Good customer service is a prerequisite for any ecommerce website that wants to be successful. It strengthens customer loyalty and retention in the future; it basically keeps them from wandering off to your competitors and purchasing from them. It’s a digital spin on positive word of mouth! If a customer has a bad experience shopping with a site, they have the enormous forum of the digital world in which to voice their annoyance and discontent.

Bad news travels fast online and a poor customer experience can result in your company being lambasted in a very public forum. Think how well your company can do with a strong SEO strategy and where it can land in the Google, Yahoo and Bing search results; now imagine that a bad customer review lands up on the rankings above or below your result. Online shoppers make up their minds very quickly and they are just looking for a reason not to buy your products.

David versus Goliath

In my previous blog, I wrote about the problems I’d had dealing with a small business and the abysmal customer service I’d received. It’s not just small businesses committing these infractions against their customers; big businesses are doing it too. Some small companies seem to think that they don’t have to provide a good customer service because of their size. Some big companies think that they’re above responsibility to their customers because they have survived this long.

In the end, both have a responsibility to do their best to offer customers excellent customer service. Strong customer service is a huge asset for businesses because it – like search engine marketing or SEO initiatives – can help to spread positive word about the business. Positive word will bring customers back time after time and as they tell their friends about it, the positive word of mouth will bring more people to the site.

Sweet Apples and Sour Lemons

I’m a bit of a computer game nerd. I had wanted updates for a game on my Mac – I won’t tell you what it is for fear of undermining my credibility. (Just kidding, but I’m still not saying.) I had two options: to buy directly from the Apple App Store or buy direct from the game’s company in question. I opted to go for the non-Apple company and I was appropriately punished for my choice.

I purchased the updates and breezed through the checkout process with ease. After purchasing, I found that the updates weren’t actually compatible at all (although this was never displayed on the website). When I emailed them (annoyingly there was no telephone number) to see about a refund, they told me that that wouldn’t be possible. They then referred me to an obscure section of their terms and conditions. They then reiterated the resolute and unwavering NO and told me that they would not offer me a refund. The service I received was so brutally blunt that I can honestly say that I will never buy from them again. Instead of offering a good service and a sympathetic ear, they were rude and trying everything they could to usher me away.

After I’d come to terms with my own anger, I went to the online Apple App Store with my tail tucked between my legs. As usual with all my Apple computer, music and movie purchases Apple gave me excellent customer service. The whole process was a breeze and they gave me advice from a place of knowledge and a foundation of strong, attentive customer service. In the end, I’ll sing Apple’s praises until I’m blue in the face and I will never go to the other company again. Ever. And my friends and family will never use them again. Ever.

Paul

It’s a hard question to ask. It’s also a hard question to get an honest answer to. There are a great many companies offering both direct and white label SEO services to companies in and around London. The surprising thing is not that there are so many companies offering search engine marketing, but that these companies are offering them to London businesses from as far afield as Edinburgh.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing inherently wrong or bad about marketing companies in the United Kingdom offering search engine marketing services to companies in London. I’m not saying – not for a second – that only London-based search engine marketers are knowledgeable enough to offer wise and comprehensive advice on SEO. Far from it; anyone with experience in SEO is more than qualified to advise businesses on their search engine marketing needs. But the difference is that London-based SEMs (search engine marketers) have experience working with businesses in the city of London.

It’s a funny situation when a London-based business is looking for SEO advice for someone outside of the city. I’ve learned everything I know about SEO from on-the-ground experience in London. I’ve learned a lot from working with businesses, getting to know a client and their needs and then applying it to marketing their specific keywords and information.

Working with companies is important, especially in a city like London where businesses are trying desperately to get a straight, honest consultation in SEO. Learning about their business needs is vital to providing a competent and informed SEO service; one that is suited to their business. I’ve always found it key to talk with the company first to establish the sorts of keywords that they would like to be ranked highly on, as well as bringing my own ideas to the table on what their keywords should be. So many companies don’t do this these days, particularly when they are not based in the same city as their clients. It’s also important to understand the brand well before advising them on search engine marketing.

It’s a worrying trend in the industry that people sell high-minded and pricey search strategy and search engine marketing packages to companies from up and down the country without anything to back it up. No experience, no real knowledge of the way search works. Nothing.

Being in the same city as your clients gives you a unique insight into their SEO needs and helps you to provide a better service to the client. Most importantly, it gives the client the best possible basis with which to improve their business’ digital offering. I strongly believe that it’s important for both the business and the SEO provider to be in the same city to build an informed and tailored approach to their search needs and deliver the best possible service.  That’s how I’ve built up my knowledge and skills within the industry and it’s how I provide the best possible service to London-based businesses.

Paul

Little soldiers behind the iron walls

Good customer service is a prerequisite for any ecommerce website that wants to be successful. It strengthens customer loyalty and retention in the future; it basically keeps them from wandering off to your competitors and purchasing from them. It’s a digital spin on positive word of mouth! If a customer has a bad experience shopping with a site, they have the enormous forum of the digital world in which to voice their annoyance and discontent. Bad news travels fast online and a poor customer experience can result in your company being lambasted in a very public forum. Think how well your company can do with a strong SEO strategy and where it can land in the search results; now imagine that a bad customer review lands up on the rankings above or below your result. Online shoppers make up their minds very quickly and they are just looking for a reason not to buy your products.

I’ve had a couple of very bad experiences online recently. Both of these experiences were down to appalling customer service, yet these companies were very different: one big, one small. The common thing tying both experiences together – other than the horrendous customer service – was the fact that both companies hid behind the comfort and detachment of their websites. In doing so, they remained separate from the issue and could ignore it for a very long time.

It started off simply enough, as most stories do. I’d placed an online order with a small company. The journey was smooth enough and the checkout process was relatively painless; I got through the whole process in about 10 minutes – I’d been reading some customer reviews and lost track of the time. I should have been suspicious when I didn’t get an automated email confirming my purchase right away, but hindsight is a blessing and a curse. The lines were silent and I didn’t receive the items I ordered, so I called the company to chase it up. After a week still no order. I called them again.

This time was a different story. They told me that they had ordered the wrong products and couldn’t fulfil the order. I reordered and still nothing. By this point, the vein in my head was probably the size of a football; I’d started to look like Stressed Eric on a particularly bad day. When I finally got through again, they told me that they had forgotten and that they took full responsibility.

‘Okay,’ I thought.

My last nerve was understandably raw. After another wrangle, they finally admitted that it was still kicking  around their offices. Never again.

I won’t name the company here because it wouldn’t serve any purpose other than to start flinging mud around. The point is this, some companies have grown so comfortable in the detachment of the online community that they have completely lost sight of the basics of a good shopping experience: customer service. So many businesses these days hide behind their websites and telephones to avoid having to face up to the fact that they have failed their customers. It’s not good enough.

If a customer has a bad experience on your site, they are almost certain to blog about it, tweet about it or circulate the information online. They certainly won’t recommend you to anyone else. They’ll most likely badmouth you to all of their friends, family and colleagues; by the end of it, they will deter a fair few people from ordering with you.

Good customer service costs nothing; bad customer service can cost you everything.

Paul