As an online marketer your customers do not know you. They cannot see your face. They cannot hear your voice when you are recommending your products, and they cannot see or feel your emotions when you are telling them about the benefits of your products.

The Internet is now a world game and it offers a level playing field for anyone out there who has a computer. This connectivity means that you have the potential to reach every individual in the world.

You are no longer limited by normal geographical constraints. Basically anyone can be your virtual customer!

The only problem with this new age of connectivity is that your competitors have the very same opportunities as you do. No longer are you only competing with your neighbors, you’re also in competition with every marketer in your niche around the world.

So it is extremely important that your customers have a satisfying experience every time they contact you or make a purchase from you. You need to offer a high level of service and satisfaction in order to keep them coming back as repeat customers.

A very successful method of doing this is to over-deliver on your promises.

When every competitor of yours has access to everyone in the market, your only way of winning the battle is to over-deliver - again and again and again! When you over-deliver you gain your customers trust and position yourself as a person with their interest at heart.

In other words, you become a trusted friend and not a greed-driven marketer looking for a quick buck.

In a nutshell, over-delivering is a simple but very effective method of differentiating yourself from your competitors!

So in what ways can you over-deliver to your customers?

You can start over-delivering by providing simple things that won’t cost you a single penny, like fast and courteous support where you answer any queries or concerns in as fast and friendly manner as you possible can.

This may not sound much, but ask yourself this…

How many times have you been turned away and turned off by unsatisfactory answers when asking about a certain product you purchased?

How many times have you received fantastic response to your queries before you purchased an item, yet you had to wait days or weeks to get a reply once you actually made the purchase?

Compare that with the number of times you have been provided good service, as if you’re being helped by a personal friend - even after you bought the product.

The ratio of good experience compared to poor experiences are just way out there, proving how scarce good customer support really is.

By providing excellent support to your customers and providing quality responses to their queries you will gain customers that are fiercely loyal to you because they know you have their best interest at heart.

There’s no question that when you provide excellent customer support you’re already ahead of most of your competitors. But let’s take it a step further and think what other ways can you over-deliver.

Another excellent and cost effective method is to provide your customers an unadvertised bonus when they make a purchase from you. People just love to receive more than they paid for - so use this to your advantage!

For example, if someone buys a fishing reel you could throw in a bonus fishing lure.

But the secret to this technique is not to mention the bonus as an incentive for your visitors to purchase your product on your sales page.

I make it a point to remember every business that goes the extra step for me, don’t you? It’s not hard to do.

You can offer other bonuses on your sales page if you like, but you should never mention the bonus you’re going to use as the surprise element.

This way when they receive your extra bonus it will be a total surprise and it will have the potential to build great trust with your customers.

One of the key points here is to build a long-lasting relationship with your customers.

If a customer buys regularly from you, it’s a good idea to send greeting cards on their birthday or on special holidays or events. Your customer will again remember you as a friend, and not as a business associate.

Due to the warm relationship you have built with them they will remember you above your competitors when they are again in the buying mood.

So, start developing your strategy to begin over-delivering to your customers today to achieve greater success!

You can find other great ideas to fit this in our sales tips, here and here.

Never stop pushing forward!
Dennis

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Tags: online marketing, over deliver, product benefits, sales

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at 9:09 am and is filed under Sales Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.