Blitz Ezine #241 September 6th, 2004

How to submit your site to froogle

The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 241, September 6th, 2004

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Blitz Comments
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Make sure to check out daily promotion hints and tips.

http://smallbizpromo.blogspot.com

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In this Issue
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- Revisiting Froogle.
- Avoiding Blunders with multiple products.
- Complaining
- Some useful (and fun links).

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Food for thought
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There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don't like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don't spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.
Michael Dell

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Revisiting Froogle
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So you want to get your products listed in Froogle?

First let's visit the Froogle Merchant's page.
https://www.google.com/froogle/merchants/

Next we need to apply for an account - so click on the little box that says "Apply Now".

Fill out the form. You should get a reply / response / account setup with a few days.

So how do you upload products. Some details on that process can be found here:
https://www.google.com/froogle/merchants/feed_instructions_new.html

I would download all the help files in .pdf to my desktop. But the only files you really need are Basic Feed Instructions and sample spreadsheet.

You couldn't get much easier than that - open the spreadsheet / add ten or so products to start out with to get your feet wet. You'll need - product url, product name, price, picture, category (if you use categories on your site) and description. Make sure to use descriptive words in the description (make it keyword rich - but you also want to 'sell' the item as well).

Make sure to follow the instructions for saving the file and uploading it to Froogle.

Next month we'll talk about getting better results with the froogle feed.

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Guest Articles
Selling Multiple Products? Avoid These Top Blunders
by Marcia Yudkin
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When your web site sells more than a dozen items, you may face a fierce challenge of helping shoppers find what they are looking for. You'll need to classify products into
categories, but these will serve as obstacles and even deal killers if those categories do not match those in the heads of shoppers.

I've seen again and again web sites using classifications that aren't known or understood by a portion of their customers. For instance, I once wanted to buy T-shirts and went to the site of a famous catalog company, where I found a category called "shirts." So far, so good. But then I had to choose between a category called "woven" or another called "knitted." There I got stumped. Are T-shirts woven or knitted? I was not sure.

Another time I was searching for a Toyota car part, ready to buy it, but I could not find it on the Toyota parts website unless I knew whether it was part of the drive train, an accessory, the exhaust system or something else. I hadn't a clue. In both these cases, the site wrongly
assumed that shoppers understood their jargon, and set that up as a barrier to an online purchase.

Let's suppose that you solve the jargon problem and someone finds what they are looking for. The next hurdle for shoppers concerns whether or not people can find answers to all the questions about availability, shipping charges, warranties and return policies that they could easily ask if shopping by phone or in person. In the last year, I would say that only 50% of the time when I'm shopping online I've had all of my pre-purchase questions answered
by the web site. Among the multi-product sites I've toured as a reviewer, I don't remember a single one that answered enough questions for shoppers.

Before your site launches, you can think up all the questions people might ask by imagining different kinds of shoppers - people from other countries, corporate buyers,
gift givers, etc. - and what they'd need to know. Once your site's been up for a while, collect the questions that come in by email and phone. Gather the questions and answers in a Frequently Asked Questions page and make the FAQ accessible from every page of your site.

Especially do not make people put items into their shopping cart and begin checking out in order to find out the shipping charges and refund policies! Another epidemic blunder is not revealing the address of the company behind the shopping site. Not only is this necessary to set at easethe mind of any shopper worried about recourse against no-show orders or faulty merchandise, it's important for some people to know where items are being shipped from.

Ditto for your privacy policy. Are you going to be renting out your list of customer addresses and bombarding everyone who's bought from you with frequent emails?

Online order forms range from easy to use and complete to baffling and aggravating. Submit yours to what I call "the grandmother test" - ask people who've never seen your site before to place an order and talk through the process out loud. Button your lips and listen. Note where they get stuck and fix your ordering procedures accordingly.

Finally, do you have testimonials attesting to the quality and value of what you sell and the pleasures of doing business with you? That's the cherry on the sundae of a well-designed site from a company shoppers recommend and return to for more purchases!

Marcia Yudkin <marcia@yudkin.com> is the author of Web Site Marketing Makeover and 10 other books. A four-time Webby Awards judge and internationally famous marketing consultant, she critiques web sites and performs web site makeovers for clients. Learn more about her detailed critique sessions on five different kinds of web sites (including multi-product sites) at
www.yudkin.com/websitequiz.htm .

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Guest Articles
Complain, Complain
by JoAnna Brandi

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Human nature is funny. Put a person in a room with a "specialist" and they tend to want a little bit of free advice. My friend Robin, a lawyer, says whenever she goes to a party someone usually asks for a little legal advice. My friend Steven, a doctor, says it's always "By the way Doc, I've got this pain..." And me, the Customer Care Coach, I get the customer abuse stories. It's hard for people to resist telling me the last time they got left by the airline, or the last time a bank teller ignored them… Although we are constantly being reminded in the business press and by our consultants about the importance of treating our customers well and adding value to their experience - use your own experience as a guide - what's the state of service today? Judging by my informal polls, not so good. Even though the American Customer Satisfaction Index is inching up in some industries, it's inching down in others. (http://www.theacsi.org).

