[May 8th, 1999]

See Also   How to Build a Web Store for FREE   How to choose mailing list management software   How to Grow Your Web Business   How to Accept Credit Cards without a Merchant Account   How To Develop Online Products That Sell   How to Change Your Web Hosting Service (ISP)   How to Deal with Disgruntled Customers   How to Get Top Search Engine Positioning   How to Beat Credit Card Fraud   How to Design an Affiliate Program   How to Accept Credit Card Payments   How to Choose a Shopping Cart

Introduced by Paul Lang.

One common theme that you'll find running through many of the articles on this Web site is how real-world retail practices should be applied to online selling. This is particularly true when it comes to keeping customers happy. The real world business maxims of how it is cheaper to keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one, and how a dissatisfied customer will tell many more people about your service than a satisfied one, apply on the Web too.

Most Web merchants understand these points and go to great lengths to keep their customers content. However, no matter how good your customer service is you can never hope to keep everyone happy and you're bound to receive the occasional complaint. How you deal with these complaints is a measure of how much you have mastered the skills of selling online.

If you fear receiving customer complaints and either ignore them or respond defensively, then you are missing a great opportunity. Customer complaints are really a gift because they can give you valuable insight in to where you might have problems with your selling process.

Ken Evoy has extensive experience of selling online. This week he received two customer complaints but accepted them for what they were -- a chance to learn. In this article Ken shows us how he responded to these complaints and gives us his top tips for dealing with disgruntled customers.

Although this article is somewhat longer than I normally publish, I recommend that you find the time to read it -- it contains some excellent advice that all Web merchants can benefit from.

First off, let's look at the letters Ken received and how he replied to them:

=====LETTER #1=========>

I was interested in getting information on promoting my website but was entirely turned-off by the tone of your delivery. It's dumb and assumes that the reader is one step evolved from primordial slime. If you're going to deliver advice to people currently on the 'Net, you can't talk to them like the Shrewbury Grannies Society.

Phil pxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

=====RESPONSE #1=========>

Hi Phil,

Thank you for your e-mail. Your comment is hard and unfair. I know I won't sell you, but please let me explain something...

It is impossible to write to please everyone. I write to please the *core of my target market* (or in mathematical terms, the 95% who fit into the two standard deviations on either side of the mean on a bell curve). This is one of the most important lessons contained in Make Your Site SELL!.

You obviously are of above-average intelligence, an info-only-and-skip-the-hype type of person, and someone who *does not like a benefit- oriented, hard-sell presentation*. If I was to write the site for your personality type, I would succeed in convincing *you* that Make Your Site SELL! lives up to its title.

But I would lose the 95% who need to understand benefits...people who respond to a sales- oriented process. Everyone is in a hurry on the Web. Be too subtle or technical, and you simply won't sell.

The proof is in the pudding. Our site's conversion rate (sales divided by unique visitors) is over 5%. One Web marketing guru has already called our site, "by far, the most persuasive selling site on the Web."

Yes, the site does take a strong *active sell* approach. This does not mean that MYSS! is a bad product. Actually, the feedback to MYSS! is more than strong -- it's far better than even I could have hoped. People will succeed on the Web because of MYSS!, and that's a tremendous feeling.

Yes, it's possible to use the same techniques to fool people into buying junk. We actually discuss that in the book, *and* why it's a disaster to do so. But it's also possible to use strong and effective sales techniques *to sell great products, too.*

Interestingly, yours is the first letter to complain about the site's approach. And we have already had thousands of visitors, and hundreds of sales since our end-of-March launch (and this, despite the fact that we have not yet launched our affiliate program or rolled out the major steps of our marketing program).

I've got to believe that this kind of complaint/sales ratio justifies our approach. (But just in case, we'll also be testing two other sites, each with its own domain and a completely different approach. This is another important point of Make Your Site SELL! -- test, test, test.)

You obviously don't like a sales pitch. Neither do I, actually. But I have learned that when I write "beyond my own personal comfort zone," we multiply sales. And that's a key point -- I'm not writing to please myself -- I write to sell.

For example...

We are currently designing a high-end Web site that is aimed at a very sophisticated, info- oriented target market -- actually these people are the titans of the business and investing world. That site will be written in a completely different tone. Which leads me to repeat what I said at the beginning of this letter...

>***You must target *everything* about your site to your target >market core. Forget the rest.***

The idea is to sell, not please everyone. I remain convinced that our site accomplishes that in spades. Just in case, however, we'll test other approaches.

I hope this letter helps you in your Web efforts -- I wrote it only in that spirit. I sincerely hope you succeed on the Web! :-)

All the best,
Ken Evoy, M.D.

More: The second letter

Ken Evoy is the author of Make Your Site SELL! . MYSS! will show you how to sell on line like no other book or program ever has before. Just to learn how MYSS! can boost your online sales.