In a guest post to ReadWriteWeb, Wild Apricot argues that when it comes to the choice between sharing or keeping secret their product road maps, companies should SHARE and get feedback from their customers.

Wild Apricot’s post is in response to a prior guest post by Mike McDerment from FreshBooks who believes in keeping product road maps confidential. Wild Apricot, however, firmly believes that being more open with customers – and inviting them into the product development cycle – actually leads to better products.

Indeed, Wild Apricot follows a 5-step ‘never ending’ product development cycle:

Release an update

Review accumulated feedback from clients, and add or change items in the work queue

Reprioritize the new list, and pick top items we can fit into our next update

Several weeks of intensive development, then testing

Rinse and repeat

As a result of this approach, the company tends to release product updates every 6 to 7 weeks.

Interestingly, the company has addressed only 50 percent of its original list of proposed improvements. Why? Because it’s focus has been firmly on making CUSTOMER-driven improvements. Indeed, Wild Apricot has released around 200 items that customers have requested.

Wild Apricot doesn’t just wait for customer complaints or requests either. Instead, it invites them. It uses a special discussion forum where customers can post their ideas, as well as comment and vote on those ideas.

Wild Apricot constantly monitors this forum, but rather than react to every single suggestion, the team looks for recurring themes. Then they generates ideas and features to address such customers’ wants, which may or may not match exactly what such customers had in mind.

You might wonder, as I did, whether this approach is TOO open. Whether it allows competitors to eavesdrop on customer feedback and get insight into Wild Apricot’s product plans.

Wild Apricot, however, believes that:

“the competitive edge is in the execution, not the initial ideas, which are a dime a dozen. Plus, of course, customer service, however lame it might sound: this old-fashioned concept still goes a long way towards winning (and losing) clients.”

I can’t agree more. And what an exciting thought? To think that you don’t necessarily need to come up with the latest and greatest ideas… that 50 percent of what you think are necessary improvements may NOT be all that desirable… and that your customers will tell you what they want.

And that you can WIN just by being responsive to your customers, delivering on your promises, and by providing good (let alone exceptional) customer service… even if your competitors are watching your every move!

Wild Apricot gets it: that product development is really a part of marketing, and marketing is not just generating and converting customers, but is also about satisfying and re-selling customers based on what THEY want.

That’s not to say I agree that all product plans should be revealed, but I do believe that bringing customers into the product development (i.e. marketing) process is not just ideal… it’s ESSENTIAL.

Source: RWW Sponsor, “Secrecy or Transparency? One Startup’s Experience”, ReadWriteWeb, November 27, 2008

As mentioned last week, I have a lot of thoughts about what an economic recession or downturn may mean for Internet marketers. A lot of others do as well, and I’ll be occasionally sharing – and commenting on – their thoughts as we start to see the fall-out from the global financial crisis.

One of my ‘hit predictions’ is that customer service will become much more important. Depending on your niche, you may not be able to rely on as many new customers buying from you every day, every week, every month, etc. If so, you’d probably be wise to focus less on generating and converting new customers… and more on satisfying your existing customers and getting them to buy more, and more often, from you.

What’s the best way to do this? It’s with top quality products and services, and great customer service, right? I talked about ‘good’ customer service yesterday, but ‘great’ customer service is what brings the kind of customer loyalty and repeat business on which great companies are built. Customers expect good customer service, but great customer service goes beyond their expectations, and ideally turns them into loyal, raving fans.

Ironically, few Internet marketing speakers seem to talk about customer service. They’re full of ideas about generating traffic, building a list, developing products, putting up blogs, converting traffic into customers, selling affiliate products, finding joint venture partners, and so on… but seem to have very little, or nothing, to say about how to deliver exceptional customer service. It makes me wonder whether some of these people are actually running real businesses for the long term.

But maybe when times are good, and there is a continual stream of buyers entering the market, many businesses don’t need to take so much care of their customers. Not if they know there’s plenty more ‘fish in the sea’. But if the economic recession truly causes people to spend less, across all markets, that may mean you and I have fewer potential customers too. And that means we need to take better care of the ones we have, if we’re to survive and thrive.

Many Internet marketing ‘gurus’ and would-be gurus advocate automating as much of your business as possible. The idea – with which I agree – is to reduce the time it takes to accomplish various tasks whilst freeing you up to spend your time on activities where you can deliver the most value.

You can, however, automate some things too much, and customer service is one of those things. Actually, I would argue that good customer service is NOT, by definition, automated.

