The LuxMob Info Tags

One of the most common objectives of market research is to find the customers wants and wishes, or their hot buttons. But what if traditional market research identifies the wrong hot buttons? What if conventional market research singles out hot buttons that freeze your fingers? What if standard market research uses malfunctioning thermometers? A recent scientific study by Professors Dan Horsky, Paul Nelson, and Steven S. Posavac published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology examined this possibility.

The study (Horsky D., Nelson P., Posavac SS. Stating Preference for the Ethereal but Choosing the Concrete: How the Tangibility of Attributes Affects Attribute Weighting in Value Elicitation and Choice. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2004, Vol. 14, No. 1&2, Pages 132-140) compared the attractiveness of five sporty car attributes calculated using answers provided in a market research study (what people say), and the attractiveness of the same five attributes derived from the actual buying behavior of the car buyers (what people do). The five attributes were Performance, Dependability, Comfort, Prestige, and Exterior Styling.

The relative attractiveness of the performance, dependability, comfort, prestige, and exterior styling attributes calculated using the answers in the market research study were 0.13, 0.22, 0.13, 0.16, and 0.20. The relative attractiveness of the same five attributes calculated using the real behavior in the marketplace were 0.24, 0.21, 0.13, 0.00, and 0.19 (note the change in the bold and underline numbers).

According to the authors: “a rather dramatic change in the ordering of the average weights occurs … Specifically, the tangible attribute Performance, previously one of the least important attributes on average, is now the most important to sporty sedan buyers. … In contrast, the weight of Prestige, an intangible attribute, falls dramatically and becomes the least important attribute. The remaining attributes change little.”

This “dramatic change” has dramatic implications. “The implication of our findings is that stated preferences may not be highly predictive of actual consumer decisions because the relative importance of attributes differs in value elicitation and choice. This finding is troubling because of the reliance of marketing practitioners on research data pertaining to attitudes, purchase intentions, and attribute importance rankings. If predictions based on stated preferences are markedly different from reality, marketers’ decisions (e.g., product positioning, advertising emphasis) made based on the stated preference data may be suboptimal.” In other words, “forecasts of choice based on stated attribute importances would have been erroneous.”

Summary:
So, can you believe what people say about their wants and wishes? Yes, if you have the formula that converts what people say into what people do. If, you are not using this formula, be prepared to face some unpleasant surprises when implementing the raw customers’ suggestions.

Mike T. Davis, SCI, Rochester NY
We are the inventors of Computer Intuition, a psycholinguistics based program that analyzes the language that people use to describe themselves and their environment, and “converts what people say into what people do”. When clients hire our services, they send us their qualitative data. We input the data to the computer, which calculates the psychological intensity, or psytensity, of every idea found in the text. We then isolate the ideas with the highest psytensities, and document them in a report that also includes our “Do this, do
that” recommendations. Within a week of receiving the data, we present the results to the client. SCI’s clients include many Fortune 500 companies, such as Apple Computer, Sears, Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Chrysler, Citibank, IBM, Motorola, Anheuser-Busch, Gannett Newspapers, and Xerox. We also serve
many smaller companies and individuals who came to realize that Computer Intuition is the only tool for a correct analysis of text.

No matter how hard you try, in business you simply can’t please everyone. You could have a highly trained customer service squadron and an award-winning product, but still you’d have some buyers who just weren’t happy. The bad news is that unhappy customers are more eager to share their experiences than happy ones which could spell disaster for your business.

There is good news, however. Unhappy customers who receive satisfaction can become your biggest allies. The trick, of course, is discovering how to satisfy their needs so efficiently that they’ll forget whatever caused their disappointment in the first place. Here are some ways to make that happen:

1) Be a Good Listener

When someone complains about us, our first instinct is to get defensive and to distribute blame. Most of the time we start doing this even before the other person has finished their argument. When that happens, we may misjudge the situation, offer inappropriate resolutions, or appear insensitive to our customers’ feelings. Instead, we must work hard to become patient listeners. We should stay focused on the customer and not get distracted by anything else going on around us.

