How To Improve Customer Loyalty During A Turbulent Economy

I'm not gonna sugar coat it... it's looking pretty darn ugly out there!

I'll spare you a rehash of all the gory details -- I'm sure you're WELL aware of them already -- but suffice to say that the stock market and economy took a pretty sound thrashing this week.

And MANY people are worried.

I'm seeing it in the emails I've been getting from nervous customers... and in the urgent phone calls I'm receiving... and in the comments on my blog...

There are a whole lot of people out there who are concerned about what the present economic climate will mean to their Internet businesses.

Well, I'm no economist, so I'm not about to make a prediction about the markets or the stability of the economy...

... but I am an Internet marketer, and what I can say -- with confidence -- is that a downturn in the current economy does NOT have to be a major roadblock for YOUR Internet business!

One key to surviving (even thriving) during this period of uncertainty is to know your customers!

It's more critical than EVER for you to understand EXACTLY who they are... where they're coming from... their interests, goals, and desires. This will allow you to create laser-focused marketing copy that speaks DIRECTLY to them and solves their specific problems, as well as offer products that you know for sure will make a difference in their lives.

You'll be rewarded with continued customer loyalty and ongoing sales!

So if you don't already know all you can about your customers and visitors, NOW is definitely the time to find out...

... and the easiest and fastest way to do that is with a survey.

Here are the SIX STEPS you need to follow to create an effective and informative survey that will help you connect with your customers -- and continue to profit -- during the current financial turmoil:

Step #1: Plan Your Survey

As with everything else you do with your business, you'll have the greatest success with your survey if you do some advance planning.

Without a solid idea of what exactly it is you hope to learn from your results, you can easily end up creating a survey consisting of fairly random questions that ultimately don't lead you anywhere.

So make sure you take the time to sit down and do some brainstorming and list-making.

Decide what your goals with the survey are. Are you trying to learn more about specific products you offer? Looking for ways you could give everyone a more positive customer care experience? Trying to gather demographic information so you can segment your list better and send out tailored offers?

Be clear about what you're hoping to accomplish with the survey, and you'll be in great shape when it comes time to write the actual survey questions.

Step #2: Choose Your Weapon

One thing I like about surveys is that they're super simple for pretty much ANY business owner to administer, no matter how small your budget, or limited your technical knowledge.

That's because there are lots of web-based services out there that will host your survey for you... for FREE!

You just design the survey using their simple point-and-click interface, enter the text for your questions, and then email a link to the survey to your customers and subscribers.

When your customers show up, the automated survey is online and ready to take!

And best of all, many of these free services offer a reasonable number of reporting features, too, making it easy to interpret your results.

Of course, most of these services offer paid upgrades as well, which allow you to create more complex surveys and get more sophisticated reports, but for a typical small survey, the freebies work just fine.

Here are a couple that I've used and like:

* SurveyMonkey


* Survey Pro

Step #3: Design And Write Your Survey

Designing your survey takes a bit of skill, but with a small amount of planning (there's that word again!), you'll have no problem putting an effective one together. Just be sure that you're putting the questions in a logical order, and not exhausting your customers by asking for too much detail.

Here are a few tips to help you design a better survey:

* Start with the good stuff -- To ease your customers into the survey, start off with some simple questions they can answer without a lot of thought.

This can be something as simple as basic demographic information (age, location, etc.), which also happens to be useful information.

But don't load up the front end with all of the easy questions. Save a few for the end of the survey. That way, it won't get increasingly difficult throughout, which can cause some people to bail before they complete it.


* Avoid asking too many questions -- 5-10 minutes is about the maximum length you can reasonably expect somebody to spend answering a survey, so be sure to limit your questions.

At the same time, be sure to let your respondents know up front how much time will be required to complete it... and be honest! People will begin to drop out if it starts to take longer than you say.


* Give your survey an introduction and ending -- It's a good idea to include an introduction to the survey, to clearly explain what people are required to do.

At the same time, it's a nice touch to end the survey with a "thank-you" page, just to let people know you appreciate the time they spent taking the survey.


* Respect people's privacy -- You may want to collect personal information like age, income, and occupation. If you do so, make sure to reassure your customers beforehand that you have a strict privacy policy, and remind them that their answers are all confidential.

When it comes time to write the actual questions, make sure you write in a relaxed, conversational voice, and avoid things like abbreviations, acronyms, and double negatives. You want to be sure that EVERY person who takes your survey clearly understands all of the questions.

