How to Keep Customers Loyal With Coupons and Incentives ... and Using Social Media to Create Buzz

[Ellen_Yu]

Guest blog from Anita Campbell, founder and CEO of Small Business Trends, an online resource for small businesses.

The cost of acquiring new customers is “typically three to six times that of retaining existing ones,” says Lawrence Friedman in his book The Channel Advantage.  According to Bain & Company, just a 5% increase in your customer retention rates will increase your average lifetime profits per customer.

With those kinds of numbers, there are clear advantages in keeping your existing customers loyal and staying with you or coming back for new purchases.

But in today’s environment, customers are looking to save money.  And if they can’t do that with your services or products, they’ll go somewhere where they can.  And with the Web it is much easier to find your competitors and buy from them.

One solution: offering customer coupons and incentives to reward loyalty.  That is what we will explore in the free webinar, “Keep Current Customers Loyal: Offer Coupons/Incentives and Do It Right To Generate Buzz”.

We’ll go a step further and will discuss how to amplify your message and create buzz, using today’s social media.

During this live webinar presentation you’ll learn about:

• Coupon trends — including the growth of online coupons, and how they compare with printed coupons and loyalty programs
• Ways to distribute coupons — we’ll look at the different methods of getting your coupons and incentives out to your market
• How to spread word of discounts, including the use of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Yelp and Foursquare
• How to get others to spread the word — empowering and encouraging satisfied  customers to become your advocates to spread word of mouth

Please join us for this free event presented by the Verizon Small Business Center — here are the details:

What: Free webinar – Keep Current Customers Loyal: Offer Coupons/Incentives and Do It Right To Generate Buzz

When: April 7, 2010 at 2:00pm EDT

Where: This is an online webinar so you can participate from the comfort of your own office and computer. 

Register: Sign up now to attend.

Archives: This event will be archived for later viewing, if you can’t make the live event.  To watch the replay visit www.verizon.net/webinar.

[shortnsassy]

I have workd in the Customer Service Field for over 20 years and if possible the companies that I have worke for have bent over backward to satisfy a customer.  To keep their business and have them recommend the companies that I have worked for.  It seems now Customer Servce is the low prioriy on the list.  Just all commercial and to take in $$$$$. Customer service is the most important part of a business. Word of mouth can spread quicker than paying for advertising.  I recently had to replace my phone for the 2nd time within a year.  I had purchased a ringtone subscription for 6 ringtones per month.  The first replacement - Verizon credited me the months that I had from initial purchase until my first replacemet - 24 ringtones.  Now since - due to no fault of my own - I had to replace my phone again.  I have lost another 24 ringtones.  Verizon will not credt my ringtones that I lost.  If I want to get them back I have to purchase them all again.  I can understand if I had damaged the phone or lost it.  But this is just not right.  Keeping customers happy and providing REAL Customer Service is the best advertisement that a business can have.  Right now... Not happy and do not believe that I would recommend service to friends.  Coupons and "specials" can only get the customers in... Qualityy customer service is what keeps them loyal.!!!!!

[lovesdogs]

Since you have an interested in customer loyalty, can you help VZW retain me as a customer?  I have been trying to resolve an integrity issue with VZW for weeks.  After many phone calls with several levels of CSR's with no successful resolution, here is the letter I sent to VZW Pres. & CEO and Verizon Chairman of the Board (can't use full names on this site.)  To date, neither gentleman has responded.  I've also submitted complaints to the BBB and Attorney General, only to get a snotty letter from MH in the executive office.

So, if VZW really cares about integrity, as you say you do, please persuade VZW to take responsibility for the plan their representative sold to me ($60/mo for 700 talk min. & free unlimited texting) instead of trying to charge me an extra $30/mo for the same plan because (as I've been told by MH in the executive office) the CSR was mistaken.  VZW has me held captive as I cannot change to another company due to the contract.  Surely America's largest wireless network has the integrity and honesty to make good on what their CSRs sell to customers.

"I am writing to you in the hopes that you will restore my faith in the integrity of Verizon Wireless.   I have been a loyal Verizon customer for many years.  The outstanding quality and reliability of Verizon Wireless service here in Iowa has been a valuable asset to my business and to my family. 

In a nutshell, the problem is that the plan that a Verizon Wireless Customer Service representative sold to me has not been implemented and now I'm told that can only be implemented for $30/month more than originally agreed, and on top of that I now owe more than $168 in overages.  Below are the details.

On May 2, I called Verizon Wireless Customer Service to determine if there was a plan that would better fit my family's needs.  We were on the 1400 Share Talk plan and found that we were not using very many talk minutes and would like to have a texting plan.  The Verizon Representative offered me a 700 Shared Talk Minutes with Unlimited Free Texting for $60 per month for the main line with the usual $9.99 per each of our additional three lines.  I agreed switch to this package.

