Customer Service and Retention

Customer Service, Retention and Damage Control

These tough economic times demand that we do our due diligence more than ever before. I can't think of an area where that is more true than in customer retention. Customer service, retention and damage control are necessary skills for every online business to master.

What do you do when your customers complain? Avoid becoming rude or dismissive at all costs. It's sometimes hard to separate business and emotion but it is vital that we are always professional.

I used to work for a company that passed out these little stickers to all of the employees. These stickers were meant to go up in everyone's work area and printed on them were, 'The Customer Is Always Right'. You've heard that saying before and you certainly know that it's not always true. Companies use these old dried up sayings to remind their representatives that they do not have the authority to argue with the customer. They want employees to refer serious complaints to management rather than tell a customer that they are wrong.

This is a very important step in marketing - customer retention. Customer retention is one of the most important parts of marketing and it is also the most ignored. As online business owners we don't have the luxury of referring an irate customer over to customer service management or the retention department. We are the only thing standing in the way of keeping that customer.

You Can't Keep Them All

We're not going to recover every customer that has had a bad experience and, truthfully, we don't always want to. At the very least we want to control the potential damage an angry customer can cause. Yes, there can be damage. You don't want them posting negative comments on blogs and forums. You certainly don't want them launching a complaint on scam sites or even worse - the Better Business Bureau.

One of the easiest ways to get started on practical customer service and retention is by offering a very easy way for them to contact you. By using a helpdesk you can be certain your messages aren't being filtered out by whatever email service you use. The message is stored on your site and the alert emailed to you is by you.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Phone

I normally won't buy a thing online if the site won't provide a phone number. That doesn't mean I want to call before I buy it just means I want that option should something go wrong. I have to assume there are a lot of people out there that feel the same way. I offer my cell phone number, email and a bunch of other methods of contact right on my HelpDesk Sure, some of the calls are a pain in the neck but it's much easier to calm an frustrated customer down before they really get mad from spending a bunch of time trying to get in touch with you.

Make It Better

Work with the customer to solve the problem. Remember, future sales may depend on your reaction and you would expect no less if things were reversed. Listen to the problem or issue and do everything you can as fast as you can to fix it. If it is something that can not be immediately corrected then perhaps a refund or replacement offer is in order. Or a free upgrade or perhaps even a partial refund.

It's Business - Not Personal

The bottom line is that we need to separate our personal likes and feeling from tough business decisions. We must handle customer service and retention like our business depends on it - because it does.

Latest example of bad customer retention - The banking industry

Brian Hawkins - Publisher of the Extreme Ezine, Your internet marketing newsletter. Quality Content, Contests, Jokes, Quotes and more... Free email publication for webmasters, business owners, online marketers and affiliates. See why top marketers subscribe to the Extreme Ezine.

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