Assuring Your Customers & Putting Them At Ease
I wanted to give everyone a heads up, that there won’t be any blog posts next week from the 20th of December until the 2007 New Year as I’ll be on vacation during that time off in some wonderful warm tropical place, away from the wind, rain, and snow of the Pacific Northwest. It’ll be the first time that the Christmas tree won’t be consisting of pine needles, but of coconuts and palm leaves… It’ll be strange… It makes it a little tougher to conceal the Christmas gifts underneath!
I’m reminded of a funny quote from a friend who lived on this tropical place that they knew Christmas was quickly approaching because the weather was getting too hot and becoming uncomfortable. For those of us in the US, that’s definitely a strange thing to hear as it’s totally opposite. Guess I’ll be on the beach building up a sand man.
I wanted to talk about some of the X10 policies that you can use to your advantage by posting on your website. If anything I’m always asked by people interested in purchasing things such as return policies and shipping costs. With all of the concerns I receive, it’s important to market your site knowing that you can offer assurances for your customers. By offering assurances you’ll be able to put your customers at ease and help them make their decisions to purchase from you an easier choice. The last thing they want to worry about is what happens if this purchase doesn’t satisfy their expectations?
In addition, it’s also important to provide resources for your buyers so they have the ability to turn somewhere if they need assistance.
First, X10.com offers a 30-day No Questions Asked return policy on all of the items they sell. This is important to point out on your site because it allows your customers to know that they are not taking a risk when purchasing something, and that they know it can be easily returned. They’re provided a way out and don’t have to feel trapped. A main reason shoppers love stores such as Costco, WalMart, and Nordstrom's is for their lenient return policy. X10 provides a similar return policy in which If your customers need to make a return on a purchase they simply need to call our main toll free number and provide their order number.
With many of the major products that X10 sells such as wireless cameras, we provide a 1-year warranty on these items offering replacements or repairs. That way your customers will always feel assured they are receiving a top-notch item, one from a company that stands behind their products. If your customers need additional warranties, they have the option to add those on for very little depending on how many years they would like to insure their products for.
For all orders of $49.99, X10 offers free shipping within the United States. This works great in two ways: First, it helps to upsell your orders giving your more commissions. This means that if a customer was going to just purchase a $39.99 item, why not throw in something else to get the free shipping since they’re so close to the free shipping mark? A second way is that it allows your customers to feel that they are saving additional cash in their pockets when they make a purchase because X10 is willing to cover the costs to ship the item. For our friends up north in Canada, shipping is a fixed $10, plus 7 percent GST. If you can buy more for the same shipping price, it would save money versus having to place another order a day later and having to re-pay the shipping fee.
X10 offers a full customer support hotline, where customers can call in the event of questions or concerns. This service is available from 8am to 12am EST, and is fully staffed for convenience to our callers. For those customers who want to make purchases, X10 has a sales team that is available to take orders 24 hours a day. Your customers can call us anytime to speak to a live representative!
As X10 has sold millions of products worldwide, an online community (www.x10community.com) devoted to X10 products has evolved that draws thousands of people to the website annually. In addition, the community forum boasts over 6,300 registered users ranging from beginners to experts. Here, your customers have the ability to talk to others who own the same products. They can learn new ways to use their products, or they can seek assistance from real experts on how to fully utilize their purchase. X10 users are very talented, and have come up with some very creative ideas. Usually, this also leads to repeat business, for as your customers learn more, they want to add more to their collection.
With the popularity of X10 products comes the need for a knowledgebase. A knowledgebase is an online resource, sort of like an encyclopedia focusing on anything and everything X10. You can find the knowledgebase at http://kbase.x10.com. Like a WIKI, users even have the option to add their questions to it and have others provide answers.
X10 provides enough resources to help you generate sales. But it’s important to provide these to your customers by letting them know, for the more assurances they feel, the better the shopping experience they will have.