Everyone makes mistakes. Customers know this. How you handle those mistakes is the deciding factor on whether the customer will forgive you and come back, tell their friends about the experience, or heaven forbid, post negative remarks on the Internet about you.

So when should you admit to making a mistake? If you catch the mistake yourself, your best defense is to contact the customer with a resolution before they contact you and ask for one. That puts you in their mind as someone who is attentive to their needs, caring and honest about their experience with you.

Case in point: In early January I went in for what was supposed to be a simple hernia operation, but something went wrong. Apparently there was more damage on the inside than what appeared on the surface. After 6 grueling days of therapy and recovery, I was released from the hospital.

Two weeks later on my follow up visit, I asked the surgeon why the incision was 8 inches instead of 2. He said “I messed up”. I asked him to repeat it, which he did, then smiled. That was supposed to tell me he was kidding, but instead left me thinking he was just trying to diffuse the situation.

There was no explanation though, for the huge bump and numbness on my leg, which has spread to cover the entire thigh. What happens in the operating room when you are sedated? TV shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” show that apparently a lot goes on in there. But my leg? The operation was on my stomach. Was I thrown like a bean bag? Only the surgical team knows for sure and nobody is talking. Did you really think they would admit anything?

I only went back to that surgeon after the first round because he is the only one my doctor recommended, even after I asked for someone else. Will I ever go back? No way! I will find another on my own.

How does that fit in with your own business? Your customers will seek alternative sources and vendors if you screw up so bad that their situation is not resolved. Making jokes about the mistake only makes the situation worse.

Customers remember 2 things:
1) That you either did well
2) Remember that you messed up

When you mess up without fixing it, your customers will tell 7 times more people than those they would when you made things right. They not only will never come back, but recommend others do not use your services either.

Is your site ready for Christmas shoppers?

An Accenture survey forecasts that folks will be shopping for Christmas earlier this year, with 69 percent planning to complete the bulk of their holiday shopping by Dec. 7th. Too, consumers are more deal-oriented than ever before, with 25% of them expecting at least 50 percent discounts before they buy.

According to a Gallup survey, the Christmas spending forecast is down slightly this year, with consumers planning to spend $740 on gifts compared to $801 as per surveys taken at the same time last year.

With more merchants competing for fewer dollars, the deals are going to be phenomenal. In fact, merchants have already started to lower their prices to get a leg up on the competition.

Sears launched a campaign on October 31st, called “Black Friday Now” with deep discounts happening every Saturday from now until Christmas.

Saturdays???

‘Black Friday’, which falls on the day after American Thanksgiving (November 27th) is the first day of the Christmas season and is usually the busiest shopping day of the year… offline.

‘Cyber Monday’ is the Monday after Thanksgiving. The term was first used by Shop.org, whose research showed that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on that day.

So what does that tell us?

That we’d better plan to get our affiliate sites and PPC campaigns ready for the Christmas shopping rush earlier than ever. I’ve noticed that folks are talking about Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals on consumer sites already. In fact,

So, although the big Christmas shopping days are still almost a month away, you need to get your site and PPC campaigns ramped up now.

1. Start checking the networks now for Black Friday deals. Here are 2 examples … Black Friday at Overstock.com and Big Savings, No Blarney: Book a Black Friday Round-Trip Flight to Ireland from $278 on Aer Lingus! (Expires 12/31/09)
2. Make sure that you are receiving merchant emails. Many merchants have their 2009 holiday shopping catalogs online and are already pumping out Black Friday and Cyber Monday ‘deal’ notices to their affiliates. Unless you are in the habit of checking each network’s interface daily, turn on email notifications or you may miss some really great deals that you could be passing on to your customers.
3. Contact your affiliate manager directly. If you have a working relationship with your affiliate manager, phone him or her and get the low-down on the best seasonal deals and best-converting offers.
4. Decorate for Christmas. Pretty up your site with holiday graphics and pictures of happy shoppers. Just acknowledging the season with a ‘Happy Holidays’ header or a “Your One-Stop Christmas Shop” graphic will show your spirit and get your customers in the mood to shop.
5. Put up a ‘Black Friday Deals’ page… or pages. Draw visitors deeper into your site with the promise of special savings opportunities.
6. Do the legwork. Compare and contrast the deals that your merchants are offering. Sifting through a myriad of sites and offers is time-consuming. Save your potential customers time and effort by explaining the difference between offers on the same product. For example, show how that company that charges slightly more for a product but offers ‘free shipping’ will save them money in the long run.
7. Create urgency. Let your visitors know that these deals will not last by including offer expiry dates in your copy. Put up an “x number of Days ‘Til Christmas’ countdown ticker on your site, eg.
   You can find the “Till Christmas” code at Javascript Made Easy
8. Set up your PPC campaigns well in advance. Drive targeted traffic to your Black Friday deals pages with pay per click advertising.
9. Touch base regularly. Now’s the time to put your autoresponder to best use by increasing the frequency of contact with your subscribers. Let them know that you’re doing the legwork to find them the very best deals of the season. Let them know what’s new and hot in your niche and tell them to stay on the lookout for more notices from you with sizzling deals.
10. Seal the deal with great copy. Go beyond price points and convince your visitors that the products you’re promoting make great gifts with tantalizing copy. For example, when describing spa or jewelery gifts for women, use words and phrases such as, ie. pamper her, soothing, relaxing, unique, innovative, hand-picked, romantic, heart-touching, romantic and indulgent. Be sure to stress the benefits to the gift-giver as well, eg. “she’ll thank you again and again for…“.

