Easier to Find Means Easier to Buy
April 18, 2009 at 2:29 pm 2 comments
Many of my postings are the result of positive or negative experiences, either while doing my job as a VP of Marketing, or while interacting with other companies as a business or personal consumer. Today’s message is no exception. I am looking for an online backup system for my home computer and went Web surfing to find candidates. After reading online reviews, I decided to check out Carbonite.com’s Website. It seemed like a decent service for a reasonable price but I had one important question: Can the service automatically backup desktop files as well as those you put in your My Documents folders? After hunting around their Website for 10 minutes, I used the online chat feature to communicate with a customer service rep named Ellen. Believe it or not, she could not answer my very simple question. However, she did promise to forward some documentation about how the back-up preferences are set, but that was five hours ago and still no information (big surprise!).
What is the lesson to be learned from this experience? Simply this – it is better to make it easy for your prospects to find the information they are seeking, even if it does not put you in a good light. If this very simple question had been answered on the Website, I would not have had to deal with Ellen, nor she with me. And I would not have been subject to the disappointment of not receiving the promised information. Who knows, perhaps Carbonite is making this information hard to find because the system can’t automatically backup desktop files and they don’t want to lose customers? But if I had signed up for the service and discovered the product limitation later, I would have been a disappointed (and short-time) customer. And now, I am someone who not only did not become a customer, but who has a negative feeling toward Carbonite.
Your prospects are just as busy as you are. They want accurate information quickly. Give it to them and they will either buy from you or at least go away with a positive perception. Hide the information and they will leave with a negative impression, and perhaps write about you on their blog.
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cloudberrydrive.com | April 19, 2009 at 10:57 am
There is a new kid on the block – online backup product that will come out later this month called CloudBerryDrive. It will
be powered by amazon S3 reliable and cost efficient storage. If you want to take part in early beta and perhaps get a discount later sign up on the website. What safer place to keep your files than Amazon’s servers?
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John Leavy | April 22, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I’m surprised Carbonite disappointed you. I have been thinking of ckecking them out for quite some time…now what do I do? It seems Carbonite falls into that category most companies find themselves in…no one at the company uses the products they sell. Shouldn’t that be part of a stardard employement contract? Everyone needs to use and know about the products they sell…what a concept! Think of calling support only to hear the person on the other end say “Just a minute, I’ll try mine and see if it does that…”