Are You Delivering High ROI for Your Online Customers? Your ROI Isn't the Only One that Matters	Visited: 526 Not rated Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Tony Baker August 22, 2007

Run a Google search for "ROI," and you'll hit a number of articles and sites that tell you how to figure out your website ROI, your advertising ROI, your press release ROI, you name it. After all, it's your ROI that's most important, right? You need to know that you're getting value for the money you're putting into your business.

Well, so do your customers. Whether you market to business clients or end users, every one of your customers invests their hard-earned money in your product or service. They all want to see a return for that investment, whether they measure that by profit margin or personal satisfaction.

When they visit your site, you need to give them more than just a product or service. You need to understand what they're hoping to get out of your business, and expand on that. Tailoring your product or service for the highest client ROI will have prospects lining up to do business with you.

Step 1: Know their goals.

Hopefully you asked and answered this question before you even started your business. What are your customers' goals? Not just why they might want your product or service, but what are their goals in using it? If you're selling golf clubs, do your customers merely want a golf club, or are they hoping to eventually become more adept on the course?

For example, if you sell golf equipment, offering weekly golf swing technique tips via audio or video clips might be a way to showcase your products and keep visitors coming back to your website. This will also help your clientele learn more about the sport and get a chance to see some of the latest gadgets in action. Better still, you can distribute the branded video clips on YouTube as a way to draw visitors to your site.

Become a partner in your client’s success. If classes are not feasible, your clients might be interested in a white paper or article that helps them figure out how to improve their business by utilizing your service or product.

Step 2: Find where you fit in.

Once you know your customers' goals, it will be that much easier to see where you and your product fit in. Find out how your services relate to these goals, and be sure to include that information in your marketing and sales materials. Brief your staff on the connection between what you do and what your clients want. You may also come up with additional product lines to upsell that also help clients meet their goals.

Step 3: Get client feedback.

You want to make sure you know what your clients are thinking about your service. This is especially important for ecommerce, where you may never see them face-to-face. Get feedback on what they liked, what they didn't, what worked, and what was overkill. The more feedback you get from various customers, the better idea you'll have of what is most effective. You might end up with some prize-winning testimonials too.

Step 4: Act on it.

There's little point in getting feedback if you're just going to ignore it. Customer feedback is basically free consulting, and you wouldn't ignore a consultant, would you?

Once you get client feedback, tailor your services accordingly. Pay attention to what they are asking for, and concentrate your efforts accordingly. You may find certain product lines aren’t working for clients, or get ideas for new offerings based on their requests. By acting on client feedback, you can be sure you are offering what clients really need to help them meet their goals.

By ensuring that you have a high customer ROI, you'll be meeting their expectations and more, which will go a long way to increasing brand loyalty. The more your customers love your business, the better the chances are that they'll tell their friends, which means you'll be earning both repeat business and new customers. Make sure your customer's ROI is just as high on your priority list as your own.