We should also pay attention to what is being said, not how it is being said. Even a beligerant customer is trying to express a concrete complaint, he just might not be able to do it as clearly or as calmly as someone else. By listening patiently to our customers, we can take the first step toward helping them more effectively.

2) Don’t Let an Unhappy Customer Slip Away Without a Fight

Just because someone is unsatisfied with your service or your product, you don’t have to throw your hands up in the air and say “That’s another one gone.” Take steps right away to resolve the situation. Most customers who have a complaint just want you to take the problem seriously, to handle it as quickly as possible, and to have it resolved in a respectful and professional manner. If you can do that for them, you will successfully mend the relationship.

3) Resolve the Problem to Their Satisfaction, Not Yours

When many businesses right wrongs, they do so by only considering what is in their best interest and not what would satisfy the customer. That simply doesn’t work most of the time. Let me give you an example.

One young woman took her small children to a well-known fast food restaurant for dinner. Because her youngest child was diabetic, she ordered diet drinks for their child-sized meals. Instead, she received regular drinks, and the extra sugar in the drink caused her child to have to be rushed to the emergency room that night. When she called to complain, the manager offered her a free meal to compensate her for the near-death experience of her two year old daughter.

Why did the manager make such a ludicrous offer? Because that was what the restaurant had decided to do in order to deal with customer complaints in a cost-effective manner. It was good for them and that’s what mattered.

The reality is that customers will all have different ideas on how to resolve these issues: some may want an employee to be fired or punished for their bad service, others will want financial restitution, some will want assurance that it will never happen again, and most will want a combination of those things.

To determine how to satisfy your unhappy customers, just ask them how you can make things right and then do whatever they ask for (within reason, of course). By doing this, you will be showing how much their satisfaction and patronage means to you.

4) Keep Your Head

When customers are angry with us, it can be very upsetting, especially if we truly do care about their business. Yet, we may get so upset that we aren’t able to cope effectively with their problem and end up losing the relationship which can be even more upsetting. Instead, take these four steps to coping with your feelings:

A) Remember it’s not about you - While it may seem that they are yelling or complaining about you personally, they aren’t. They simply want what they paid for. Your customers don’t know if you’re a good family man or a single mother struggling to get by; all they know is that they paid for something and that’s what they expect to receive. So don’t take their complaints personally.

B) Stop thinking “If only” or “What if” — After an incident, you may spend days going back over the situation and wondering what you could have done differently, but this is futile. No matter how much you may want to, you can’t go back and change it now. Instead, you should be looking forward and finding ways to prevent it from happening again.

C) Know you’ve done all you can - If you feel guilt because you weren’t able to satisfy an unhappy customer, you can shut your conscience up easily if you know that you did everything within your power to right the situation. After all, there are just some people who will never be happy with anything that you do and they aren’t worth stressing over.

D) Keep improving - In life, we learn more from our mistakes than we do from getting something right. So each unhappy customer provides you with a learning experience that will not only help you handle future situations better but will also show you how to prevent future mistakes from happening. Obviously, you don’t want too many of these learning experiences, but when they do happen, be sure to use them wisely.

While you won’t be able to safe every relationship, you may be surprised at how many you can rescue with these suggestions. It may seem like a lot of extra effort, but if you care about your customers and about your business, it’s the least you can do for them and for yourself.

Vishal P. Rao is the owner of: http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/
An online community of people who work at home.

So you’ve decided you want to take the leap into affiliate marketing, but all those terms are so confusing. You want to know exactly what you’ll make each time you sell a merchant’s product. Well, look no further, here’s a tip sheet with all those options defined.

• Percent of Sale
  When you sell a merchant’s product, you receive a percent of the sales price. The range for this can be from three percent to as high as seventy-five percent. The majority of programs are set up using this method.

• Pay per lead
  Some merchants that have a longer sales cycle will offer this type of program. They pay you for the prospect who has come to their website via your affiliate link when the prospect takes a certain action such as filling out a form to get on a mailing list. The range for pay per lead programs is typically from fifty cents to fifty dollars.

• Recurring Income
  Common among membership sites. The merchant pays you a set amount (or percentage) on a continuing basis as long as the customer you referred remains a customer.

