Kirk is solution vice president of consumer loyalty with Maritz Research, a marketing research company whose data on customer behavior shapes the business strategies of market leaders worldwide.

Among the key findings of the company’s research on the impact of consumer experience, says Kirk:

• 43% of customers who defect from a brand do it because of a service interaction.
• Of those defectors, 77% blame employee attitude for the poor experience.
• More importantly, the large majority, 83%, of customers who defect because of poor service tell someone else about it.

“A company can do many things right with a customer, only to have it all unravel in one bad experience with a brand ambassador,” wrote Kirk for Promo Magazine.

Whether you’re the owner of a local hardware store or the director of a national electronics chain, these are numbers and insights to take to heart.

Read more from Kirk in “First Class to no Class: Learning Loyalty from a Flight Attendant” — Promo Magazine, May 17, 2011. Image credit: Richard Moross (Flickr).

When seeking applicants for a job, the smart boss knows there are several ways to evaluate a candidate. The CV or résumé offers a snapshot of the person’s capabilities in presenting him- or herself in written form. The interview is about the in-person presentation and “the vibe.” Finally, the references provide 3rd party support for the conclusions reached in the use of the first two.

So too the client testimonial. Take these examples:

You’ve found great pictures of a bed-and-breakfast online and the rates look great. But many former guests have placed reviews on Qype that state the place smells, is farther from the city center than advertised, and its bathrooms are poorly cleaned. Will you still book your lodging there?

Or what about the new Indian restaurant. Your friends have just tried it and they’re RAVING about how good the food is. How more likely are you to give it a try than if you’d only seen their “grand opening” sign?

For any business, word of mouth advertising is how one stands out on a field crowded with competitors. Customer reviews/testimonials play a large part in that, especially as more buyers take to the ‘net to research before they buy. The efforts you can undertake to convince buyers to choose YOU and your products or services  should include asking your current clients/customers to speak up on your behalf. (If they’re happy, they will do it for you GLADLY.)

How to make it work for your business:

• Make the ask: Place a call or send a personal email to your current and former clients asking them to be a reference for your business. If the person is also on LinkedIn, use the Ask for a Recommendation tool. Easy!
• Drop it into your marketing materials: Use snippets or even full text in your sales and marketing materials. If your current client says “I would recommend ArcherTC to anybody!” your prospective client may be persuaded by reading just that alone. Websites, brochures, sales letters — use it!
• Encourage your colleagues to do the same: Sometimes, the recommendation is for one of your colleagues. But if each member of the whole team is getting great feedback, that speaks wonders about the team as a whole.
• Help your clients talk about you: You know those “tell a friend” calls to action? They work. So don’t hesitate to ask current clients to pass on the news about what you’ve done. Better yet, make it easy for them by making suggestions: If they have a newsletter, ask them if they’d be willing to include a small statement about the work you did for them. If they’re in a business club, tell them you’ll offer a great price to any members they personally refer.

I’m sure others have more to share about their own experiences, so I’d love to hear them. What’s your take?

• How do citizens, journalists, political leaders, and donors already gain awareness of political campaigns?
• How can SEO and SEM help non-profits raise the visibility of their initiatives in an ever-crowded playing field?
• How can advocacy groups with more time- or media-sensitive targets use SEO and SEM to place their concerns in the very same spaces as those they are challenging?

Great tips. Worth the read. SEO For A Good Cause: Supporting Advocacy & Non-Profit Campaigns – Search Engine Land, January 14, 2011

Technology has opened new doors to the small business owner. In the generation of our parents, there were straightforward needs: a phone number, a list of contact names, and the simple determination to market the business. The World Wide Web changed all of that. Now, while you still need that phone number and a list of names, you also are expected to have a website and – with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn sites dominating marketing news – a social media plan.

Do you need to have all of this in place before you begin marketing your business? Of course not. However, it does help to have a place to start and, increasingly, marketing experts state that place is online. So before you place your first call or send your first email promotion, you will want to have a website ready to receive your first customers.

Why Is a Website Important?

A website is now considered the core of the small business marketing portfolio. It is as important as having a number that your customers can call and a business card that you can distribute at a trade show. Why? In increasing numbers, consumers are no longer turning to the printed Yellow Pages for information. Rather, they are going online and using search engines like Google or Bing to find everything from basic directions to a nearby retailer to recommendations for a new family restaurant. According to an ongoing consumer-focused study published in March 2010 by BIA/Kelsey, nearly twice as many survey respondents (90 percent) used search engines as the Yellow Pages (48 percent).

Because the first step to a successful marketing effort is being where your customers are, it makes good business sense to be online and findable.

Why is Purchasing a Domain Name the First Step?

There are many ways to get your business online with its own website, but the first step is to purchase a domain name. Domain names – like buymecoffee.com or insertyournamehere.com – are simply the addresses whereby a customer can find your website.

You will read from some advisors that you do not need to buy a domain name of your own to create a business website. In fact, some companies promise everything to you for free: an online address and the tools to build your own site. But these offers come with strings attached: The first is that the address that they provide (yourname.theirname.com) is merely an extension of their business marketing. Place that domain name on your business card and you provide the other business with free promotion!

The second problem is that their tools often come with their branding. Perhaps you have already seen websites like this: the text and banner advertising points the visitor to different sites all together. Surely you do not want your site to direct customers away from your core message!

Finally, just as if you were subleasing an office from a primary leaseholder, you take on the risk of the other company. If their business site closes, so does yours. This may be an extreme circumstance, but being a savvy business owner means anticipating the possible.

Are these the problems that you want your small business to take on in exchange for “free”? With prices for domain names at less than $10 per year, do yourself a favor and buy your own, unique name. Just remember to make it simple and memorable.

What Else Do I Need?

