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Bill Drinkwater's Review of inexpensivescrubs.com
By Bill Drinkwater
Contributing Writer
Article Date: 12.10.02
Some Suggestions to Consider:
Include your business name with your business address at the bottom of your
home page for clarity. Also, an 800 number there would get you more calls
and more customers.
Add a Privacy Policy that clearly explains that you don't spam anyone, and
that you don't sell their email addresses, or any other personal
information about your customers, unless you do, of course.
Not selling email addresses, for example, does you absolutely no good
unless you TELL your customers about that policy.
Return Policy Considerations:
Having a 15% restocking fee seems like a very business-like idea, but it is
very unpopular in the opinion of most customers, who will gravitate to a
competitor that doesn't have a restocking fee. And remember that getting to
a competitor is only a click away on the Internet.
I suggest that you leave out the words "no exceptions" concerning your
restocking fee.
And what if a scrub shrank too much after it was washed once? Would you
refuse to take it back? That's what your policy says. Was it the customer's
fault if you received a bad shipment from the manufacturer?
Here's the bottom line: You make your customers take all the risks when
they buy from you. Remember, customers are always looking for the
least amount of risk, especially when buying on the Internet. So you have
to be nicer to them than to someone who walks into a local store which they
automatically trust because they're probably related to the owner.
Study Your Competition , Outdo Your Competition: Check out your
competition thoroughly, and if they are doing anything better
than you, strive to outdo them, or they will take the business
away from you. Try searching with the phrase "inexpensive scrubs"
(including the quotation marks in both Google
and Yahoo, and check out
all results that aren't your site. Totals: Google=70, Yahoo=60
Refund people's money within 2 or 3 days, not your current 5 to 7 days.
It's easy with today's technology. Add the word "usually" if you think it
might slip occasionally into more than 2 or 3 days. 5 to 7 days makes your
company seem like a technology dinosaur, and that's the last impression you
need.
Order Forms Page:
Consider mentioning money orders on your Order Forms page, at least US
Postal Money Orders which you can cash instantly at your local post office.
A simple fix:
You have the statement: "All in stock items will ship within 48 hours of
receipt of order via USPS or FedEx."
Confusing: It sounds like the orders for the merchandise are coming in to
you by USPS or FedEx.
Reword it to read "All in stock items will be shipped via USPS or FedEx
within 48 hours of receipt of order."
Now it is crystal clear, plus that is a great shipping policy.
You might consider setting up your mail-in Order Form so it can be filled
out online before it was printed. Then it would always be clearer than
people's scribbling on the form, which causes troublesome shipping address
errors.
Another simple fix:
I suggest that you humanize your problem-resolution email address. Change
admin@inexpensivescrubs.com to a person's name for that human touch for
problem solving. Such as janet@inexpensivescrubs.com or
andyk@inexpensivescrubs.com And be
sure to give the problem-solver the authority to solve the customer's
problems. For example, I once ordered something on the Internet that was
very lightweight. It cost $10, and then I was told that shipping was also
$10. When I balked the nice lady on the phone simply said, "Well, this time
we won't charge you for the shipping." Will I buy from them again? You
bet! They are a nice company.
You also have a nice company, best of luck with it.
Bill Drinkwater
http://www.BuildEbizTrust.com |
