Astonish your Customers With These Customer Servic

Astonish your Customers With These Customer Service Tips

by: Catherine Franz

Customer service today is getting worse. Win customers over and you build your business for life. Proven by the leader in the industry Nordstromกs. Nordstromกs customer service keeps improving and they continue to drive others out of business because of it. Here are six ways you can thrill customers and snatch a larger market share from your competitors.

…Offer to do an extraordinary favor

Example: A customer of a moving firm wanted to ship a kitchen table and chairs set to his son in a city 300 miles away. But the moving firm had a hefty weight requirement and a high minimum fee. The firmกs manager said he made regular trips to that city. So he offeredat no costto load the set in his station wagon and deliver it on his next trip.

…Under promise, over deliver

A wellknown air freight company promises to deliver a package by 10 am the next morningbut often delivers by 9 or 9:30 am. A local printing company always finishes the job before the due date. These are companies customers can count on.

…Give them a benefit they don’t know exists

If your business offers coupons for certain items, discount those items for those purchases even if customers don’t have the coupons.

…Put concern above profit

Only offer customers items they can use. Don’t sell them higherpriced products just to make a big sale. Youกll win the loyalty of customers if you look out for their best interest.

…Follow up after the sale

The most successful salespeople follow up regularly at scheduled timesnot when they have a spare moment. Help yourself follow up by keeping a log of commitments made and when you promised to keep them.

…Comfort customers in time of need

Letกs discuss this with an example. If a customerกs air conditioning unit blinked out on the hottest Saturday of the year. Have a backup plan for these type of emergencies. People never forget it when you ease their comfort and will become your biggest raving fan. Return their call no matter how busy you are or have a plan on how to handle these calls. Work later than normal or have someone parttime and oncall. Talk with them on how you can ease their comfort until you can make it there. Ask if they would like to go to the mall or a movie where it is air conditioned and you will call them when you arrive. It doesn’t matter if you are in the air conditioning and heating business or you’re a consultant, think of ways you can ease customerกs comfort. And don’t forget to advertise that as well.

About The Author

Catherine Franz, writer, speaker, marketing master, specializes in infoproduct development. More at: http://www.MarketingStrategiesToGo.com and http://www.AbundanceCenter.com. Including articles and ezines.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 21

by Catherine Franz

Is Your OnLine Business Customer Friendly?

Is Your OnLine Business Customer Friendly?

by: Philippa Gamse

Customer service is increasingly seen as one of the most valuable uses for a commercial World Wide Web site. Your Web site is available on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis. So it is well worth exploring ways in which your customers can virtually ขserve themselves,ก without the need for overtime staff, or lengthy voice mail procedures.

James Feldman is President of JFA, Inc., an online business offering high quality and unique gift items including automatic watch winders, Grundig shortwave pocket radios, and nitroglycerine pill fobs. The JFA Web site has been online since 1997, and has doubled its income every year it’s now a multimillion dollar ecommerce enterprise.

Jim, who’s also a professional speaker and expert on customer service, highlighted for me how the online buying experience differs from the bricksandmortar model.

Buying online eliminates the physical presence and personality of the salesperson from the process. This makes the Web site copy critical in creating a onetoone relationship with the customer or prospect.

Which echoes one of my favorite mantras:

Every page of your site should be written from the visitor’s point of view, not yours.

A visitor should be able to look at your offerings, and immediately answer the questions:

ขWhy me?ข – that is, is your Web site the right place for me?

ขWhy should I care?ข – does this copy convince me that you can meet my needs?

It’s much easier and immediate to jump from Web site to Web site than to move between realworld stores. So the visitor has far more freedom of choice online. Jim says that the challenge for customer service is therefore very clearly to focus on one customer, one purchase at a time. Ecustomers expect great service, with little or no direct interaction. They will tolerate some mistakes, but not many.

Jim offers five rules for effective online customer service:

1. Be accessible. Show very clearly on your site all the ways that your customer can contact you – including email, phone and fax numbers, and your office hours.

And, if it’s practical for your business, be personal – give your visitors a real person to call who has a name, as opposed to [email protected]

Of course, if you’re really upscale, you can include a ขCallmeข button on your site.