Keep these suggestions in mind as you prepare your site for the 2009 holiday season – and you’ll thank me for your increased conversions this year!

Although I sell millions of dollars of products for my affiliated merchant partners each and every year, I still don’t consider what I do as ‘selling’.

Quite frankly, I hate being sold to and can only imagine that you feel the same about the steady barrage of product pitches that you see on sites and in your email.

The point to remember is that your customers are put off by the hype they see too much of every day.

Therefore, make it your job to advise, recommend and endorse products rather than try to ‘sell’ them.

1. Be Friendly

   The first step is to start from a friendly perspective by getting to know who your site visitors are and what they need and want through polls, surveys or direct request.

2. Show Empathy

   Next, prove that you understand and have empathy for their concerns by echoing their frustrations. Share a personal story of your own experience with a similar problem and tell them how you were able to solve that problem with the product you are about to endorse.

3. Be Honest

   Above all, be honest. No product is perfect, so a 100% positive product endorsement will be met with skepticism and resistance by your readers. So, be sure to point out any minor shortfalls and limitations. Alternatively, consider comparing and contrasting two different products to give your visitors a variety of options from which to choose.

4. Call to Action

   Finally, close your endorsement with an enthusiastic reminder of your thumbs up rating and a recommendation to buy the product.

In a nutshell, take that salesman’s hat off and start talking to your visitors the same way you would tell a friend about a product that you really like.

That’s how to sell without selling.

*** This article is a modified version of the original which first appeared in Chitika’s Blog Bash – 30 Days, 30 Expert Bloggers.

Want to learn more about how to sell like a pro?

One of my favorite books on the subject of selling is Ziglar on Selling: The Ultimate Handbook for the Complete Sales Professional.

The book consists of 343 pages of stellar insights into the world’s oldest profession and important life lessons.

This is a must-have book to include in your online marketing / sales education library – and it’s cheap!

How do you choose the products you buy? Do you simply accept as gospel truth all the good things a merchant says about their own product? Or, do you ask your friends’ opinions and look for independent product reviews before opening your wallet?

If you’re a savvy consumer (which of course you are), then you put more stock in your friends’ opinions and independent product reviews.

As affiliate marketers, we become much more successful when we approach our site visitors as friends and take the attitude that they too are savvy consumers.

From that standpoint, an affiliate’s real work is to pre-sell our merchant partners’ products by writing fair and balanced reviews, also known as endorsement letters.

Sure, writing a review for each product takes a little time and effort, but it’s an activity that sets the super affiliates apart from their less-super counterparts in terms of rewards… read ‘income’.

Product reviews can be either stand-alone or comparative. The first type focuses on a single product, while the second is an evaluation of similar items that allows readers to choose which product best suits them.

Before you begin to write a product review, you’ll need to evaluate the product. (Nothing like stating the obvious, eh?)

I prefer to endorse products that I’ve actually used. However, buying a product isn’t always feasible. If that’s the case, affiliate managers will often grant ‘proven’ super-affiliates access to products for their review. That’s especially true of information products and services that are delivered online, such as internet dating services.

But what if you’re not yet a super affiliate, and can’t fathom a basement full of treadmills to review for your exercise site?

