Instant Feedback: Converting Visitors to Customers

It's a simple question.

Last year, while surfing the website of a well known travel company, I closed my web browser and immediately another window popped open in order to find out why I did not make a purchase before I left the first window.

At first I thought it was annoying. But I realized they were trying to find out why I didn't buy something. They expect every guest that visits their site to make a purchase. Anything less than that is considered a failure.

Now that is just my opinion. But what if it was the goal of the company to sell one of their products or services to every visitor to their website?

Call them crazy. Or just call them successful!

They are a Fortune 100 company. They've got a great social media presence. They probably know more about their customer base than most companies. They expect more from their employees because their customers expect it more from the company.

So do you hire someone to stand outside the doors of your company and find out why visitors weren't converted to customers?

That's a great place to start!

Random fact: I ran into Coach Joe Paterno on the sideline once and almost knocked him down.

I don't know

Do you ever have to tell your customers "I don't know" when they ask you something you don't know? Hopefully you don't lie to them.

One of the lessons learned as part of my Disney Institute program on Quality Service involved how some questions get answered.

If a question was asked that could be answered, the answer began with "That's a good question." If it couldn't be answered immediately, the response began with, "That's a great question." And they would proceed to find the answer. If a question was asked that dealt with sensitive information, the response was usually "That's an excellent question" and that was it.

What do your customers expect from you? How you respond when you don't have the answer will determine whether or not they will become customers for life.

And isn't that what we want?