The Right Fit!

With the economic turns in recent years, everyone seems to be watching their dollars a bit more closely. Whether this means shopping for the best deal or making due with less it has definitely impacted the way most people approach their shopping experience. What I have found most interesting, however, is that most people still desire the superior customer service they received back when they were paying top dollar for items. Some companies have found a way to rise to this challenge delivering great customer service without sacrificing product quality. Others have taken the discount route and encourage customers to overlook average customer service in return for very low product costs. Which approach is better? Well, I think that is up to the person doing the shopping.

Just like most things in life, people have different priorities. When shopping for items - whether personal or business related - what really matters is that the needs of the shopper are met. If their primary concern is cash, then the best possible price is the way to their heart. Other shoppers may need a combination of service and price making them more willing to pay a few dollars more to ensure that the attention to customer service is given to them. How do you make sure that you have the right fit?

From the shopper's perspective I encourage you to be honest with yourself about your priorities. If you are shopping for business products that directly impact your company's ability to deliver great customer experiences, you might be best suited with a supplier partner who offers attentive customer service. That way if something does go awry with your order, you have the comfort of knowing they are jumping through hoops to make it right for you. You may pay a few extra dollars for the product up front, but the peace of mind you receive may save you money in the end. If you are running on a tight margin yourself to keep business flowing and customer experience is not the primary focus of your product/deliverable, you may be in a better position to work with a supplier focused primarily on low costs. Again, its all about knowing what your needs truly are and then shopping for the right supplier partner fit!

On the other end of the spectrum is the business perspective. How do you ensure that what you deliver meets the needs of your customers? My first suggestion - stay true to your company philosophy. If you started your company with the belief that customer service is king, don't try to compete with the low cost companies focusing on dollars rather than delivery. Your customers came to you for a reason, so spend your time revisiting that reason and focus on giving them the best possible experience to ensure that you are true to your company intentions and their needs are met, as well. This should make for a beautiful business relationship where everyone's needs get met.

In the end, a relationship between shopper and supplier is not that different from any other personal relationship. Both parties need to know what their needs are and what they can deliver to the other. If those things are not compatible, neither party is going to be happy for long! Focus on finding the right fit and your shopping experience should be a wonderful one.

The Best Email Marketing Service

Anyone in charge of marketing these days is familiar with the use of email as a marketing tool. For those of us just learning the ways of this tool, the instruction manual sometimes seems to be written in another language. Research attempts to self-educate can be equal parts exciting and overwhelming as the intricate details of the email marketing genre continue to grow. No longer a simple method of sending your customers emails to maintain active communication, shopping for the right email marketing tool to meet your company needs is a little like walking into the tool aisle looking for a drill - there are LOTS of options and each one does something just a little different. So the question becomes... how do you know which is the right fit?

While I cannot claim to be any type of expert in this area, I can share my experiences with shopping for the right tool. My number one helpful suggestion - Take Your Time! Although it seems as though the use of email marketing should be a "no brainer" implementation, you really have to stop and think about what you need from the service and what your budget can accommodate. The power drill that has all of the professional carpentry bells and whistles might be REALLY cool, but do you really need all those extras to accomplish your marketing goals?

My second bit of advice is to consider taking advantage of the limited time free use offers that many of the email marketing services offer. Since most of the contact lists are uploaded to the sites via Excel you can keep copies of your lists for future use without losing contact data. There are, of course, some downsides to this freebie use. Visual consistency - most of the services offer templates allowing you to easily build your email messaging, but if you hop between several services you may lose some of this consistency until you settle on one service. Reporting - the bonus draw of most email marketing services is the tracking and reporting tools allowing you to quickly gather feedback and information on the receipt of your messages. Switching service hosts may mean that you lose the data for future use.

Since I don't wear the blogger equivalent of the "how can I help" apron, I did a little digging to provide some additional resources. One that I found particularly helpful is an article comparing the features and costs of the most popular email marketing services. Providing a simple side by side comparison, this chart offers a quick glance shopping overview to help ensure that you have purchased the right tool for your company's marketing needs (see below).

One recent newcomer on the scene that I am currently test driving is Easy Contact. It offers all of the standard service features for a fairly competitive cost. So far my only challenge has been the slow upload when utilizing the reporting tools.

Another recent development in the world of email marketing is the acquisition of Nutshellmail by Constant Contact. Rumor has it that this merger will allow for easier cross-posting of email marketing information on social media sites. I am not sure when all of this will take effect - assuming the rumors are true, but feel free to check out the article posting for yourself. Contact Contact Nutshellmail Merger

Happy shopping and please share your thoughts/experiences with these or other email marketing services!