There are two methods to get and retain customers. In this post, I’m going to look at how Credit Experian attract and retain customers, and then I’ll look at Highrise HQ.
Credit ratings. We all want to know what our score is right? Especially when they offer to point out helpful ways to improve your score, based on your individual circumstances. Plus, when it’s free, what’s not to like? Credit Experion offer "Get your FREE credit report". Then charge you £7 for signing up, and a further £7 per month subscription. When you try and access your report, you’ll be informed there’s a further charge of £7. Every time you want to get your score. Annoyed, I tried to find the unsubscribe button to cancel my subscription. No-where to be found. I was told to phone them, 9-5 Monday to Friday. This was on a Saturday. I was not impressed. Then, to top it all off, when I phoned to cancel I was told that my score was completely inaccurate as they didn’t have a complete profile on me – which they could ammend if they had more details.
Let’s summarise the approach:
- Trick the customer into clicking an ad. Offer something free perhaps.
- Get them to sign up for £7 (hey, it’s an established brand), and then tell them they can cancel at any time.
- Charge them a further £7 to give them the information they have signed up for (and by this time they’ll have invested so much time trying to get their report – of course they’ll go for it).
- Chuckle at the consumers gullibility.
- Make it hard to cancel the subscription.
- Inform them at the last minute that everything they’ve seen is wrong, and all they need to do is go back and put in more information. Oh, and of course, pay another £7.
The result? An angry customer.
That’s one approach.
Let’s contrast that with Highrise HQ. Highrise HQ is a lead management SAAS (software as a service), that requires the user to pay the not insignificant price of $29/month. But they give you the first month free and tell you can cancel at any point within the first month and don’t pay a penny. They offer a simple, but very effective and quick service. It does what it says on the tin. And then, to my complete astonishment, they e-mail their customers after three weeks to let them know that unless they cancel soon, they’re going to start paying for the service.
- Attract customers through word of mouth and cross-selling (these guys do basecamp, for example).
- Offer a free trial that’s a full version of what the customer will get.
- Inform the customer before the trial runs out that they need to cancel if they don’t want to incur charges.
The result? Potentially, a customer for life.
Take a good look at how you attract, deal with and retain your customers. The old tricks will never compete with the transparent "i’ll offer something brilliant and give you every chance to say no" approach. Be remarkable and do not be tempted to perform cheap tricks to keep them hooked in on a bad product.
Ben
Posted in: Customer Service, Usability
Don’t have your picture on your website? No information about yourself?
Your customers are more likely to engage if you put some personal information about yourself on your website. This is true whether you are offering one on one services, or selling to a mass audience.
People don’t come to websites trusting you in the same way they will when they walk into a shop. Showing who you are and telling people about you engenders trust.
Ben
Posted in: Copywriting, Marketing
Any business wants to sell its services or products to the highest number of potential clients, don’t they? We all want to find a global audience for what we do, and have as many satisfied (and paying customers) as is physically possible, don’t we? After all, isn’t that the way to make it big?
To this end, shouldn’t we make sure the text we write, the image we display and the language we use as appealing as possible to the highest number of people? Shouldn’t we avoid anything non-PC, that risks being offensive, or really that even takes a stance on controversial issues? That’s the way to appeal to your biggest target audience, right?
Wrong.
If you appeal to everyone, you’ll dilute yourself so much, you’ll end up appealing to no-one. Ultimately, you can never be anyone but yourself. Your business is unique too. No two businesses are the same. They have unique voices, unique ideas and a unique identity. Embrace your difference! Don’t be afraid to show yourself for who you really are. Rather than weakening your appeal to the masses, you will strengthen your appeal to the customers who are ideally suited to your service or product. These are the customers you want.
How do you make this work online? Here are some ideas:
- Create interesting bio’s with pictures – show yourself, and write something interesting about you (something interesting that’s non-business orientated).
- Write a blog. If you are going to write a blog, make sure it’s focused on a small number of people whom you can genuinely help or interest. This blog, for example, is focused only at business owners who want to improve their online marketing. Other’s may get some benefit (if you are in marketing, sales, or work for a business), but really I am writing to the informed business owner who wants to improve website strategy.
- Make your blog personal. Don’t be afraid to let yourself creep into what you write. I love fast cars, and travel. I hate watching TV (apart from The Apprentice) and can’t stand cats (I’m allergic – which is a half-decent excuse). If any of these things put people off me – then they probably aren’t the kind of person I’ll be able to have a good relationship in any case – why try and pretend otherwise?
- Actively dissuade the wrong type of customer from purchasing from you. This idea may sound off-putting at first, but it is real gold. Tell your prospects when not to buy from you. I make websites – if your budget is less than £1,000 over the course of the year – I’m not setup to help you. There are dozens of very good designers and programmers who can – but I’m not one of them (though I can help you find one if you need it). Why is it a good thing to tell this to prospective customers? If someone only has a £500 budget and I’m not aware of this up front – then we both waste a lot of each other’s time before discovering we’re not a good fit. If you sell flowers in Hampshire and not in Devon, make this clear on your website. You’ll save a lot of wasted time telling people "no, I’m afraid we don’t deliver to Devon", and you’ll also appeal even more to all the prospects in your Hampshire region – if I want flowers and live in Hampshire, I’m more likely to pick up the phone to you when I know you can deliver to my area.
Have a good long think about how you can make sure your unique voice comes acorss on your website. And if you still don’t believe me, take a look at companies such as lush and innocent – they are pretty unique, and last I heard they were doing pretty well…
Ben
Posted in: Customer Service, Marketing