In general, most people I talk to think there is plenty of room for improvement. While customers believe that in many cases they pay enough to get the highest level of service, the majority believes that the service reps they deal with don't care about their needs. Some - especially the tech savvy - have abandoned traditional channels and embraced self-service wholeheartedly. Why? "So I don't have to take the chance of getting some sassy know-nothing person on the phone after listening to the recorded we-value-your-business-crap for 15 minutes." That's what a business consultant friend of mine told me last week, as she went on to tell me that she avoids customer service departments "at all costs."

That made me rather sad, since I see the customer service (and as we call it customer care) function as an important enhancer to every other part of the company. If service is good, sales are easier. If service is good marketing is easier, building on a strong reputation and the experiences of happy customers. But it seems we are lacking the consciousness, and the skills, which help create a positive experience for the customer - every time.

As a customer, I long for more positive experiences, and occasionally do complain when I am not satisfied. And I'm usually bewildered by the less then appreciative stance companies take when I go out of my way to comment on their service. Shouldn't we be grateful for complaints? A complaining customer is doing what many companies hire consultants and mystery shoppers to do - critique the service.

Just recently, after I took my time to compose a letter of complaint to the president of a large office supply dealer, I received a response - initially apologetic - that took a turn for the worse when he chose to get defensive and used my own words out of context against me. He turned an angry customer into an enraged customer. Uh, not a smart strategy. Perhaps he went home that night with his ego intact, thinking he had "won" the argument. What he did do was cause me to lose the respect I had for him as a leader, and broke any bond of loyalty I may have had with his company.

Does your company embrace and encourage your customers to complain? Do you know how to handle feedback in a non-defensive fashion? Have you made the process of getting feedback from the customer easy (and maybe even delightful?) Do you listen intently to what they have to say, correct the problem and then follow up with your appreciation?

Actually, it's the customers who don't complain that you really have to worry about. Customers who don't feel like expending the energy to confront you, or write a letter, or be bold enough to say to a sassy clerk "There's no reason for you to treat me so rudely," just slip quietly away - and with them they take their future business.

Customers too weary to put in yet another complaint that doesn't get addressed are the ones that might just be bad-mouthing you to their business buddies at the next networking luncheon. In fact studies show that for every customer that complains 26 more have the same complaint and are not voicing it, and of course, we all know that an unhappy customer tells more (many more) than twice as many people about the experience than he would if he were happy about it. So much for all the good will you were trying to build with that last advertising campaign. The power of the internet makes it possible to tell 6,000 of your best buddies about the lousy service you got yesterday. While not many people do that, the "viral" quality of the internet makes it possible even when it's not intended.

One of the reasons customers don't complain is because they have tried in the past and haven't gotten much satisfaction from the experience. What is your expectation when you complain? That someone will listen patiently, not be defensive, apologize, solve your problem and take the time to say thank you. That's what mine is. Was that your experience that last time you complained to one of your vendors? Even more importantly was that your customer's experience the last time they complained to you?

I urge you to take this opportunity to look at the process you have designed to deal with your customer's complaints (and feedback) and see if it reflects the level of customer caring and appreciation you would most like to portray. From my experience as a consultant, researcher, and writer on the subject of Customer Care - my guess is your process might benefit from a little improvement. Remember to "Dare to Caresm" about those customers!!

JoAnna Brandi is Publisher of the Customer Care Coac® a weekly training program on mastering "The Art and Science of Exquisite Customer Care." She is the author of "Winning at Customer Retention, 101 Ways to Keep 'em Happy, Keep 'em Loyal and Keep 'em Coming Back" and "Building Customer Loyalty - 21 Essential Elements in ACTION" she writes a free email tip on customer caring. You can sign up at http://www.customercarecoach.com and http://www.customerretention.com

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Links you can use -
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The 12 things you should check in your web design.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/12design.htm

CSS Tutorials
http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/

A great tool if you want to check page rank without having the toolbar.
http://www.top25web.com/pagerank.php

Ever wonder how in the world they come up with how much your insurance costs. You can also research various claims as well.
http://www.iii.org/

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Fun and Games
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A Library online where you can actually read the books (or print them out).
http://www.bartleby.com/

A cool flash bubble game.
http://www.freepgs.com/mindistortion/games/bubbles.htm

Something fun for the kids - National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

Fun for your brain -
http://www.happyneuron.com/gbhappyneuron/

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Reviews
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Rise of Nations for the PC

If you like(ed) any of the Civilization series, then you will like this game. You start with nothing and gather resources and research to build your cities and advance. My favorite things though are the campaigns. You can replay the Cold War, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, etc. The only bad thing is that it is pretty addictive. I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Crimson Skys for the Xbox

If you like to fly, then you'll enjoy this game. If you don't like to fly then you probably won't. In Crimson Skys you'll be doing a lot of flying. The world has changed and now that is the most economical way to get around. You have missions that increase in difficulty as you go. I'm probably about a quarter or so of the way through. So far I've enjoyed it. The missions are varied (ie you get to kill different things) and the different planes do have different characteristics and strengths (and weaknesses). I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Coming Soon -

D and D
Open Range
Secret Window
Scooby Doo (Nintendo system).

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Ads
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Want your ad here - send me a note and we'll put it in free.

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Useful links to our site
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Find more useful promotion and design articles here -
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/articleindex.htm

Check out our archives for issues you may have missed.
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/ezinearchives.htm

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Next Issues
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Oct. - Optimizing Froogle
Nov. - Thanking your customers.
Dec. - Holiday Issue
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Final Thoughts
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Till next time we hope that everyone is enjoying their Summer.

Tim and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
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http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com