Well, do what your customer would do if product reviews didn’t exist on the Internet – go to the store and test those treadmills out!

And how do you review acne medications for your skin care site if you don’t have acne? Surely, you have some friends with (previously) pimply-faced teenagers… ask them to tell you what worked for them.

If you can’t find out that way, search Google for “consumer reviews” + “acne medications”. Read as many as you can to come up with three to five effective products (that have affiliate programs).

Once you’ve collected information about the product, it’s time to start writing that product review.

The structure for a product review is simple, containing an introduction, overview and summary.

The introduction consists of a few sentences outlining the problem and introduces a possible solution for the reader, without going into detail. The overview describes the product’s promise, a description of how the product is used, as well as its effectiveness and value. The summary is almost a repeat of the introduction, and contains a strong recommendation for purchase based on your conclusions.

To simplify the review-writing process, I ask myself the following questions when writing product reviews for my own affiliate sites.

1. Who is my reader and what is their problem?
2. What does the product promise?
3. How well does the product solve the problem? What does it do? How does it work?
4. Does the product offer good value? (Would I buy this product?)

Let’s look at each question in turn.

The first question asks, “Who is my reader and what is their problem?”

If acne is your reader’s problem and your site visitors are adults, you probably want to avoid terminology like ‘Zap those zits!’ and use more age-appropriate language.

Remember too, that ‘zits’ aren’t really the problem. The real problem is how your reader feels about having pimples all over their face and how that affects their life.

If you’ve experienced the problem yourself, say so. Describe your experience, and show understanding and compassion for the reader’s plight. Speaking from real experience earns your readers’ trust which always improves sales rates.

If you have trouble figuring out how your reader might be affected by his problem, then you can research that online too.

For example, I searched Google for “hate acne” and came across Acne.org, where one young woman lamented, “My sh%tty skin is seriously ruining my social life and my relationships with men. I’m avoiding it all just cuz I don’t want to show my face. Its really sad. I also spend a lot of money on make up. I’m not even asking for the most perfect skin (even though it would be nice) but even if I was limited to just a couple zits….and then it would take me under 30 mins to get ready….I would never be home, and I would go back to living the life that I ohh so miss.”

That gives you a pretty clear picture of how she feels, right?

Now address those concerns using emotive terms and you’ll improve your conversion rates.

Here’s an example.

Rather than say, “Product A will cure your acne”, start with a question that appeals to your reader’s emotion, such as “Is acne ruining your social life? Scared to leave the house – or even show your face? There IS a solution to your plight.”

That introduction brings us to the next question which is, ‘What does the product promise?’

Does the product cure the problem? Does it work faster, or with less hassle and expense?

You found answers to that question during your product research. In this section you simply summarize your findings.

Next, answer the third set of questions, “How well does the product solve the problem?”, “what does it do?” and “how does it work?” based on your product research.

Results are the most important information, so it’s not necessary to provide nitty gritty details about how you use the product or what it’s made of or how it is packaged, etc. unless the merchant does not supply that information on their site, and you consider the information of importance to your reader.

Too, we’re all aware that no product is perfect, so don’t go overboard and write a completely glowing, one-sided review. To make the product review balanced and fair, detail what you do and don’t like about the product. If you want to avoid negative statements when outlining your dislikes, try phrasing the sentence like “although I’d prefer a slightly less greasy formula…” or “although the bottle lacks a pump dispenser…” and finish on a positive note.

Lastly, make a value statement. For example, “While Product A and B both eliminate most acne problems in 30 days, Product A wins our ‘best value’ award priced at $20 less per bottle. Or, if you’re writing a single product review, you could say something like, “Acme’s Acne Product would be great value even at twice the price, but at this price it can’t be beat!”

For even better conversions, be sure to include a product graphic on your product review webpage, and a testimonial or two from users that you solicit through your site or use with permission from your merchant partner’s site.

In summary, tell your visitors what you would say to a friend if you were telling them about a product that you found and liked. That approach will make writing reviews easier and your friendly attitude will push your conversion rates through the roof!

Product endorsements are great, but you’ll also want to put informative articles on your and other webmasters’ sites. With Jim and Dallas Edwards’ simple “Turn Words Into Traffic” system, your articles will soon be all over the Internet attracting visitors to your website like bees to honey… even if you think you can’t write.

See what one reader posted on the SiteSell forum about the book’s content. I couldn’t have said it any better myself…

Hi Ken,

I started reading MYCPS 2 days ago and today is the second time.