2. Return every email or phone call in the same day, as far as reasonably possible. This may sound simplistic, but a recent experiment with the top Fortune 100 companies showed that nearly a third failed to respond to email sent through their Web site within one month! Some of these companies still don’t provide a usable email address on their sites at all.

3. Acknowledge all orders. Send email confirmations (this can be done very effectively with autoresponders), and if you’re shipping actual products, give tracking numbers and expected delivery dates.

4. Provide a clear return policy, honor it and learn from it. This may give you more information about what’s working and what’s not. Jim’s products are sometimes returned with no explanation, so his staff always call the customer to establish and resolve the problem.

5. Expect more phone calls. Jim says: ขCustomers can’t read or write!ข If your Web site traffic and response rates grow (which is, of course, what we want), so will the volume of phone calls, whatever your business or industry.

Regardless of the site quality, clear returns and privacy policies, secure servers, etc., people still require human interaction. All of my clients report talking to customers on the phone, and walking them through the Web site, where their questions are clearly answered. Maybe these psychological barriers will lessen over the next few years, but right now, they are very much there.

If you can get the customer service aspects of your business working well, there’ll be a definite bottom line impact. Jim is quite clear that his business has grown substantially through repeat business and referrals from satisfied customers.

And in contrast, we can see the impact of poor customer service and fulfillment procedures in many of the dot.coms that are currently failing. Jim says that people buy things online in the expectation of getting something more valuable than the actual money they spend.

Does your Web site do this??

JFA Inc. can be found at http://www.jfainc.com/

About The Author

Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is an internationally recognized ebusiness strategist. Check out her free tipsheet กBeyond the Search Enginesก for 17 ideas to promote your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be reached at (831) 4650317 or mailto:[email protected].

This article was posted on November 14, 2002

by Philippa Gamse

Customer Service A Lost Art?

Customer Service A Lost Art?

by: Craig Binkley

Is customer service a lost art? Before you answer that question, take a moment and think about the last few times you have gone shopping or out to dinner. Okay, now that you have really thought about it, is your answer any different?

Why is it that when we actually DO receive excellent customer service that it makes such an impression on us that we usually choose to go back? Why because the occurrences are so few and far between!!!

As a home business owner, it is imperative to my business that customer service is ALWAYS a top priority. Remember the saying: ขIf you don’t take care of your customer, somebody else willข. I’m sure you have read or heard it somewhere before…..and how true it is.

Here are a few ways to improve customer service at your business:

1) SMILE Sounds too simple, right? As a customer, would you prefer to be serviced by a smiling face, or a scowl that would befit a guard dog?

2) LISTEN Always be slow to speak and quick to listen. Let customers express themselves without you trying to do it for them. Nobody likes being interrupted.

3) DON’T BE TOO PUSHY Yeah, I know the bottom line is sales, right? There is a fine line between suggesting products/services and pushing them down a customer’s throat. If you are too pushy, your customer will probably walk away and take their business elsewhere.

4) PHONE ETTIQUETTE Whether you are answering or initiating a call, always remember who the customer is. Be polite. Try ขYes sir/ma’amข instead of ขyeahข and ขnopeข. If you don’t have an answer for your customer offer to do some research to find what they are inquiring about.

5) THANK YOU ALWAYS thank your customers. Even if you could not help them or they decided not to purchase from you. Leave them with a positive impression of your business before they leave.

6) TRAINING Train your employees. Don’t let an untrained employee ruin your track record of excellent customer service. Train your employees onthejob for as long as necessary to teach them good customer service.

ขAnd as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewiseข

Luke 6:31

In conclusion: Customer service may be THE most important aspect of your business plan. I know of many people who are willing to pay a little more for a product or service in order receive excellent customer care. Price, advertising, and location are all vital to a business but whatever you do, don’t overlook the allimportant ขGood Customer Serviceข.

About The Author

Craig Binkley – husband, father and home business owner assisting in the restoration of the ขtraditionalข family through home business ownership.

http://www.bornagainbargains.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 20, 2004

by Craig Binkley

Tips for Curing Bad Customer Service

Tips for Curing Bad Customer Service

by: David Bell

Bad customer service is everywhere these days — unmanned front desks, surly servers, clueless staff, employees talking on the phone, and managers who refuse to acknowledge a customer. It’s no longer an exception … poor service has become the norm.

