Three Online Customer Loyalty Mistakes to Avoid
| Three Online Customer Loyalty Mistakes to Avoid By Lisa Yorgey Lester, managing editor, Target Marketing If you fail to serve the customer, you will lose a sale and possibly others that might have followed, which is serious enough. But if you fail to manage your customer relationships intelligently, you will lose their trust and destroy your business relationship, writes Ken Burke, founder and CEO of e-commerce technology and services provider MarketLive, in his book “Intelligent Selling: The Art and Science of Selling Online.” Burke recommends you avoid the following common mistakes that have a negative impact on customer loyalty. 1. Channel misalignment: Customers get disappointed and lose respect for your business when online discounts are not honored offline, when return policies in one channel are different from another, or when retail store staff is unaware of products offered on your Web site. Any disjoint between what you do and what you say (or what the customer thought you said) can damage the most crucial part of your loyalty-building toolkit—trust. 2. Poor Web site design: The desire to build brand identity can get out of control and lead to overblown graphics and inefficient navigation. Resist the temptation to elevate form over function. In the unique environment of the Web, quick still is more successful than beautiful. And, of course, quick and beautiful are better still. A good Web designer who understands and can work within the limitations imposed by the Web will save you large amounts of money in the long run , and directly improve your ability to satisfy customers and win their loyalty. 3. Lack of helpful tools: In a search to pare your site down to its fastest and most efficient form, there always is the danger of throwing the baby out with the bath water. If you have tools that customers expect to find, that they need, or that they simply like to use, you should keep them, even if they seldom, if ever, lead directly to sales conversions. Burke can be reached by e-mail at ken@mmlive.com |