retention may well be two sides of the same coin. By adopting a holistic approach to customer service you will in effect be keeping all your stakeholders happy, which is arguably an end in itself.
To get you thinking about ways in which you can implement this strategy, read through our tips on how to effectively deal with and resolve your customers’ complaints. Look out for the next article in this series for suggestions on how to boost staff morale and increase productivity.
Article by: Emma Donovan, Content Manager of www.getclosure.co.za. getclosure is South Africa’s leading independent complaints management and consumer affairs portal. The getclosure service is fast, free and effective for consumers. All suppliers have the opportunity to respond to complaints on the getclosure site, free of charge. getclosure also makes a host of consumer rights news and information available to South Africans.
% employees registered on JobCrystal rating the company “best”/”excellent” to work for
With the ever increasing flurry of activity on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, ignoring your customers’ feedback is simply not an option anymore. To stay in the game you need to listen to your customers, engage with them and use their feedback to constantly improve your service and products.
getclosure’s independent complaints management service provides a simple, effective way for you to do this in the online space. As the getclosure service is discreet, you will have the opportunity to resolve issues promptly and professionally, before they spiral out of control on a public platform and damage your brand.
When one of your customers submits a complaint, we will deliver it directly to the most appropriate person in your company, and send them reminders to respond. You can log in to your getclosure dashboard at any time to track the progress of the complaint or contact your customer.
Consumers have the opportunity to give feedback once their complaint has been closed, and rate their satisfaction with the outcome of their complaint and how it was handled. Subscribers to the getclosure service have access to this feedback, which enables them to pinpoint exactly where they need to jack up their service. Contact us to find out more.
Here are a couple of handy tips to ensure that you make use of every opportunity to keep existing customers, and attract new ones too.
Respond to your customer’s complaint as soon as possible
Feedback on www.getclosure.co.za suggests that you have a much higher chance of retaining a customer when you deal with their complaint quickly and appropriately. Every complaint should be seen as an opportunity to win back a disgruntled customer and show them how much you value their support.
Manage your customer’s expectations
Give your customer a realistic estimate of when you will respond to or resolve the situation. If the matter needs to be investigated and takes longer than planned, apologise to your customer and give them regular updates on the progress.
Emma Donovan is the Content Manager of www.getclosure.co.za, South Africa’s leading independent complaints management and consumer affairs portal. The getclosure service is fast, free and effective for consumers. All suppliers have the opportunity to respond to complaints on the getclosure site, free of charge. getclosure also makes a host of consumer rights news and information available to South Africans.
If only these walls could talk, the saying goes. In the case of the N building near Tachikawa station in Japan they do. In fact the whole building facade has been transformed into a real time dialogue between smart phones and what’s going on inside the store.
All you do is hold your phone up to the walls and the constantly changing QR codes tell you what’s going on inside. You can also browse shop information, make reservations and download coupons.
The simple thing is that people listen to what their peers, colleagues and clients have to say about brands and companies. It’s either going to be good, bad or an ongoing form of gossip about ever move your company makes, all depending on where you are in the market and if your company fits into a social segment.
How to create a viral element
There’s no formula to create word of mouth marketing, but there are methods that can create the platform: read more
Being quite active on Twitter, I often notice how the brands and people I follow interact with one another. Twitter has become quite a powerful customer service tool for companies, as it is quite easy to monitor what people are saying about a brand, the industry or what they are looking for.
Brands can easily engage directly with Twitter users in a personal manner, but for large brands there should be an active person dedicated to monitoring Twitter. The way to make use of this form of social media for customer service is to be fast, proactive and provide actual solutions.
Here are a few examples of how some local brands are making use of Twitter for customer service and interaction:
It should be a priority to engage with your customers to maximise their value, which can lead to customers returning, referring through word of mouth and making a purchase.
Creating value can lead to customer retention, which is more important and cost effective than finding new customers.
The importance of status
It’s important to make your customers feel special. So find ways to make them feel important by giving them a status boost.
Offering exclusive items, access or features to select customers can help drive engagement.
Interact on a regular basis
It’s important for your brand to stay in the mind of your customers, which is why fan pages, newsletters and mobile messaging are popular marketing and relationship management tools. You can send them regular updates of new products, specials and more.
Keep it simple
Don’t go overboard with all the bells and whistles by trying to impress your customers. Simple strategies go a long way.
It should be a priority to engage with your customers to maximise their value, which can lead to customers returning, referring through word of mouth and making a purchase.