• Residual Income
  Commissions that continue to pay you each time the customer you referred buys from the merchant. You actually become the virtual “account manager” for the customer except there’s no ongoing work involved. Once your customer is referred and buys the merchant’s product, the merchant remembers who referred the customer and you get commission for all the future sales.

• Two Tier
  Good if you not only want to promote the merchant product, but also the merchant’s affiliate program. In a two-tier program, you get paid when anyone who joins the affiliate program using your affiliate link makes a sale.

• Ad revenue
  The premier network for serving text ads on a website is Google AdSense but there are many ad networks that offer a variety of options including both MSN and Yahoo!

If you’re looking for long term consistent cash flow sources, recurring income, residual income and two tier programs provide good opportunities for you. However, any affiliate program promoted properly has the potential to provide you with good passive income.

Denise O’Berry is a small business expert who helps small business owners take action to grow their business. Visit http://www.whatspossible.com to get your free copy of her Success Strategies Guide: 10 Keys to Success for Small Business Owners.

Don’t be fooled! Are you considering making money with your own
Internet business? If so, read very carefully…You Must Have a
Website.

There are tons of marketers trying to convince would-be
entrepreneurs that you will be able to make money online without
a website by purchasing their product.

Sure, you can make a few dollars here and a few dollars there,
but I’m talking about serious money - the big leagues.

Even successful eBay sellers use their own websites as a
companion to their eBay business.

One reason that marketers tell you that you don’t need a
website is to make it sound as though running an Internet
business is easy. They want you to believe it takes very little
effort to run an Internet business to convince you to buy their
product. If you want to make serious money with an Internet
business, it will take more effort than these marketers are
telling you.

If you know nothing about developing your own website, do not
let what I’m telling you scare you. You can always hire someone
to develop your website for you. But, learning to develop your
own website is not that difficult. There are literally thousands
of resources on the Internet that will guide you through the
process. There are also many software packages that make
developing your own website as easy as creating a Microsoft Word
document.

Having your own website requires basically three things: your
own domain name (www.yourcompany.com), content (what you have on
your website), and hosting space (where your website physically
resides so Internet users can find it). Not having your own
website requires that you find another source of income.

Starting and running your own Internet business can be a
daunting task that requires great effort. Don’t be fooled into
believing you can do it without a website. If you’re serious
about making money online, you must have a website.

For many great tips on running your own successful
Internet business including the Website Creation Toolbox -
absolutely FREE - visit HREF="http://www.internetprofitmentor.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.internetpro
fitmentor.com

Ask many small business owners what goes into providing great customer service and you have answers such as, being polite, serving promptly, keeping your promises etc. But in this hi-tech age, we tend to forget that the humble letter has just as an important role in ensuring good customer service. Yet how many times have you received a ‘letter of apology’ which makes you even more dissatisfied? The message it conveys, the language used - all designed to wind you up!

With some careful thought, a well-crafted letter can provide comfort to a complaining customer and enhance your reputation as a customer-focused business. In this article I am going to share some tips on how to write a great letter.

What are you writing for?

To write a great letter you have to be in the right frame of mind. Are you writing to handle a complaint, answer a query or to thank them for placing an order? Framing the letter in the right context means you will use the appropriate language and the tone will be right. Try writing a thank you letter as if you are responding to a complaint - the message is totally different.

Before putting pen to paper, think for a minute and decide what your aim or goal is.

State your purpose

Start off by summarising why you are writing. Open your letter by saying that you are responding to a query, or to resolve a problem they have had. This set out to the reader why you are contacting them and puts them in the right frame of mind to accept your message. An opening summary will grab their attention.

Include a W.I.I.F.M.

No, this is not some obscure radio station! WIIFM stands for ‘What’s in it for me?’ To truly engage your customer and get them on your side, you have to include a benefit for them. They have to get something out of your letter so they feel satisfied. What could their WIIFM be? Their complaint may be resolved; they may get a discount voucher; a priority service the next time they use you. If the compliant is a minor one, a simple, heartfelt apology may be enough!

Study your letter carefully and make sure you have a WIIFM moment.