You tell me – if someone has a problem and they’re required to visit a specific website, register at a support center, log a support ticket, and then wait a day or longer for a response… is that really ‘good’ customer service?

It may be efficient. It may be effective. It may be the only manageable type of customer service you can deliver based on your current time constraints and limited resources. It may also be acceptable to your customers. But let’s not deceive ourselves into thinking it’s ‘good’.

Contrary to much of what I see advocated in Internet marketing circles, good customer service:

• is NOT entirely automated
• does NOT make it difficult for customers to contact your business
• does NOT make customers wait for over 24 hours to get a response
• is NOT the same thing as upselling
• IS about them, not you
• IS proactive
• IS responsive
• DOES take the burden off the customer’s shoulders
• DOES give the customers the answers they seek
• DOES deliver powerful insights and feedback
• DOES turn customers into evangelists

So while a support ticket system may well be appropriate for your business right now, consider raising your standards for when your business grows. At the very least, aim to offer ‘good’ customer service by having someone dedicated to speaking with, or emailing, customers when they call or email you with a problem.

Then again, you may wish to upgrade your customer service for another good reason. I’ll explain why tomorrow…

Google was the winner of the website category in the University of Michigan’s latest quarterly customer satisfaction index.

Google had the most satisfied customers, scoring 86 out of 100 (up 10 percent from its 2007 result), while its main rivals Yahoo slipped 3 percent to a score of 77 and MSN’s result was flat at
75.

Source: Erick Schonfeld, “Google Tops Website Customer Satisfaction Index”, TechCrunch, August 19, 2008

Yesterday I mentioned my weekend away at Daylesford, a small town north-west of Melbourne.

I explained how the bed-and-breakfast my husband and I stayed at failed to keep the “promise” it made to us: the promise of a good night’s sleep.

Then I proposed that everyone in business makes “promises” to their customers… promises that may not be obvious, yet are always assumed… And that if you break them, you are likely to lose your most valuable, loyal customers.

So how do you know what promises YOU make to YOUR most loyal customers?

Well, here’s the first hint: these promises may not have anything to do with your “unique selling proposition,” or your slogan, or your company’s mission statement.

You may not even mention them in your sales and promotional materials.

In fact, they are to be found among the daily activities of your business.

They are often the “little” things you do everyday – or should do everyday – and that your customers expect.

Let’s take three promises an online business is likely to make:

• Providing detailed, user-friendly instructions (e.g. for a software program or an Internet based service);
• Providing an acknowledgement when a customer sends them an email or purchase request; and
• Delivering prompt, friendly and helpful customer support.

Nothing major here, right?

Yet how many times do you purchase software, or sign up for an online service, only to find instructions that are impossible to understand?

How many times do you send an email, a support ticket, or even buy something… and receive no acknowledgement that your email, ticket or purchase was received?

And how many times do you request customer support… only to be told to read the instructions? (That ain’t providing the customer with “support”, folks)

Let me be frank. Failing to keep basic promises like these will turn otherwise loyal customers away in droves.

Okay, so if you offer a unique, superior product or service, maybe they’ll stick around despite the difficulties of doing business with you.

But as soon as someone comes along with a comparable product or service that keeps those promises… YOU’RE TOAST!

So have a think about these and any other promises you might be making… and breaking… to your loyal customers.

Then do whatever it takes to keep those promises!

You’ll not only keep your current customers, but you’ll spur them to refer you to their friends… which means MORE customers and MORE sales and profits for you.

This week a true story… and something for you to think about.

Not too long ago, my husband and I drove 90 minutes to the northwest of Melbourne, Australia to spend a weekend of pampering in the historic country town of Daylesford.

Daylesford is nestled among hills and natural mineral spas, and is known for its many bed-and-breakfasts (B & Bs), fine restaurants and cafes, and many massage and alternative health centers, among other things.

It’s a popular weekend retreat for Melbournians and my husband and I have stayed there several times over the past few years.

Funnily enough, though, we have never stayed at the same B & B or guest house twice.

While I’d like to say this is because we always like trying new things… this isn’t really the case: we tend to gravitate back to the same restaurants, cafes and other places, that we know and trust!

The truth is that we haven’t stayed at the same B & B more than once because each time we’ve been disappointed. In each case, it hasn’t quite lived up to it’s promise.

And the interesting thing is that the “failed promise” has been the SAME in each case.

So what have all these B & B’s failed in?

Well, let’s take the place we stayed at last weekend.

