An interesting customer relations idea: Rewarding customers BEFORE they leave

Many of us have had the experience of cancelling a service with a large company, be it an ISP, telephone company, satellite provider or similar, only to have the process dragged out by them offering several "retention deals" to get you to stay: Extra features, free months of service and so on. 

They do this, of course, because monthly customers are good revenue - Once a customer is set up, they are pretty much maintenance free (In the ISP world, for example, the vast majority of support costs for a customer occur within the first three months of service - after that, it can be years before the customer calls again, other than to pay their bill.) Naturally, when the company hears that you want to leave, they'll do quite a lot to keep you, including offering high margin, low cost 'freebies' to keep you interested in the service.

So this should beg the question: Why would a company wait until a customer was so dissatisfied with their service as to be at the point of quitting before trying to retain their business ?

Understandably, business have, well, a business to run: They can't go calling each customer on a monthly basis, just to see if they're happy. HOWEVER: There is nothing stopping a company from, say, taking a random sampling of three or more customers each month who have been with them for more than, say, two years and give them a call, saying

"Hi, Mr. Smith, this is Mr Jones from YourISP; I'd just like to say thank you for being such a good customer of ours for so long and I'm calling to let you know that next months' bill is on us! Thank you again!"

If the telephone isn't your thing, you can do the same through email or through (gasp!) snail mail, too.

The term "churn" is often used in industries that involve monthly payments - A certain amount of churn definitely is inevitable. However: That does not mean there aren't some easy and inexpensive ways to reduce that churn. Offering your customers little thank-yous like a free months' service, or perhaps a free trial of a new add-on or what-not, not only increases their experience with your company, but increases the likelihood that they'll tell other people about how happy they are with your service.

I think we can all agree on the benefits of that happening.

-Marc Bissonnette
CanadianISP.ca

Original article:
http://canadianisp.ca/keeping_customers_happy_before_they_leave.html

Does your ISP have data caps ? If it doesn't, great, but if so: Is it too low ?

Does your ISP have data caps ? If it doesn't, great, but if so: Is it too low ?

Originally posted on CanadianISP.ca

 In today's trend of increasing moving of entertainment such as television, movies and music on to the Internet, bandwidth caps – or how much data you can transfer over the Internet is becoming an increasingly important issue.

Most, if not all, of the large incubmant telephone company ISPs and cable company ISPs have data caps; While they say it's for “network or congestion management”, the much more believable reason is that they want you to use their own entertainment services which, despite violating net neutrality principles, will not count against your cap.

What many people do not know is that you more often than not do have a choice in ISP: You don't have to use your telephone or cable company as an Internet Service Provider. CanadianISP.ca is a website for Canadians that let citizens know of just how many choices they have in ISPs. This choice is especially broad in large city centres, like Toronto, Ontario, Vancouver, British Columbia or Montréal, Québec, just to name three.

Many non-telephone or cable company (telco or cableco) ISPs do have caps, themselves: This isn't because they believe in the “network management” excuse that the telco/cablecos give, but because their networks have to tie into the larger networks of the telco/cablecos (their “upstream providers”) - Which means they are forced into implementing caps of some sort, as well.

However: It is important to point out that just because you have a cap, or a limit, on your account, that is not always a bad thing: It is the size of the cap that matters: Most caps are measured in gigabytes, or GB. If you have a cap of under 200 GB and you use the 'net for NetFlix, Hulu or a lot of YouTube, you will most likely run into an overage situation, where you use more than your allotted cap and will be billed more at the end of the month.

At this time, the average Canadian seems to be around the ~200 gigabyte range; As such, a cap of 200 gigabytes or higher will be more than sufficient for those that use the 'net for some or most of their entertainment use, though some tips for keeping bandwidth usage down are still useful:

• Turn apps that constantly check the 'net for updates off when not in use, such as Steam, weather applets, Internet radio, stock tickers, and the like.
• If your computer is left on 24/7, do not leave your email application to check mail every five minutes. Shutting the email app off when not in use is a good idea.
• Do not leave your web browser open on such sites that auto-refresh every X minutes, such as cnn.com
• Websites like Facebook constantly use bandwidth to check for updates: Shut them down when not in use.
• Sites like Netflix do indeed have lower quality – and therefore lower bandwidth options.
• Many ISPs offer a bandwidth usage app or a website to check for usage: Make use of it regularly.