In addition to a domain name, you have two very important choices: a web design that provides the online polish to your small business story and a website host to show that finished product to the consumers looking for your business.

Design: Beyond the free sites come there are many inexpensive ways for you to launch your small business website to the world. At sites like TemplateMonster.com and ThemeForest.com, you can purchase complete website designs and hire developers at a fraction of the cost of an original design – a blessing to both your checkbook and your peace of mind. If you need a more complex site – with a shopping cart or a regularly updated blog, for example – there are free, open source programs like Zen Cart, WordPress and Joomla with which you can have your site built. These content management systems (CMS) are well-developed and often backed by passionate communities of users – many just like you.

Of course, hiring a designer to craft a look that uniquely represents your business is the best choice. But if you do not want to make that investment at the start, these options are available.

Hosting: Once you have purchased a template or a unique design, the next choice is to find a company that will serve it up to your potential customers. Prices for hosting companies can vary widely and so can service quality.

It helps to know what matters most to you and your business before you begin shopping. For example, how important is it to you to have 24/7 access to a customer service representative? If you have a small writing consulting firm, unexpected server downtime may not be as critical for you as it is for the owner of an auction site.

Use review sites like VistaInter.com and FindMyHosting.com to help you choose a host that provides the right balance of industry standard tools, pricing plans, and customer service.

What Comes Next?

These decisions, while small, serve as the foundation upon which your small business marketing can grow. With a memorable domain, a great design, and a strong hosting infrastructure, you can turn your attention to what really matters: the use of your website to promote your business to potential buyers of your products and services.

With inexpensive domain registration and equally affordable designs at your fingertips, online marketing of your small business is simply business smart.

Help your customers find you today with your first small business website.

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The author, Tammi L. Coles, writes for Archer Targeted Communication, a boutique marketing and communications company. Does your business need assistance in getting on the web? Call her for a consultation at +1 (888) 874-7470 USA or email tammi.coles@archertc.com.

The good wishes for the important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims seemed a milestone in U.S. marketing. “I finally felt that they are recognizing Muslims like we are a part of this community,” said Khatib, 31, a suburban Detroit mother of two. “We live here, we spend our money here.”

But on Best Buy’s website, people around the country posted contrasting views. “You insult all of the heros and innocent who died 911 by celebrating a holiday of the religion that said to destroy them!” wrote one. Many others said they would no longer shop at Best Buy.

The controversy underscores the continuing obstacles that retailers and other companies face in marketing to a U.S. Muslim population estimated at more than 2.3 million by the Pew Research Center.

Read more at Marketing to Muslims poses a challenge for retailers – Los Angeles Times, 25 Jan 2010

Flickr photo credit: al-Taqi [feeling surrealistic]

“All you can eat” is an entirely different price than “very, very cheap.”

Traditional economics says that lowering the marginal price from $2 to $1 should have a similar effect to lowering it from $1 to $0 — but experience and experiments have both shown that the traditional demand curve acts in an odd manner when we reach $0 marginal cost. Jet Blue’s executives should have known better. But the Jet Blue management team is not alone.

Many executives assume their customers are more rational than they really are. For example, most leaders believe in enhancing the options given to customers, but increased choice can actually freeze decision-making by overwhelming the shopper. Excessive options is a key reason that an average of 60% of all online shoppers abandon their purchases mid-stream.

Read more at Design Your Customers’ Decisions – Harvard Business Publishing, 26 Aug 2009

Flickr photo credit: pawpaw67

Last month, we released an Assessment and Reflection Report authored by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine on America’s Giving Challenge, a program we launched in order to test and encourage the power of individual giving online. As part of this report, Beth and Allison featured three case studies on organizations that were successful in mobilizing their supporters during the Challenge. The case studies are based on interviews with remarkable individuals leading their Challenge efforts and winning $50,000 each for their causes.

I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight these organizations again in case you missed them. Below are short summaries to pique your interest! Make sure to check out the report if you haven’t already, and let us know of other organizations that are successful in using social media for social good.

Read more on the case studies of nonprofits Love Without Boundaries, Students Helping Honduras and IDEA League at Case studies of social media success – Case Foundation, 25 Aug 2009.

Flickr photo credit: Mindful One

Cost-savings savvy

As an education nonprofit that relies on federal and state funding to survive, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was looking to cut down on direct mail campaign costs, which — while mail remains an essential marketing channel for the organization — can be prohibitively expensive.

For a mailing promoting a conference that targeted 74,000 national board certified teachers, director of marketing Elizabeth Arritt had an idea of how to cut down on the number of mailers sent out: “We were already planning e-mails and mailings and I thought, why am I e-mailing all these people and then mailing something when I can tell exactly who opened the e-mail?”?  …read more of this article at Direct mail done right – DMNews, published 18 May 2009

Flickr photo credit: ignescent infidel

A non-profit’s website needs to make it easy to find out more about their cause, to donate money, and to become more involved. It needs to make it easy for media contacts to find the information they need and the contact information of key personnel. And it needs to do all this in a way that’s inviting to the organization’s targeted donors and/or volunteers.

Below are a list of best practices for designing non profit websites followed by some examples of non profit websites that are getting things right. … Read more at Non Profit Website Design: Examples and Best Practices – Smashing Magazine, published 14 May 2009.

Flickr photo credit: tobiashm

During a recent interview, Dave Robinson, Mozy’s vice-president of marketing, explained how any business owner can make an e-mail newsletter more compelling. I also spoke with Janine Popick, chief executive of VerticalResponse, an e-mail and direct marketing provider for small businesses. Here’s their advice on how to get customers to read your e-mail newsletters. Read more of this article at E-mail Newsletters That Customers Actually Read – BusinessWeek, published 4 May 2009.

Flickr photo credit: kin-ichi