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“What To Do When Customers Yell At You…”
By Costas Peppas
It’s a simple fact of life. You can’t make everybody happy all the time. Even if you’re perfect, some people are just flat-out hard to please.
But what should you do if they’re in your face, shouting, and telling you everything that you did wrong?
YOU CELEBRATE!
(Of course, you should at least wait until after they leave.) But seriously, a customer complaint is a genuine cause for celebration.
Here’s why: If your customers are unsatisfied for any reason, the overwhelming majority will NEVER say anything to you. They’ll just simply STOP doing business with you and move on to your competition.
The worst part is - if you had only known about their concern, you could have easily fixed the problem!
FACT: Your customers would rather leave than complain to you.
There are plenty of other options in your industry that your customers can choose from. Why would they go out of their way to complain to you when it’s much easier to simply take their business elsewhere?
So we actually owe a huge THANK-YOU to those who do complain!
BOTTOM LINE: Customer feedback will not only help you stop some of your unsatisfied customers from doing business elsewhere, but it will also give you an opportunity to do whatever it takes to prevent their problems from ever happening to another customer.
How The Internet Can Help You Get More Honest Customer Feedback…
Now that you know you desperately need feedback from your customers, here are two quick, yet powerful ways the Internet can help you get it…
1. Have an anonymous customer feedback survey available on your web site.
For many people, typing is easier than confronting a person face to face - Especially when the subject matter is negative.
An ANONYMOUS customer feedback survey on your web site gives people a chance to tell you what you’re doing wrong without feeling guilty about it. Nobody likes to hurt anyone else’s feelings. However it’s a little easier to do so anonymously.
Where to put it:
In addition to having a “feedback link” on your site at all times, one place to put a survey like this is in a pop-out window. A pop-out window appears when someone closes your web page.
Imagine a message coming up that says, “Hey, before you go…what’s the single biggest reason you’re leaving our web site without giving our product or service a fair try?”
The responses you get will be invaluable to your business.
How to get more feedback:
Feedback is so important, that you should offer a reward for filling out your online survey. People will be much more eager to help when there’s something in it for them.
It could be a dinner coupon, a discount off your product or service, or a prize drawing entry. Actually, it could be anything that has real perceived value to your customers (no free “soap-on-a-rope” offers here, folks).
Regardless of what you give – MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN ANONYMOUS FEEDBACK SURVEY SOMEWHERE ON YOUR WEB SITE.
2. Stay in regular contact with your customers.
All relationships must be nurtured. Your relationship with your customers is no exception. You want them to feel like they know you as a friend.
One way to do this is to have your web site send automatic, personalized emails to all of your customers a MINIMUM of once every two months.
The messages will thank them for being a customer (a small gift or discount is appropriate here), encourage them to fill out your online survey, and it will blatantly ask them to tell you if they are unsatisfied.
A great line that many companies use is, “If you are satisfied, then tell a friend. If you are unsatisfied, then tell US!”
If you don’t nurture your relationships with your customers, they will keep their valuable feedback to themselves and you will continue to quietly lose customers and lose business to your competition.
Instead, get their honest opinion. Then…listen.
Costas Peppas
Tired of web developers who made sites that look pretty but that don’t make any sales, Costas Peppas founded Digital Charis to help businesses actually generate revenues from their websites. Costas is a website publisher who specializes in Web Development, E-Commerce solutions, and Search Engine Optimization. www.DigitalCharis.com
For more information call 1-800-356-0397 or go to:
or email him at:
costas@digitalcharis.com
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