Your marketing efforts are an essential way to attract customers to you, but they won’t help you retain customers. Additionally, part of how you’ll attract new customers is through referrals from previous customers. So, ensuring that all of your customers have a good experience with your company is one of the most important things you can do. Unfortunately, even the companies with the best intentions can have unsatisfied customers. Luckily, efficiency and thoughtfulness, along with good intentions, can get you a long way in terms of customer satisfaction. If you’re looking to improve your customers’ experiences, here are three strategies you may want to try out:

1. Proper order management

If it takes you three weeks to ship something to a customer, you can’t exactly expect them to be pleased with your company. Proper order management is essential. Generally, it’s a good idea to invest in some order management software that will help you keep track of orders and print shipping labels. This type of software will allow you to spend less time trying to get organized when it comes to orders and more time shipping things off to customers in a timely fashion.

2. Asking for feedback

Anytime you get off the phone with a customer who discussed an issue with you, you should consider sending an email requesting that the customer provide you with feedback about the issue and how it was resolved (or not resolved). Additionally, a few days after you ship something off to a customer, you should consider sending a survey email that requests input about the product. Not all customers will respond to these requests for feedback, but some will. And their responses will help you tweak your practices to ensure that future customers have the best experiences possible.

3. Rewards

Let’s face it. People love deals and coupons. So, send previous customers coupons and special promotional deals. Customers are often likely to believe they’ve had a good shopping experience if they perceive that they saved money. So, throw some savings their way, and they’ll keep on coming back to your company for their future needs.

Customers are your company’s most important asset. So, treat them right by being efficient, asking for their opinion, and giving them some perks.

Author’s Bio: Carolyn is a guest blogger from Ordoro who writes about small business management, customer service, and order management systems for Shopify, 3dcart, and BigCommerce users.

1.       I only post when I have something important to say.

Posting sporadically is one of the best ways to lose your audience.  Once they are gone, the chances are they won’t be back. As it is, many people “like” a page and then forget it.  The only way to attract a loyal audience is to post consistently and post things people will be interested in sharing with others

2.        I’m using social media to MARKET.  The only things I post are special offers, coupons and important information about my products.

If you are using social media as outbound marketing, you should probably consider abandoning your Facebook Page and putting your ads in the local newspaper, direct mail and coupon mailers.  More people will probably look at them than will pay attention to your Facebook page.

3.        My business is serious; I only post serious information that shows how much I know about my business. Humor has no place on my page.

Have you ever received a funny “Get Well” card when you were really sick?  Did it make you feel better? Would you have preferred a serious card or a note telling you what you should be doing to overcome your illness?  People appreciate humor and are more likely to pass on a joke than a dry piece of information or an obvious sales message. If you are boring, preachy or sales-y, your audience will probably not stick around – and will not re-post your information.

4.        When I have a great special offer, I will post it on the walls of my business friends so their friends can get in on the deal.

Would you walk into a store and start selling to the patrons of that store without the owner’s permission?  At best, the store owner would be upset. At worst, the police might become involved.  You don’t want to mess with the Facebook police!

You want me to post on Facebook for you?

5.        It doesn’t matter who does our social media. I can turn it over to anyone – a  secretary, an intern, my niece – After all, it’s not rocket science.

Okay, it isn’t rocket science, but Marketing is a discipline with rules and protocols. And Social Media Marketing is still … well … Marketing.  If you have an audience that has “liked” your page, they expect that your page will be of value to them in some way.  Will your niece do the research necessary to understand when and exactly what to post to not only satisfy, but exceed the expectations of your audience?

The idea behind a referral group is to build a network of trusted associates. This is done by participation in regularly scheduled meetings, often over breakfast or lunch. Besides a 30-second commercial by all of the members, each member is usually scheduled to make a formal presentation to the group. Members get to know what other members do and how they do it.

Most referral groups have a “non-compete” policy. In other words, there is only one Residential Real Estate Agent, one Business Banker, etc.  The idea is that each member helps other members by providing sales leads that could turn into business or even partnering with other members to provide broader services.  These groups are different from Chambers of Commerce or other networking venues. The level of trust that is built up over time makes them willing to refer other members to friends and associates. (Most of us try to take very good care of people who are referred to us because we regularly sit across the table from the person who referred them.)

The question is: If you are in 10 or more referral groups, which insurance agent gets your referral? which Real Estate agent? which banker?  The idea of non-compete goes out the window when each member of the group is actually competing for your referrals with members of your other groups.

Social network marketing, whether done on or off line is actually about building relationships. If you are simply meeting people in order to market to them, you might just as well spend your time, effort and money on a TV ad or radio spot.  These broadcast media will actually get you in front of a lot more people. Referral group participation  is about giving as well as getting. It is about understanding what others do – not only to sell them what you have to offer, but to see if what they offer might help you or others you know.