These are just a few suggestions for lowering the chances of getting an overage bill.

The Internet has become so pervasive in our lives that it is worth thinking of it like your electricity bill: We shut off lights to keep the bill down; It is often the same with the 'net: Shutting down bandwidth using applications can keep your overage bill down or to zero, altogether.

If you do find yourself hit with an overage bill, especially more than one, it may be time to either check with your provider for a package that offers a higher download limit, or check on CanadianISP.ca for another ISP that offers higher caps or unlimited caps. One of the most frequent comments to CanadianISP.ca is “Thank you for your site! I had no idea I actually had this many choices in my city!”

Marc Bissonnette, Ontario, Canada

Sexting – Why you shouldn't do it and how to do it when you send it anyway.

Sexting – Why you shouldn't do it and how to do it when you send it anyway.

September 5^th, 2012

Originally posted on CanadianISP.ca

For the one or two people who do not know what sexting is, quite simply, it is the sending of lewd, risquée or sexual messages, most often involving photos or video to someone over a smart phone or over the Internet to a second party.

Why is this a big deal ?

Normally, one would think that what two consenting adults choose to do is their business and theirs alone and articles like this should never be needed. The problem is (usually) not with the sending of explicit messages/content themselves, but what happens to the content of those messages after the sender is no longer in a relationship with the recipient. To be even more specific, the problem becomes what the recipient will do with the photos of a partially or fully unclad significant other after a particularly nasty breakup and the only thing that is “significant” about the other is how badly they want to lash out.

While it is easy to say that there are laws that are supposed to protect our privacy, laws to protect our rights, laws to protect against supposed contracts, none of them change the fact that a photo of yourself in an intimate or compromising position or pose is now out on the Internet, for all to see.

The Best Advice

The best advice – Indeed the one I always give and follow myself, is simply not to send content like that in the first place: Not because I am a prude or too old fashioned, but simply because the repercussions of that kind of photo getting out would be embarrassing, to say the least. (Well, perhaps also the fact that I am 40 years old and certainly would never be seen on the cover of Body Building Magazine may have a little to do with it, as well :) )

A few simple rules

However: There are many, many people out there who choose to send intimate photos or video of themselves to significant others, for a multitude of reasons. If you find that you absolutely have to send that scantily clad photo to your special someone, there are a couple of guidelines you should follow, that will not only protect you in the future, but save you a LOT of pain and inconvenience, to put it extremely mildly, down the road in the unfortunate circumstance of a relationship break up and the ex turns vengeful;

1. No face shots: You absolutely do not want your face to be visible in any racy, lewd, compromising or intimate photo for the simple reason that it pretty much creates undeniable proof that it is you, ensuring maximum embarrassment.
2. No identifying marks: You do not want to have, in your intimate photos, any unique tattoos or scars, again for the simple reason that it identifies you in the picture. Keep in mind that the tattoo or scar need not necessarily be unique, but if it is in an unusual location or a part of your body that is easily identifiable as you, your chances of anonymity, if the photos get released are, close to null.
3. Do not take pictures in locations or places that are easily identifiable as yours or related to you: If you work at city hall, for example, a neck-down shot of you on the mayors' desk isn't the brightest of ideas. This also holds true even at home, with easily identifiable objects in the home. If you are the only one within your social circle with a six foot Salvatore Dali print on the wall, using the Dali as a backdrop for your semi-clothed photo is probably not a good idea.

Text can be sexting, too

Sexting is not limited to photos or video – There are some pretty racy text messages and emails floating out there that have not only caused no small amount of embarrassment when released after a failed relationship, but have cost entire careers and essentially ruined lives of the original sender, too; So if you are sending an intimate email recounting an event you and your significant other remember, do not include dates, times and places; These can be trivially traced back to you. 

