Friday, February 18, 2005
Gotta Love the Doubting Thomases
I love my customers. Even though I've automated most of my online activities, I make it a point to send a personal e-mail to anyone who orders my products and to check how her transaction went.
I love the customer who sends me an e-mail and tells me what she thinks of my product. I love the customer who takes the time to thank me for the kind of service she received from me. I love the customer who gives constructive criticisms and suggestions on how I can improve the product she bought. I love the customer who complains and asks for my help.
But there are two types of customer I especially love -- the customer who buys my product, asks for a refund and re-orders a few months later; and the customer who initially sends me an e-mail and tells me how unimpressed he is with one of my products and then buys it a few days later.
Three years ago, someone bought one of my e-books. Barely 12 hours after he ordered it, he demanded a refund. He said he didn't think the information in the e-book could help him and his online business. I issued him a refund along with a note permitting him to keep the e-book in his computer. A month later, he re-ordered it. It was when I was about to raise the price of the e-book and included several time-limited bonuses. In his e-mail, he explained why he bought it again. I ended up with a testimonial from him that I put up on the e-book's sales page and used in my e-mail promotions to convert more sales.
In May 2003, I began selling a simple software I created for writers. I created a free version to promote the paid version. In less than 6 weeks, more than a thousand writers had the free version in their computers. And in those 6 weeks, 3 writers e-mailed to tell me they were unimpressed with my software. Unimpressed as they were, they chose to remain on my software update list and read the writing-related articles I sent out on intervals to the users of my software. In July 2003, just as I was about to
raise the price of the software, all 3 of them bought it.
Everytime I encounter these types, I chuckle and shake my head. There's nothing like convincing these doubting Thomases to buy from me. And I feel I've accomplished something big when I get them to change their minds and pay for my products.
(Originally published in my @ Large on the Net column in INQ7.net)
»5:25 PM »Write comment
Posted by: sheryruss
Modified on February 18, 2005 at 5:31 PM Monday, February 14, 2005
Of Gallbladders, Appendicitis and Automation
I'm fed up. I'm done feeling like an invalid. I'm going back to work, even if I have to do it lying down in the next 4 weeks, 5 feet from my computer.
Last February 3, I had an emergency surgery -- a 2 for 1 thing. It was the culmination of a week-long tummy-ache. My doctor, after taking one look at the results of my ultrasound that Thursday afternoon, said he wanted me to check in the hospital because my gallbladder was swollen. He referred me to a surgeon.
By 5pm, I was settled in my room, watching TV and awaiting the surgeon. She came at 7pm, did several tests on me and diagnosed I have acute appendicitis. After a brief consultation with my doctor, they decided to open me up. They said whether my appendix was bad or not, my gallbladder's gotta go anyway. I said fine, they know best and proceeded to grumble about the absence of the TV remote. I thought I'd be able to watch Stairway to Heaven that night. (I confess, that particular Koreanovela is my one weakness -- I always look out for the pivotal scenes because I know the all-too familiar line, ""Langit ka at lupa ako. Hanggang tanaw na lang ba tayo?" will fade up.)
By 9pm, I was carted off to the operating room. My mom and aunt were behind. The attendants commented that my mom, aunt and I were the only people they knew who laughed and teased and appeared happy on the way to the operating room. Two and a half hours later, I was back in my room -- with a 5-inch diagonal wound stitched pretty on the right side of my tummy that tells I'm 2 organs less than when I was born. My gallbladder and appendix were removed, as they had been both ripe for burstin' by the time my surgeon opened me up. That night (and up until morning), my dad was in charge of wiping the drool off my mouth and cleaning up whatever icky stuff I threw up.
I stayed until Sunday, but I wasn't worried about my online business. I had automated 90% of my online activites that I knew everything will continue to work if I ever had an emergency. When I got back, I had hundreds of e-mails demanding my personal response. Because I was still under heavy medication, I responded in chunks of 5 e-mails every 2 hours (or whenever I had a lucid moment). There were several orders for my products but since I had the download process for each product automated, all that was left for me to do was write a personal thank-you note for each new buyer/customer.