Creating value can lead to customer retention, which is more important and cost effective than finding new customers.
The importance of status
It’s important to make your customers feel special. So find ways to make them feel important by giving them a status boost.
Offering exclusive items, access or features to select customers can help drive engagement.
Interact on a regular basis
It’s important for your brand to stay in the mind of your customers, which is why fan pages, newsletters and mobile messaging are popular marketing and relationship management tools. You can send them regular updates of new products, specials and more.
Keep it simple
Don’t go overboard with all the bells and whistles by trying to impress your customers. Simple strategies go a long way.
One of the most useful ways that startups are employing social media is for customer service. “On the customer service side, beamME gets tremendous value out of social media. These days, people expect to be able to post issues with companies directly to Twitter and obtain a real-time response. This instantaneous access to our customers is invaluable,” said Gabe Zichermann, CEO of beamME, a maker of mobile networking tools.
Twitter for Customer Service
According to Zichermann, one of the most useful tools they’ve used to manage their customer-focused social media efforts is Hootsuite (), which has cut the amount of time necessary to look after their Twitter () and Facebook () accounts tremendously by allowing them to be used at the same time. “HootSuite is particularly effective and cuts down our time/cost requirements,” said Zichermann, who still advises getting someone, at least part-time, to help manage the flow of social media use and plan things out as far into the future as possible. “[That] will reduce the repetitive workload and make campaigns run faster.”
Phonebooth.com, which sells PBX services to small businesses, has had a similar experience using Twitter for customer relations. Said Todd Barr, Vice President of Marketing at Phonebooth:
“Twitter has become the launching point for many of our internal processes. We have multiple examples of responding to an issue on Twitter within a couple of minutes and being on the phone with them within ten minutes. A tweet actually starts an internal process where we pull in the appropriate parties, get our information together, and reach out to the customer.
All of our other social media usages are extremely important, but Twitter is actually helping to create a culture change. We’re able to quickly assemble the correct folks to improve life for the customer. Internally, this begins to shed light on the power of social media and the team of folks who want to be involved is gradually expanding.”
Barr told us that Phonebooth has solved over 20 customer support issues using Twitter and has also created a “vibrant product feedback loop, with good user participation.”
This week’s market research roundup covers topics on social media, customer service and a case study on the outcomes of mystery shopping.
5 Essential Apps for Your Business’s Facebook Fan Page
If you’ve already searched for some Fan Page inspiration and undertaken the task of building a custom landing page for your business’s Facebook presence, you may now be in the market for some features that will further engage your fans. Read more
Innovative stores and enhanced customer services key to Jackys Electronics success
Enhancing customer services, innovative store designs and new outlets in different Emirates proved to be successful 2009 platforms for Jacky’s Electronics, the UAE’s number one multi-brand consumer electronics retailer, which cemented its win as the Retail Company of the Year by ITP’s Channel Middle East Awards 2010. Read more
Mercedes-Benz UK Appoints New Managing Director Customer Services Group
MILTON KEYNES, UNITED KINGDOM – March 29, 2010: Mercedes-Benz UK has announced the appointment of Simon Oldfield to the position of Managing Director Customer Services Group, with effect from 1 April 2010. Oldfield has been promoted to this role after 12 years with the company, most recently as Sales Director Mercedes-Benz Cars and before that as Marketing Director. Read more
Outcomes of Mystery Shopping
During December 2009, tenants trained by the Society, posing as mystery shoppers, took part in an exercise to help improve the services we provide.
The shoppers contact staff in a variety of ways (by letter, telephone, in person at our offices any by email), and asked various questions relating to typical questions asked by tenants, such as repair reporting, paying rent, advice about anti-social behaviour, how to get a home and so on.
Each response was scored to check that our staff met the standards that we have set out. This is what the mystery shopping exercise revealed. Read more
Do you have friends or colleagues who prefer dealing with people rather than machines? My wife is like that. When she needs to know her bank balance or just get some cash, she will go out of her way to talk to a bank teller rather than fumble with an ATM; and she’ll always push the button for a “live operator” on an automated telephone service menu.
This doesn’t mean that my wife is averse to technology — she uses email, iPods, cell phones, and the usual array of 21st century devices. But at the same time she is drawn to personal, human customer service and wants it to be part of her life
For the past 20 years, companies have struggled to find the right balance between cost-effective, technologically-enabled approaches to customer service and person-to-person contact. While personal approaches have advantages for many people (like my wife), they require much more training, reduce consistency, and cost more. read more