Here are a few tips to help you write compelling and effective survey questions:

* Avoid asking leading questions -- Be sure that your questions don't sway your customers toward answering them in a particular way, or giving an answer that's not actually true.

For example, don't say: "How quickly did we resolve your problem? " This assumes that the problem was indeed resolved.

The question you should ask is, "Was your problem resolved?"


* Avoid questions that rate more than one thing -- Avoid asking questions that require people to rate more than one thing at a time.

For instance, don't say: "How fast and accurate did you find our customer service representative?"

While the service may have been fast, it may not have been accurate (or vice versa) so this question is impossible to answer accurately.


* Focus on asking "close-ended" questions -- In a survey, a close-ended question is one that can be answered with a simple yes/no or other specific piece of information, or a selection from multiple choices.

This makes the survey faster and easier for your customers, and the results more simple for you to manage.

So instead of a question like "What did you think of your customer service experience?" try something like "Did you enjoy your customer service experience?"


* Be consistent with your questions -- If you ask your customers to rate certain things on a numbered scale, make sure to use the same scale each time.

So if they need to rate something on a scale of 1 to 5 in one question, avoid using a scale of 1 to 10 elsewhere.


* Watch out for long questions -- If your questions are too long, your customers will soon get tired of answering them, and abandon the survey. Look for questions that can be broken into two or more parts.


* Don't test your customers' memories -- Try not to ask your customers to recall a lot of information that happened far in the past. They'll soon get bogged down trying to recall specific details, and if they're in a hurry to complete the survey, will often abandon it.

Step #4: Test Your Survey

You all know by now that I'm a HUGE advocate of testing EVERYTHING before you email it, make it live on your site, or expose it to your customers in any way.

So take the time to carefully review the survey to make sure it has a logical flow, and that it all makes sense.

If you can, it's a good idea to ask a few people (customers, if possible, or co-workers, friends, or family) to take the survey ahead of time, and actually WATCH them while they do it.

Do they hesitate while answering a question? Backtrack? Skip over a question? It could be a sign that your questions aren't clear enough, and you'll need to work on making them more simple.

Once you're done, ask about the experience. Was there anything you didn't understand? Were you confused at any point?

You want to make sure the survey is easy to understand and follow BEFORE you make it available. Once it's actually live -- and your customers have started answering it -- you DON'T want to have to start tinkering with the questions. That will skew your results.

Step #5: Administer The Survey

Okay, the moment of truth is upon you: It's time to invite your customers to take the survey.

The easiest way to do this is to email them, and ask them for a few minutes of their time. And make sure you tell them what's in it for them if they take the survey.

If your goal is to improve a certain product, for instance, tell them that by taking the survey, they'll actually be helping you to help them, because you'll use their comments to fine-tune the assistance you can offer them.

And don't be shy about offering your customers a "bribe" for taking the survey. You're asking them to do a big favor for you, so it's not unreasonable to reward them for their time.

Consider sending everyone who responds a gift (like a free eBook that they'll find valuable, a coupon for discounted products, or enter them in a draw to win some a prize.)

Finally, make sure you build some urgency into the email. If you don't ask people to take the time right away to answer the survey, they'll often put it aside to answer when they have more time... but then never return to complete it.

Step #6: Interpret Your Results

As you review the results of your survey, remember that, more than anything, you're looking for trends. Did the majority of respondents answer specific questions the same way? Are they often expressing the same frustrations, etc?

At the same time, look for any surprising answers. Your survey is likely going to tell you things about your audience that you had no idea were true.

By finding out EXACTLY who your audience is, what they like (and dislike), and what their goals and experiences are, you'll be able to tailor your salescopy, your email marketing efforts, your website, and even your products, to perfectly suit them.

The results should be improved customer loyalty, and ongoing success with your business, even during these turbulent economic times!

To your success,

Derek Gehl
Internet Marketing Guru
==========================================================
About The Author

Derek is the CEO of Internet Marketing Centre, the #1
Internet marketing support centre assisting businesses on
how to make money using top internet marketing strategies
===========================================================

Dinesh D'Souza An Economic TERRORIST

I weep for all true born Americans and i say this with a deep sense of humility. It is hard to see people to what they are truly are and Mr Dinesh D'souza is not an exception. I will be candid as I try to exercise the truth in a broader context.

