October 12, 2016
8 Easy Ways to Provide Immediate Customer Satisfaction for Virtual Products and Services
How can your business create a sense of immediate customer satisfaction, when you don’t sell a physical product?
The following answers to this question were provided by members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
1. Schedule a Welcome Call
“When we bring on a new client, we schedule a video welcome call. Despite the prevalence of technology, there is still nothing more valuable than real, in-person relationships. The closest to an in-person meeting is a video conference call. We take our clients through a demo of their package and learn about their business. The fact that we care about their business shines through.”
2. Invest in Great Design
“When customers aren’t receiving a physical product, it’s imperative to elevate every other touch point you have with them. Invest in great design. Sure, your website and advertising should look great, but so should your proposal, invoices, receipts, documents, and deliverables. The small stuff counts. Every element and every exchange is an opportunity to create customer satisfaction.”
– Robby Berthume, Bull & Beard
3. Provide Value With Auto-Responders
“An auto-responder can be scheduled to hit your new customer’s email inbox with valuable information or content, once they’ve purchased from you. In the case of an information product, the auto-responder will make sure they’ve received their download or access to the product. Keep your company front and center in their minds by using personalized contact through emails.”
– Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now
4. Send a Gift
“I was awe-struck by one of our service suppliers when, a day after signing our service contract, I received a gift in the mail. The contract was not necessarily a large one, but I was immediately impressed by the company, as I had never received a gift from a supplier before. The gesture marked me and, needless to say, set the tone for a successful business relationship.”
– Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors, LLC
5. Be Polite and Personable
“We use our voices and personalities to connect with customers so they know we are a human team here to help them. We also focus on being polite and friendly, which are two rare traits that are simple and highly effective, in terms of making an immediate good impression with your audience.”
– Andrew O’Connor, American Addiction Centers
6. Make Your People Your Product
“At Margo, we sell insurance, which is neither a physical product nor something most people want to deal with. But, our true product is our insurance advocates and the customer service they deliver to our clients. They make a dreaded process simple and enjoyable. That moment where a customer can say, ‘Wow, you just took this difficult thing off my plate,’ is sometimes better than a physical product.”
7. Show Empathy
“Be empathetic and address the human elements of your business in ways that show you care. Regardless of the product you sell, your buyer is a person, and all people are driven by emotions and egos, at the end of the day.”
8. Commit to Client Satisfaction
“Our agency doesn’t sell a physical product, so we made five commitments to clients that help us create satisfaction: making their time with us the best time of their day, being their eyes and ears in the market, continuing to lead them forward, making sure we are looking ahead, and doing award-winning work.”
– Cassandra Bailey, Slice Communications