Need Help!
I Need Help Right Now!
By Bob McElwain
Note: Bob McElwain ran his highly successful Sites Tips and Tricks website for many years. When he closed the site to pursue other activities, he granted permission to reprint his articles. Some are very outdated now, but there are so many gems of knowledge that we decided to publish the enitre series on Smart Web Center, just as they were originally published.
Many business have gone to the elevator-music mode in answering their support lines. You dial, get a recording, and get to guess which is the best button to push. Guess wrong, and you get to hear more music. You may get a recording: “Our average wait time is 20 minutes.” This shows you what they think of your time. Is this a good business practice?
Lots of companies must believe so, for many have implemented such a system with a vengeance. They appear to be doing all possible to avoid dealing with customer support. They seem to believe the name of the game is more sales. Period. They continue to erect ever greater barriers to block out unwanted pleas for help.
The Online Parallel
Online, the situation is often worse. As a customer, email may be the only contact you have. If a company representative hits the Delete key to avoid a reply, you’re dead. Then there are filters. A company I had been doing business with for three years apparently took offense to a couple of questions I asked, and filtered out my email address. There is no longer a mailing address or phone number on the site.
The impact of such strategies on large companies may be uncertain, but they will quickly kill a small one. Web surfers are getting smarter. And while each day brings a flood of newcomers, they learn fast.
Go For The Gold!
There is an enormous potential in all this for small businesses. Simply by providing truly great support, you can improve your position effectively and generate a much greater flow of repeat business.
Answer it quickly, completely, but succinctly. As with product, over-deliver. That is, seek to anticipate subsequent questions and include the necessary information right now. And do it all cheerfully, while demonstrating strong interest in the needs of your customer.
If you are working a day job or simply haven’t time for this, hire someone to do it. Spam will disappear for you. Requests for information or directions will be handled appropriately. And you will receive only key messages that require your personal response.
Before discarding this idea as nonsense, give it a try. When you are able to get an answer to a customer thirty minutes after their message was sent, you are at some point going to get a prompt reply that begins with, “Wow. That was quick.” You will become a believer when an order follows minutes later.
An 800 Number Is A Must
An 800 number for orders has been required for years. One for support is not common in small businesses. The mode seems to be to let the customer pay if they want help. It’s a bad move. Use your 800 order number for support as well. If you need to keep the order line available, add a second 800 number. Either way, make sure a real live person answers promptly.
Again, if you work a day job, hire someone to take calls. A professional service is not required. Check with your neighbors and friends. Look for someone who would like to make a few extra bucks without leaving home.
Provide 24-Hour Support
People shop the Web at all hours, if for no other reason than differing time zones. Your 800 support number should be available on every page, particularly your order form.
If you are just getting started, you won’t have many calls. Consider taking the off-hours calls yourself. Even let the late night calls ring through into your bedroom. This may seem a step too far, but it will demonstrate the need for this level of support. In time you will decide to hire out this service.
Q&As Help
A great way to cut down on support requests is to create and maintain an up to date Q&As section on your website. While many sites have such a page, it is often inadequate and/or old stuff. A support page that is well organized and easy to navigate is a real plus. Many visitors prefer to find answers themselves, rather than make a call or send an email.
Every support question becomes a candidate for a Q&A. Given even one repeat, get it up there.
Shopping Guidance
If you offer a variety of products, visitors may become confused. Set up a page of suggestions, and comparisons if appropriate. And include that 800 number with good answers when the phone is picked up.
Shipping
Offer at least UPS. Many are turning against the US Post Office. Priority Mail boxes often arrive squished. More and more people now live in housing developments in which they must go to a central site to pick up their mail. A package too large means a trip to the post office. The same is so for rural delivery. If it won’t fit in the curb-side mail box, I get that ominous little bit of yellow paper and get to drive eleven miles to pick up the package. UPS comes to my door, and does so even with a foot of snow on the mile-long driveway.
Guarantees
You’ve got to give one, and deliver as promised, else the dreaded chargeback. So make it a good one. 90 days at least.
If you ship product, consider including a USP return voucher. It costs you very little unless the product is returned. And if you are getting many returns, something is wrong elsewhere, as in over-selling, under-delivering, and so forth.
Sure It Costs
Price does not sell. You probably can safely raise prices to cover costs of support. But increased sales of themselves are likely to cover any additional costs. Include the benefits of such support in the first fold on your home page. And remind of it throughout the site, as in posting that 800 number.
When a customer demands help right now, provide it. If you don’t, chances are someone else will do so. They’ll get the sale, and the customer. You lose.
If You Know It Isn’t Broken,It May Need Fixing!