Mr Dinesh D’souza a conservative but also a card carrying member of the Republican Party, on September 8th 2008 published an article with a subject: Help Obama’s Half-Brother Move out of His Hut. The sole purpose of this article was aimed to demean Senator Barack Obama’s character but question his private family life. My Perspective is worth reading and reading through this analysis will help every reader to be careful to what they wish for. Read on if you may…..

1- Looking at Dinesh D’Souzas’ picture i immediately knew he is an Indian but i wanted to confirm and i did. Wikipedia

2- Con men come in many facets and we know what Indians can do when it comes to obtaining by false pretences all in the name of appearing to look genuine. Anything Obama as a brand can sell; it can be used to caricature the Obama family especially when the tool to be used is right in your eyes.

3- Lets get one fact straight, you are an immigrant from India and you came to the U.S in 1978, so your Indian culture runs through your veins regardless the length to which you will go to hide the true you and who you really are. (You can put a lipstick on a pig to make it look good but that pig is still a pig)

This link below provides much detail about the chameleon known as Mr Dinesh D'Souza. This cover story on D'souza is quite lengthy but the first & the second paragraph provides you a snapshot of who this man is and what he intends to achieve in America.
The Controvatialist

4- You have dated Laura Ingraham of Fox & Ann Coulter both conservative commentators before getting married to your wife, i guess this 2 people are in a better position to shed more light on whether they know you and their relationship with you in the past before you got married to your wife. My take on that would be a number of factors, deceits, lies, being selfish & greed. These 5 words might have been the reason that affected you not getting married to any of this 2 beautiful but very successful lady's.


5- As you‘re Indian but holds an American passport out of circumstance, you‘re now behaving as if America is much important to you than those who are truly born Americans. There is absolutely nothing different between you & another rabble-rouser by the name Michelle Malkin nee Maglalang, the Fox news basket mouth. A daughter of a Filipino Illegal Alien(The Perfect Hypocrite who always refers immigrants to ''Illegal Alien'' I wonder what her parents immigration status was, when she was born in 1970 as she loves using that word Illegal Alien a lot while protecting America from her idiotic senses)

6- Your ultimate goal in putting up this crap about Obama's half brother is to benefit from it nothing more nothing less. You will even go extra mile in championing the dissemination of this story to help your continued drive of selfish interest, people do not know you & they do not know Indians very well so Americans that rarely travel out of the U.S will embrace your article believing that you sincerely want to help Obama's half brother. Helping Obama’s half brother, as you put it, what are your true intentions here?

7- You need to help your own people of Goa in India first before illicitly looking to make money with Obama's name. Good Samaritan! If this is the way that people should be helping other people, then people reading this should ask you what ‘re your motives as you have chosen to make caricature of Obama's candidacy in just about all your articles relating to this election.

8- People will be wondering why i referred you as an Economic Terrorist i did that because that's exactly what Indians all over the world are known to be. I was reminded about this line by my brother recently as i discussed the true nature & purpose of average Indians. This was how he explained it to me. Indians travel far & wide to settle in another Country for one single purpose and that is to form a group, blend into that society and start milking the economy of the new country they now call their abode a typical example is in east Africa where Indians rule these countries by proxy. If you doubt this, any country you see large population of Indians, just interview the main citizens of that country and they would tell you what the Indians do. Americans should not be fooled because you are just another pig with a lipstick bashing Obama to fulfil your selfish interest.

9- In one of your articles in your AOL blog, Subject: OBAMA OR PALIN: WHO IS THE REAL HYPOCRITE? You compared Obama & Palin; your comparison was to suggest that Ms Palin acted well as to how she responded to the news of her daughter's pregnancy. You also in that article suggested that Obama rejected his own half brother & compared that with Palin loving & compassionate response towards her daughter. You also stated in your article quote ''But parents don't have full control over their teenagers' actions''. I only hope that Americans will ask you personally what you yourself will do if you ever find out that your own daughter is pregnant. You know the answer Dinesh, It has to be honour killing & the earlier the better your wife knows about this the better for her. You come from India & with your strict cultural values regarding pregnancy outside wedlock or not getting married to your cousins, blood relations or an arranged marriage organised by families especially for their daughter, comes with one punishment, Honour Killing of the girl by the father of the girl. This cruel deeds are now been executed by people from your heritage in the U.S. you will not deny that but i am very sorry for your wife. No matter how you champion the American values more than the Americans themselves, you are still an Indian, so you may wish to falsely continue to deceive yourself by singing the songs of anti Obama cynicism but we know who you are and your intentions.

