Effecient Customer Service With Autoresponder

Ideally, when you perform customer service, it is done on a one-on-one basis with each of your customers. That works quite well in the offline world – but on the Internet, that simply will not do. Your customers are literally all over the world, and there is no way that you can really deal with each one of them personally. That is where an autoresponder comes in.

Customer service with autoresponders is quite simple. When an order is place, an autoresponder can send out the receipt for the sale, the information for accessing the product, and a ‘thank you’ email.

This happens whether you are logged in to your computer or on vacation in an exotic location! But customer service doesn’t always end right there, and if you are away from your computer, you may be letting your customers down!

For instance, an elderly gentleman sees your product advertised and places an order. Everything goes through just fine, and he receives the receipt, the download information, and your ‘thank you’ email.

Your product is an ebook, compiled into a PDF file.

This particular gentleman doesn’t understand what a PDF file is, and he has no idea what you mean by ‘right click to download.’ He needs additional customer service for the product that he has purchased, and there is nobody available to help him – nobody but an autoresponder.

Set up an additional autoresponder that will send out a list of frequently asked questions or problems that deal with customer service or how to access the product. Also set up a support autoresponder. If he sends a message to support, he should get an instant message back letting him know that his message has been received, and how soon it will be addressed. This will give him some measure of comfort, and in most cases, he will wait that specified period of time for assistance.

However, if he doesn’t know how to download the product, and he sends a message to support, and nothing happens, he will most likely become very dissatisfied in a very short period of time. The difference between a patient customer and an irate customer is one simple autoresponder message that can and should be set up in under five minutes.

Really think your ordering process through, and consider the potential problems that may occur for your customers. Get an autoresponder set up to address those problems, and you will find that your customers are more satisfied with your products, and extremely satisfied with your customer service – all because your autoresponders handle their problems right away!

About The Author

Dechen Lau., is an Author, Speaker and Internet Marketing Consultant
http://www.powersuccessresponder.com
http://www.powersuccesshost.com

Customer Service -- Customer Loyalty Wins Sales

Batteries not included. Three of the dumbest words.

Your Company spent millions of dollars to develop this wonderful product. Engineers spent countless hours creating and refining it. You spent additional millions of dollars in advertising to get me to buy it.

I bought it. I took it home and now it won't work because YOU neglected to include the only part that WILL make it work. For a couple of extra bucks, your cost and mine, I'm frustrated and angry with you and your Company.

It's the same with customer service.

No matter what you sell; whether it's goods or services, big ticket or small, sales and customer service are not two separate pieces. Every sale must come with the customer service built in.

Exceptional customer service is NOT an extra cost of doing business. It is an investment in your own future success.

In the early 1950s, my uncle had a very small clothing store in Miami, Florida. In those days, Miami was a major entertainment center, with the biggest names in show business appearing at the major hotels, very similar to Las Vegas today.

One evening, as he was leaving the stage at the end of the early show, a young singer ripped his tuxedo jacket on a nail sticking out of the wall. It was after 8 P.M., all the clothing stores were closed.

The hotel management called the major stores and owners because the singer didn't want to go on stage with a torn jacket or worse, no jacket.

None of the fancy clothing shop owners would leave their homes to accommodate the young man. Finally, in desperation, my uncle got the call. Would he come downtown with a couple of tuxedos?

Within an hour my uncle was at the hotel with 4 tuxedos. He did the fitting and tailoring right on the spot.

The young singer and the big hotel management were ecstatic. The singer tried to shove a few extra hundred dollar bills into my uncle's hand, but he wouldn't take the money, explaining that he was honored to have the opportunity to earn the business.

The singer promised that he would never forget my uncle's kindness and would tell his show biz friends about my uncle. True to his word, the singer continued to tell his friends about my uncle, even as his singing career skyrocketed.

The young singer - Frank Sinatra.

My uncle - went from a tiny clothing store on the edges of oblivion to "Mickey Hayes - Clothier to the Stars"; his walls covered with hundreds of photographs of the biggest names in show business.

On the other side of the coin is INTEL, the major manufacturer of computer chips, and, a great company.

Some years ago, Intel's newest chip had a design flaw that caused a problem in only the tiniest number of calculations, and only in highly complex situations. As this problem began to get reported in the press, owners of computers built with these new chips wanted replacements.

Intel's management stated that these customers were somewhat stupid since only highly complex calculations in specialized situations would experience that problem and then, only on the rarest occasions. They said that they would replace the chip if the customer could substantiate the claim that their chip was flawed.

How stupid. If it only goes bad once in a zillion times, why not give a lifetime guarantee? Most of the customers would never run into that problem. If they had immediately offered the lifetime replacement guarantee, ALL of the customers would have had a very high degree of confidence that they would never need to take Intel up on their offer.

Intel finally did offer lifetime replacement - after worrying, offending and insulting millions of their customers.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from Nordstroms; the department store famous for customer service. Their service to customers is so incredible, that people go out of their way to shop there.

Mr. Nordstrom calls it 'customer heroics'. "We do it because we want more business - NOT simply because we're nice guys."