I know of a company selling a software package that can double, even triple, the price of the program and lose less than 4 to 6 percent of sales. What’s more, I can prove it. Simply. Easily. The response to my suggestion? “We’re doing fine now, and see no reason to change anything.”
I know of another program I could sell like hot cakes. I agreed to feature it on my site and in my newsletter. I requested a discount of 40%, to be split equally with my visitors. That is, 20% to me and a 20% savings to purchasers. Response? “Why should I give up 40% when I can have it all?” A comprehensive explanation of how this works effectively in the offline world, fell on deaf ears. As did the suggestion of an affiliate program.
People Are Hesitant To Change
In the above, part of the rejection likely stemmed from the fact that I made the approach. But here is a different kind of situation, one I have encountered as often offline as online. It goes like this.
I am approached by someone concerned about their business. They feel something is not quite right, but can’t put their finger on it. In the process of collecting information and preparing recommendations, I often come across something else that should be happening, but is not. Or something that is simply wrong.
Suggestions regards these findings are generally brushed aside with something like: “I’ve been doing very well for N years now. And I can tell you this much for sure. …”
“If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It.”
Such thinking ignores the possibility of more effective alternatives. It stifles all thought about ways in which current procedures can be improved.
Still, there can be legitimate justification for resistance to change in the brick and mortar world. A change may bring not only added risks, but added cost as well. For example, a proposed price change may mean massive reprinting costs of four-color sales literature. But there is no such excuse online.
Give It A Try
If you are contemplating a price change online, install a simple script that will send half your visitors to the original pages and half to new pages. There is only a small time cost in setting this up and such scripts are inexpensive. Here, there is virtually no risk at all, because your site will give you almost immediate feedback.
Suppose the number of sales over 10 days at your original price is 40. If over the next 10 days you have 20 at the original price and 15 at twice the price, there is likely no need to go further. Even if you must run for 20 or more days in order to be certain, where’s the risk? A few bucks in lost time and sales is about it. No medium has ever offered the opportunity to test as quickly and inexpensively as does the Web. Yet few make use of this powerful strategy.
Why Is There Such Resistance To Change?
Apart from fears to be addressed in contemplating any change, the most common reasons appear to stem from the reactive nature of many businesses. That is, rather than a continuing reevaluation of all aspects of the business, management tends to act only when forced to do so. They react to customer objections, a sales pitch for a new product, an advertising campaign, and so forth.
This pattern typically includes a conviction that when all seems to be working, considering a change is a waste of time, if not downright foolishness. The focus is on the latest and greatest enhancements available. It’s a pattern that works reasonably well for many. However, it overlooks opportunities for significant improvements in current procedures.
Such attitudes can kill on online business quickly. Change is an inherent factor in the Web. What worked yesterday, may fail today. Much that is part of older sites is now out of date. This can easily be overlooked given familiarity with the site.
What Needs Doing
The way to break out of such traps is to approach your website as a whole with the intent of experimenting. Focus on all those many elements assumed to be just fine.
· Ask yourself if that headline you’re so fond of can be rewritten to be more compelling.
· Ask if there is any possible change you can make in the first fold (screen) to persuade more visitors to click a link or scroll on down the page.
· Since people scan, check the subheadings. Are there enough of them? Is each sufficiently compelling? Does the first line following each have sufficient impact to draw the reader further into the content.
· Would simple things, such as a change in font face or size, make any difference at all?
Exempt nothing on any web page from this examination.
Where Best To Focus
For maximum gain, look closely at those elements that seem just right, those that do not seem broken in any way. They may be just fine, but over time a flaw may have come to be accepted. Also look for elements that worked well when implemented, that may not be getting it done now. If you can discover even a small change that has a possibility of bringing improvement, do not hesitate to make it.
Check your stats with care on any change. And limit the amount of change at any one time. Several small changes can be made at the same time. But if the change is major, as in a page headline, make no others. Then let your stats reveal the appropriateness of the change.
Hustle Your Friends
Since we tend to be blind to our own work, encourage serious minded friends to join in the hunt. This brings in a variety of computers and particularly monitors, which means you get to “see” your pages in different ways. If in doubt about a comment received, ask for a screen shot from their system. It can be a real eye opener.
Seek to include at least one MAC user. Their numbers are increasing and the MAC world is quite different. If you can’t pull enough input in this way, hire a professional.
Consider All Input As Gold
Regard all input with care. A single comment may point to something you feel isn’t broken, but actually is. Even if certain of your position, “fix” it anyway. There is little effort or risk involved. If the change does not bring improvement, revert to the original copy.
You may discover changes that improve your bottom line substantially. If pursued ruthlessly, you may obtain far greater gains than are possible from adding yet another profitable widget to your inventory.
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