IMHO if you disregard Sitesell brand, with a minor improvement, you can change the title into “Principles of Web Marketing.”

Why the title? Here is my observation.

First,

Quote:
Building a business is all about building relationship
and …PREselling is the online version of relationship-building
and …PREselling warms up and builds trust and respect

… trust and respect build loyalty. Finally, loyalty builds retention.

The concept of preselling to build visitors, and later customers, loyalty is fundamental for both offline and online business. For online business we learn the importance of retention from how high is our Conversion Rate and the cost of acquiring new customers.

Like the butcher and the hairdresser –which are offline examples– we learn that in offline world we’ll do business with someone we know personally. We like to do business with persons who knows our needs and wants and offer products or services even before we ask them.

The personal relationship with customers in the above examples once owned by small businesses now practiced by big corporations. To serve every customer personally a company such Amazon invested in very expensive and sophisticated Customer Relationship Management Softwares.

My point here, if big corporations enter personal relationship game then small businesses have to serve their customers better.

Second,

How can we serve our customers better?

With Content – Traffic – Presell – Monetize concept small business can defend the personal relationship advantage. Despite using high-end CRM softwares, as customers we don’t communicate with a real person we know. Whereas small/home business owner communicates personally with customers and their customers know his/her voice and personality.

So with every improvement of personalization technology and much smaller target market/community small business still can win the value war against bigger corporation. Online we can achieve this by providing high-value-added content/information in the form of words. It’s about what we offer or the main benefits.

Besides content/words, there are two additional differentiation we can apply to leverage small business position.

One is context or look and feel in your terminology. In consumer goods industry our site look and feel is like the packaging of the product –the content or words to be exact. It’s about the way we offer
our target market. Our personalities and how we see our target market will color our contexts.

The other one is infrastructure or technology, facility and personnel as the enabler of words and look and feel creation. SBI with its features belongs to this differentiation category. And last but not least, we, as the subject of all creations, play in the center stage.

So… Have I given a complete body of knowledge to serve our customers better?

Nope. There are at least two additional ideas: marketing strategy and branding.

Marketing strategy is about how to win customers’ mind share. In MYCPS you taught segmentation and targeting at chapter 2.2. If many SBIers complain about low income site I suggest them to read and reread this chapter.

Segmentation and targeting are about developing market map and selecting which area to serve. We have to use our scarce resources wisely.

Once we decide the area to serve we can find and develop our positioning statement. Depending on our situation we can write our own USP or VPP. Chapter 3 covered how to leverage our USP or VPP with related domain name.

Now, Let’s talk about branding. Your sub title How To Build Your Brand of One… remind us not to trap into commoditization. In a commodity market where supply and demand command price, we are the price taker. By branding we can command price since our brands free us up from supply and demand curve, we are the price maker.

To summarize my review, I’d like to see a triangle of brand – positioning – differentiation. Brand is a value we promise to deliver to our target market. Positioning is a strategy to direct your customers credibly. And differentiation is a tactic to integrate content, context, and infrastructure in the form of our offers to customers. All is almost well covered in MYCPS.

Let’s analyze Sitesell.com to get some evidences whether you preach what you teach. Sitesell brand promise is to add value by providing products and services to make sites can sell. Your positioning statement: Ecommerce for the rest of us –simple and effective ecommerce for everyone. Your differentiations: high value affordable contents with unique, easy to understand presentation, and supported by the high-powered SBI as your main infrastructure.

Again, although MYCPS seems like about writing content that presell, IMHO with some polishing you can change your book title into Principle of Web Marketing. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t say Principle of Web Selling.

That’s an incredible endorsement for Ken’s “Make Your Content Pre-Sell”, and like I said before, I couldn’t have explained it any better myself.

Pick up your copy of “Make Your Content Pre-Sell” today!

Business is “the exchange of resources for mutual benefit”. It’s a simple statement of cause and effect.

For a seller, that benefit is profit. Profit is what you get when you sell something for more than it costs you. (Any fool can sell it for less.) Profit is the ONLY result that counts for a business owner, because it’s the only thing that allows you to stay in business.

If you don’t make a profit, you’re not in business at all, by definition. You’re in a charity. Sure, the beneficiaries are a little unusual — your banker, your landlord, the media, your suppliers, your employees, etc — but it meets the definition of a charity: the donation of resources for someone else’s benefit!