I've always told my employees - "don't save me 'MY' money. If it helps the customer, SPEND my money. Even if they make a mistake, they won't be criticized if it helped the customer".

Nordstrom, over a period of many years, has developed a corporate culture of service to the customer. Any corporate culture, if it is going to endure successfully, MUST take on a life of its own, apart from the wishes of management. It has to be adopted by every employee, because THEY each think that it's a good idea.

Whether you are a 1 person operation or the largest company, you know what good customer service is. It's the Golden Rule applied to business - "Do unto others".

Listen to your customers' spoken requests - and unspoken. They'll tell you what they want. Add a large portion of your own good common sense. Make a commitment to yourself that you will give your customers, service beyond their highest expectations

If you will do these few simple things, I can guarantee you success beyond YOUR expectations.

About The Author

Gary Wollin is a Warren Buffet style investment advisor with 45+ years of Wall Street experience. He has been regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and many other publications around the world. He writes and speaks on sales, customer loyalty, and the stock market.

For more information, please visit http://www.garywollin.com.

Customer Segmentation Needn't Create Poor Customer Service

A popular way to segment customers is by revenue or profit generated, with "A-list" customers receiving more perks and personal service than "lower" categories. There are right and wrong ways to do this.

Doing it right means cultivating customers so they all feel appreciated, by developing or improving products to meet each customer segments' needs. Result: pleased customers and higher profit.

Doing it wrong creates risk of sub-standard service for "unimportant" customers, making them feel unappreciated and resentful. Result: missed profit opportunities and disgruntled customers.

Brand Image

When deciding how to service each customer segment, remember that every point of contact with a customer reflects on the brand, regardless of customer "importance." Over time, this has an impact on brand image and company reputation.

With the Internet so prevalent today, each individual has more power to voice his/her opinion than in times past, which directly impacts brand image and goodwill associated with the name. Each mistreated customer has the means to tell the world of her/his experience on Web sites that allow reviews (such as bizrate.com and Amazon.com) and online discussion forums.

An Example of Bad Service From the Customer Viewpoint

The way each of my credit card issuers treats me is a prime example. I always pay my bill in full (often early) and belong to the "cash back" rebate programs, so I imagine I'm in a similar customer segment for each and would expect to be treated similarly by these three competitors.

Not the case. Two of the companies make me feel like a valued customer. The third made me feel so unappreciated I closed the account. How the three companies handle "suspicious" activity on my account demonstrates the varying degrees of service:

- Discover card has a fraud specialist (or customer service representative) call me in person to ask that I review recent transactions with her/him.

- Citibank's computer calls me with an alert, asking that I call a number or go online to verify transactions through a computerized process.

- Advanta locks the account and sends a letter informing me they have done so. In my experience, the letter arrived a week after the incident and I was not notified by telephone (I called them when the "offending" vendor notified me of the decline). I asked customer service to allow future charges from that vendor, but they could not do so. Presumably, this meant an account freeze each time my authorized vendor attempted to process a legitimate charge.

All three of my card companies require that I take some sort of action to verify suspicious charges, which is to be expected. The approach, however, leaves a very different impression. Citibank and Discover both apologize for the inconvenience of transaction verifications and -- while I have to go through an extra step with Citibank -- both fall within my subjective definition of quality customer service. Advanta, however, does not apologize for the hardships of declined transactions and a frozen account.

To be fair, I do not know that my negative experience would have been handled differently if I were in a more profitably customer segment. It could have been result of badly trained customer service representatives, or perhaps this is standard procedure on all accounts.

Tips for Segmenting Customers Without Sacrificing Service

Customer segmentation is a good thing. It helps you recognize how customers are different and it should draw your attention to needs of different segments, prompting you to better meet those needs. Some ideas on successful segmentation:

- Segment by need rather than profit or revenue. A low-profit customer today could be high-profit tomorrow if you offer products and services that fill her/his needs.

- Look for ways some customer segments can effectively be more "self-service," which cuts costs for the company while meeting customer service needs.

- Build in ways to create exceptions in automated customer service processes, so as not to alienate those with special situations (in my example, by allowing a way to preauthorize account activity).

- If offering promotions, rewards, or other incentives to some segments but not others, "spell it out" for customer service representatives and structure your Web site and promotional mailings accordingly. By taking steps to assure customers receive consistent information across all channels of communication, you avoid customers being exposed to offers for which they do not qualify.

There are ways to segment customers without lowering customer service. By doing so effectively, you nurture business growth and reputation.

About The Author

Bobette Kyle draws upon 15+ years of Marketing/Executive experience, online marketing experience, and marketing MBA as inspiration for her writing. Bobette is proprietor at Web Marketing Place LLC and runs http://WebSiteMarketingPlan.com -- http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com -- where you'll find free marketing planning articles and resources. She is also author of the marketing plan and Web promotion book "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing For Small Budget Business."

Copyright 2006 Bobette Kyle, Web Marketing Place LLC. All rights reserved. Reprints must have URL in "About the Author" box hyperlinked and clickable to correct URL.