Generic images may have their place, but, when possible, original images are a better option, especially for websites, brochures and other marketing pieces. A hair salon can get stock photos of models with great hairstyles. But those images are available to many hair salons. How much more effective would it be to also have photos of actual clients – possibly even before and after photos – to showcase the expertise of the stylists? (e.g. the gallery at http://idesignsalon.com)  A lingerie shop may show images from suppliers, but showing their own store displays can make their website or brochure more real and credible.  An added benefit is that when a customer walks in and recognizes the place from website photos, they feel an instant connection that may shortcut the sales process.  (e.g. http://eleganceunderneath.com)

Having original, attractive and well-designed images on marketing pieces may allow companies to pull ahead of their competition by making them seem more human and approachable. It may be well worth budgeting the money for a professional photographer, who can capture the essence of a business with interesting photos that include the right angle, correct lighting, and pleasing composition.(e.g. http://zoncom.com).

Small Local Business Pages on Facebook reach five times more fans than Corporate Pages, as found in a study conducted by Mainstay Salire, an independent research group.

The study found that one Friend on a Local Business Page was 40 times more valuable than a Corporate Friend on Facebook. The reason for this is that Friends of a Page are more likely to see Updates from a Local Business in their News Feeds due to Facebook filtering their stream of information.  The Updates that pop up in a News Feed are based on a complex algorithm called EdgeRank.

The EdgeRank algorithm gives greater visibility to Updates in User’s News Feeds that are “personally relevant” to each User.

You may think that the larger Corporate Page with hundreds of thousands, or millions, of Friends has the advantage with more engagement (comments, likes, link clicks), but the study actually showed that local Facebook Business Pages have much more engagement and marketing power per fan than the Corporate Pages.

“We found that when you normalized the data per fan, smaller, locally produced pages have a higher level of fan engagement across the board,” says Craig LeGrande, managing partner, Mainstay Salire.

Local Businesses are involved in what is going on in their area they are positioned to create timely and relevant Updates that will foster comments, clicks and views.  The Local Business knows what is going on in the area and will typically customize their promotions or events around this, which is a lot more interesting to a Local User and will appear in their News Feed.

The greatest example of the relevance of Local Updates versus Corporate Updates is with photo posts.  Mainstay found that Local Pages posting photos have nearly 70 times more views per Friend than photos posted on the largest Corporate Pages.

“The reason for this has to do with the ‘authenticity’ of locally created photos,” LeGrande explains. “Photos posted on the Corporate Pages tend to be more anonymous and feel more like an ad.  When a Local Page posts a photo, “it’s probably the store manager with a customer – real people who you actually see at the cash register or around the store.  It just feels more authentic.”

Putting this all together, Local Pages have five times more reach and eight times more engagement per Friend.  One Friend on a Local Business Page is equal to 40 Corporate Friends, as shown by Mainstay’s research.

“What the research shows is that, pound for pound, local fans deliver exponentially more marketing value than corporate fans,” LeGrande says.

For more information on the study see Mainstay’s White Paper. 

Laura Donovan is the Executive Director of Social Media Services and the co-owner of The Word Pro, a full-service marketing firm specializing in digital media marketing.

Laura is a graduate of North Central College, majoring in Organizational Communications and began her career as a Human Resources Manager, working for several large companies including Sharp Electronics, Mary Kay Cosmetics and Home Depot.

In 2007, she joined The Word Pro as the Internet Marketer and in 2008 became the Social Media Specialist. Today, as Director of Social Network Marketing, she handles the social media accounts for many professionals in a variety of industries, including physicians, dentists, home inspectors and contractors, realtors, restaurants and more.

In addition to managing the complete Social Media Marketing campaign for businesses, Laura conducts one-on-one training sessions regarding marketing on social media, has conducted training workshops on Social Media Marketing, writes for her own Blog and is a writer for the Midwest Edition of The Examiner.

Contact & Connect with Laura

Case in point:  A travel agent called me after going to a company for the free website she had heard about on TV. However, after contracting for the site and clicking on the “deals” she was offered, she had racked up a $300 credit card charge – for services she didn’t actually understand and didn’t really need. To add insult to injury, her free website came with ads across the top – for competing travel agents!  I had to break the news to her that in order to get rid of the ads, she would have to pay a yearly hosting fee.

A local restaurant owner called after she tried to update her website, but had done something wrong. Her website had disappeared.  She had no idea how to get the site back.  The hosting company offered to help – for a $200 charge.  (I was able to restore the site in less than 5 minutes.)