For your buyer, the benefits are twofold – 1) satisfaction of a rational need, and 2) fulfillment of an emotional desire, hope or expectation.

People buy for two reasons only — and always for the same two reasons. So you, as the seller, must always deliver both reasons. You ignore either at your peril. Those two reasons? Their RIGHT reason for buying and their REAL reason for buying.

Their REAL reason is always emotional. It’s always about wants. (Hope, desire and expectation). It’s always about benefits. And it’s always about fulfillment of their hopes, desires and expectations.

Their RIGHT reason is always rational and objective. It’s always about needs. It’s always about features… the reasons why their real reason for buying will be met. It’s always about satisfaction of their rational needs.

Needs are what define markets, but prospects are human beings. They’re intensely emotional, which is why their REAL reasons are always first in order of priority.

If not, why would the fashion industry exist? It’s pure emotion that has little to do with the core needs of clothing, which are also twofold – 1) Keep us out of hospital (protection from the elements and environment) and 2) Keep us out of jail! (Use your imagination. Or not.)

So why do we spend so much time, effort, money and emotion on looking different? Buying is almost always about emotion, first and foremost.

Here’s another example of the difference between right and real reasons.

Your doorbell rings. It’s your best friend, so excited they can’t stand still. They drag you outside, where you discover a brand new Porsche under the streetlight.

“W-w-w-w-hat possessed you to buy THAT?” you ask.

Your friend replies: “Because my accountant assures me it will increase in value over the next three years. It’s a very safe investment!”

Is that your friend’s real reason or right reason for buying? And how can you tell with 100% certainty, just from what I’ve already told you? Let’s think this through:

Q. What was their stated reason for buying?

A. It’s an investment that will increase in value over time.

Q. Where’s the car parked?

A. Outside YOUR house (not your friend’s house).

Q. How did it get there?

A. They drove it there. It didn’t just materialize there, and it’s a safe bet that it wasn’t delivered there from Germany. It wasn’t assembled outside your house, or you’d have noticed before this, right?

Q. If that was their REAL reason for buying it, why did they just run the very real risk that it might suddenly (and dramatically) DECREASE in value by driving it through traffic?

Why didn’t they do the sensible thing and have it stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment, so there’d be little risk that, in three years’ time, it’ll still be in mint condition and worth substantially more? (That thing dropped 25% in value the moment it left the dealership!) And another thing: who NEEDS a Porsche?

You only need a vehicle to get you from point A to point B as safely, economically, comfortably, quickly and efficiently as possible, surely? So the “investment” angle is their “right” reason for buying, not their REAL reason.

Q. Where is it parked?

A. Outside YOUR house.

Q. WHY is it parked outside YOUR house?

A. So YOU can be impressed!

Q. So what’s their REAL reason for buying?

Is it about how it makes your friend FEEL? (100% emotion.) Or is really about how it makes OTHER PEOPLE — including YOU — feel? See how subtle it can be to tell the difference?

There’s a dangerous red herring at work here: where a buying decision is highly emotional (especially when lots of MONEY is involved), their right reason is often their “right” reason. It’s not rational at all. Instead, it’s a “rationalization” to justify their REAL reason for buying. Pure ‘spin’. It’s bogus. It’s a fake. And it happens all the time! Why?

So that they’ll feel SAFE. They won’t look foolish or vain or selfish. (Remember the Emperor’s new clothes?) But it sometimes gets even more confusing.

Here’s a real-life example. My wife asks me what I think of her new outfit. I tell her it looks wonderful on her. Then she hastens to tell me that it only cost $800… BUT she saved $1,000!

Here’s the question: saving money… real or right reason for buying? And how can you tell with 100% certainty from what I’ve just told you?
Here’s the crucial clue:

1. It’s about MONEY. So it’s pure emotion. I mean, money is the single most emotional issue in the world.

(The only people I ever get an argument from about this are bankers and accountants, who insist that they’re rational, objective and unemotional about money. But they rarely ever deal with REAL money… CASH. Instead, they deal with NUMBERS — abstract representations of money. Cyphers. Symbols. I’d be unemotional about this dull stuff, too.

If you want the money, you have to leave their offices where the computer screens and printouts are and go where the REAL money is found — along with security cameras, armed guards, alarms, protective shields and other security devices!

Buyers only have control over their own resources. And, as the seller, you’re only interested in ONE of their resources… their MONEY.

