This post is part of a 3-person blog hop. Head on over to Tara Swiger’s blog and Stacey Trock’s blog to read their perspectives on this topic, too.
One of the best, and worst, aspects of running an online business is that you interact with your customers from behind a computer screen.
It’s wonderful to be able to work from home, in your pajamas, while nursing a baby. It’s amazing, really. It is also a very good idea to use a virtual office if you work from home, as that extra privacy comes in very handy.
But it’s also very different from being in a face-to-face business setting, especially when it comes to interacting with your customers. You don’t see people’s faces when they first come across your product. You can’t watch them examining your listings, choosing or not choosing to buy something.
In all sorts of businesses, online or not, it can be hard to discern what customers think once they’ve purchased your product. It’s all a mystery, unless they decide to tell you.
Interacting with your customers can be fantastically rewarding. When you hear directly from someone who’s spent their money on your product and is now using it you can figure out how to improve it or describe it better. If they love your product, you can celebrate that with them.
Interacting with customers can also be irritating, though, and even scary. Some customers are very demanding and some will inevitably be angry. If you have a great product, this is a small minority, but it will exist nonetheless. You may also want to check out these flooring franchises if you’re looking to start your own future-proof business.
Here are a few recent interactions that illustrate the ups and downs of hearing from your audience. First, the rewarding sort of interaction. I got the following email earlier this week:
Dear Abby 😉
Thanks so much for your blog!! I was sitting down to start a toy and decided to do a quick search for any techniques I might need since the internet happened since the last toy I made. Your work is so amazing and I know that I will be MUCH happier knowing your tips, specifically gussets! Thanks for all your excellent teaching! I look forward to spending more time on your site and bragging on you to my friends.
How nice to know that this person, whom I’ve never met, appreciates all my efforts to teach soft toy design. I’m very grateful to get many emails like this each week. Truly they are what motivate me to keep going. (*If you love a particular blog or product, email the person behind it and say so! Your words are very much appreciated!)
Next, the irritating kind. This was a blog comment two weeks ago on a post that is several years old:
I wanted the FREE Goldfish pattern. Your page says to follow the link at the bottom and there isn’t one unless i missed it. Can you please send me a link.
Sometimes it feels like everyone on the internet is just searching for free stuff. Ugh. Answering this question means using my time to support a pattern that doesn’t make me any money. It also means being extra nice to someone who has phrased their message in a rather demanding manner. But this is part of customer interaction. It’s part of my job.
And then there’s the frightening. For me, this blog is one of my products so I consider comments and questions here to be part of customer interaction. This comment was left on a post I wrote entitled, “The Real Truth About Blog Giveaways.” It was a post that took an opposing viewpoint to what most people say on this topic, and this particular reader vehemently disagreed with me.
Lots of broad generalizations going on here :/ Sometimes bloggers do giveaways because they…. actually just want to give something away! I did one on my makeup blog to give away a few extra bottles of my favorite nail polish (that I had purchased, this wasn’t a sponsored giveaway), just because I loved it so much and wanted to share it with others. I’ve participated in a few that other bloggers have done for the same reasons. Easy, simple, and a little bit of fun. You’ve done a great job making it seem like everyone has some evil corporate ulterior motive behind their giveaways.
And, I know this may blow your mind, but not every blogger checks their stats obsessively… Not every blogger out there is in it to promote their business-blog, make money, and earn comments and likes! Back to that ‘sharing’ thing… Some of us just want to share our stuff with the world.
It can be hard to read the words of someone who is really angry about what you’ve said or done. After taking several deep breaths, though, I thought that this comment was really valuable. Many readers probably agreed with her, but didn’t take the time to say so.
Here’s the thing about all of those sorts of interatcions: they’re all good. They’re good because people are talking. Interactions mean that people are out there looking, reading, buying, and making things based on what I’ve created. And then they’re talking to me.
Interacting with your readers and customers is how you grow professionally.
The hardest thing to bear is silence. If you are indeed making things and putting them out in the world, what does silence mean? Do they hate it, but they’re just being nice? Are they afraid to say anything? Do they think your too busy to respond, or that you’ll be angry or just not care?