10- Obama's problems are not from loving Americans but from sycophants like you & Michelle Malkin who was voted the worst person in the world in 2007 & 2008. Every good thinking American should ask themselves why should people like you, an immigrant for that matter talk down on Obama this is beyond being a conservative and a card carrying Republican. You are not white but a minority in the mist of millions of African Americans & Hispanics but you are Asian. It is people like you that when you criticize Obama, any white American should ask you serious questions why you criticize a fellow minority as you are. The answer to that is very simple, folks if you work in an office where you have Indians (not American Indians) but the bollywood Indians that immigrate to the U.S even the ones born in this country, make sure you watch your back because they will lick the ass of your boss with negatives gossips against you only to seek favours this is what you intend to achieve. I began writing this piece just to enlighten people up and in the process I saw the cover story about this guy published by Thomas Larson in 2005 which I provided the link in this response to you as you felt the only way to advance your selfish interest is by castigating Obama but also making a caricature of his family with emphasis that he abandoned his half brother.

I am very sorry that Obama should go through these insults all because he is running for an elective post. I am not sure that the so called liberals have pounded on the story of Cindy McCain’s half sister let alone made caricature of McCain’s family the way you drink on Obama's demise.

11- In that same article of yours you criticized the main stream media for not reporting extensively about Obama's half brother rather, you gloated about it. Let’s just hold on a second, the main stream media you have criticized are the ones you have appeared on previously in many occasions to sell your books. ABC, CBS, MSNBC, COMEDY CENTRAL, CNBC, CNN, & the list go on. I am not talking about the numerous news media you have used to sell your books like Fox news but now you are criticizing those that had helped expose you & your selfish ideologies, all by suggesting to readers of your article to send you money through a P.0 box Address so that you can get in touch with the Obama campaign for them to send your bogus collection (money) to his half brother George Obama in Kenya. You know you can only say this in this country (U.S) and back in your country India, you cannot insult people like this & get away with it. Why do you have to deceive Americans using Obama because you know that people who hate Obama will, may be respond to your bogus call to save Obama’s half brother without knowing who you are and your criminally minded sense. People who engage in charity work do have an office which could be their home address or their office address but you chose a P.O BOX as your address and even suggested that you are putting up $1000 to get this fund started. You further asked any one reading your article to donate $5, 10, or $25 as they deem fit. You also asked readers to make a check on George Obama’s name. I guess this is to present yourself as genuine since the check or money order will not be in your name, I am sure Americans are not fools and have other better things to think about rather than listen to a crook like you.

You need to help yourself first before looking for whom to send money to.

I am sorry for most Americans who have to put up with con artists like you all in the name of setting up a fund for Obama's half brother. This is no difference to the scam letters from the advance fee fraud that we receive every day. The difference here is the answer to the question a fellow Indian asked you in the first paragraph of the above link i presented in this article/ response to your article which can be seen from the link below as well.

The controversialist

Con men come in many ways but the worst of them all are the ones who have successfully permeated into the American society. You’re a crook and Indians are quite good at it. Continue licking the asses of whomever you run into I only wish that people like you do not get into any elective positions because you will snitch and stitch your way to stardom without people not identifying you easily. Your book titled (The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11) if people should remove The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility from the title of this book they should examine you with the first part of this book THE ENEMY AT HOME which best describes your persona.

Narcissism Symptoms Checklist: How to Spot An Emotional Vampire

The above text link offers 20 bullets points on how to identify people like you in a crowd.

Published by

Anthony A JP
Internet Marketing Strategist


Webmasters choice of browser better than IE
My StumbleUpon Page

About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anthony A. JP, The Affiliate Marketing strategist has
helped thousands of people in over 100 countries around
the world start and run a successful home business.
Discover 3 easy steps to start your own home business
and subscribe to The Affiliate Marketing Guy's Free Home Business
Secrets Mini-Course at: Affiliate Marketing Tips.Com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Acceptance Speech By Barack Obama

I guess this speech moved me to a greater purpose and if you have not seen it be sure to watch and feel it.

Simply magnificent what can i say.

Very inspiring

Anthony