After making the purchase, I received a pop up that looked like this:

Because I haven’t actually received my toner (or used it yet), I wasn’t 100% ready to refer my friends. Three things had helped me make the decision to buy – which happened no more than 5 minutes after my search for toner began.

First, their price was lower than the other three sites I reviewed. This isn’t always the case, that cheaper is better, but I have purchased enough toner in my life to know that it’s pretty much all the same. This company, besides having the lowest price on toner, also offered a for-no-reason-whatsoever 10% discount with the discount code in plain sight of the consumer.

Next came the ease of navigation. It was a very simple process with pictures of each product so that there was no confusion as to what they were offering. As an added bonus, they showed me what others had also purchased who had bought my toner. I had not anticipated purchasing color toner, but when I saw the price for buying it along with the black toner that included an additional group discount, I couldn’t refuse! So far, I was about as happy as I could be.

Then I saw the Shopper Approved seal and certificate that showed me, as far as online social proof goes, that the company could be trusted. Even though I had never heard of this online company before, I knew that Shopper Approved’s reviews come from real customers. Other social proof can be purchased, but not Shopper Approved.

Needless to say, my shopping experience was a success thanks to a business owner that had an exceptional price point, a purchasing process that was quick and informative, and that prominently displayed Shopper Approved social proof seals.

If you are an online business owner, I suggest you follow this model to increase sales and customer satisfaction. A “Thank You Page” like the one I received from Shopper Approved could be the beginning of a long, loyal relationship.

More Participation:

Testing shows that Shopper Approved provides 70 times more participation in the rating and review process from customers than it’s biggest competitor. In fact, BowlingBall.com testifies “We are getting on average 70 reviews per day through Shopper Approved. Our other two survey companies combined are getting on average 1 [review] per day!”

So, the question is, would you rather have 70 of your customers gloating to your potential clients about your exceptional products and service or one? Would 70 five-star ratings motivate visitors new to your website to buy from you more than one five-star rating?

Free 30 Day Trial:

Some companies will let you drive their car around the parking lot. Others will let you take a short jaunt around the block. Still others will throw you the keys and tell you to be back to the dealership before closing time. Shopper Approved will let you test drive their rating and review software for 30 full days with no cost and no further obligation. That’s because they are convinced that after 30 days you will see such an increase in new sales and increased loyalty from customers participating in the review and rating process that every entrepreneur and online business owner will want to continue to benefit from their services.

Enhanced “Google Listings”

Google, the internet’s largest search engine, is now including Shopper Approved’s five-star ratings as part of their search criteria. Search for earth kind .com’s ratings, for example, and you will find a rating provided by their customers through Shopper Approved’s software. This gives potential customers the opportunity to review the ratings of companies even before they visit the site. Companies with positive ratings get clicked on far more often than companies without five-star ratings.

So, to get more ratings, with a 30 day free trial and enhanced Google listings, we recommend giving Shopper Approved the opportunity to increase your businesses sales and social interaction.

Unhappy customers are bad news for any company. It only takes one of them to shatter a perfectly good day at work for everyone. And it only takes one of them to steer many more prospective customers away from you.

While the customer may not always be right, he or she will always be the customer that we want and we need. That’s why we need to take control of customer complaints and turn them to our advantage.

Shopper Approved’s proven, automated customer resolution software is one of the most effective tools for business owners to resolve issues with their clients.* Here are seven steps to help business owners and their support staff resolve customer complaints.

1. Listen Carefully: Listen to your customer. Do not interrupt them. They need to tell their side of the story. They need to feel that they have been heard.

2. Thank Them: Thank the customer for bringing the problem to your attention. You can’t resolve something of which you are not aware.

3. Apologize: Sincerely convey to the customer your apology for the way the situation has made them feel. This is not the time for justifications or excuses. You must apologize for not reaching their expected level of satisfaction.

4. Seek the Best Solution: Determine what the customer is seeking as a solution. Ask them how they would like the situation to be resolved. Often they’ll surprise you for asking for less than you initially thought you owed them, especially when they perceive your apology and desire on making them happy is genuinely sincere.