So it has to be their REAL reason, right?

Well, yes — and no.

2. It’s their own money, sure. But when they SAVE money, it’s money that they don’t spend. They keep it. It’s STILL theirs. And that’s rational and intelligent behavior. So it’s also their RIGHT reason.

So how does this relate to being a successful affiliate?

When you understand peoples’ real and right reasons for buying, you can create offers with powerful emotional appeal — and back them up with solid, safe features and rational RIGHT reasons that eliminate any hint of risk for them.

Not just risk of losing their money, but of losing face with others — or in their own eyes.

You can create strategies that reposition a product in a totally different light that solves a real and pressing problem for a particular market.

For example, I recently took a product created to protect digital products from download thieves and repositioned it as a quick, easy, inexpensive alternative for people wanting to create membership sites. Conversions shot up by more than 700%! (And at three times the original price.)

But that’s not selling. That’s marketing. And marketing is the truly successful affiliate’s ultimate secret weapon. The role of a marketer is to identify a need and satisfy it. But there’s NO emotion involved here. Just needs and satisfaction.

That’s why sellers are so important. Their role is to get people to WANT what they NEED. It doesn’t matter how much people NEED what you’re offering… until they WANT it, they won’t BUY it!

For buyers, though, the most immediate and alarming risk they face is not the price or the product you’re promoting.

It’s YOU! The seller — and the seller’s motives — are their #1 perceived threat. Why are you here, and why are you trying to get me to buy this?

Until you can remove all perceptions of risk presented by YOU, you’ll struggle to even get their undivided attention, let alone the sale. If a prospect is worried about what you might do TO them, you’ll never get them to see what you can do FOR them.

If you can get people online to want what they need — including the realization that they really need it – then you’re well on your way to becoming a Super Affiliate.

People buy for their own reasons, not yours or your merchant’s reasons. So learn to discover what those reasons are. Then target them with strong emotional appeals that do much more than exploit and manipulate the prospect’s fear of loss.

Warning: Using fear of loss is a public admission by a seller that they haven’t got a clue about how to sell. It’s the fastest, surest way to boost refund requests due to “buyer remorse”… and get you dropped from the most lucrative programs (“buyer revenge!”).

Learn to sell with integrity and intelligence. It’s safer, easier, better and smarter, every time.

John Counsel is founder of The Profit Clinic and author of “Is it Marketing? Or is it Selling? (And can YOU tell the difference?)”, a free Insight Report from http://MarketingMasterClass.net.

What’s your biggest concern as an affiliate marketer?

If your approach is anything like the hundreds – no, thousands – of affiliates whose questions I’ve fielded over the years, your primary concern is probably how to get more traffic to your site.

What I’ve discovered while reviewing their sites however, is that these affiliate marketers are putting the cart WAY before the horse.

All it takes is a quick spin around the site to know that even if they did get gobs of traffic every day, these affiliates probably wouldn’t earn enough to buy their daily Starbucks double tall non-fat no whip mocha.

What the heck are they doing wrong?

Well, more traffic won’t help the affiliate whose copy couldn’t sell air to a drowning man.

In other words, they’ve neglected to address what should be their first objective – turning browsers into buyers, or sales conversions.

Affiliates shouldn’t really try to sell products, however. That’s the merchant’s job.

What affiliates need to learn is what Ken Evoy of SiteSell refers to as pre-selling.

I consider what I do as ‘selling WITHOUT selling‘. Almost exclusive use of that technique is the reason my merchant partners tell me that I’m their top affiliate or have the ‘best conversion rates‘ they’ve ever seen… often both.

Furthermore, I spend far more time trying to get the message just right than on traffic generation.

When you focus on conversion rates first and foremost, any and all traffic to your site becomes more valuable. Furthermore, that focus is absolutely essential to get a satisfactory ROI (return on investment) when using pay per click (PPC) marketing.

If your affiliate site doesn’t convert at least 2 percent of your visitors into buyers or if you want to improve your conversion rate, you need to read my short article ‘How to Sell WITHOUT Selling‘.

Ken Evoy offers MYCPS! (Make Your Content PreSell) as a FREE download.

Ken says “There are actually two ways to build a Web site online. The first way is all about “keeping it real.” Add to the Web. Write, and write well, about what you know and love. Overdeliver great content to please visitors and make the Search Engines love you at the same time.”