Don’t say ‘I’

Wherever possible, avoid littering your letter with I’s. The reader will find it hard to link with you if they receive ‘me, me, me’ letters. Review your letters and wherever possible substitute ‘I’ with ‘you’. Change the focus to the reader. Make them feel valued.

Write as you speak

I forget the number of times I have received letters, which read as if they were written in the early 1900’s! Packed full of boring, stiff and outdated language - too formal. Your writing style should reflect the way you talk. After all, providing good customer service is partly down to how you interact or communicate with your client and letters play an important role.

So, review your letters and get rid of those phrases you learnt in school letter-writing lessons!

“Please do this…”

Having written a great letter, you don’t want it to tail off into nothing. Have a clear action-orientated close. Make sure your reader knows what you expect him to do next - “call me so we can discuss this idea in more depth”, “Fill in the attached form and pop it in the post”, “send me an order” (a bit strong perhaps but certainly to the point!).
A resounding call-to-action is a great way to finish a letter and leaves the customer in no doubt what he has to do next - another element of good customer service.

Ask someone to check your letter

If you are writing a very important letter or one containing a complex message, it’s wise to ask someone to proof read it. This is not just to check your spelling but also to check readability. Is the structure of the message you wish to convey clear and understandable? You’ll be amazed by what someone else will pick up which you have completely missed!

So, there you have it. Some useful tips on how to write a superb letter, which will further enforce your image of providing exceptional customer service.

© Robert Warlow
Small Business Success

Small Business Success is a resource dedicated to helping small business owners be more successful. If you are looking for a regular flow of ideas and tips then subscribe to Small Business Success a free newsletter, which provides you with quick tips, ideas and articles. Visit http://smallbusinesssuccess.biz

Making money online can be a long and complicated process. It’s one thing to promote your own products, but when you’re just starting out and want to make some money, where do you start? The answer: affiliate programs.
This article focuses on the big picture, the “whys” of affiliate programs. Next article we’ll talk about the “hows” of promote affiliate programs.

Affiliate programs are easy to implement and simple to understand.

• No products necessary

You never have to have your own product to make money with affiliate programs. It’s all about promoting other people’s products. The steps to making money promoting other people’s products can be summarized in simple steps:

1) Choose an affiliate program.

2) Obtain an affiliate link from the program you’re trying to promote.

3) Create a site that has your affiliate link.

4) Prospects who click on your link will be redirected to the website that has the product you’re promoting.

5) If they make a purchase at this site through your affiliate link, you’ll get a commission (the percentage varies according to the program. What’s cool about it is that your prospects do not necessarily have to make a purchase right away for you to make money. Most affiliates (not all affiliate programs are created equal) will have software that “tracks” your prospects so that if they come back, say, three months later, and make a purchase, you’ll still make money.

• No geniuses allowed

You don’t have to be a John Reese (a big time internet marketer) to make big money with affiliate programs. In fact, if you’re a John Reese, you shouldn’t be reading this article! Most affiliate programs are designed with the beginners in mind. In fact, you can promote a product without being an expert on the product. Leave that to the one who owns the product you’re trying to promote. All you have to do is pick a winning affiliate program that has a proven track record. Some affiliate programs will even provide you with prewritten emails, banners, text links and free eBooks that you can brand and promote.

Planting seeds

Think of affiliate programs as the planting seeds. Besides from the fact that you can make some money while promoting affiliate programs, you’re building a list (customer base) that can make you money again and again in the future. What you’re doing is really building relationships with your list. You can do this by sending follow-up emails, newsletters, etc. Once your “seeds” are “planted”, you can promote other affiliate products, or even your own to your list! - naturally, the bigger the list, the better. Keep nurturing your list and it’ll pay big dividends for you.

Understand the importance of building a list.

If there’s one thing that you get out of this article, it is this: you must build a list. How can you promote anything if you have a zero customer base?

If you’re going make mistakes, might as well make them here.

Just because affiliate programs are easy to implement and the fastest way to make money, doesn’t mean you’re not going make mistakes along the way. You WILL make mistakes. John Reese made mistakes. Babe Ruth made plenty of them. Every successful person makes mistakes. But since this will be your training ground, you might as well you’re your mistakes here. But more importantly, learn from them. The mistakes you make promoting affiliate programs will prepare you to bigger things - like creating and promoting your own products becoming a master marketer.

