Indie Business Network member Online Labels.com is a Florida-based company that provides affordable labels to manufacturers of all kinds of products, with a focus on small and independent businesses. The other day, my contact at the company, Matt Hamilton, contacted me to let me know that Online Labels won the Bizrate Circle of Excellence Award for the second year in a row.
The award is a distinction earned by retailers who go above and beyond the norm to provide exceptional service to their online customers. Online Labels joins companies like Zappos and B&H Photo-Video as this year's winners, and I am thrilled for him. What makes this award special, Matt tells me, is that it is based on real customer feedback. I asked Matt to share what the award means to his company, as well as some tips to help all of us offer stellar customer service.
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dM: Why is this award important to your company?
- Provide immediate and overall satisfaction to the customer at the moment the sale is made
- Provide great product selection; give people options they can choose from to meet their needs
- An easy-to-navigate website; simple and effective
- Let customers know you want them to come back and do business with you again
- Deliver the product the customers orders on time and with no hassles
- Make it easy for customers to contact you for customer support
Matt:
To be honored among the top 4% of online retailers in overall customer satisfaction is a direct result of the dedication and attention we give to our customers before, during and well after they purchase something from us. Winning BizRate's Circle of Excellence Platinum Award is definitely a significant achievement, and one that everyone here at OnlineLabels.com takes pride in. It shows the world what we already know — that we care about our customers — and that's why it's important to us.dM: How does this award translate into better service for your customers and growth for Online Labels in general?
Matt: This award reminds us why we're in business in the first place, and makes us even more determined to continue to delight our customers. We will continue to put our customers and potential customers ahead of everything else. This award is possible only because of our customers, and we want to continue to ear their input and continued support of our products.
This award also validates our desire to serve small businesses. We believe that it is critical to help small business owners design their own labels, and our Maestro Label Designer software does that. We offer 3 to 12 month of free access to Maestro Label Designer, depending on the size of the order, and 100% free customer support.
Small companies save a lot of money when they designer their own labels and print them on demand. We're very thankful to be recognized for our efforts and will continue to maintain the same, if not better, level of service for many years to come.
dM: What tips can you offer to other companies who want to emulate your example of excellence?
Matt: Since the award is the result of feedback from real customers who fill out Bizrate's survey, the metrics used probably provide the best tips. Here are 6 of them:
It's impossible to add anything to that.
We strive to do all of these things, and this award validates our efforts in every way. I recommend that all companies train their customer service representatives to make sure they understand the products they sell and how they benefit customers. If you don't do this, you'll consistently lose sales not because you don't have a good product, but because your sales force does not know how to effectively convey its value to the customers who need it.
dM: Congratulations Matt! Thanks for sharing your success and customer service tips!
You can learn more about Matt and his company at Online Labels.com. Check out all of this year's winners at this link.
Question: Do Matt's customer service tips resonate with you? What tips can you share?