5. Reach an Agreement: Seek to agree on the solution that will resolve the situation to their satisfaction. Your best intentions can miss the mark completely if you still fail to deliver what the customer wants.

6. Take Quick Action: Act on the agreed-upon solution with a sense of urgency. Customers will often respond more positively to your focus and urgency on helping them immediately versus than on the solution itself.

7. Follow-up: Follow-up with them to ensure the customer is completely satisfied. This is especially true when you have had to enlist the help of others for the solution delivery. Everything up to this point will be for naught if the customer feels that “out of sight is out of mind.”

Problems happen. It’s how you honestly acknowledge and handle them that counts. Customers will remember you and happily give you another chance to delight them when you correct problems with the very best you can offer, proving that you value them and their business.

* Shopper Approved’s well-regarded complaint reversal system can make resolving customer complaints easy, quick and acceptable to both the business owner and the customer.

Struggles to reach customers and find out how they really felt often seemed like we, as business owners, were out looking for trouble. But with today’s lightening fast internet, an upset or even mildly disappointed shopper can ruin tens if not hundreds of potential sales by posting on Facebook or tweeting on Twitter.

It is better for business owners to go seeking to measure customer satisfaction than to just hope that if you don’t hear anything, that the client was satisfied. That’s because not only can negative reviews and comments be made if not immediately corrected, but if companies don’t ask their clients to rate them, they will never be able to measure their level of happiness.

All business owners should want their customers to be happy. When we ask our customers if they are happy, it tells them that we care about them and that their satisfaction matters to us. This simple act of service breeds loyalty; and loyalty in today’s online world is the best form of advertising. Loyal customers will:
Buy from you over and over again
Tell their friends and family about you
Give you a positive 5-star-rating that you can display on your website
Provide a testimonial for you to share with new visitors
Offer unsolicited and solicited social recommendations (likes and follows)

When it comes to creating customer loyalty, business owners need to courageously ask each customer – either personally or through a rating and review automated survey like Shopper Approved – whether or not they are satisfied. The potential benefits for doing so far outweigh the negatives. After all, if you find there is an issue, and you resolve it quickly, business owners can stop the flood of negative press before it has a chance to be posted or tweeted.

Business owners are always looking for ways to boost their sales. But far too often, online businesses fail to act upon the one tool that can increase the amount of trust that consumers visiting their websites have in them. Without trust, most people move on to a name brand or a company with which they have previously had good experiences.

The one tool that is proven to increase sales is online ratings and reviews. You’ve seen them around. Even before you get to a website, you can see five star ratings in Google and other search engines. Some smart consumers don’t even click on the link to get to the website if there is no Google=approved rating found next to the link when searching.

In fact, according to CompUSA, 63% of consumers indicate that they are more likely to buy from a site that displays product ratings and reviews than from a site that does not.

Companies like Shopper Approved provide online shoppers with a quick, broadly-accepted way of knowing if they can trust the website or not. That’s because shoppers trust other shoppers. Once on the website, consumers today look for five star customer ratings. They also look for reviews and testimonials left by people who have experienced first hand the quality of the company’s product, the efficiency of their customer service and the promptness of their deliveries.

So if you are a website owner, and you want an easy way to increase sales, go social! Use ratings and reviews to show new visitors that you can be trusted.

The course deals with the challenge of using the World Wide Web for survey data collection. While Web surveys are technically easy to implement, the understanding of underlying methodological principles is crucial for successful application in practice. The instructors provide students with the basic principles of implementing Web surveys in order to collect high-quality survey data.

The principles of implementing Web surveys will be presented. This will begin with an overview of all error sources that can compromise the quality of data in web surveys: coverage and sampling, nonresponse, measurement and data processing. The main part of the course will focus on procedures for minimizing such errors and ensuring adequate data quality.

Special attention will be given to presentation of appropriate sampling techniques, principles of web questionnaire design and strategies for stimulating participation of respondents. The presented material will be illustrated with empirical results from experiments and practical experience.