What he says is absolutely correct. Furthermore, preselling is about writing to communicate and it is skill that you can learn through this book.

Download MYCPS! (Make Your Content PreSell) now.

I like sharing ‘learn from the mistakes of others’ stories for the valuable business lessons they provide, as well as the fact that they may save you from suffering through a similar ordeal on the customer side.

What follows is a timeline account of some of the worst customer service I’ve experienced to date on eBay – or anywhere else for that matter.

(The people in this story should have availed themselves of “The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay” by Derek Gehl and the Internet Marketing Center’s Advanced eBay Mentoring Team.

To set the scene – the cell for my saltwater pool gave up the ghost in late June. With 100 degree temperatures and no cell, we were pouring chemicals into our pool like there was no tomorrow. Simply cleaning the rapid algae growth took a LOT of time, not to mention made for a high YUCK factor.

June 30th

My friend found that poolstore-usa had two Autopilot Super Cell (SC-60) w/ Manifold, Cell & base for sale on ebay at $509.95 each, which was about half the price the items were available for here in town.

I bought one cell using “Buy Now”. After the transaction, the listing showed 1 cell remaining (which it still does). eBay’s ‘winning notice’ email included instructions to call the vendor, which I did immediately. I also sent them a follow-up email.

Their autoresponder reply read, “Thank-You for contacting Pool Store-USA. We will answer your e-mail as quickly as possible. You may also call us at 866-xxx-xxxx for assistance. processing. Sincerely, Pool Store-USA”.

As Pool Store-USA is located in Arizona, I decided to wait until after the holiday long weekend before calling them again.

July 5th

At 9:13AM, I received a “payment reminder” from Pool Store-USA. I called and left another message, and sent another followup email.

At 11AM, I received an email from Kim Arunski of Pool Store-USA that read “I will be calling you today”.

By 6PM, I’d heard nothing back, so I phoned again and Kim picked up right away. She recorded my credit card details and assured me that the cell would be shipped out the following day.

July 21st

Three (3) weeks after the order was placed and 15 days after the item was supposed to have shipped, I still hadn’t received the cell, so I left a telephone message and sent yet another email to Pool Store-USA.

July 24th

Three MORE days and still no response from Pool Store-USA, so I left another telephone message and sent another email. Seven (7) hours later I received the following email:

Mrs. Gardner, I have just found this e-mail and going over your order. I am sorry for the delay. I will make sure this is shipped tomorrow and forward you a tracking number. Ted Arunski, Pool Store-USA

My immediate reply included a request for “a rebate on the shipping costs“

August 4th

I waited ANOTHER 10 days and still didn’t have either a reply to my request OR the cell, so I sent Pool Store-USA ANOTHER email:

I have yet to receive the tracking number that you promised — nor have I received a reply to my last email about reducing the shipping costs to compensate for the 3 week delay in shipping. Kindly respond today. Thank you.

Pool Store-USA’s reply:

I am just checking my emails today, have been out sick for couple days. I will check for the tracking on Monday (August 6) and get back to you. I am sorry for the delay, but will compensate for it. Kim

August 6

I waited until 2PM and Kim still hadn’t called with that tracking number, so I left the following negative feedback on eBay – “33 days, product still not received. Lousy communicators. Too many excuses.“

August 7

I called AGAIN and when I asked for the tracking number, Kim acted as if she’d never heard from me before.

I then learned that the item STILL had NOT been shipped.

I strongly recommended that she ship the item immediately and contact me with a tracking number THAT day.

Later in the day, she phoned me back with a tracking number. Although she was curt, she did assure me that the shipping charges would be refunded to make up for the delay.

August 9

Cell arrives via Fedex. Manifold was cracked in 2 places, however we required only the cell, which was installed that day.

September 3

I received 2 emails from Poolstore – USA via eBay.

We hope you enjoy your purchase. Your payment has been received for the following item…

HUH?

I paid for the item on July 5th (and only because I persisted in my attempts to contact them).

We are sorry you had to leave a negative feedback. Communication was bad. We don’t want to leave a negative for you but if you would resind (sp) your negative feedback it would be appreciated.

HUH? (Again)

Let’s see, Kim and Ted of Poolstore – USA LIED to me 4 times. Three times about having shipped a product that hadn’t been sent, and once about refunding the shipping charges.

Ted then sends me an implied threat that he will leave ME negative feedback if I don’t rescind the negative feedback that they so richly deserved?