We walked in and were immediately impressed by the design, layout and “newness” of the place. Everything was perfect. I especially loved the big hot tub overlooking the valley. In fact, I loved it so much that I could, in fact, see ourselves returning again. However, by the next morning, we were both adamant that we would NOT stay there again.

So what went wrong? What was the broken promise that this place had, as well as all the others, broken?

It’s the promise that ALL hotels, motels, guest houses and B & Bs make.

It’s the “benefit” they typically DON’T talk about in their sales materials… and that YOU, as the customer, often don’t even think about yourself.

In fact, this promise was not even on OUR minds when we chose this latest B & B to stay at.

We NEVER even thought about it…

Until it wasn’t fulfilled.

What was it?

It was: a good night’s sleep!

That’s right… a good night’s sleep!

And in this case, as in ALL the other cases, a cheap bed made it impossible for us to get a good night’s sleep.

Now maybe we’re a little picky… but we’re also very loyal… We’re the type of customers who WILL come back again and again if we’re happy with the product and service. (After all, every other place we visited at Daylesford we had visited numerous times before.)

The type of customers (that 20%) who account for 80% of a business’ sales and profits. The type of customers YOU would want to please and nurture in YOUR business.

So my question to you is:

What is the “unspoken promise” you make to your BEST customers?

What is the promise that your MOST LOYAL customers expect you to keep above all other things?

It may NOT be obvious. It may actually be ASSUMED by both you and your loyal customers. And it may not be the same promise that your “one off” customers expect you to keep.

For example, in our example, a “one off” customer may have cared more about “price” than a good night’s sleep.

But it’s the loyal customers who make for a ongoing, successful business. So it’s the promise you knowingly or unknowingly make to them that counts.

So how do you find out what this promise is? We’ll talk about that tomorrow!

Loyalty programs are big business in the offline world. If it’s not frequent flyer programs… it’s credit card points programs… or loyalty cards to be stamped, punched, swiped or signed. All designed to bring customers back into the store to buy more, and in so doing “buy” their loyalty.

I’m guessing that at least some of these are cost-effective. After all, why else would companies pour so much money into them. Then again, having worked in and with corporate marketing departments, cost-effectiveness is not always the number one priority.

So is a loyalty card – or the equivalent – something to consider for your online business? For example, you could introduce a points system where customers earn points each time they buy from you and get a discount or reward from you when they’ve accumulated a certain number of points.

I’m sure there are many more variations you can try too. But before you jump in, consider the argument against using a loyatly program.

In fact, consider the move made by Muffin Break, the biggest muffin franchise in Australia, to cease its loyalty card program of many years.

I don’t know why Muffin Break dumped its loyalty card… but I do know this: I’ve been a loyal Muffin Break customer for several years. (I have a penchant for their blueberry muffins!) Throughout that time, I’ve never bought muffins from Muffin Break because of their loyalty card. And there’s no question that I will continue buying their muffins without their loyalty card. To me, the card was simply a nice-to-have – an opportunity to get a free muffin every now and then.

You see, I am a true loyal customer. The kind of customer you really want – who buys from you week in, week out, because you offer a quality product that I love, not because of added incentives… or “bribes”. I won’t disappear because you no longer offer a loyalty card. I’ll only disappear if you fail to deliver a quality product or service at a reasonable price.

Maybe Muffin Break has realized that it’s best customers are just like me. And that if it continues delivering a quality product, it will continue to attract our business, and it’s revenues and profits will continue to grow… without the need for a loyalty card.

I’m not against loyalty cards per se. I think they have a place. Especially for start-up retailers. But a business that delivers a quality product and great customer service will get loyal customers anyway. It won’t need a loyalty card. And the corollary is this: no great business can afford to rely on a loyalty card for its customers. True, long-term loyalty is earned… it cannot be bought.

Again, I don’t know why Muffin Break dumped its loyalty card. I hope it was for the right reason: that if it focuses on delivering top quality muffins, it will please its customers without having to “bribe” them with a loyalty card.

So when it comes to your business, by all means consider how a loyalty program could work… but also consider the power of delivering quality products and services, and superb customer service, that generate true customer loyalty.

Late last year we surveyed the readers of our Success Accelerator email newsletter. We generated enough responses to get a good idea of:

• How people read the newsletter;
• What they thought about its frequency, length, number of articles, etc;The topics they were, and were not, interested in;
• What improvements could be made; and
• Other fascinating and invaluable insights that enabled us to better tailor Success Accelerator to readers’ interests!

