Here are five tips Lee Polevoi says will help tranform first-time customers into lifelong fans:

1. Deliver service that exceeds expectations. Go beyond the standard (i.e., making sure orders are correct, on time, etc.). You can do a lot more, such as offering technical support and training your staff to deal with customer issues promptly and thoroughly. If a customer has an unusual request, do your best to fulfill it. Think like a customer — and ask your staff to do the same. If a customer is dissatisfied, find out why and make it easy for him to return his purchase. Apologize without making excuses and offer a solution that works.
2. Provide exceptional value. This follows closely on the heels of exceeding expectations. If you have a blog or send out a regular newsletter to customers, don’t use it to promote your business. Offer in-depth articles on how to get added value from a purchase or share “inside secrets” on issues related to what you sell. Convey a sense that you’re a partner in the customer experience, not an indifferent third party. Any information that improves or makes someone’s life easier will be greatly appreciated.
3. Ask for feedback and listen closely to it. Customers will tell you what it takes to keep them coming back, if you ask them. For example, (1) Include a questionnaire with each purchase; (2) conduct a casual telephone or email survey; or (3) track online purchasing behavior. However you choose to survey customers, the key questions are, “How can we serve you better? and ”What would you like to buy from us that we don’t already have?” Most people won’t be shy about answering. Use their input to improve or expand your offerings.
4. Offer something special. Ensure customer loyalty through discounts or special offers. For example, consider taking 15% off your regular prices for “premium” customers or giving a 10% discount to new customers who pay in advance. You can even call these “loyalty discounts” to reinforce the idea that you value customers who keep coming back. Incentives are another effective technique: When a customer makes a significant purchase, why not recognize her with a free gift or a gift card that builds points toward an exclusive discount on a future purchase?
5. Build an atmosphere of trust. Do what you say you intend to do. Your product or service must deliver on its promise every time. Customers will come to rely on you — and do business with you again and again. Once this rapport is established, everyone wins.

Until next time,

Ann Hang

Small businesses tend to make two marketing mistakes: jumping from one tactic to another or staying way too long to the “tried and true” ads, says Bonnie Harris principal of Wax Marketing in St. Paul, Minn.

So what should small business owners do to get out of such a rut?

eBoost Interns say: Gauge your success by accurately measuring and scaling the results of your marketing efforts.

Bonnie Harris offers these 5 tips:

Be a detective. Take a good sale, such as a big company that purchased ten of your products, and work backward, Harris advises. Look at everything that went into the order: Did you have coffee with someone at a networking event? Did that person then refer you to the company? If you own a store, ask every customer who walks in, “How did you hear about us?”

Establish metrics. Once you identify what efforts went into the sale, you’ll find that each step in the process becomes a point that can be measured, Harris says. Let’s say that you went to a networking event and met a prospective client. Then the two of you had coffee — twice — and after two weeks, you followed up with a phone call that finalized the sale. Each of those events (attending an event, having coffee, having coffee again, making a call) is a measurable point.

Track a certain period of time. Based on the steps that led you to the big sale, set up a marketing strategy. Perhaps you decide to keep attending events, making calls, and focusing on social media. Carry out the plan for three months, if possible.

Evaluate the points. After three months, it’s time to look at those marketing points and see how each one fared. You may not see any direct sales from certain points but find that they are still a key component in your marketing campaign. Case in point: A customer walks into your store and remarks, “I saw your article in the paper, then checked out your Facebook page and decided to come here.” This tells you that your social media efforts may be a key step down the path to a sale.

Make changes accordingly. If certain efforts are drawing more customers toward sales than others, you may decide to focus more on those key points and pull back a little from the others. Fine-tuning a campaign is like baking a cake, Harris explains: “You need certain ingredients, but you may end up tweaking the recipe to find what makes the best cake.”

The way to see what works and what doesn’t is tracking your efforts, recording, key metrics, and focusing your resources on the marketing initiatives that works.

Until next time,

Ann

$5.00 – 1 Year Magazine Subscription to MacLife

A killer deal for a cool magazine for anybody that enjoys their iPhone and other Mac products.  Comes out to 0.42 cents an issue! It’s like the cheapest thing on the planet.

$12.99 – Insignia 3-Piece Speaker System

Save over $27.00 and take your computer sound to a whole new level.  You not only get two quality speakers but a sub-woofer too!  Feel the impact of the hard cement, when you are fulfilling your guilty pleasure of watching hours and hours of painfully idiotic YouTube videos.  THUMP!

$18.99 – Dunkin Donuts Coffee (2 Pack)

As an intern, the #1 thing I have learned here in the office is that digital marketer’s are fueled by coffee.  Dunkin Donuts is arguably the tastiest coffee around and if you have a Costco membership this two pack is an absolute bargain.

$39.99 – Logitech Tablet Keyboard for Apple iPad

Owning an iPad without owning a wireless keyboard is like owning a car without wheels.  Speed up your iPad experience and save over $30.  In addition, you can sleep better at night knowing that this product has received outstanding reviews on Best Buy’s website.

ONLY $979 – Executive Aeron Chair by Herman Miller

So maybe this is a bit of a reach, or maybe I am just hinting at my boss to upgrade our office furniture, but this office chair will BLOW YOUR MIND.  If you have been bitten by the consumer bug and are looking to splurge this is the greatest chair in office history.  Hey Boss! What the heck, it’s a tax write-off anyway, lets do it and save over $400 a chair.  Aoooowwwaaooooo!!

So those are my Top 5 Cyber Monday Deals for the Digital Marketer.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and take advantage of the Cyber Monday savings.  If you find any other great deals be sure to let us know.

Best,

Cameron

AMO has been given another great opportunity! We are working with the San Diego affiliate of the worldwide organization – Dress for Success. D4S-SD aims to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.

Our challenge- How can we expose D4S-SD to the local community and brand their annual signature charity event?? We have already started working…so keep checking for updates!

Our challenge- How can we expose the behind-the-scenes of OLL’s awesome team and communicate to the world what their donations can do for others? Three weeks in, and AMO is already on to this. Stay tuned for more updates on our OLL project!