AMiable Solution #68: Unforgettable

When you’re trying to make your organization’s name memorable, there’s one surefire thing you can do to ensure your prospects, members, donors, or customers won’t forget you: mislead them.

        

Upsetting your market and turning your customers and prospects against your organization is scarily easy. The most obvious way to mislead your customers is through false advertising, over-hyping or over-claiming your product’s or service’s benefits or capabilities.  It seems that no one is immune to the temptation.  Just last year, the Federal Trade Commission required the makers of Oreck vacuum cleaners and air purifiers and Reebok shoes to refund money to consumers after challenging claims made by those companies about their products.

But false advertising is not the only way to get your organization a bad reputation.  Failing to follow-through on an offer or providing poor customer service when you promise customer satisfaction can lead to doom for your organization.

Think we’re being overly dramatic?  How many times have you looked elsewhere after having just one bad experience with a company or organization? 

Oracle, a company dedicated to “simplifying IT” by creating hardware and software that links the cloud and a company’s data center, released a report last year that quantified the importance of a good customer experience.  In the report, “Why Customer Satisfaction is no longer good enough,” Oracle said that 70% of its surveyed shoppers stopped buying goods or services from a company after experiencing poor customer service, and 81% were willing to pay more for a better customer experience.

So how do you ensure a good customer service experience and encourage lasting relationships?  Give your customers and prospects the respect and recognition you hope they’ll give to you.  They’ll not only remember you positively for your efforts, but they’re likely to spread the word, too.