Students will also be introduced to a variety of survey packages for implementing Web surveys and will have the opportunity to conduct their own survey project using one of these packages. The course will conclude by addressing ethical issues in conducting surveys on the Web.

By the end of the course participants will:

• have obtained the practical and methodological knowledge to conduct high-quality web surveys;
• have learned the basics of software tools of web surveys and understand the principles of selecting the most appropriate tools for specific purposes;
• understand possible deficiencies and mistakes in conducting web surveys;
• be able to conduct all stages of their own web survey projects;
• be able to evaluate quality of data obtained with a web survey.

Recommended reading:

• Couper, M. P. (2008). Designing Effective Web Surveys. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Couper, M. P. and Miller, P. V. (Eds.) (2008). Special issue: Web Survey Methods. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72. 5.
• Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D. and Christian, L. M. (2008). Internet, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys. The Tailored Design Method. Hoboken: Wiley.
• Vehovar, V. and Lozar Manfreda, K. (2008). Internet Surveys. In de Leeuw, E. D., Hox, J. J. and Dillman, D. A. (Eds.). International Handbook of Survey Methodology. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 264–284.

About the instructors:

Katja Lozar Manfreda (PhD) is an assistant Professor of Statistics at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. She has been researching the methodology of Internet surveys since 1998 and has several publications on this topic. She is also part of the team establishing and maintaining the websm.org, the main web site dedicated to the methodology of web surveys.

Nejc Berzelak is a researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. His research work is focused on measurement issues in web surveys, questionnaire design and software tools for web surveys. He teaches topics related to web survey methodology, web analytics and new technologies in social science research.

You can find out more about the course here: http://www.gesis.org/veranstaltungen/gesis-summer-school/programme-2013/week-3/web-surveys/ Of course, skipping the course and signing up for Shopper Approved’s proven, guaranteed survey software program for your online business will save you time, money, lots of homework and a trip to Germany.

There are several issues to consider when writing a survey. They include:

THE HISTORY OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED SURVEY DATA COLLECTION

Learning the history of digital surveys (what has worked and what hasn’t) will provide the creator with knowledge needed to start creating the survey. You see, if you start from scratch, you’re bound to make the same mistakes others have made. Shopper Approved has done extensive research and reaches 70 times more people than their closest competitor.

THE SEVERAL USES OF WEB SURVEYS

If done right, there are several advantages to online surveys. But the question is, why do you need it? Are you providing it as a customer service tool or as a sales technique? Maybe you are trying to see if there is any interest in a particular product or just increasing your list of contacts by offering a free report. Whatever the reason, make sure it is clear before beginning the creation process. For customer service purposes, Shopper Approved is the best survey software program available.

EVALUATE COSTS AND THE ORGANIZATIONAL ASPECTS OF SURVEYS

There is a lot that goes into writing a survey that will capture the attention of the intended audience. Of significance are the time, effort and real expense involved in doing so – not to mention organizing when to submit each survey and where to place it. That’s where rating and review survey companies like Shopper Approved come in handy if your purpose involves customer satisfaction. They have already spent all the time and effort necessary to create an effective survey.

Surveys appropriately have shown that there is monetary value for online business owners to provide surveys. It can keep previous and future customers happy. So either know what you’re getting yourself into, or use a professional and well-respected survey company.

Stephen W. Hawking, the noted mathematician, described the law of entropy in layman’s terms: “It is a matter of common experience that disorder will tend to increase if things are left to themselves.

“The explanation that is usually given as to why we don’t see broken cups gathering themselves together off the floor and jumping back onto the table is that it is forbidden by the second law of thermodynamics. This says that in any closed system disorder, or entropy, always increases with time. An intact cup on the table is a state of high order, but a broken cup on the floor is a disordered state. One can go readily from the cup on the table in the past to the broken cup on the floor in the future, but not the other way round.”

