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50 small things to help improve your customer service

May 21, 2013

Here’s a guest post Greg Meyer, a member of the Customer WOW team at Desk.com, wrote for our WordofMouth.org project. Check it out for more great word of mouth marketing tips like this every day.

“The Thank You Effect” is an example of a small action that prompts meaningful next steps to measurably improve service in any company. In my experience, there are a number of these small actions that, when evangelized through a support team or through the larger company, can really make a difference on the customer experience.

So I made a list of 50 small things that you can do to measurably improve customer service in your company. I’m not a purist, so some of these things might be “bigger than a bread box” — or need to be broken down into component steps — and aren’t quite ready to be measured on their own. And I do believe that adding only some of these steps will really improve the service culture at your company.

And #50? That’s the most important one: Go for it!

Try out a few of these ideas, see what works best, and then do more of that. Beloved companies aren’t made overnight — so start by taking a few small steps today.

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Copy Protection is the Opposite of Copy Promotion (which we call “marketing”)

May 20, 2013

I’ve often thought that over-done efforts at copy protection kill the limited piracy that helps start the word of mouth about new content. Or they just make it too hard to use, and frustrated consumers walk away.

David Pogue writes about Tor Books’ test where they dropped copy protection and saw no measurable increase in piracy. Read it here.

David’s analysis is right on:

  1. Copy protection is never going to stop determined pirates
  2. Folks with no money aren’t ever going to pay you anyway, so it doesn’t matter if they steal the work
  3. If it’s easy enough to buy legally, most people will buy it
  4. Your loyal fans will buy it legally and encourage others to buy it to support you
So the big lesson: It’s more important than ever to build a fan community. A rock-solid fan base is the best marketing you can do, and they will support you and protect you.

P.S. Read the comments. It’s pretty upsetting to us authors when people complain about a $10 ebook. If you don’t think years of work by us and hours of enjoyment to you aren’t worth $10 — that’s a pretty heavy-duty insult. Most people wouldn’t work two hours for ten dollars. Think about it.

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It’s the empty space that’s useful

May 19, 2013

Lao Tzu said:

Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore benefit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.

We manage communities for executives and this is very relevant advice: It not the content we produce that makes our communities useful, it’s the empty space that we give them to talk to each other that’s so valuable.

Our job isn’t to fill the empty space, it’s to protect it.

Lesson: Are you trying to do to much, manage too much, deliver too much? Maybe you need to give your customers/fans/communities room to add the value.

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Spam vs. Viral

May 18, 2013

Seth Godin is a man who defined honest and effective email for all of us. Permission Marketing and Unleashing the Ideavirus are required reading for our team.

Here’s a healthy reminder of the biggest ideas in email from two of Seth’s recent blog posts:

Is this spam?

If you have to ask, it probably is.

The essential truth is that spam is always in the eye of the recipient. If you think it’s spam, it’s spam (if you’re the recipient. If you’re the sender, your opinion is worthless.) I don’t care what the privacy policy fine print says, if someone thinks it’s spam, it is.

The best definition of permission marketing used to be messages that were anticipated, personal and relevant. If this is going to be an asset of your organization (and it should be), let’s take it to the next, easily measured level: would people miss it if it didn’t arrive?

Once you have people looking forward to what you have to say, no more worries about spam. You’ve built an asset worth owning.

(Read the full post here)

How to write copy that goes viral

The best approach is to not try to write things that will go viral.

No, the best approach is to write for just one person. Make an impact on just one person. Even better, make it so they can’t sleep that night unless they choose to make a difference for just one other person by sharing your message with them.

The rest will take care of itself.

(Read the full post here)

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Showing that you care about your customers

May 17, 2013

Salesforce com

Salesforce.com is going to be down for 5 minutes tonight. Really, not a big deal to most customers.

Most companies would have hoped nobody would notice. Salesforce gave us all a warning when we logged in.

It’s how you handle the little things that show the quality of your customer service.

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Newsletter #937: The “Dream Teams” Issue

May 16, 2013

[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.] Teaming up with another brand is a great way to share fans, word of mouth, and opportunities to reward your customers. [...]

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Do something grand, nice, and selfless every week

May 15, 2013

During the Boston Marathon crisis, the Chicago Tribune sent pizzas to the Boston Globe. A note said: “We can only imagine what an exhausting and heartbreaking week it’s been for you and your city. But do know your newsroom colleagues here in Chicago and across the country stand in awe of your tenacious coverage. You make [...]

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4 key groups to train on word of mouth ethics

May 14, 2013

This is a post from our WordofMouth.org project. Check it out for more great word of mouth marketing tips like this every day. Nobody is going to put their reputation on the line to recommend you if they have any questions about your trustworthiness. It takes a long, long time to build this level of trust — [...]

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I can’t code, and you can’t sell crap.

May 13, 2013

That line is great advice in a post from Gary Vaynerchuk. What he’s saying: Know who you are and what you’re good at. So many folks look at people succeeding in other professions and longingly wish they were doing that. Professors want to be business people, executives want to be coders, coders want to be [...]

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