What is even harder is the following: Be aware that you may well have a particular writing style that is the next best thing to a finger print; Even if you use false names and avoid mentioning places, if you are the only one in your social circle who uses “mayhap” instead of “perhaps”, or always refers to a convenience store in English as a dépanneur instead of a convenience store, you may find yourself in the “Caught” list sooner than later. 

To sum up, the best way to avoid embarrassing consequences from sexting messages becoming public is simply not to send them in the first place. 

If, however, you must send racy or intimate content to someone, ask yourself what would happen if said message were posted to Facebook or Google for all to see ? If you don't like what could happen if that occurred, take a moment to read some of the suggestions above and you just might be saving yourself a world of embarrassment.

Marc Bissonnette, Ontario, Canada

Writing About Your Products or Services on Your Web Site

Writing About Your Products or Services on Your Web Site

August 8^th, 2012

Originally posted on CanadianISP.ca

One of the most typical mistakes people make when writing about what it is that they are selling is to simply provide a list of features and a price, thinking that is all it takes for a consumer to make their decision. 

Unfortunately for those website owners, that is not how most consumers make their buying decisions;

In a nutshell, they need to be convinced WHY they should buy from you, rather than from your competitors.

COMMON MISTAKES

“Because we are less expensive” is NOT always the best answer; Remember the old adage: “You get what you pay for” - This can actually work against you, depending on the market segment you are targeting. (Keeping in mind that you can target multiple segments, but should have a specific message for each)

“Because we're better than the other guys” - Negative advertisers, or putting down your competitors is a really bad idea; Not only does it expose you to the possibility of litigation, but consumers are generally turned off by negative advertisers; There is also the thought that “Who are you to say you're better ? You're biased!” - Don't tell them you're better – SHOW THEM YOU'RE BETTER. 

“Because we've got more features!” - Sometimes, an over-abundance of features can actually work against you: Firstly, it can be confusing to the general consumer. Secondly, the chances are good that most of those features are not the ones being used (Again, we are talking about marketing to the general populace); Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the thought often comes up in the potential customer “I don't want to be paying extra for all those things I do not need!”. Focus your marketing message to those you are trying to sell to. Listing a hundred features to a thermodynamics engineer working on the space shuttle is probably a good idea. Doing the same for a home-spouse who is simply looking for a way to clean their toilets: Not such a good idea.

READ AS YOUR CUSTOMER WOULD

This can be quite difficult, as you know your product or service inside and out. Sometimes, reading your material as an uninvolved third party would (i.e. your customers) - simply is not possible: When that is the case, get someone outside of your company to read it for you: Preferably, someone outside of your industry, as well (Unless, of course, your product is so highly specialized that only someone in your industry would be a customer):

In reading over your materials on your wares, you probably do see the features and benefits of what you are selling; The REAL question is: Is there a REASON for them to buy from YOU instead of from your competitor ? The simplest way to do this is to literally compare your product page with that of your competitors' side to side: Read them both: Which one gives you the gut feel that it is the right one to purchase ? 

Of course, life isn't always that simple: Most consumers, when they identify a need or desire for a product or service, will not be buying on impulse: This is even MORE true on the Internet, given the immediacy of touch, feel and possession is not an option. This re-visit trend is even higher amongst smaller brands and companies, as many smaller companies will not have the same brand trust as some of the large multi-nationals will. What can you do about this ? Give them a reason to come back again! That means content not just listing the prices and features of your products, but articles ABOUT your products: Uses, benefits, examples, suggestions and so on. The more often they come come back, the more likely they are to buy. Even better is that that same content that convinces people that you are the right company to buy from once also works to convince them to keep buying from you over and over. Remember: Once a customer buys from you, you do NOT want to ignore them: A customer buying from you once is good. A customer buying from you many times is far, far better.

YOUR CUSTOMERS AS A RESOURCE

Many companies seem to have a real taboo about actually talking to their customers; If done respectfully and unobtrusively, your customers can be one of your best marketing resources; Give them a chance to give you some feedback; Either during their purchase or during a follow-up contact; Asking things like “Thank you for purchasing from us – But how could we have done even better ? Where do you think we could improve ? What do you feel is missing from our website that would have made your decision more quickly or confidently ?”