The law of entropy suggests that the universe (and anything in it), if left to itself, would constantly move toward a state of disorder. This includes human beings. It’s a simple concept at its core. A baby boy left alone, has a hard time feeding and cleaning himself and keeping warm. For order to replace the constant natural disorder of life, we need each other.

That’s where Shopper Approved comes in! Online consumers might time and again make poor decisions (continuously attaining more and more disorder in their lives when it comes to purchases) were it not for Shopper Approved’s rating and review system.

It allows potential purchasers to view ratings, comments and testimonials from those who have already purchased the product. It’s like stopping the cup from ever falling off the proverbial table in the first place! It’s providing milk, a clean diaper and a warm blanket to the baby boy!

Social proof gives us a chance to draw upon each other’s experiences – rather than trying to figure everything out on our own. Let’s slow down the law of entropy by actively participating in the confused lives of those who know they want something but don’t know which company will give them the best product for the best price.

Look for Shopper Approved seals and five star ratings on websites before buying anything. If a business doesn’t use social proof, tell them that you refuse to buy anything from them until you know what your peers have to say about their product.

After you buy something, be sure to participate in the lives of future consumers by honestly rating and reviewing the product. The logical disorder of entropy only happens when people or things are left to themselves. Let’s not let that happen!

Would you recommend this company?

It’s a pretty simple question, but its answer will tell you whether or not you are taking care of your customers to the extent that they are willing to risk their reputation on you and your ability to service their needs.  If customers are willing to talk to friends and family about your product or service, it means that, although there may have been some hiccups, overall you did what you said you were going to do.

Would you buy from this company again?

This is where customers put their money where their mouth is. It is one thing to give you a social “Like” or “Follow” you, it is quite another to like your product so much that they buy from you more than once. These are what we refer to as loyal customers. They won’t just like you; they’ll provide you with a testimonial too.

Were you satisfied with the price of the product or service?

This answer tells potential customers whether or not paying customers felt like they got what they paid for. If they were satisfied with the price, they might just give three stars, but if they thought that they had received tremendous value for the amount spent, they would give five stars.

Were you satisfied with the product?

Many of us have ordered things online only to have it arrive smaller, uglier, and made with more plastic than advertised. This question asks customers if this was their experience too. Many business owners need to do a better job at either creating a better product in the first place, or showing exactly what the product looks like.

Was the product delivered on time?

If the business owner or customer service representative told you that your product would be delivered in a week and it only took five days, that’s great! But if it took longer, or if a specific time was mentioned and they showed up several hours later, that could negatively affect the company’s ratings.

Were you satisfied with the customer service provided? 

Online consumers are worried that if they have questions or concerns that there won’t be anyone available to help them. The answer to this question from your customers will tell potential clients that your customer service department handled all of their concerns in a timely manner.

When customers answer these six questions in a positive manner, business owners can be assured that visitors to the website seeing the ratings displayed will more than likely purchase their product. If you’re not asking your customers these questions in a simple, non-intrusive manner, you should. Shopper Approved can help.

Imagine buying a box with one beautiful, colorful firework. For the same price, your competitor bought a bigger box. It had 70 of the same fireworks found in the first box.  You both invite all your potential customers to a big fireworks event. These people will decide the winner and commit to become customers of the company with the biggest and brightest display.  The event begins.

Your competitor gets the competition going by lighting the first firework. It was awe-inspiring! Fifteen minutes later all the potential customers are standing and cheering. It was an amazing show! Next it’s your turn. You light the firework and it shoots high into the air. It is breathtaking. Everyone cheers. They are anxious to see more fireworks; except there are no more. That’s because you bought a box with only one firework in it. Now, every potential customer ecstatically signs with your competitor.

There are many rating and review software programs out there. As a business owner, you can choose from many boxes all priced about the same and containing either one or 70 spectacular fireworks. Shopper Approved is the box with 70 sales-boosting, reputation building ratings and reviews. Its competitors have their own boxes too, all with only one rating and one review. This is because, on average, Shopper Approved collects 70 times more ratings and reviews than its nearest competitor.

So you choose: One firework or 70.