In an alltootypical scene, a customer walks into a retail store with a question about where to find a product. The employee, who is busy and doesn’t want to be bothered, gives the customer a curt answer and continues what she is doing without even looking the customer in the eye. The customer persists, so, with obvious annoyance, the employee begrudgingly turns around and points the customer in the general direction of the product’s location. Instead of buying the product, the customer leaves the store, frustrated, vowing to never return.

Most business owners and employees recognize this as a classic example of bad customer service. And yet, this scene is repeated endlessly in modern society. Negativity breeds negativity, and eventually, nobody is happy.

ขNever, never, never ignore a customer,ข says Art Waller, Regional Department Head for Utah State University. Waller provides tips on how to improve customer relations, a vital segment of any business.

ขIt’s important to be accessible,ข Waller said. ขEverything is an interruption. A phone rings, someone comes into an office, that’s an interruption. But if a customer is right there, do that first. That’s why you’re there.

One of the single most important aspects of a successful business is good customer service. Waller cited recent findings in customer service. A typical business only hears from 4 percent of its dissatisfied customers. The other 96 percent quietly go away. Of this 96 percent, 68 percent never reveal their dissatisfaction because they perceive an attitude of indifference in the owner, manager or employee.

Waller said this statistic is particularly dangerous for businesses because if a dissatisfied customer can’t express their complaints to a business, they’ll express them through other outlets such as friends, neighbors and family. A typical dissatisfied customer will tell eight to ten people about their problem. One in five will tell 20.

ขIt takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident,ข Waller said. ขSeven out of ten complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favor. If you resolve it on the spot, 95 percent will do business with you again.ข

Waller said these statistics speak to the importance of taking action. Often an employee perceives dissatisfaction in a customer, but chooses to ignore it and hopes that the problem will go away. However, if the customer then goes away with the problem, the customer will likely never return to the business. This trend is what hurts businesses more than anything.

ขWe don’t have the ability to keep people that are already happy with our product,ข Waller said. ขThe average business spends six times more to attract new customers than it does to keep old ones. Yet customer loyalty is in most cases worth 10 times the price of a single purchase.ข

The first step is recognizing tendencies toward bad customer service. But how do businesses improve their overall customer service? Waller offered some basic tips:

Like what you do

ขIf you don’t love what you do, get the heck out,ข Waller said. ขIf you love what you do, it will be evident and people will know it.ข

People who have a bad attitude about what they do will reflect their attitude onto everyone around them, including customers. Like most everything in life, good customer service always comes back to attitude.

ขIf you believe your customers are a pain in the butt, guess what — you’re right,ข he said. ขWhat you say, what you do, and what you think are the same thing.ข

Learn to adjust your perception

Because good customer service depends on a good attitude, a bad attitude will surely diminish any facade of friendliness. Waller recommends that employees analyze what is causing their negative outlook and make a conscious effort to change, rather than cover it up with a false smile

ขHow do you change a belief of certainty?ข Waller asked. ขYou take out references and change it. Over time, it changes that belief system.ข

Establish Rapport

Customers will do business with people they like. Employees gain this approval by establishing rapport, or a positive connection, with a customer. Rapport can be established by simple gestures such as calling a customer by their name, recognizing mutual interests, asking questions, and making eye contact. The customer instantly recognizes the employee as someone who cares about their wellbeing, and is more likely to do business with the company,

ขWon’t you spend more money to go to a car dealership where you’ve been treated well?ข Waller asked. ขDevelop a genuine interest in and admiration for your customers.ข

So what happens when an employee doesn’t establish rapport? The customer automatically meets that employee with more suspicion, which leads to distrust, which leads to potential conflict.

Avoid a standoff

Many times businesses find themselves locked in an argument with a complaining customer that becomes impossible to resolve. Waller said the way to prevent this is to avoid the argument in the first place. His advice is to step back, analyze where the customer is coming from, and form a solution from their standpoint, not yours.