Everyone I know who blogs or has a creative business wants to interact with their audience. But how do you get people to talk? What can you do to increase customer engagement?
1. Be generous.
First and foremost, put things out into the world on a regular basis. The more you make, the more there is for people to talk about. Finish that thing on your desk and post it tomorrow, okay?
Reciprocity is a genuine and natural human response. If someone emails you to ask for help, give of your time and expertise and really help them. Create a free tutorial and give it away on your blog. Offer to guest post on someone else’s blog. When you give, you create a subconscious feeling in the other person to return the favor. Be a giver.
2. Be approachable.
If we read your daily complaints about how busy you are, how many emails are piling up in your inbox, and how difficult your life is, we feel hesitant to add anything to your plate. The message you’re sending is, “Don’t talk to me. It’ll add to my burden.”
By the same token, don’t pretend that you’re on top of everything and your life and business are perfect. Sometimes being less polished is better. Write about a misstep. Admit to being wrong. Be a little vulnerable. It’s hard to approach someone we feel is perfect.
3. Be a good hostess.
When I was teaching 6th grade I used to really admire the English teacher in the classrooom next door to mine, an older, burly guy named Lou. I remarked to a friend, “I don’t understand it. No matter what, the kids love Lou so much!”
She said to me, “Does he love them?”
That question really hit home for me. Yes, he loved them dearly. And that was why they love him.
You need to really love your customers and hang out with them. Are they on Instagram? Or Facebook? Get on there and chat with them. Enjoy their company. They are the lifeblood of your business.
This week I’ve been emailing back and forth with a woman who has some questions about whether she’s allowed to sell items she’s made from another author’s craft book. I’ve been helping her get a solid answer. This morning I got this email this from her and I think it really speaks to that point:
Abby,
Thanks so much for all your replies. I never expected to to hear back from a pro when I reached out and started asking questions.
Be the pro that responds.
4. Be responsive.
Write back promptly and with a positive, upbeat tone. When I was organizing the blog tour for Stuffed Animals I contacted a sewing blogger who makes lots of things for children, including softies. I showed her samples of pages from my book, sent a link to the trailer, and asked if I might send her a copy to look at. I didn’t hear back so I followed up a week later. Still nothing. I’ll never forget that.
Everyone deserves a response.
And when someone writes and is angry, which they will do, don’t pick a fight with them or try to teach them a moral lesson. Respond professionally and promptly and be nice. Taking someone’s concern seriously can diffuse a lot of tricky situations.
5. Be personal
It’s hard to reach out to someone you can’t see. We need a face to put with your name so post a picture of yourself on the front page of your blog. That way we’ll know who we’re talking to.
“My 3-year old is trying to convince me that green conversation hearts are a vegetable so she can eat them for breakfast.” That was my tweet on Valentine’s Day at 8:00 am. Nice try kid.
Tell us a little about yourself. You don’t have to reveal personal stuff, but show us some glimpses of your life, your family, what you’re cooking, what you’re buying. Treat us like you would a friend. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are great for this sort of quick, personal sharing.
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Are there bloggers or creative business people you are afraid to engage with? What puts you off? And what makes you take the leap that first time you reach out and get in touch?
Please visit the other stops on this blog hop to get more ideas about improving customer engagement. You can read Tara’s post here and Stacey’s post here.
I think commenting and acknowledging our blog readers is the most important thing that we can do. When my blog was very new, I remember commenting on several well-known blogs with questions. I never received responses back. Although I still admire what these people do, and still read their blogs, I still remember back when I asked them questions because I needed help, and they completely ignored me. I will never forget that.
Thanks for posting about this Abby, I’m all about building engagement this year! I feel like, although I’m by no means perfect, I do the things that you suggest. And yet the comments are not there. I know waning comments are a fact for a lot of bloggers but it’s what keeps ME engaged. No one wants to feel like they are talking to themselves. I’ve read that around 50% blog posts are read on mobile devices and that it’s tough to leave a comment using your phone. I also know that a lot of responses to my posts are showing up elsewhere, like twitter and Instagram. That counts as engagement but it’s a lot more fractured. Mostly I think I need to reset the way that I think about it. Off to read the other posts on the hop!