Building assets

Looking at the big picture, you’re learning valuable skills to build ASSETS. Use the skills you learn to continuously create multiple sources of income. Next article we’ll talk more about this.

You can start making money today if you followed these steps. Let the idea of building a list sink in your mind. It can produce both instant gratification and a perpetual cash machine if you set it up right.

Profitably Yours,

Alex Nguyen

Next article we’ll talk about the “hows” of affiliate programs. To learn more about how to choose winning affiliate programs and other awesome tips, strategies, and techniques on internet marketing, including over eleven hours of online video training…ABSOLUTELY FREE!, Click Here

I often wonder what I was thinking by joining an affiliate program and starting a home business on the Internet. I started up not knowing a single thing about affiliate programs, I didn’t even recognize the term. I knew nothing about advertising, building websites, search engines, search engine optimization, or the million other things that I have learned in the past two years.

I have spent grueling, long hours behind my computer trying to figure out all of the things that I mentioned above. Often times, I had to leave my computer and take a break before I pulled my hair out. I was also required to teach others to do what I was doing. How could I possibly do that when I didn’t have the slightest clue to what I was doing?

On top of that, my family resented the time that I was spending on the computer, and the general consensus was that I was being scammed and wouldn’t ever see a dime for my time invested.I still remember my inner satisfaction from the looks on my family’s faces when my first check arrived in the mail. My first check arrived within six weeks of joining this particular affiliate program.

Now mind you, it wasn’t much. I believe my first check was about $60, but you would have thought that I had won the lottery. I had actually made money on the Internet! Now I have four or five checks arriving each month that are quite significant, and the peculiar thing is that they get larger each month and I work less all the time.

As I look back, I know what I was thinking. Someone had offered me the chance to change my life. They offered me the chance to make my own hours, they offered me the chance to be my own boss, and best of all they offered me the chance to make more money than I could ever make in the traditional work force.

All of those hair-pulling sessions behind my computer are virtually behind me, because I learned. I often feel that I have the equivalent of a bachelors degree in network marketing because of all the trial and error that I have went through building my business from the ground up.

Now that the foundation is in place and the building is nearly finished, I know that I will never worry about money again. I will never worry about having to cater to a boss that I don’t respect, or be forced to live by someone else’s schedule.

If you’re new to affiliates programs and are experiencing any of the anxieties that I have mentioned in this article, take a break; walk away, anything that you have to do to weather the storm. Just don’t quit! You’ll be giving up on a dream that is attainable, and the residuals will provide for your family long after you’re gone.

About The Author

Rebecca Gilbert has been a successful home business entrepreneur since July, 2002. Visit her at: http://www.101homebusiness.org or http://www.home-business-opportunity.biz for more great tips, tutorials, and articles on how you can get started with your own home business.

Having a product, a website, and a shopping cart isn’t enough. Learn the various methods available to allow your customers to do that most important thing in ecommerce, pay you.

The ever increasing market for ecommerce has created a wide variety of methods by which a budding entrepreneur may do business online. This article will review the most common methods available to allow customers to pay for goods on a website. These include, in rough order of complexity, online check solutions, 3rd party processors, and finally merchant account / payment gateways. Depending on the nature of your business, one of these will probably suffice. Larger businesses may even consider providing multiple payment methods in order to cover as many potential customers as possible.

Online Check Solutions

Online check solutions allow customers to submit payment via their checking account. This requires the customer provide their checking account number and routing information to the processor in order to complete payment. In theory online check payment will reach a broad range of potential customers, since it is more likely to find someone with a checking account and no credit cards than with a credit card and no checking account. Online check solutions may also be able to hook up with an existing business checking account and not require the opening of additional banking accounts, unlike most merchant account solutions. Broad reach and ease of use are the main positives, but there is a negative. Increasing emphasis on Internet fraud has created a public concern about the safety of doing business online. Some may not wish to make online purchases with their checking account, in absence of the easier resource a chargeback on a credit card provides.