ขI never fought with them,ข Waller said. ขIn fact, I went into a dance with them. You’ve got to dance with them. You have the empathize, and get into their world.ข

Be reliable, be responsive and be credible

Local cable and utility companies are a prime example businesses that do not possess these qualities, Waller said. When a customer calls up in need of service, they give vague ideas of when they’ll be there (ขsometime between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.ข), sometimes don’t show up at all, and are generally indifferent to customers’ concerns. Because of this behavior, they have lost nearly all credibility in the public eye.

On the other hand, businesses such as MercedesBenz, Ritz Carlton Hotels, and Disneyland have all gained reputations for immaculate customer service, where employees are always nearby to cater to customers’ every need at any time. These businesses gained this reputation with years of training their employees to put the customer first.

ขThe customer’s perception is everything,ข Waller said. ขPeople pay for peace of mind. They want security, integrity, and the assurance that if there is a problem, it will be promptly handled.ข

All of these tips come down to the platinum rule, or to ขtreat people like they want to be treated.ข This rule takes the Golden Rule a step higher, forcing the employee to assess exactly what the customer wants and act accordingly, not just act as they would want to act in the same situation.

ขYou can’t reach everyone the same way,ข he said. ขYou don’t deal with reality. Nobody does. We deal with our perception of reality.ข

Waller said any attitude in good customer service fits in the ขas ifข clause. Always act ขas ifข you are the only personal contact that the customer has with the business, and behave ขas ifข the entire reputation of the business depends on you.

ขThe ‘as if’ clause puts you where you need to be,ข Waller said. ขThe bottom line comes down to relationships and how you treat others.ข

I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.

About The Author

David Bell

http://www.wspromotion.com/

Advertising research and development center

This article was posted on April 09

by David Bell

Top Ten Strategies for Delivering 5Star Customer

Top Ten Strategies for Delivering 5Star Customer Service

by: Bea Fields

Customer satisfaction is valuable, but customer loyalty is priceless. In todayกs competitive world of business, it is becoming more and more important to deliver customer service that is unbeatable. These ten creative strategies can support you in turning your customers into walking billboards for your business.

1. Treat your customers like royalty.

Hire a customer service representative to greet your customers upon arrival, and offer a coat check service so that customers can comfortably get to know you, your employees, and your place of business

2. Provide valet parking.

Providing valet parking can greatly improve access to your establishment when parking is limited or on days when the weather is challenging. (Note: Tips should not be accepted.)

3. Make a wait enjoyable.

If a customer has to wait, offer a cup of hot coffee, latte, or a glass of sparkling water, a comfortable chair, and a choice of current magazines. (Make sure to update your magazines frequently.) Every ten minutes, have a customer service representative update the customer on the status of their wait.

4. Provide a concierge service.

By adding a concierge service, you can provide added value to your customers กon the spot.ก Support your clients by making lunch or dinner reservations, making an appointment for a hair cut, providing a list of local attractions, or helping the customer find the one special item that is not offered by your business.

5. Call your customers every Monday morning.

Call your customers every Monday morning at the same time. Call to simply say กhelloก and to check in. Ask how things are going, if there is anything you can help with, or what is new in his/her life or business. Share ideas, laughter, and support. It works!

6. Provide กSame Dayก or Overnight delivery service.

In todayกs business world, quick service means happy customers and increased profits. By offering a same day delivery service or overnight via Fed Ex or Airborne Express, you will speed up your profits by providing your goods and services FAST!

7. Call customers on days of celebration.

Keep a file of birthdays, anniversaries, milestones, and special events (graduations, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs,) and call the customer on these special days to say กCongratulations…I am thinking of you on this special day.ก

8. Provide a voice mail ‘tip of the Day.ก

Make the most of voice mail and answering machines by posting a message that says กWOW!ก Include a ‘tip of the dayก on your message tape, which can prove to be highly entertaining and educational to callers, as well as a credibility and rapport builder for you.

9. Provide a cookie service.

One day each month, deliver homebaked cookies to your customers. chocolate chip or shortbread cookies are always popular. This service can be outsourced to a bakery who has a reputation of high quality, and a strategic alliance will be formed in the process.

