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What does your post order customer communication say about your business? Are you always on top of the post order e-mails, surveys and communication? Or after the order ships, does that customer just become another conversion number without further follow up? A new service being offered at Solid Cactus Call Center is our Outbound Calling Campaign. With limitless possibilities, the Outbound Campaign reconnects you with your loyal customer base.

Our agents can survey the customer service experience, ask customers their thoughts on a newly released product line, reach out to customers who contacted you with product questions yet did not order, or offer something as simple as a personal “thank you” for the purchase of a product — possibly offering a “Repeat Customer” coupon code on the next order.

As a store owner, you should have clearly defined campaign goals. Are you trying to create buzz about a new product line, offer repeat customer coupons, rate products, or reach out to previous customers? With the understanding of your goals, our team can help mold the program to suit your needs. If your goal is to spread the word about the newest product – we may suggest that you offer a coupon code; with the coupon code, in addition to explaining the latest and greatest addition to your site, we would advise the customers of a special savings coupon they could take advantage of and share with their family and friends. Word of mouth AND a coupon are great marketing opportunities for your store.

The actual operational process of an outbound calling campaign is simple:

1. You provide us with a call database of names and phone numbers.

2. You let us know your specific goals – what is it you hope to gain from this service?

3. Our staff will create a unique script to be used on each call to entice customers to visit your website.

4. A dedicated staff will be assigned to your project with knowledge of your daily goals. During each outbound call, our staff members keep a detailed log regarding the call; we will log calls that go unanswered and attempt to call back the customer the following business day.

5. Your account manager will stay in close contact with you throughout the project, and will e-mail you a daily report containing the calls made that day as well as the results.

Solid Cactus Call Center conducted an outbound calling campaign during the first quarter of 2009 for BigPawDesigns.com, an e-tailer who specializes in accessories such as bandannas and collar charms for today’s fashionable pet. BigPawDesigns.com had several goals in mind for this project: capture orders, inform customers about new products that were recently launched, inform customers of recent changes to the wholesale ordering policy – a gracious offer from BigPawDesigns.com, who understands customers feel the crunch during the economic downturn, and most importantly, remain fresh in the minds of customers. These goals were reinforced with e-mail and mailers. During this campaign, our staff focused on calling wholesale customers who have ordered previously and those who had requested information but didn’t order.

BigPawDesigns.com discovered multiple successes with this project; most notably, there was an increase in orders placed, and there were more customers who were excited to learn about new products and who were interested in placing future orders. We also helped the client clean up their database, eliminating businesses that no longer existed, which was 29% of their list! Eliminating that 29% saved future marketing dollars.

Carol Perry, owner of BigPawDesigns.com, passed along some statistics regarding the overall success of the project: approximately 50% of the calls resulted in a message left with an employee of BigPawDesigns.com or a voicemail; 19% of customers who called were excited to learn about the new product lines and said they would be ordering in the near future, and approximately 2% of the calls resulted in a sale either on the outbound call or within 48 hours.

Even though the conversion numbers
may seem small, it is a success for BigPawDesigns.com, as generally sales are slow until after a scheduled trade show. The company took into consideration the fact they would not be attending a trade show for another month and needed to find a way to generate interest in the products. In addition to the trade show, BigPawDesigns.com understands they are in a slightly different niche market; the goal isn’t a hard sell conversion, but rather the soft sell with long-term conversions.

As illustrated by the BigPawDesigns.com experience, outbound calling keeps your store fresh in your customers’ minds; they tell their friends about you and help expand your customer base. Outbound Campaigns can be modified to fit your specifications by calling targeted locations during specific hours and pitching certain products. We can also poll customers to determine a satisfaction rating based upon the ordering process from beginning to end. This includes site navigation, search tools, shopping cart features, delivery time, and overall expectations met. This would provide you with a beneficial view of your business from your customer’s vantage point, alerting you to changes that need to be made or features that should be highlighted to help increase your productivity.

Solid Cactus, Inc. has designed or redesigned more than 3,000 e-commerce sites. Solid Cactus is an Inc. 500 company and was named one of the "Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania" in 2006 and 2007.

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