However, after more than a week of lying down, of eating nothing but 'lugaw' and soft food, of making papaya my national fruit (for easy bowel movement since I'm not supposed to push or force myself to take a dump), of wearing 'dusters', of always needing help getting up, off and on the bed, of not being allowed to sit up or stand for longer than 15 minutes at a time -- I'm ready to feel useful again. I can't stay away from my projects, my sites, my online business for a long time. And like I said in the beginning of this piece, I'm going back to work, even if I have to do it lying down in the next several weeks.
And hey, writing this week's blog signals my return ;o)
»7:44 PM »1 comments (0
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Posted by: sheryruss
Modified on February 14, 2005 at 8:44 PM Monday, January 31, 2005
Cutting Jack off
I have a personal rule: Some customers are not worth the trouble of trying to keep them! Issue a refund at the first sign of trouble.
I know... it may sound like a rash decision, but hey, I'll run my business the way I want! Nah, kidding aside. There are occasions when it's wiser to simply refund a customer than to try keeping him and doing things to satisfy/appease him (e.g., some would suggest giving a complaining or loud customer additional products, discounts, etc.). Why?
Case in point: A couple of weeks ago, someone bought a product I was selling at a special discount. Let's call him Jack. Before Jack purchased my program, he would have gone through my product information page and read exactly how the ordering process would go -- from purchase to product delivery.
As soon as I received Jack's order (which was practically a few minutes later), I sent him his order details and download instructions. Jack came back with this reply: "User ID: ****4 Please send registration key. Note: Could you have made this a little more complicated?"
I supplied Jack his registration key along with the question: "Pardon me for not understanding what you meant by your note -- "Could you have made this a little more complicated?" Could you please enlighten me? Was the ordering and download process complicated? I'd appreciate your feedback so I can improve the process and make it easier on others."
(Note that a registration key was required for the product was explained to Jack on the product page, on the page after his order was processed, and the third time in my e-mail acknowledging his order, and that it's a one-time thing.)
Jack came back with: "My note, "could you have made it more complicated" was sarcasm. I have downloaded many programs from the Internet, and never had to go thru the steps required by your program. You could, for example, include the registration code in the original email, or you could have a built in code. In other words, your medthod is not so complicated as it is ANNOYING.
Now, I just cut and pasted the registration code you gave me and pasted it into the dialog box when I started up the program....it would not accept the registration code you gave me. What now?"
(There was only 1 step in order to activate the program after downloading -- that is, copy the User ID and e-mail it to me so I can generate a key for it.)
I gave Jack his key again and added: "Please make sure that when you highlight and copy the registration key, there are no extra spacings before or after it.
Regarding the registration code -- the registration key is different for every download, because the program gets tagged with a different user ID for each computer it is downloaded to as a security feature. Thus, it's not possible to include the registration code in the original e-mail since I do not know the user ID of the customer who downloads it unless he/she lets me know. However, the registration code needs to be keyed in only once to unlock the program, so licensed users are not bothered or annoyed anymore into having to input it everytime they use the software."
(I had to secure my software to protect it from being passed along indiscriminately and at the same time protect licensed users who paid for it.)
A few minutes later, Jack came back with a rather indignant e-mail: "With all due respect, I know how to cut and paste, and I know about extra spacings,etc. Those things are basic. When I open the program, I get a Registration dialog box. The box asks me to enter a User Key. I enter the Registration key you sent to me, but it does not accept it. I have done it several times with the same results. If we cannot get this fixed, I think it would be a good idea to cancel the purchase. Please give me a solution or tell me what we need to do to cancel the purchase."
My response: "Hi, Jack. I meant no disrespect earlier when I suggested to make sure that there are no extra spacings when you cut and paste. I've had a couple of customers who experienced this problem and found out that when they were highlighting and pasting, they were accidentally including an extra space or so. My suggestion was not meant to imply that you didn't know about basic things such as copying and pasting. I have no knowledge of your computer proficiency, and I was only providing troubleshooting support.
The user ID you gave me was this: ****4 and the registration key generated by the program I used to compile the program is this: ***-***-***-*** . The user ID will only work with one registration key, and vice versa.
»5:31 PM »1 comments (2
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Posted by: sheryruss