I think the link to Tara’s blog needs to be fixed, I’m getting a 404 message.
Lovely post!
What a lovely post, Abby. As someone who is just starting out in the handmade business I really appreciated your prompt reply to my messages when there was a delay in my order albeit a very short delay (I was just being very impatient). 🙂
I also appreciated the banter we had via email for a few days after my initial message. It made me see you in a new light and I felt like I could approach you with anything.
I finally received my fleece order for Humpty Dumpty after days of battling with the courier company. Now that was frustrating I have better things to do with my time then spend it all day for a week on the phone. UGH!
So Humpty Dumpty will now be completed and I will post a photo of him to your FB page.
Thank you for providing such a wealth of information that will aid me in my own handmade business.
Take care
Jayne
PS: Just bought more patterns. I’m so excited about getting them but my bank balance isn’t feeling too well. 🙂
I had that same experience, Sara. It really makes me all that more motivated to be helpful and welcoming to everyone who comes here. There’s no reason to ignore someone who is sincerely asking for help!
Betz, you frequently leave comments here on my blog posts. What makes you sit down and write a comment? And what makes you skip commenting sometimes?
I think Tara’s site is temporarily down. I just contacted her so I’m hopeful it will be back up in a jiffy!
Thank you so much for your support, Jayne. I really did enjoy chatting with you via email this week! I can’t wait to see your Humpty Dumpty.
(Well, first of all I don’t sit down, haha!) I think I comment here when you’ve covered a topic that pertains to me and that I have info to add on that topic. I comment because I know you and our businesses overlap. I think I’m less likely to comment on a post specifically about stuffed animals, patterns for babies and dolls (no use for them) etc. Thanks for asking that question, it’s interesting to think about.
It’s funny you should post this today. Yesterday a lady contacted me through my (non-sewing) website (which funnily enough comes down for good this weekend) asking me about a pattern I had tested for someone else a couple of years ago, and wanting some advice.
Other than being slightly baffled about how she’d found me through the route she did, and also about why she didn’t ask the (very sweet) pattern writer, I set to to re-acquaint myself with the pattern, and see if I could figure out where she was going wrong. I got a nice e-mail all typed up, hit send and… got an e-mail back from some robot asking me to prove I was a real person by clicking on a link. Hmm, alas, at that point my virus spidey senses kicked in, and I didn’t click. So perhaps a moral of the story is, if you’re asking for help, make sure you use an e-mail address that someone can e-mail you on!
I now feel irrationally guilty that I couldn’t help her, while knowing that she’s probably now filing me under ‘doesn’t want to help’. Unfortunately, with no other way to contact her to get her attention, I’m at a loss.
Abby, thanks for this post I really appreciate your willingness to help & share you knowledge! I very much appreciate you getting back to me on my sewing questions 🙂 my friend was recently ignored by a blogger we really adored regarding purchasing ad space on her blog I couldn’t believe she just ignored her so yes I agree with you on the trying to be helpful 🙂
Don’t feel badly about that! You did your utmost. There are always ones that get away, for one reason or another. If you’re making that effort to be responsive and helpful, I think that’s awesome and that’s what counts.
You’re welcome, Kim! And that truly is strange considering that your friend was trying to give the blogger money for ad space! I’m going to be hopeful and think that she was just overwhelmed and the email got lost somehow. I hope that’s what it was!
Customers are the best of both worlds. I engage with mine on Twitter, FB, email, and blog. I have many repeat buyers I’ve gotten to know quite well. Some of mine have given me such encouragement to continue; others have said small, mean things that make me want to quit. They all have to be part of the response process. I had a busy Christmas shipping my Anti-Bad-Mood aromatherapy sprays then had three that received items damaged in transit. Two emailed directly and one left a nasty review on the website. All three received free replacements and special bonuses, not one replied to my follow up email to confirm they’d received my package or…say thank you. It hurt my feelings because I’m not a big company after all. I’m one person. I make the aromatherapy, label it, wrap it, drive it to the post office. Their orders lost me money and I guess I was looking for appreciation, which is probably silly. Then another repeat customer emailed to say she used her anti-aggressive spray at Christmas and her aggressive relative kept commenting on how nice the room smelled and the day went more smoothly for them all. And that made up for everything. Long story, but thanks for listening!