Now, we could have guessed what our readers wanted… but what a missed opportunity. There’s no way we could have known what our readers really thought and wanted. And, yes, the aim was to give them what they wanted… so they, in turn, would keep on reading the newsletter and, ideally, purchase some of the products and services we advertised in it.

Of course, surveys don’t always reveal the “truth”. What people actually do… and what they say they do… can be two different things. But if you word your surveys appropriately, don’t get too personal, and allow people to be anonymous, you can often glean incredible insights. Particularly, the “why” behind what they do.

If you get the chance – and if you don’t get the chance, make the chance – survey your customers. Find out what they want, like and dislike about your business, products or services… and then use the information to improve them!

(And yes, we plan to survey readers of this newsletter in the not-too-distant future too!)

It amazes me that some companies treat their customers so poorly. You know, the people who keep these companies in business?

You would think that the benefits of treating customers well were obvious. Like keeping them as customers… encouraging them to buy more and more often… inspiring them to recommend their friends and colleagues to the company, and so on. Not to mention avoiding the “penalties” of poor customer service: losing them as customers and having them recommend that their friends and colleagues NOT buy from the company. And apparently more people are inclined to warn people against a company they don’t like, than recommend a company they do like!

So why is good customer so hard for some companies? My guess is that there is not enough commitment to, and discipline around, good customer service. Serving the customer is simply not as valued as getting them in the first place. I also suspect that when a customer complains, a couple of natural human tendencies kick in that can lead to poor service. I’m thinking here of the tendencies to:

• Be defensive when someone suggests that your company, and by association YOU, have done something wrong; and
• Be lazy. It’s so much easier to do nothing, rather than address the customer’s complaint!

And yet, it takes only a little more effort to NOT get defensive and to HELP the customer. Often problems can be resolved fairly quickly by:

1. Making an effort to not get defensive;
2. Listening – really listening – to what the customer has to say;
3. Thinking about how to solve the customer’s problem in the most appropriate way. Or, if you can’t solve the problem, escalating it to someone who can. And if no-one can solve this particular problem, being honest and upfront about it with the customer, and making other suggestions that may placate them (even if it’s just a refund).

As I often say, in an environment where poor customer service abounds, providing excellent customer service is surely a competitive advantage. So why not invest more effort in making it not just satisfactory, but second to none?

Here’s a true story. As you read it, please ask yourself: Do you make these mistakes in your Internet business?

If you don’t: great! If you do: even better! Because when you fix these mistakes, you’ll make more sales and profits with almost NO cost or effort.

On with the story…

Last week I wanted to buy a certain software product. However, I needed to know if it had a specific feature. Since the software vendor’s website didn’t give enough information on this, I thought I’d find a store that sold the software and ask them.

Being an avid online shopper, my first inclination was to search the web for an online store that sold the software and call or email them with my question.

Well, I found a store that specialized in the software and actually provided lots of helpful information. Great!

Now, this store actually sold the software at a higher price than it was retailing for at a “real” store I knew of. But, seeing all the helpful information this Internet store was providing, I felt much more comfortable doing business with them. I was willing to pay a little more if they could give me some more care and attention.

In short, they had the sale in the bag. I just wanted them to answer my question first…

So I sent them my question via their online form and waited for a response. And that’s when they totally lost the sale – and any future sales – from me!

Here’s how they blew it:

• Mistake #1: I sent them the question on Thursday. They didn’t reply until the following Monday. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
• Mistake #2: I got a short, blunt answer. You’d think they’d be eager to provide me with plenty of help, offer to call me to discuss my needs, see if they could help in any way… but no. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
• Mistake #3: I sent them a reply to their initial email asking for more information. This was a second chance to save the sale! But, again, I got a short, blunt answer. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

So I bought the software elsewhere.

Every time a customer contacts you out of the blue, you should be rejoicing. Not only have you paid virtually nothing to get them to your website or in touch with you, but they are already presold!

All you have to do is close the deal. And being warm, reassuring and helpful may get you the sale EVEN IF YOU CHARGE MORE FOR EXACTLY THE SAME THING the customer could get elsewhere!

And yet, the only thing this particular company could have done worse was to fail to reply to my email in the first place. And plenty of companies do that too!

Whatever YOU do in your Internet business, don’t let hot prospects fall through the cracks like this!

Train your support staff – and yourself – to view EVERY interaction with a customer or potential customer as the chance to deepen the relationship with them, if not to make a sale.

And the fantastic thing is that if you start doing this, you’ll make more money. And it doesn’t cost you anything except a little more effort.