On June 8th I called Customer Service to switch my phone with my daughter's phone, and was informed that we have no texting plan and owed $168 in texting on our last bill.  Boy, was I surprised!  When I asked that my plan be corrected to comply with the plan I was sold, the representative told me that if I wanted a plan like that it would cost $90 a month, not the $60 a month described by the Verizon representative on May 3. After talking with two supervisors, and a woman named "MH" who told me she works in "the Office of the President" I still have not received an acceptable response.  While all representatives are willing to remove the texting charges, they are unwilling/unable to stand behind the $60 with 700 share talk & unlimited texting plan that the Verizon representative sold to me on May 3.  I have asked several representatives to listen to the recording of my May 3rd conversation with your Verizon representative, but I was told "I can't."

I understand that it is possible that the representative who sold me the $60 package may have been mistaken.  I am a business person myself, and realize we are all human and all make mistakes.  When I make a mistake, I make it right with my customer, even if it doing so comes directly out of my profit.  My reputation for trustworthiness and integrity are more important than the money.  Likewise, I expect companies with integrity to stand by their employees when errors are made and not punish the customer for their mistake.  In my past dealings with Verizon, I have know you to have this type of integrity.

My last request to resolve this problem was made to "MH from the office of the President" on June 9th was for one of the two options described below.  MH said she "couldn't".

In hopes that you have the desire and authority to resolve this situation with integrity, I submit the same requests for resolution to you:

1)  Honor the word of the representative who sold me the $60 a month for 700 shared talk minutes and unlimited texting and give me that plan, or

2)  Release me from the contract for my primary line and the three secondary lines without any termination fees.  I have no desire to be in a relationship with a company I cannot trust.

I believe it is in the best interest of Verizon Wireless to resolve this manner as I have proposed.   I would hope Verizon Wireless is interested in their reputation and in favor of keeping long-term customers like me.

I look forward to a speedy response from you."

Please let me know if you can help me with this important issue of customer service.

[lovesdogs]

So, if VZW really cares about integrity, as you say you do, please persuade VZW to take responsibility for the plan their representative sold to me ($60/mo for 700 talk min. & free unlimited texting) instead of trying to charge me an extra $30/mo for the same plan because (as I've been told by MH in the executive office) the CSR was mistaken.  VZW has me held captive as I cannot change to another company due to the contract.  Surely America's largest wireless network has the integrity and honesty to make good on what their CSRs sell to customers.

"I am writing to you in the hopes that you will restore my faith in the integrity of Verizon Wireless.   I have been a loyal Verizon customer for many years.  The outstanding quality and reliability of Verizon Wireless service here in Iowa has been a valuable asset to my business and to my family. 

In a nutshell, the problem is that the plan that a Verizon Wireless Customer Service representative sold to me has not been implemented and now I'm told that can only be implemented for $30/month more than originally agreed, and on top of that I now owe more than $168 in overages.  Below are the details.

On May 2, I called Verizon Wireless Customer Service to determine if there was a plan that would better fit my family's needs.  We were on the 1400 Share Talk plan and found that we were not using very many talk minutes and would like to have a texting plan.  The Verizon Representative offered me a 700 Shared Talk Minutes with Unlimited Free Texting for $60 per month for the main line with the usual $9.99 per each of our additional three lines.  I agreed switch to this package.

On June 8th I called Customer Service to switch my phone with my daughter's phone, and was informed that we have no texting plan and owed $168 in texting on our last bill.  Boy, was I surprised!  When I asked that my plan be corrected to comply with the plan I was sold, the representative told me that if I wanted a plan like that it would cost $90 a month, not the $60 a month described by the Verizon representative on May 3. After talking with two supervisors, and a woman named "MH" who told me she works in "the Office of the President" I still have not received an acceptable response.  While all representatives are willing to remove the texting charges, they are unwilling/unable to stand behind the $60 with 700 share talk & unlimited texting plan that the Verizon representative sold to me on May 3.  I have asked several representatives to listen to the recording of my May 3rd conversation with your Verizon representative, but I was told "I can't."

I understand that it is possible that the representative who sold me the $60 package may have been mistaken.  I am a business person myself, and realize we are all human and all make mistakes.  When I make a mistake, I make it right with my customer, even if it doing so comes directly out of my profit.  My reputation for trustworthiness and integrity are more important than the money.  Likewise, I expect companies with integrity to stand by their employees when errors are made and not punish the customer for their mistake.  In my past dealings with Verizon, I have know you to have this type of integrity.

My last request to resolve this problem was made to "MH from the office of the President" on June 9th was for one of the two options described below.  MH said she "couldn't".

In hopes that you have the desire and authority to resolve this situation with integrity, I submit the same requests for resolution to you:

1)  Honor the word of the representative who sold me the $60 a month for 700 shared talk minutes and unlimited texting and give me that plan, or

2)  Release me from the contract for my primary line and the three secondary lines without any termination fees.  I have no desire to be in a relationship with a company I cannot trust.

I believe it is in the best interest of Verizon Wireless to resolve this manner as I have proposed.   I would hope Verizon Wireless is interested in their reputation and in favor of keeping long-term customers like me.

I look forward to a speedy response from you."

Please let me know if you can help me with this important issue of customer service.