Super great post! I do like to hear back from customers. Some email with a problem and seem to not expect much but when I reply promptly and try to be helpful. They seem truly surprised and relieved. Most end up being repeat customers.
I’m with Betz on this one. I try to do what you suggest but comments have definitey dried up in blog world and I can’t seem to break into Twitter. I do notice from stats that my blog gets a good numnber of hits per day though, I just wish people would say hello!
Personally, I am put off commenting on a well known person’s blog or Twitter as I somehow feel I might be bothering them – the equivalent of asking for an autograph while Brad Pitt is trying to eat his dinner. But that’s my problem, not theirs! It does annoy me when I don’t get a response to a question though – I once asked a well established knitting designer whether or not she would allow me to sell the occasional toy made from her book and never got a reply. I try and answer all queries as politely as I can, even if the person has not been as courteous as they could.
I wonder whether not hearing back from that knitting designer influenced your feelings toward contacting well-known bloggers going forward. If we expect to have personalized customer service when we purchase products from a company as big as Apple, for example, there is no reason that we shouldn’t have great customer service from a small, or even very tiny, company.
I would love to help you (and anyone else) break into Twitter, Caroline. Twitter has been a tremendous resource for me. So many great contacts to make and so much to learn! Please let me know how I might be able to help with that. I’d be glad to!
This sort of thing happens so often, Heidi. It can really bring you down, especially when someone is upset and doesn’t get in touch with you, but instead leaves negative feedback or files a complaint with the online shop service or with PayPal. All I can say is, it happens to everyone who sells online so don’t take it personally! I’m so glad that the third customer decided to reach out and tell you how much she loved your product!
Repeat customers are amazing. The more you can do to cultivate repeat customers, the better your business will be! That’s great to hear, Karen.
Thanks Abby, you are a star! I will contact you at some point about this!
I know not receiving a reply from the knitting designer certainly affected my attitude towards her! I always find a complete lack of response to an email ruder than if I were to get a reply saying ‘no way’.
Hi Abby (and everyone),
This post was very timely for me, although not quite as directly. I have an online business and boy, it is HARD to know how to respond to clients sometimes! For example, yesterday a previous client needed very last minute help with a project, which I turned around very quickly. Then, she asked me to make changes because she had forgotten to include some very important details. Okay, that happens, right? Well, it required an 80% redesign and even though I was losing money, I made the changes and sent it back. She approved it and even paid the invoice.
Then, this morning, she tells me that more changes need to be made because there was additional important information she forgot to include (!). What do you do? I’ve already spent almost twice as much time as I had anticipated to make changes that were not because of my mistakes, but because of her mistakes. I understand that people are busy and others have certainly shown me generosity when I’ve made mistakes, but this work is how I take care of my family and I feel very taken advantage of. Am I overreacting? How do I protect myself from situations like this but also be generous and understanding to clients?
Hi Anna,
I’m not sure there is a way to salvage this particular client situation, but I wonder if going forward you could write into the contract the exact number of revisions that will take place and the time frame for each one. I did a freelance job last year and I spelled out at the start that the client would be allowed two revisions and I would make each one within three days. That really helped because they knew that they had to get back to me with absolutely everything or be satisfied with it as it was. I hope that’s helpful to you!
Abby
Hi Abby,
Thanks for your response. I guess I was partly venting, but I truly do appreciate your outside perspective and validation. I am still very new to being my own boss, which as you know, means you have to handle everything! I am considering finding a small business mentor through SCORE (does anyone have experience with the organization?). In addition, the online business help I find from bloggers like you is invaluable. Thank you for letting me bounce that situation off you and I appreciate your advice about the stipulating the number of revisions moving forward.
All the best,
Anna
This blog post hit the nail on the head with my greatest fear of starting a sewing business. Thank you for helping to demystify approaches to responding to unhappy customers. I bought your book, Abby, and between that and your blog posts, you are helping me gradually gain confidence to some day start an online sewing business. Thanks, Abby, you are great!
That’s so nice of you to say, Joan! Good luck with everything!