Responding to Your Customers

Here is a nice little blog post by Kidino at MoneyClicking. He brings up an importand point that I would like to expand on.

Everytime when I blast out an email for my subscribers, I would anxiously wait for a reply from any of my subscribers. Maybe I’m stealing office time a bit, but I would keep refreshing the web page to see if I have new emails … I don’t know — I just like it. Maybe it’s the same feeling like replying to fan mails. It makes you feel like a celebrity. Heck - I do feel like one. Maybe that’s why I enjoy this so much.

Like Kidino, I always try to respond to email from my subscribers. It does make you feel good to get unsolicited testamonials.

When I write an email message and send it out to my list, I do it because I’m trying to make money. Hopefully, the information I’m sending will make the recipient a little money as well (or at least provide a little information). But I don’t know a LOT of the people on my list. They sign-up because they like what I write. A lot of my personality comes through in my writing, so my readers get to know me.

But it’s rare that I get to know my readers. And it is nice to hear from them every now and then. Here’s why: We all have self-doubt. And getting an email from someone that explains how much they like your writing and value your opinions makes you feel good and valuable. Even critisism is appreciated, since it helps me become a better marketer and helps me create better products.

Now here is why you should always respond to your email: it’s just good business.

If you have a rabid following, then they will buy everything you create. It builds trust when you respond to people’s email in a personal and informative way. You also build relationships.

I have emailed other internet marketers. When I first started, I would email with questions and most of the time I would get no reply or a very rude reply. I couldn’t tell you their names, because I don’t remember them. That should tell you something right away.

The first time I received a personal reply from a marketer was when I emailed Jason Cain about one of his products. He answered my questions and pointed out that he lived right down the road in Atlanta. Almost everytime I link to something on his site, I get a nice email from Jason thanking me for the link.

I remember his name, read everything he writes, and buy damn near everything he sells. He knows something about good business.

In my E-Bay course, I talk a lot about engendering trust. Your customer has to trust you if they’re going to send you their hard earned money. I’ve been asking people to give me $197 for a course on selling guitars and such on E-Bay. You better believe that in order to get folks to part with that kind of dough, they have to KNOW that I know what I’m talking about. I have to engender trust. And the best way to do that is to actually reply to their emails. It is that simple.

So the short version is this: don’t treat potential customers like you treat your wallet. They aren’t temporary holders of your money. Treat potential customers like what they are — people with hopes, dreams, and problems just like you. They worked hard for their money, so you better provide equal value. And before you try to sell them something, build a relationship with them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2005 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Wealth - Email Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.