Newsletter - October 29, 2008

The Jewelry Crafter

A newsletter for the home jeweler

This newsletter will be published every 2 weeks, and will include hints and tips for your jewelry business. Any feedback or comments about the topics presented here are always appreciated. Click here to e-mail us.

If you have an idea for an upcoming article, or would like to submit an article for the newsletter, please contact us. Anyone who submits an article will receive a permanent link to their website in a special section of our link pages.

This Week’s Sponsor -

Providing Good Customer Service

by

Mary Harvey

What is good customer service? A definition from the ACA Group in California sums it up perfectly. "Excellent customer service (is) the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently exceed the customer's expectations." But what does this mean to your jewelry business? 

Here are a few interesting facts. Did you know that

1. repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers 
2. Happy customers tend to refer others to your business.
3. It costs 6% more to sell to a new customer than to a repeat customer

Now you can see why good customer service is important. But how do you provide this? Here are a few suggestions if you are selling face-to-face:

1. Provide your customer with a written guarantee.  Why is this important? If your customer knows that you will stand by your workmanship, and keep them happy if any problems arise, they may be more inclined to buy from you. If a stone falls out a year from now, tell the customer you will fix it, and stand by that guarantee. 
2. Have a “no hassle” return policy. The length of time is up to you, but make sure that the customer knows that they can return the item for any reason. If they don’t like it, if they want to exchange it, whatever.
3. Be Honest - Make sure that you disclose everything about the piece of jewelry you are selling. If the stone is lab created or treated, make sure that the customer knows that. Explain what gold-filled is so that they know they are not buying some “cheap” piece of jewelry.
4. Follow up with the customer. Send a note or give a call to make sure the customer is happy with their new jewelry.

If you are selling on the internet, there are a couple of other suggestions for providing good customer service:

1. Answer your e-mails as soon as possible. Many people expect to have their e-mails answered within 6 hours, so be prompt.
2. Have an FAQ page on your site, outlining your guarantee and return policies, along with contact information
3. Keep the customer informed - provide a purchase confirmation e-mail, and send a shipping confirmation e-mail when the item ships.  If the item won’t ship right away, keep the customer informed of their order status.
4. If you do get an unhappy customer, do whatever you can to make them happy. Your goal is to keep the customer, and sometimes making it right will pay off with future orders, or referrals.

These are just a few ideas for providing good customer service. I’m sure that each of you will have some more ideas to add to the list. Remember, a happy customer is usually a repeat customer, and will refer others to you, which will make your business grow.