SBTDC e-BRG customers

How can I use my site to learn more about my customers?

Even the most static, cost-effective ("free") and low maintenance website provides opportunity for you to know how it works and to learn about your customer. You can provide unique phone numbers, e-mail addresses, or sales contact names — "Ask for Joe" — when no Joe works for you, as methods to know that the sales contact came through your website at one time or another.

When you know customers have seen your website, ask them questions (when appropriate) about their use of the Internet and about the information your site provided. To be more active and aggressive, your website should first follow these simple rules:

There are clearly stated and motivating benefits.

There is an immediate reward for visiting, like a free report or subscription to your online newsletter.

You are an excellent information resource for your niche(s).

Your site loads quickly, is logically arranged and easy to navigate.

Your sales process is simple and quick.

You provide easy-to-use email interactivity to answer questions and fulfill customer service.

Key words in the above points are "easy," "clear," and "quick." Remember that the number one reason people choose to make Internet purchases is convenience.

http://www.naturalnetmarketing.com/thirty.html

This site provides a fairly comprehensive overview of marketing issues.

Steps to take to learn about your customer

Establish as many points of contact as possible on your home page. Use it as a place to generate emails, phone calls, faxes, and snail mail enquiries. Set up ways (autoresponders or a dedicated-to-the-task employee) to:

fulfill requests for free reports and other promotional pieces

send sales letters and announcements

answer surveys

Give your customers the chance to tell you what problems they want to solve. Your customers are looking for a solution to a problem, even if they haven't consciously identified it. By helping them define what they need, you drive them to the solution.

Provide the customer with the opportunity to express themselves. Use a form with a blank comment box for them to write in so they can ask what they want related to your business, product, or service. Use e-mail as your main direct response tool. If you can get your customer to provide you his/her email address, then they have agreed to receiving certain information from you ("opt-in"). Initially, this tells you that this is a customer that has strong potential to return to your website and its products and services.

To make it clear that you truly value the customer relationship, provide bonuses. They might include, for example, a password-protected "members section" for special reports, discussion boards, and special offers; samples of new products; informational product-related audio or video tapes; and/or provide a free or discounted business report for your customers.

Rules for learning more about your customer from your website:

Provide simple and fast pages with information taking the customer to the next step — contacting you for more information.

Provide mechanisms to bring them back to the site, to get their e-mail address for further interactions, and to keep them engaged.

Follow-up every contact and after every exchange with related and relevant information that gets the customer closer to a purchase decision.

This is one of many jump-off sites that can lead you to examples of web customer retention. Use the searches with phrases such as "customer retention," keeping web visitors," and the like to see examples.

http://www.zdnet.com/

This is a business portal that has a quality search function that will provide dozens of examples of utilizing your web to learn about your customer.

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