Nurturing Resources

In Cyber-Space The Little Matters Count

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in the little matters. Colin Powell

Take a tip from Colin Powell. Remember the little matters. It's the little matters that build brand equity and develop product positioning. It's also the little matters that destroy brand equity and damage product positioning. Customer loyalty is one of the major reasons given by companies for establishing a presence on the World Wide Web. However, customer service programs are the neglected stepchild of a web site's support design.

An Internet site is the most effective method marketers can use to develop one-to-one customer relationships. Traditional forms of marketing communications and distribution cannot leverage the technology available on The Net. No where else can each transaction, each visit, or each sales call be customized to meet a specific customer's need. One simple, but often over looked, little marketing strategy is e-mail. If incorporated as part of an overall marketing/customer loyalty program e-mail can serve as a powerful and cost efficient tactic to reinforce the bond between brand and customer.

Beware though, the expanded use of this new technology has changed customers' expectations. Research indicates that customers have a different perspective when using the Internet for e-commerce and business communication. Not surprisingly, a faster response time is anticipated. Delayed response or no response may be the little matter that begins to erode brand equity.

How does your company handle e-mail information and sales requests? Where do the requests go? If into a cyber-space black hole, consider putting customer satisfaction standards into place. Little matters can produce BIG results in developing customer relations in cyber-space … or in the 'real world'!

Toby's Top Ten Tips: email

1. Personalize the response. Address customers by name.
2. Develop response time standards. If customers' questions involve research time, inform them when to expect a more comprehensive message.
3. Develop internal control systems to ensure that customers' concerns are addressed. Beware of using only autoresponders.
4. Create response messages that are written in user-friendly language. Watch out for technical jargon.
5. Create added-value responses. Include additional information; reference to a feature on your site; or embed links related to customers' inquiries.
6. Continue the conversation begun by your customers. Now may be a good time to ask a few demographic, product-based, or web site design questions.
7. Invite customers to re-visit your site. Remind them of the next content update.
8. Embed a link back to your home page in your e-mail response. Encourage customers to easily return to your site.
9. Sign the message. Provide a "real" person to contact if further information is needed.
10. Conclude by thanking customers for visiting your site and taking time to request additional information or place an order.