Are You Forgetting About Your Customers When Creating Your Info Product?
I don’t know about you, but I buy a lot of stuff from the internet. Especially lately as I am learning some new skills when it comes to SEO, creating and selling ebooks, sales funnels, software to use, how to attract traffic, and how to solve people’s problems.
But, throughout all this buying, I’ve come to see that many product creators are forgetting about me – the customer. Some of them are too wrapped up in ‘shipping’ the product and waiting for the big bucks to roll into their Paypal account and are forgetting some of the basics.
I know that this is not about you, the experienced info creator, because YOU take care of your customers, but here’s some tips that I have for EVERYONE else.
Do Your Testing Before Launching
I don’t want to be your guinea pig. I paid good money for your product and I expect it to come fully tested before I click on the “Buy Now” button.
Please, oh, please test your products before you launch. Pretend you know nothing about your own product and go through the entire shipping path from start to finish to see what your customer will see and receive.
Remember to proof read all the text and click on all the links to make sure that they work. Typos and bad grammar are unforgiveable in today’s marketplace, especially when there is so much competition. Turning on spell check is not that hard.
Of course you don’t know how everything will proceed once you launch, especially if it’s your first time. So, do a prelaunch or a pre-prelaunch, if you have to.
Work out the kinks in the system before you go live with real customers.
Get some of your newbie friends to go through your buying path and give you feedback on your products.
It’s much better getting that feedback from them before you go live and get flooded with refund requests because you weren’t ready. Test, Test, Test.
Include The Entire Product
I bought an ebook recently and paid the ‘premium’ upsell price for the ebook and the workbooks that cost an additional $20. I really wanted the workbooks because I wanted to see how the person created them and what kind of questions they included. But, lo and behold, the next day I receive an automatic email from the creator of the ebook with a link to the workbooks for free. WHAT? As a valued customer, I got the workbooks for free. Gee, that was nice of them – after I had already paid the additional cost.
If things have changed in your product offerings, then make sure you check all of your product pages to make sure that they are still relevant.
Are your customers being fleeced for extra money because you were too lazy to check exactly what you were selling on your product pages? And, don’t just check the product pages, but check the banners, ads, newsletter offers and all communication you have regarding your products.
Did you sell something in the past that you are now giving away for free? Are you bundling products together for one low-low price, which used to be separate products? Check to see that everything associated with your paid content is not floating out there, now that you’re giving it away for free.
Make Things Easy For Your Customer
I bought a premium WordPress plugin recently. Many of you know which one and while I’m happy with the product so far, there were some lessons for the product creators here, too.
Oh, they had a wonderful landing page and great testimonials and reviews all around the net, but did they include a FAQ or technical requirements section? Nope. You would think that people would want to know if the plugin is backwards compatible, which version of WordPress you needed, or any other technical requirements you needed to install the thing.
This goes back to point 1 – Test the Product. After I bought the product and asked about technical requirements and if there was a FAQ, I was told from Support that they were waiting to see what kind of issues people experienced before creating one. Excuse me? Shouldn’t that be part of the prelaunch and testing mode? Waiting until after you frustrate your customers and/or expect them to email you with issues is not the path to a having happy repeat customers.
This brings me to another point – Customers are Stupid. If you are bright enough to include instructions for installation of any of your products, don’t just put it on the Thank You page and expect me to remember how to install something that I have no experience with. Why not include instructions in the email you send with the download link so that I have a reference in case I get stuck? If you are going to include instructions, then you are already expecting that people won’t know how to do something. Why hide or make things difficult for your customers? Make it very obvious and easy for them.
If you have a video that expects a certain bandwidth or certain software, then include that information before your customer buys the product so that they are informed beforehand.
Don’t Make Assumptions About Your Customers
Don’t assume that your customers have the latest and greatest and speediest computers, just because you do. Don’t assume they have the same experience or as technical as you are, either.
If you are offering video products, don’t just include a page where your customers have to have a live connection to view the video. Let them download the video so that they can watch it at their leisure and can take them with them on their own computer and watch when they want.