10. Dazzle the kids!

Dazzle the kids and keep them happy while the parents do business by providing a highly creative กkids corner.ก Stack this area with games, coloring books, toys, and entertainment. During peak business hours, hire a magician, storyteller, musician, or balloon artist to provide a high level of interaction and pure FUN…will keep everyone happy and กcoming back for more.ก

About The Author

Bea Fields, Southern Pines, NC, USA

[email protected]

http://www.fivestarleader.com

Bea Fields is an Executive Coach and a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach. She is also a Consultant, Trainer, Public Speaker and author of the Five Star Leader ecourse. Her area of expertise is that of Leadership Development and Marketing for Executives, Managers, Small Business Owners, and Political Leaders.

This article was posted on July 20, 2003

by Bea Fields

Increase in Customer Sales = Increase in Customer

Increase in Customer Sales = Increase in Customer Service

by: Maida M. Barrientos

One of the most popular questions asked in online business forums or even by my customers and subscribers is this :

ขHow the hell can I increase my sales?ข

or

ขI’ve got tons of visitors but nobody seems to be buying anything? What gives?ข

FISHNETS WITH HOLES? ANYONE?

Getting traffic is not the be all and end all of a successful online business. It requires skills, specific online marketing strategies designed for your site and a robust customer service strategy.

So what if you have thousands of visitors per day! That does’nt amount to success, unless you close at least 5 to 10% of those visitors.

You see, when you get a lot of traffic from your advertising and marketing activities and nobody there to guide them, is like hauling a big fishing net in the water with a major flaw…..it has a sizeable hole in the middle. So you can say goodbye to eating fish…for now, at least.

Would you go and pick up items on display from a store that does not offer the least bit assurance of somebody manning it? Sure! Sure, we’re on the work smart, work less attitude but hey, humans prefer humans, and they most certainly will buy from somebody they’ve talked to before. You see, they need to feel some warmth and yes, especially on the internet where items are passed on in ขcoldข or ขdigitalข means.

DOING THE BOTTOMLINE

It’s good that you have some or a lot of visitors to your website, but the bottomline is that you should have the best customer service and a lot of options for them to contact you, the soonest. The more the better!

Look around you. Take a look at the most popular sites on the net or even your favorite newsletter, they all have one common factor, customer service availability.

The most common or popular customer service strategy is through a formtomail which prohibits anybody from spamming your email account rather than having them email you directly, well unless you have a very good email filter software.

But you can offer them additional ways to contact you such as these options below.

PROVIDE MANY OPTIONS FOR CONTACT

Online business is a contact sport. You want to close more sales? Then increase your customer service availability and options.

Providing them with a lot of options would mean that you are always ready to receive their inquiries, or issues with a welcoming smile. It would make you more credible. It would create a halo of success to your already plumed hat.

Let us take a look at some of the free ways for you to interact with your website visitors:

CHAT SERVICES

Mostly, website owners would be the one manning these free chat services and if you’d like to be assumed as a proentrepreneur you can always advance anytime to a helpdesk solution or upgrade from your free account.

Bravenet.com Free Webmaster Resources. Cut and paste services you can use for your site for free. They use LivePerson for their customer help service. (FREE AND PRO)

http://www.Bravenet.com

ChatForum.com – They offer free Java Chat Rooms & Advanced Custom Internet Chat Solutions (FREE AND PRO)

http://chatforum.com/

Parachat.com They’re solutios enable realtime communication on their own web site for a host of applications, including corporate interaction, moderated events, distance education, visitor retention, customer service, dating and romance, entertainment, and family fun. (FREE AND PRO)

http://www.parachat.com

Boldchat.com Boldchat is a FREE live chat service for web sites to do live help and live support chats with visitors. They don’t have ads and their free account is for unlimited personal use. (FREE AND PRO)

http://www.boldchat.com

PHONE SUPPORT

If you want credibility then put your phone number up in your website. Make it more visible to the eye especially on your home page or on your product or service order page. This way, they’ll be more comfortable to see that they can call you anytime. You can ask your local phone company to provide you with a 1800 number so visitors all over the world can call you for free.

