Customer Support is The Best Marketing
Selling software is not about the software, its about the service you offer and the experience you create for your users. That’s what separates commercial software from open source software.
I am a big supporter of customer focused software development. Solving the customer’s problems is what software is intended to do. If your software can’t provide the solution your users are looking for, do everything in your power to make sure you do.
When it gets tough to spend time handling support emails instead of developing software, think about all of your customers as potential sales people. Make them happy and they will spread the word about your products to friends, family, co-workers etc…
Now, some customers wont ever tell a friend about your product, but others will. Its difficult to determine which ones will end up talking about you.
For the past 7 years I have put a large focus towards helping customers as quickly and as best that I can. Here are some of the ways it has paid off;
1) A customer needed to use one of the applications provided by my company but it lacked a certain feature. I created a simple plug-in and sent it to him which provided a solution to his problem. A few weeks later a review came out about the product and the reviewer just happened to be the same guy I sent the plug-in too. The application ended up getting a great review that went out to a large user group.
2) A customer who bought our HTML editing application owned a large web site with a pretty big following. He sent in a handful of emails and surprisingly to him, we delivered prompt replies to all questions. He continues to recommend our software to his community.
3) We ask customers where they heard of us when they order. The most significant answer is friend, colleague, or co-worker followed by search engines and download listing web sites. Clearly, leaving a good experience with customers is the best form of marketing you can offer.
4) Another interesting success story can be found here.
Tips On Turning Customers Into Marketers
1) Encourage customers to spread the word
The usual tips of having a tell a friend link on your web site and an affiliate program are important. However, you have to actively seek out users who get exciting about your software. These users are the ones who provide feature requests, report bugs, and actively try to engage in any form of communication with you. If they take the time to talk to you, they are most likely excited about what you have to offer. After you provide them with top of line support, give them a coupon (try making the coupon ID their name), and tell them they can send it out to 10 of their friends for a 20% discount.
2) Take the blame for ALL mistakes
Did a bug in your software crash your customers computer or was it an error on their part? Who cares! Apologize for anything that goes wrong and offer to fix it. Tell them how important this issue is and get it fixed ASAP.
They don’t want to deal with your company anymore? Give them a refund before they get the chargeback and bad mouth your product. Never take money from a customer who can not use your software as advertised, whether or not it is your fault or theirs.
3) Understand that not all customers are as knowledgeable as you
After receiving their registration code I got an email from a customer saying that they need a new code because their keyboard could not type the zero with the diagonal line through it.
Lets face it, we are not all experts in all areas and will look inexperienced in anything we do. Understand where your customers are coming from and don’t get frustrated with any “basic” misunderstandings they may have.
If you get the same basic question over and over, there is something wrong with your software!
4) Always encourage customers to provide more feedback
Communication is the most important part of any business. You must base your decisions on what your customers need. Encourage them to continue to send feedback so that you can develop a bond that keeps them coming back to buy what you have to offer.
5) Your customers will talk about you
Your customers are talking about you, both good and bad. Don’t let anyone get away with a bad word about you.
The most important advice I have used for the past 7 years is to treat each customer as if their happiness means another sale. You never know who they will be taking too.
6) Get them involved in the planning/development
If your customer sees his or her opinions and suggestions incorporated into your software, which product do you think he is going to be sticking with and recommending to his friends?
Show your customers how much you value their opinions by taking their advice seriously. If you don’t quite agree with their suggestions, tell them why and offer alternatives.
August 26th, 2006 at 3:58 am
[…] In a post which made many excellent points about customer service in general, TryBeta.com said the following about offering apologies: 2) Take the blame for ALL mistakes Did a bug in your software crash your customers computer or was it an error on their part? Who cares! Apologize for anything that goes wrong and offer to fix it. Tell them how important this issue is and get it fixed ASAP. […]