Also, transcribe the videos so that people who can’t watch your hours-long videos have another way of learning the information. Many people are visual learners who have to see the printed word in order to understand complex concepts. Other people can sit and watch a 90-minute video in one sitting and can grasp the concepts quickly.
Let your customer decide how they want to buy your product from you.
Don’t assume your customer knows how to do something technical or that they will figure things out.
It’s frustrating to buy something and then wait for Support to email you back or have to use my Google-fu to solve a problem that your product said it would solve (if only I could get it to work properly). Have clear step-by-step instructions, clear FAQs, clear support response times, and clear email procedures in case your customer needs help with something.
Be very clear about setting expectations with your customers. If you say that you will respond to all support emails within 1-2 days, then make sure you meet that expectation. If people are expecting a course, then make sure that it’s spelled out very clearly that it’s composed of videos only (or whatever the course is composed of).
No one likes to spend their hard-earned money and then find out that your course or product is not what they expected.
A happy customer is a returning customer who will buy from you again and again and hopefully, again. But, only if you keep them in mind when you are creating your info product (and they are not an after-thought).
What am I missing from your experiences as customers? Share with us some of the tips that you think product creators should keep in mind when selling their products. Thanks!
Karen writes at A Meaningful Existence, a blog devoted to helping others put meaning into their existence through practical personal development strategies. You can subscribe to her RSS Feed and also find her on Twitter at @kruby.
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Tagged with: customer loyalty • keep your customers happy • products designed for customers
Filed under: Guest Post • Information Business • Information Products
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Twitter: JewelrySecrets
says:
Wonderful post. It’s so true. This is something most people fail at.
Just recently I bought a theme and needed help installing it because it kept giving me errors. I contacted support and the next day I got an email back with a link in it. It was a link to a video that explained the 10 steps needed to get around this error.
Was the video transcribed? No. This made me mad. I had to watch the video, pause every couple of seconds to write the steps down and hope I did it correctly. What a pain. I was beyond furious. It’s obvious he knew this was a problem, he created a video for it… He could have easily put those 10 steps in the email and been done with it. Let’s just say I won’t be buying themes from him anymore.
Buy a crappy product once, never buy again!
Twitter: kruby
says:
Hi Richard,
I would be PO’ed at that, too. As you say, obviously they knew it was a problem that people were having, so why not provide easy written step-by-step instructions so that you have a reference?
I know that it’s easy to create a video, but sometimes it’s not the appropriate method to solve a problem. It doesn’t take much to write a 10 step instruction guide, in addition to the video.
Also, that’s very poor customer service – to provide a link (so that they can get additional traffic to their site) in the email, rather than giving you the answer directly in the email itself. Or sending you to a FAQ site.
I hope people really think about their customers when they are designing their products.
Thanks for the adding your experience,
Karen
Twitter: jblack2012
says:
Karen,
You are so right. There are a lot of people out there that are in a race to get something out, and in their haste the product just ends up half-done.
There are even really big name gurus out there that teach that it’s ok to have tons of typos, because people won’t return your product. Sure it may work once, but you won’t build up a trustworthy group of followers that way.
It’s best to check everything out just like you said. I like to create “control room” pages with all of my links in one place, so I can test them on all of my pages in one place without having to go all over the net.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
T.I.P. Team Member
Joshua Black | The Underdog Millionaire´s last blog ..Not All Free Publicity is Worth the Price
Twitter: kruby
says:
Isn’t that so true? There’s no excuse for not proof-reading your products before people pay good money for them. If you can’t be even bothered to do that, then you shouldn’t be selling something. I’m not a spelling or grammer-hound, but it’s very obvious when someone has created a quality product that is worth the premium cost versus someone who slapped together something and thinks that they will cash in.
Sorry, if this post sounded ranty. Plus, it’s not against any one product or anything, because I do believe that most people try their very best to offer quality products that do solve people’s problems. But, we can all learn from our (and other’s) mistakes. Just something to consider before the next product.