RULING IN VOIP

VoIp is certainly getting it’s share of the market right now as more and more softphones or internet phones are coming out of the market every month.

What is voip? Voice over internet phone which basically denotes that you can now make clear pc to pc calls worldwide.

Skype.com

Take a look at Skype for example. They’re definitely a new player against giants like Yahoo, and MSN but they say that they have 14 million downloads up to date. I’m not against them but hey, they’re software is adware so you should be aware!

http://www.Skype.com

Buzzfon.com

There’s a new player in town and they call their pc to pc calling softphone, Buzzfonp2p. They’re giving away free 30 day trials and yes, the user surveys are in. They’re clear, the quality is amazing with no disruptions mind you even if you’re on dial up! So you can check them out. http://www.buzzfon.com and nope, they don’t have ads on them and you can even make pc to phone calls, phone to phone calls, phone to pc calls on their advanced version of Buzzfonp2p, aptly called, Buzzfon+.

GO BROADBAND FOR LESS

There are a lot of broadband services out there who would’nt charge you an arm and a leg for their services. One of them is Vonage and the newest player in town is Bonusfon.

Vonage.com

They have specific target packages for different market segments and they’re basically number one in terms of broadband user surveys.

http://www.vonage.com

Bonusfon.com

They are certainly getting their own share of the market, as what the energetic telecom owner Tam Sanchez said regarding distributing global broadband services. Their rates are highly affordable and they have a feature called pay –pertalk. Pay only for the services you need and you want. Yes, they’re lower than Vonage and more competitive and flexible in terms of packaging.

http://www.bonusfon.com

HELPDESK SOLUTIONS

Helpdesk solutions are web applications that you install on your own server or hosted on the provider’s server that includes most of the customer support solutions like FAQ, TICKET SUPPORT SYSTEM, and LIVE CHAT. Some even have phone in support.

There are a lot of helpdesk solutions out there which are free but then always has a drawback. It’s either, chatting service are slow on your server or it just freezes in the screen while you’re online or you can only try it if you have the latest language of php, and perl installed in your server.

There are particular helpdesk solutions we like that offers a lot more for less.

LiveHelp.Stardevelop.com – PHP Live Help Messenger is the new realtime, live chat, customer service software solution allowing customer support operators to chat to potential online customers browsing your web site. (Price : $89.00)

http://www.livehelp.startdevelop.com

DNAHelpdesk.com DNA Helpdesk is a powerful yet user friendly module for the corporate helpdesk available on its own, combined with DNA Pack 1 (Inventory) or as part of our overall DNA management suite. DNA Helpdesk is a fully web based solution providing detailed recording and tracking of user Help Requests. (Price : Commercial)

http://www.dnahelpcenter.com/

IN CONCLUSION

There are a lot of ways to interact and create a more personalized service than your other competitors and that will surely depend on the ways and means that you want them to contact you. Provide them more avenues of interaction and they will certainly trust you more than your competitors. Help them to help yourself.

Happy Profitting!

About The Author

Maida M. Barrientos is the owner and publisher of TalkingProfits.net, (http://www.talkingprofits.net) and a marketing assistant for Buzzfon.com (http://www.buzzfon.com) and Bonusfon.com (http://www.bonusfon.com), a premier voip solutions and broadband communitications provider. You can contact her at [email protected] for partnership inquiries.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 02, 2004

by Maida M. Barrientos

Along Came a Spider (Part Three) Thereกs More To O

Along Came a Spider (Part Three) Thereกs More To Online Success Than Search Engine Rankings

by: Julia Hyde

In the last two articles in the Along Came a Spider series,Iกve talked about the difference between search engines and directories, and how persuasive, keywordrich content can make or break your online business.

But these elements are really only the tip of the iceberg.There are at least four other factors design, usability, customer service and tracking (D.U.C.T.) to take into account if you want your online business to be a financial success.

Letกs start with number one, design.

1. Design.

Web design is like politics everyone has an opinion, and everyone could do a better job if only they had the chance. Like politics, I find it best not to get into too much discussion about the right or wrong way to design a web site. But there are some design elements it pays to avoid. Not because they don’t make the site look nice, but because they confuse and distract the visitor who is, after all, your potential customer.