Here is one hint that I cannot emphasize enough: Negative feedback or complaints should not be shied away from or hidden! Everyone knows that no company is perfect: We all make mistakes or have a string of bad luck; How a company deals with negative feedback can seriously affect a customers' buying decision; This is even more true of complex products or services: One of consumers' biggest concerns is “How will this company deal with me if I have problems or need help ?” Seeing how you deal with frustrated or angry customers, believe it or not, can engender a true sense of confidence amongst your potential customers.

If you are still feeling like you are up against a wall in getting the “right” content for your site, feel free to use the Contact link on the site and I would be happy to take a look at your site to give a few overall suggestions.

Marc Bissonnette, Ontario, Canada

The secret to getting a good Google rank ? Your site has to be good.

The secret to getting a good Google rank ? Your site has to be good.

July 26^th, 2012

Originally posted on CanadianISP.ca

That sounds pretty tongue-in-cheek or even sarcastic, doesn't it ? The funny thing is: It's true. 

Take a look at just about any mainstream site for popular subjects. Let's say, “used car Toronto”; The very first two links are for autocatch.com and carpages.ca – Why are they in the top two, when there are companies below them with a LOT more money, like BMW, Honda and Toyota ? 

It's because they're GOOD SITES. They DELIVER WHAT PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR. Are they using SEO and backlinks and paid advertising ? Sure, sure and probably, but it doesn't change the fact that they are on top because they GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT.

SEO and Tricks vs Content That People Can Use

You can use all the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tricks in the world and you MIGHT get your site on top for a very brief period of time, but that is not how one creates a successful, profitable and long term business; You actually have to (gasp!) do what you say what you do and OFFER WHAT YOUR TARGET MARKET ACTUALLY WANTS.

Here's another great example: One really common search is for home inspectors – When someone buys a house, especially for the first time, a home inspector is often something most people have no clue on how to find, so they turn to the Internet. The search term “Home inspector Ottawa” brings up home-inspectors.com as its first link; It's for a private company. If we're being absolutely frank, the site itself leaves a little to be desired in terms of layout and design; It's a little stark and the design is about 15 years out of date, BUT: It GIVES PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT; Most importantly: It's a site that isn't just filled with variations of “buy my stuff” - There is a LOT of information that is absolutely useful to the general public, whether they choose to use the company or not: As a result, a lot of people link to this site, often in response to people looking for advice, either for the company itself, or for the information they're providing. As a result, people come to rely on the information they give, trust the information they give and end up with the thought “Well, if these folks are so good at the information they give away for free, their professional services must be even better – I think I will give them a try!”

Here's a final example: Search for “How to do an oil change” comes up with www.wikihow.com – Again, a site that gives exactly the information people are seeking, no hidden catches, no excessive advertising and the fact that lots and lots of people are linking to exactly the same article for exactly the same question.

Better 100 potentially interested customers than a million random visitors

Many sites, especially those trying to sell you SEO services, will go on and on about “tricks” and keyword loading, and so on to get to the top of the search engines; Many of these tricks actually do work – for a short period of time. If, however, you are not delivering what it is those people are ACTUALLY looking for, what's the point ? If I am selling tennis balls on my website, I want people visiting who ACTUALLY WANT TO BUY TENNIS BALLS; I would rather get 100 visitors who are really in the market and mindset to buy tennis balls, then a million random visitors; The chances are better than good that I'll make more sales from those 100 visitors than I will from the 1,000,000 who were led to my site on less-than-true search engine “tricks”.

So how do you do this ? The answer is neither short nor easy: It involves work; By saying it involves work, it doesn't mean a single push of one-off effort, but a regular, constant effort of providing content that people need and want. You need to establish – and more importantly, PROVE that you really are qualified to sell what you're selling. By “prove” I don't mean providing scanned certificates of expertise – After all, it would take me less than ten minutes to create a scan of my PhD certificate in neurology – that certainly doesn't mean you want me operating on your brain!