An interior designer was upset that her content management site was not being found on Google. I looked at it and saw that there was no meta tag for a description, no alt tags on images, and no page titles. The company who had sold her the site told her they could give her a “module” so that she could add those things – they would charge her for 9 hours of their time and she would have to add the content herself.

People with no knowledge of how websites work, who do not understand how to prepare photos for websites, how to write for websites or craft an effective call to action, and who do not understand how to optimize for search engines, could end up publishing a poorly designed, poorly written website that is all but invisible to Google.

If you want to look professional, get found on search engines, and engage your viewers, a do-it-yourself website may not be the best option.  And may cost more than you bargained for, especially when you consider what your time is worth.

Google looks at how a website is designed, how quickly the pages open and, believe it or not, how well-written it is. (Yes, they have an algorithm for that!)  More importantly, your viewers are judging you by the quality of your website.

70% of people would not buy from a company with a badly designed website —One Poll

What does your website look like?

At the risk of sounding like a frustrated school teacher, here are a few suggestions to those who believe that people may actually read what they write:

1. Even before you begin writing, decide on a topic and then stick with that topic.  I often begin to read what I think is a good article about something only to find that the writer has gone off on a tangent, started to ramble on about something completely off point.  By the end of the article, I am confused about what the actual message was.  If you begin writing and suddenly have a great idea that is off-point, open a new document and jot down that idea – to be written about next time.
2. Write something of value. When you write an article or email blast, or even a blog post, please remember that unless you are one of my children, I don’t care how busy you are, what you had for breakfast or how great you are.
3. After you write anything, read it to make sure it makes sense.  I often wonder if I am reading a bad translation from some foreign language.
4. Invest in a grammar book.  While everyone (except the English teachers among us) occasionally has trouble deciding where to put a comma, poor grammar and awkward sentence structure can dilute your message, and make it harder to understand what you are trying to say.  They may even doubt your credibility.
5. Don’t trust the spell check function on your computer.  The computer doesn’t know if you meant to say their or there, or if you meant to, two or too.  And (this is my pet peeve) if you don’t really know what a word means, how it should be used, or how to spell it, don’t use it!  Also, while you may think misspelling a word on purpose is funny, most people will think you just don’t know how to spell.

With more people posting to Facebook, Tweeting and blogging, I believe writing is actually becoming more important. After all, we all know that “content is king.” But while writing today is more personal and less structured than the formal prose of yesterday,  there are still a few rules, and following those rules can make our words more powerful – wherever they are found.

Here is a short list of things I have recently noticed on the home pages of sites I have been asked to evaluate:

• Little or no text on the home page.  While sites that look cool grab my attention, if I can’t find any useful information, I am probably not going to do anything but admire the page.  And that won’t make the website owner any money. Also, without text, the page may be invisible to search engines, which means if I don’t know the web address, I probably won’t find the website in the first place.
• No Phone number.  While we used to put contact information on a page called “Contact,” the newer thinking is that the phone number should be prominent on all pages, encouraging viewers to make a call from any page they are on.
• Text and phone number enclosed in images.  Search engines can’t search text in images, making it invisible to search engines.  When the phone number is in text, people who access websites from their smart phones can simply touch the number to make a phone call; this is not possible when the number is presented within an image.
• Page titles.  Page titles can be valuable Real Estate in a website. They should contain keywords to help search engines rank the pages.
• No “H” tags. Headings are given greater weight  by Search Engines and should be considered on all pages. (If you don’t want big glaring headlines, you can use CSS to make headings smaller.)
• No Clear “Call to Action.”  If you don’t tell me what you want me to do, I probably won’t do anything.
• A menu or navigation system that is not intuitive.  The navigation should fit in one line across the top of the page (or down the left side).   If the navigation bar will not fit on one line, use drop-down sub-headings. Don’t split the main tier of the navigation.  (One site I looked at had part of the navigation above the header and another part below the header – Confusing!)
• No “alt” tags on images.  Alternative text is important for vision impaired people and also from an SEO standpoint.
• No meta tag for description. While meta tags have fallen out of favor, they are still often used by search engines in Search Results pages and  may be used for SEO by the Search Engine.
• Site not verified on Google.  Google is the biggest search engine around.  Having it verified is a small step that can pay big dividends.
• No listing on Google Places.  This is especially important for “brick and mortar” businesses, but should be considered by anyone who wants local customers.

Most of the above issues can easily be addressed when the site is being developed, but will be far more costly when done after the site is complete.

Content Management Systems like WordPress make it easier to publish cool looking websites, and many graphic designers have the ability to design gorgeous sites.  However, for a website to be found on search engines, engage viewers and entice them to take some action, a pretty site may not be enough.