Saturday, August 25, 2007

Customers’ Voices Get Louder With Blogs

Remember the good old days when all a company had to worry about when a customer had a bad experience was them telling a few of their friends? Today things are different, with more and more customers sharing their experiences and opinions about companies’ products and services in their online blogs. A blog with high readership could easily reach thousands of people, and a company who has a larger group of unhappy customers writing about them in blogs could have a disastrous effect on sales. On the flip side, the same scenario but replaced with a positive experience could do wonders for a company’s image and bottom line.

Many companies have responded to this movement by launching their own blogs. In addition to keeping their customers updated and informed, smart companies pay attention to the feedback their blogs get and act on it – letting customers know they are taken seriously. Companies should also pay attention to what is being said about them in other well read blogs and post comments and respond when they feel it is necessary. In fact, some of this data gleaned from these online interactions with customers can be incorporated into product development and marketing campaigns.

The bottom line is that today a customer’s voice can now be heard louder than ever, and have more influence over a companies’ reputation and sales. Having an effective customer relationship management (CRM) strategy in place is not only essential, but is a business necessity to keep these voices chorusing in your favor.

More information can be found at www.CRMindustry.com

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