Yo… What's up.
This post is about a reflection between two different software companies and some of the craziness that goes on in the internet marketing space from a customer's perspective.
One company completely dropped the ball while the other over delivered and how you can apply this to whatever it is your doing in the online world.
First of all, let me explain…
Two months ago I asked in a private Facebook group for the best Automated Webinar software…
An automated webinar is where you can pre-record a video and it will play as a webinar.
The idea is do something once and continue to be able to use that piece in the future instead of just always creating.
Anyway…
I get a couple of suggestions but one was highly recommended by someone I trust so I went with it.
This is something I'd been meaning to do for a while, so I dove in and started creating my first webinar.
Except everything wasn't as easy as outlined in the sales letter..
My expectations were set that there'll be a learning curve but nothing quite like this…
No joke I invested several hours trying to figure it all out and was ready to pull my hair out.
I kept getting an error message that the script couldn't connect to the server.
Very rarely do I ever put in support request because I can usually figure things out but I had to resort to a support ticket.
It took over 4 days to get the issue resolved.
And it was nothing more than a simple permissions issue.
Meanwhile, I see others complaining of bugs and glitches in the system in the Customer Only Facebook group and observe that the creators responses seem to be a bit short or incomplete.
Anyway – back to my issue.
They get it resolved and I'm ready to rock out my first webinar.
So, I plug in my autoresponder code to test the page out and…
IT DOES NOTHING!
At this point, I've spent more time with their support desk than I have on creating with the tool that was suppose to be easy and save me a ton of time.
Instead, another support ticket.
And I outlined all of the details that I was having and included my autoresponder code.
The reply was your typical generic reply – make sure your using the “Name and Email” Fields and make sure you have the right Thank You page.
If the support personal had read my ticket completely – they'd seen that everything was correct.
Finally, this gets hammered out with no real explanation except – “that is weird”
I'm very frustrated to say the least but it looks as if everything is good to go.
And by now, it's time for the first webinar with this new service.
I begin by sending emails to the registration page and wake up the next morning with several emails and complaints.
“Your page is down..”
“Your Link is Broken…”
And then I log in and it the service claims to be having an issue connecting with my server (again).
They tell me there's a permissions issue again and need my server to whitelist their domain again.
At this point, I'm like “F” it. Right?
So, I ask for a refund and move on to service # 2.
I never ask for a refund unless something is terribly wrong.
The funny thing is even when I'm asking for a refund, the seller is a pain in the neck.
They tell me to contact Clickbank.
Unbelievable!
In my opinion, if you're asking for a refund and I've known you've had issues – I would want this last communication to be over the top and positive.
Because, there's a chance if they take care of the bugs and issues – I'd be back someday – right?
Or I may buy another product from them.
But, if the experience is bad.
I'm not going to trust this person again.
If there's a pain from everything from buying their product, implementing it, and then even asking for a refund –
I'm writing them off for good.
And as of the writing of this blog posts, I've yet to receive a refund and just yesterday resorted to calling Clickbank.
Now, I'm not going to bash this business – that's not what this is about and I don't want anyone trying to guess which service it is.
It's not important.
It's more about what you can take away from my experience and apply it to your business.
I will tell you about the 2nd service which is Stealth Seminar.
I make the purchase and no joke in less than 30 minutes, I've got my webinar ready to roll.
The only issue I had was that my autoresponder code did not match my registration page, so I send in a ticket and I get 2 responses within 2 hours!
And they're offering to set it all up for me!
And later that day, I get a phone call making sure I've found everything I need and asking if I need help setting it all up.
And just a few days after I buy, I get a thank you postcard from them.
A complete 180 from company A.
The reason I bring this up is – Which business are you?
The one that looks at customers as a problem and dreads answering support?
The one that seems agitated with support and delay with your responses?
Are you outsourcing the task to someone that's not qualified to take care of your customers?
Or are you the one that welcomes questions, hammers any technical issues and willing to do it all for you?
Only the latter will survive in today's world with social media and business transparency.
And kudos to Stealth Seminar for going above and beyond which is what inspired this post to begin with…
I highly recommend them if you're looking for a way to run Automated Webinars.
Bottom line is – once you've acquired a customer – over deliver.
Doesn't matter if you're selling Personalized Wine Boxes, SEO services, Self Defense DVD's or Golf Training.
It's all about over delivering.
How do you over deliver? Or how do you plan to over deliver moving forward?
Let me know in the comments.
Also, if you enjoyed this, give it a share 🙂