Providing the Proof That You Know Your Stuff

Using the tennis ball example, visitors will want “proof” by my site having articles about tennis, advice about tennis, news about tennis and so on – To establish the fact that if I really know about tennis, chances are good I also know about tennis balls and really am qualified to tell you that the ones I am selling really are good.

This applies for just about any commercial website out there.

Content, Content, Content!

So when you hear something like “the medium is the message” - No, it's not: The message is the message – And that message had better be useful to your readers. “Content is king” - You bet your bottom dollar that content is king: You need to be providing it on a regular basis, in a manner that your readers can not only understand, but relate to, as well.

When you do this, you will find other people talking about your site, clicking on your site, recommending it and linking to it: THAT is when you will see your website rise to the top ranks of Google – And stay there. 

Marc Bissonnette, Ontario, Canada

Promoting an MLM site

Promoting an MLM site

June 18^th, 2011

Originally posted on CanadianISP.ca

A friend asked me for some insights on promoting a neutraceuticals MLM business; I thought my response might be of interest to others doing the same, for the first time:

First and foremost, there is no point in hiding the fact that the nutraceuticles industry, of which this is a part of, is highly competitive; That's not to say it's impossible to come out on top, but it does require a lot of work.

In your own words

Usually, one of the best tricks is not to use their default text on your opening page.

Those that know you, will know this isn't how you would normally speak or write - That being said, you also can't say “Move your fat ### and lose some weight!”, without potentially offending a certain segment of the market (You certainly could have a pretty decent weight loss and body image site using down to Earth language, but I'm guessing the company whose products you are promoting, would not take too well to their product being attached to that :) )

So what a lot of people will do is use the default text as a guideline, but re-write it in both your words, as well as for those you know you will be pitching to.

Person to person – The personal touch

Keep in mind, too, that this type of business, for those that are successful at it, involves a lot of person to person contact; Be that in person, over the phone or direct email contact (as opposed to mass-mail: One thing you do NOT want to do is spam to millions of people: That'll cause a whole world of different hurt)

Targeting your content

Often, the best way to discover how to best target your site for the audience for which you seek is to Google for the phrases and key words that you think your audience will seek. For example, in your initial email, you asked about coming out on top when people search for “better their self health” - So by Googling what they'd most likely type in, say “improve my health” - You can see which sites already are the top for those terms: Read through them; Chances are you'll get a very good idea on the type of content required in your own site to start creeping up the ranks.

Search engines, like Google and Bing, also rely on backlinks – i.e. how many other sites are linking to you – Be that in websites proper, or people talking about your site in blogs, comments, etc. This can be a tough one, especially for neutraceuticals, because, again, it's such a competitive industry.

Content, content, content!

The other big thing for search engine popularity is content, content, content. This means providing fresh and new content to your site as often as possible. Daily is ideal, but nearly impossible for people who don't do this for a living. Putting new content up at least once a week, though, is a recommended minimum. What many people don't realize is that very few people make a purchase from a website on their first visit, but only do so after they've visited at least a few times. The trick is making them want to come back to see the site again: If they knew you had a “tip of the week”, or recipe or success story or suggestions, etc, it's much more likely for them to bookmark the site to come back to.

A short cut to content!

Writing new content can not only be challenging, but time consuming as all heck, too: The way I get around this for CanadianISP is I use a CanadianISP Facebook page and post links to articles related to my industry (ISPs), along with my commentary on them. Every few weeks or so, I'll write an article of my own, post it on CanadianISP.ca and link to it from the Facebook group. It's a huge time saver and, believe it or not, helps with the credibility issue: Basically, you're trading on other people's expertise. Or, in other, other words: By saying “I agree with / promote this article on health”, people subconsciously assign the credibility of the article to you, since it was you that recommended it :)

The key – and this is true whether you're selling neutraceuticals or tractor parts is credibility: You need to convince those visiting that you know what you're talking about and that it's worth their money and time to buy from you. If there is regular content on the site that they enjoy and benefit from, they are much more likely to think “Hey, this guy knows what he's talking about: The products he's selling must be as good as his advice!” - Sounds cheesy, but it's true :)

Talk to those you know!