Here are two things you absolutely must not let your designer do when he or she designs your site.

1. Use flash. Contrary to what some web designers will tell you, the vast majority of people who shop or surf online, do not like flash. Yes it can be entertaining, but it generally takes forever to load. And if you’re in a hurry (99% of Internet users), itกs frustrating and annoying. Interestingly, the search engines aren’t fans of flash either. They like words much better.

2. Use a dark background color. Seven out of 10 Internet users are over 40. And we all know what happens to peopleกs eyesight as they age. Don’t make your site difficult to read, especially for the growing, affluent, group of people who are responsible for over 25% of online spending. Don’t use white or colored text on a black, purple, dark blue,spotted or striped background. If people can’t read the words on your site, theyกll leave.

2. Usability

Web design is closely linked to the next element web site usability. But what does usability really mean? I don’t know what the official definition is, but to me it means making it as easy as possible for your user to find their way around your site, without getting lost.

We all seem to have a story to tell about getting lost or separated from our parents as a child. Shopping malls, on a Saturday afternoon, seem to be the favorite. One minute you know exactly where you are, where you’re going and whom you’re with. And the next, you’re totally lost. If you’re lucky, and old enough to read, there are signs and maps to help you find your way around or direct you to customer service. If not, thank goodness for store clerks and security.

Web sites are very similar to shopping malls except you can’t just ask someone for help if you’re lost or confused. For that, you must rely on the siteกs navigation. If itกs clear, youกll find what you’re looking for, make a purchase, and be in and out in no time. If itกs unclear, youกll quickly become confused, lost and disorientated.

There are some web sites itกs virtually impossible to get lost on. Amazon.com is one that springs to mind. Why? Because it has these wonderful tabs at the top of every page that tell you exactly where you are, and how to get to where you want to be. Iกm not saying every web site should be a clone of Amazon but before you build your own, study it. Thereกs a reason itกs so popular.

3. Customer Service

The brave new world of online sales hasn’t quite achieved all that it promised especially when it comes to customer service. Everyone who uses the Internet has experienced the frustration of trying to find a telephone number so they can call and ask a question. Generally, the number is buried so deep within the site you give up and move on.Even the online help and FAQกs (preferred) by many online companies) seem to answer every question imaginable, except, of course, the one you want answered.

Recently, the ETailing Group Inc. mystery shopped for customer service on 100 web sites. Only 10 earned a perfect score on the following กmust haveก criteria.

An 800 or tollfree telephone number

Keyword search

Answer emails within 24 hours, with a specific answer

Four or fewer days to receive a package

Real time inventory in shopping cart or product page

Online shipping status

Order confirmation in shopping cart

Email order confirmation

Recommended product/features in shopping process

Display customer service hours

Thereกs no reason why a smaller business can’t offer most,if not all, of the above customer service features, but many don’t. And thatกs bad for business. Most people view shopping online as a risky undertaking at best. Given the choice of buying from an unknown company, that doesn’t offer much in the way of customer service, or one of the big, trusted brand names, most will choose the latter.

4. Tracking

Getting your web site to rank well in the search engine results is almost guaranteed to attract more traffic to your site. But what you do with the increased traffic is equally important.

To ensure your siteกs success you absolutely must find out whom these visitors are, what they want, and where they came from.

To do this you need to analyze your web logs or statistics. Study them to find out which search engines people use to find your site. What words they use. How long they stay. What they do while they’re there. What pages they visit. What they buy. What they didn’t buy. Look for patterns or trends in their behavior.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a small business, a huge corporation, an online retailer, or a news portal; you must track, identify and get to know your users. Only then can you tailor your site to meet their needs.

About The Author

Julia is an independent copywriter and consultant specializing in print advertising, search engine optimization and search engine marketing services . To learn more about how Julia can help boost your companyกs profits visit her site at www.juliahyde.com. You may also like to sign up for Marketing Works! Juliaกs monthly ezine. Visit www.juliahyde.com/form.html to sign up or email Julia at [email protected] for details.

This article was posted on March 11

by Julia Hyde