The Effects of Bad Customer Service

Florist Chronicles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 06:45:43 +0000

Any good florist knows the value of good customer service, and its importance for building a strong, trustworthy brand. Sometimes though, no matter how hard you try, especially around major holiday’s or other busy floral occasions, you’ll encounter that “zilla” who misunderstood what you were going to design, changed her mind or simply wasn’t one you could ever satisfy.

Bad Customer Service | Image: jezebel.com

In the past, you might have worried a little about to whom she might complain. With today’s social media options, however, your concern should be tenfold. You cannot afford to have any disgruntled customers! In a recent survey by ClickFox, 16 percent of respondents said they would post negative comments after a bad customer-service experience compared to only 8 percent who said they would post a positive review.

Furthermore, while 52 percent of unhappy customers spout off to family and friends, an even more astounding 32 percent will stop doing business altogether with the company that wronged them. And when customers take to social media to air their discontent, more than 60 percent of consumers are influenced by these detrimental comments.

This just goes to show how serious the negative repercussions of bad customer service can be. So if you weren’t nervous in the past when a disgruntled customer left your shop or got off the phone, you certainly should be paying attention to these issues now. If you don’t, the situation could quickly spiral out of control, and the consequences could be devastating to your shop’s reputation.

The infographic below should give you a good idea of what customers hate the most about bad customer service and how they might react.

Image originally posted on Zengage, The Zendesk Blog

We hope you found this infographic interesting and that it will serve as a reminder of the importance of maintaining good customer relations at all times. If you aren’t already active on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+, we highly recommend you look into doing so. Setting up a profile on these sites is not difficult and will definitely help you manage any customer-service issues that make their way into the public domain.

And, as a bonus, if done correctly, these channels can become an additional source of business for your flower shop and help create awareness around your brand. (We will write more about this aspect in upcoming articles.)

If you have any experience of your own with managing customer-service online, or you have any questions, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

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How Big is the e-Commerce Industry Really?

Florist Chronicles — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:53:52 +0000

The birth of the World Wide Web just over 20 years ago has given rise to endless opportunities to improve the way we communicate, do business, socialize and even shop. The world as we know it is changing at such an incredibly fast pace, that it’s sometimes hard to comprehend the sheer magnitude of this thing we call the internet and the impact it has on our everyday lives.

Online Shopping

Perhaps one of the most significant developments in this “age of the internet” is our ability to buy virtually anything online, from flowers to gifts, to clothing, accessories, software and even our groceries. Yes, there is no doubt that online shopping, otherwise known as e-Commerce has become an integral part of our lives.

But Just How Big is e-Commerce Really?

The e-commerce sector continues with a double-digit growth year over year. Since many of you have online florists or you have your own flower or gifting website to support your bricks and mortar florist business, and if you don’t, you should seriously be thinking about getting one… we thought we would share some interesting statistics with you about online shopping and the e-Commerce industry. Conversion rate optimization specialist Invesp has created this great infographic that highlights some interesting facts about the E-commerce industry, its growth and the latest trends, and gives us a good idea of how big e-Commerce really is…

The e-Commerce Infographic

Infographic by Invesp

If you are viewing this article in an email, click here to see the infographic.

History of the Internet

In 1979 – Michael Aldrich invented Online Shopping

In 1990 – Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser

In 1994 – Pizza Hut Offers online ordering on their Web Page

Netscape launches the first commercial Browser called Navigator

In 1995 – Amazon starts selling Books Online

E-bay is founded by Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb.

Interesting Facts

More than 85% of online population has used the internet to purchase something.
More than 50% of the online population has shopped online more than once.
73% of Consumers prefer Online Shopping because it saves time
Global e-Commerce sales are growing by more than 19% a year and will be at almost $1.4 trillion by 2015
e-Commerce Sales in US are growing at 10% a year and will grow to $279 billion by 2015
There are more than 178.5 million consumers in the USA and will grow to 201.1 million by 2015
54% of online shoppers are of the age group 18-30 years
75% of online shoppers use credit/debit cards for online shopping
India is the highest growing and Portugal the least growing e-Commerce country right now
Residents of North Dakota spend the highest percentage (16.9%) of their income on online shopping whereas residents of Maine spend the least percentage (1.83%) of their income on online shopping
Illinois has the lowest average shipping time of 2.55 days, whereas Hawaii has the highest average shipping time – 4.10 days for online orders
40% of the items that are sold online are Books
The Mobile e-Commerce market is growing year over year and will be more than 23.8 Billion by 2015

It has always been vital for businesses to be present wherever their customers are, and clearly more and more customers are turning to online shopping.

So how about you? Have you already got a strong online presence? Are you investing in e-Commerce for your bricks and mortar business? Tell us about your own online strategy in the comments below, and if you have any questions regarding e-Commerce or an online strategy for your business, ask away…

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