Thanks,
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..Why You Need To Write In Your Goals Book Daily
Twitter: jeansarauer
says:
Wow, that bit about waiting to write up FAQs til after the customer’s experience issues still has me reeling. You covered all the bases (and then some!) of issues I’ve faced as a consumer of info. products. My 2010 budget is completely blown for buying such things, so that will give everyone time to clean up their act
Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..9 Ways to Get Your Creative Groove Back
Twitter: kruby
says:
Hi Jean,
There’s nothing wrong with waiting for feedback from your customer’s to create your FAQs or add additional features needed, but that should be done during the prelaunch or beta release of the product. Not when you are massively launching something out there and are expecting tons of people to buy your product. It just shows a rush to get the product shipped without fully thinking of the customer experience. Sometimes, we need to take a time-out to think of the customer experience in these cases.
Thanks,
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..Why You Need To Write In Your Goals Book Daily
Twitter: Bigredtomato
says:
Hi Karen, some great points that you raise here.
I know which product you are refering too. Fortunately Aweber customer support helped me get it installed – credit to them, not the seller of the plugin. Which, incidentally was full of spelling errors on the installation pages.
Fortunately a big name blogger (who promoted it as an affiliate product) produced a very helpful video blog.
What annoyed me particularly is that when I purchased the plugin and closed the screen I was given the opportunity to buy it for $10 less. Great. I feel really good about paying $10 more than I needed to.
Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Don’t rely on the CV
Twitter: kruby
says:
Hi Matthew,
Again, I’m not against one product or another, but I think there are lessons to be learned for everyone who is in the process of creating an info-product to consider the customer experience before they go live. Spend some time to think like the customer and enhance their expectations. Just raise the bar a touch.
Yes, I have heard that many people feel ripped off because of that discount method. I wonder if you can ask for the discount, after the fact? It wouldn’t hurt and I would try it if I were you.
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..4 Best And Worst Things About Being An Entrepreneur – Guest Post
Twitter: Bigredtomato
says:
Oh.. just a thought.
I’ve pre-launched products before, to get ‘real feedback’. No matter how much testing you do, you can’t replicate a real customer.
Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Don’t rely on the CV
Twitter: kruby
says:
Right, Matthew – that’s why it’s a prelaunch – to get feedback and work out the kinks before you go all out with a full blown launch. Nothing wrong with that, as long as your customer’s know that it’s a prelaunch and that you are still ironing out any issues.
Karen´s last blog ..Why You Need To Write In Your Goals Book Daily
Twitter: moon_hussain
says:
Karen, you bring up some great points. Nothing is worse than being under delivered or realizing you’re being nickel and dimed. >:(
Moon Hussain´s last blog ..Tools of the Trade- Do You Choose to Spend or Not
Twitter: kruby
says:
Thanks, Moon
Karen´s last blog ..Small Ways To Make A Big Difference
I think you properly listed down all the concerns of customers, Karen. I especially like the point about testing your products first. It’s very frustrating to find misspelled words in ebooks and bugs in software, especially if you paid good money for it.
Julius´s last blog ..Assistive Technologies for People with Epilepsy
Twitter: kruby
says:
Thanks, Julius.
I agree that there’s nothing more jarring to be reading along, engaged in the ebook and then come across glaring typos.
I hate bugs!
As a former computer programmer they are inevitable, but that doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t be testing, testing, testing their code before it goes live.
Karen´s last blog ..100 Things That Make Me Happy
Twitter: Alexwhalley23
says:
Karen,
What a refreshing point of view this post provided. I was expecting the usual list of things to check prelaunch but I loved that you looked at it as a customer, because it really made the points your brought up impact harder and I will certainly make sure that if and when my product is released – this never happens (not that I ever make typos Karen, sheesh.)
That sucks that you paid the extra $20 for no reason.
I always close the screen first to see if I get the standard 10 bucks off, but then I often close it again in case I get $20 off.
9 times out of 10 I do!
Thanks for a great rant, I mean post
Alex´s last blog ..How do you Squidoo
Twitter: kruby
says:
Thanks, Alex!
I never knew about the $10 or $20 discount until I bought a recent product. Hopefully more people will be using this method and doing any with those expired discount codes. I can never find one that works anyways!
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..Understanding Your Chances In Life – Guest Post