OK, by this point, I’m wondering if these people are even halfway sane.

You guessed it. I wasn’t about to remove the feedback.

September 4

Ted ackowledges via email that the communication was poor, and that they should have apprised me of the status of my order daily. He also wrote “if I could make it up to you I would”.

Let’s spell it out for him in BIG letters… Try REFUNDING THE SHIPPING CHARGES AS PROMISED, Ted.

September 5

Ted complains that the shipping cost him $90.00.

So what?

As a customer, all I want from him at this point to put his money where his mouth is and honor his promise to refund the shipping charges.

Besides, it didn’t cost Ted $90.00, it cost ME $90.00.

September 6

This is where the exchange got completely ridiculous.

First, Ted suggests that I send the unit back for a complete refund. Obviously, Ted is NOT listening. I want only what I was promised… a refund on the shipping charges.

Then, in one of several emails that included a plethora of nasty accusations flung in my direction, Ted finally admits the truth…

Autopilot was out of stock so the part was not available.

He went on to say…

I just can’t take it when someone says I am not honest.

Sheesh.

He startedthe transaction with a LIE about the stock available and then didn’t mention that fact for more than TWO months.

SHAME on Ted.

He then proved that he was completely daft by leaving me neutral feedback that read:

Tried very hard to satisfy her, but she is unsatisfiable. Nothing more to say.

Funny, but all things considered, I am probably the best customer they ever had.

I put up with their considerable B.S. very politely and for a lengthy period of time (mostly because I desperately needed that cell). I left negative feedback so that their potential clients would get a heads up and so they would perhaps learn a lesson about how NOT to treat their customers in future. ie. don’t lie and keep your promises. Really simple stuff that most of us learn from our mother’s by the age of two.

There IS another lesson here.

Don’t piss off a blogger, (ESPECIALLY one who writes about doing business online) and nowadays EVERYONE’s a blogger. It is more important now than ever before that business owners communicate thoroughly with their customers through every step of a transaction – and especially when that transaction isn’t proceeding as smoothly as everyone would like.

The CAUTION for Bloggers: Make darned sure you can back up every statement you make with documentation.

P.S. to Ted: I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of “The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay” to learn how to improve your business and avoid negative feedback in future. It also teaches about automation techniques that may save you some embarrassment as well. Good luck to you Ted… you need it.

A survey sponsored by RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW) and conducted by Harris Interactive(R) underscores a significant opportunity for online retailers. Nearly 50 percent of consumers (48%) say they have increased shopping online “a great deal” or “somewhat” in the past five years. With a continued influx of shoppers moving to the Internet, retailers need to develop new strategies to meet the unique needs of online shoppers.

According to the Online Retail Report, turning browsers into buyers requires immediate access to information throughout the entire purchase process. When customers can quickly and easily find answers to their questions, their satisfaction goes up and retailer’s costs go down. 42 percent of consumers said they would prefer to be able to find the answers they need online by themselves if they had a question or needed help during an online shopping experience.

The Online Retail Report also reveals that segmented and tailored e-mail messages can be a key driver for sales and personalized follow up can turn a one-time customer into a loyal repeat customer. 68 percent of consumers said they were prompted to browse a Web site after receiving an email from a retailer. 73 percent of consumers said they would appreciate any post-purchase follow up.

“Providing shoppers with easy access to relevant information is critical to the success of any online retailer,” said Greg Gianforte CEO of RightNow. “RightNow helps retailers provide consistently exceptional customer experiences and drive conversion rates by delivering tailored messages to the right shoppers at the right time.”

A complete copy of the Online Retail Report can be found at Online Retail Report.

You can learn a lot about marketing from other marketers’ messages and their delivery.

In that vein, I’d like to know what you thought of the Affiliate Marketing Sham report [find out why this link was removed].

Did you find it interesting and informative or piled high with hype? Did the report leave you concerned about the future of affiliate marketing and affiliate[link removed] marketers? Or, did you think ‘X’ was too dramatic in his assessment?

What tactics does X use to build desire for his product? Does ‘X’s’ approach build trust and make you ‘hungry’ to learn more? Why or why not? What do you think of this marketing approach? Would you use it to promote your own or other people’s products?

If you haven’t already done so, take a critical look at the Affiliate Marketing Sham [link removed], then post a Comment with your answers to the above questions.

When enough comments have been posted, I’ll post a follow-up with my own thoughts on the subject.