You can also start by talking to those that you know you're going to try to sell to; More often than not, straight out honesty works best: Try asking a couple of people around you: “If I were to try to sell you a health product to improve your body and weight, what kind of words / stuff would you want to see on a web page that would convince you to buy ?” - Reinforce that you're not trying to sell it to them (at that point in time :) ) but looking for honest feedback in what would make them buy.

In my opinion/experience, unless you're already a recognized fitness guru, trying to sell their most expensive packages right off the bat is going to be a no-go: I see that some of their stuff is asking $325 a month – That's a lot to ask from a working man or woman who's just starting out in the health and fitness journey; Personally, I'd start by promoting the much cheaper stuff, at or around the $20 level: This way, it's a smaller risk/investment for them, but also allows them to build up confidence in the product and in you making the recommendations: In a nutshell, eventually, you'd be saying “If you're happy with this $25 product, just imagine how much happier you'll be when you move up to the $100 level!”

If you enjoy it, it becomes easier

There's no question that taking on this type of thing can be challenging: If it's something you enjoy and are really into, personally, it makes a huge difference, thus making it easier. Me, for example, in addition to being your stereotypical geek, also really enjoy seeing a sense of fair play and competitiveness in an industry, which is what CanadianISP is all about: Making sure consumers have choice in their Internet provider and not just the local telephone or cable company.

In the same vein, if you're really into body health and image, and promoting that to other people, you'll find this a lot easier to do – and to make money at :)

Marc Bissonnette, Beachburg, Ontario, Canada

Updating for the sake of updating – Is it worth it ?

Originally posted on CanadianISP.ca

As has been pointed out in many previous articles, content is key for website popularity, functionality and usefulness to your public. One item that hasn't been touched on is dates for your articles.
First off, it's a good idea to use them; It gives your readers a chronological reference for relevance to your topic (After all, if you're talking about the dire shape of the economy and the chronic unemployment problem, it's usually a good idea to let your readers know, by way of dating your article, that you were writing this in January of 2009 and not May of 2011.)

Of course, solving this issue creates another: If the last time you wrote an article really was in January of 2009, this creates a stale content issue on your web site. While the rest of your business may be humming along, with all of your customers happy as bees in a field of clover, the negative is the image it projects to prospective customers: No new content in two years creates the impression, to some people that you have done nothing else in two years, causing them to overlook your business, entirely.

It may not seem fair, it may certainly be inaccurate, but to a new customer, who's never interacted with you before and has no other reference with which to judge your company, your site content can – and often is – the make-or-break decision point for many of them.

“But I've got a business to run! I don't have time to write fluff articles!” is the oft-repeated reasoning. Unfortunately, this is a fact of life. If YOU can't write content, ask your staff to do it. If you don't have staff, you've either got to start writing or, at the very least, start linking to relevant content. Custom-written content is always best, however: It's your credibility you want to establish, not some news sites'.

You don't have to be writing War and Peace length novel content; Nor does it have to rank up in the scientific dissertation level of content quality, either; It should, however, relate to your business. Better yet, it should relate to how your customers can better use or benefit from your products or services. This is really where a lot of your content can and should shine: Remember that most of what you take for granted about your own products or services, most of the general public has absolutely no idea. Not only is this beneficial for your existing customers, but for potential customers, as well: Even better: It is this content that will help those same potential customers find you via search engines.

But even if you're not up to writing fresh, new and brilliant content on use of your products, a blog entry on what's happening with your business, in your industry, or with your customers is a great idea (and really: Which of your customers would not appreciate the free publicity given to them by their own service provider ? )
Remember: Worst case scenario is that the oldest content on your site (I'm talking about regularly updated sections, like “Media” or “News” or “What's New” and the like, not your product listings) should be no more than 90 days old – Ideally, however, 30 days between content pieces should be your longest stretch between entries.

And if you're really stuck for ideas, feel free to send me a note: I'd be happy to take a look at your site and give you some suggestions.

Marc Bissonnette, Ontario, Canada