Noren: You really need to think differently when you open the doors on this stuff. We fortunately have really good products, but there are times when a customer has been dissatisfied. But I can't think of one time that we haven't been able to turn a situation around by opening the door. By opening the door to your company, it's like opening up to your friends. It can be very rewarding.
CS: Do you edit comments made on your site?
Noren: If there's spam, we go after those comments, but for more than 10 years, we've had readers' comments on our book pages. And we allow bad reviews and good reviews. It's that kind of openness and transparency that is really difficult for people to get. When we tell people or when they realize we allow unfriendly or critical comments on our catalog pages, they ask why we'd let that happen. And I say why wouldn't we? It gives us so much credibility. And if we do have a legitimately bad book, then we need to know that. On our comments field, we can allow our editors or authors to give feedback, to admit or correct mistakes.
Sometimes a product just doesn't hit the mark with a customer, so they'll post a bad review. But most of the time if the product is still good, there's what I call a self-correcting process. Another customer will come along and say, "Hey, you read that wrong or didn't use it properly. This product isn't for you." The community is there to be your arbiters, to speak up for you. And that's so much more credible than if we were to do that ourselves.
Case Study: Online Catalog Increases Sales, Reduces Print Costs
By Matt Griffin
Problem: Display Supply & Lighting sought to retool its marketing plan to reinforce its position as a technology leader.
The Retailer's Source for Content & Community
Special Report Web Marketing New, Usable Web Marketing Ap
Noren: You really need to think differently when you open the doors on this stuff. We fortunately have really good products, but there are times when a customer has been dissatisfied. But I can't think of one time that we haven't been able to turn a situation around by opening the door. By opening the door to your company, it's like opening up to your friends. It can be very rewarding.
CS: Do you edit comments made on your site?
Noren: If there's spam, we go after those comments, but for more than 10 years, we've had readers' comments on our book pages. And we allow bad reviews and good reviews. It's that kind of openness and transparency that is really difficult for people to get. When we tell people or when they realize we allow unfriendly or critical comments on our catalog pages, they ask why we'd let that happen. And I say why wouldn't we? It gives us so much credibility. And if we do have a legitimately bad book, then we need to know that. On our comments field, we can allow our editors or authors to give feedback, to admit or correct mistakes.
Sometimes a product just doesn't hit the mark with a customer, so they'll post a bad review. But most of the time if the product is still good, there's what I call a self-correcting process. Another customer will come along and say, "Hey, you read that wrong or didn't use it properly. This product isn't for you." The community is there to be your arbiters, to speak up for you. And that's so much more credible than if we were to do that ourselves.
Case Study: Online Catalog Increases Sales, Reduces Print Costs
By Matt Griffin
Problem: Display Supply & Lighting sought to retool its marketing plan to reinforce its position as a technology leader.