3rd Party Processors

Increasing in popularity, 3rd party processors allow online shop owners to take credit card payments but alleviates the need for them to apply for their own merchant accounts. As the term implies, 3rd party processors perform the credit card transactions through their own merchant accounts, and charge a percentage of the transaction, plus perhaps other fees, to the merchant. These transaction fees are usually higher than a merchant would pay through their own personal merchant account, but the inconvenience of obtaining a merchant account is part of the broad appeal of 3rd party processors. The most well known of the 3rd party processors is PayPal. There are competing services, though. Some, such as ClickBank are geared towards so-called “downloadables,” and others like CCBill target other niche markets such as subscription websites.

If you are considering the use of a 3rd party processor, first think about the nature of your business and the volume you can reasonably expect. If you are selling downloadables like software packages, or are considering a subscription site, PayPal may not be the best choice. If you are selling physical products, then think in terms of volume. With a 3rd party processor you will be paying higher percentage fees and transaction fees, which, if you start doing a brisk business, will cost you more over time. If your volume goes up, it might be better to consider the use of a merchant account with favorable terms. Finally, keep in mind one downside to 3rd party processors. In the eyes of a prospective customer, they can make the store appear less reliable and reputable. The very difficulty of getting a merchant account does lend it an air of respectability, as theoretically, the owner had to provide more credentials and undergo closer scrutiny.

Merchant Accounts

Full merchant accounts allow store owners to charge customer credit cards directly, without the help of a 3rd party company. The money charged goes directly into their account. Having a merchant account can create a more secure identity in the minds of your client, as they are not as easily obtained as a 3rd party processor. Unlike the comparatively small selection of 3rd party processors, there is a much wider selection in merchant account providers. This makes careful shopping a must. Again, look at your product and try to estimate demand. There are a variety of fees associated with a merchant account, and how a specific account assesses these fees can make all the difference. Stores that sell a low volume of goods in a monthly period should look for a merchant account with a higher transaction fee in exchange for a lower base monthly fee. Higher volume stores should look for the opposite, lower transactions fees and a higher monthly fee. More money may be saved with the higher monthly fee in concert with a low transaction fee percentage. Some merchant account providers, like PayQuake, offer a variety of tiered services to meet both kinds of need.

Where to look for a merchant account? You may want to start with your current bank. Most banks have merchant account solutions, and starting with an institution with which you are already a member may have some benefits. Make sure you discuss merchant account solutions for online transactions, as their accounts and fees (as well as approval difficulty) may differ from those designed for “brick and mortar” store fronts where a card is physically swiped for payment. Prospective online shopkeeps are by no means restricted to working with their current bank for merchant services. A number of large institutions provide merchant account services over the web. CardService International is one such organization, as is PayQuake (mentioned earlier), but there are many others. Shop around and look for the deal thats best for your particular needs. What might be right for one business won’t be the best fit for another.

With any merchant account from any provider, verify it provides a payment gateway that is compatible with your ecommerce store software. The payment gateway is the bridge between your online storefront and your merchant account. There are a great deal of them, just like different store software, but most perform equally as well as the next. There will probably be a “gateway fee” charged as part of a merchant account package’s costs. Most of the common store packages support a variety of payment gateways, so finding one that is compatible with a chosen merchant account shouldn’t be too difficult.

Conclusions

A number of options have been considered. Online checks, though common, may make customers uncomfortable in a world where Internet fraud is such a hot topic. 3rd party processors make taking credit cards easy, but that same ease works against them in the eyes of the picky consumer who won’t take a PayPal store “seriously”. Merchant accounts provide the most common, respected means to take payment, but they can be difficult to obtain and the sheer number of choices can be confusing. No matter what option, or options, chosen, do the necessary research and find the solution that works best for your individual needs.

About the Author:

Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.

Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support.

Note: These articles are provided for general interest and content purposes only, and should not be construed as “support” materials. Apollo Hosting does not guarantee the information contained within. All articles are free to reprint so long as they remain unchanged, the “About the Author” section remains, all hyperlinks are preserved, and the rel=”nofollow” tag is not added to the hyperlinks.