With the rise of the #MeToo movement, the pervasiveness of sexual harassment has been exposed in industries ranging from Hollywood to tech and even giant retailers like Lowes. What about the ad industry, one intertwined with nearly all others?

What is Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment in the work place is language, gestures, jokes,or advances, as well as any other verbal or physical contact or assault towards someone that takes place in the work setting. According to data from the Ad Association, over a quarter of people working in marketing and advertising say they are victims of sexual harassment.

How Prevalent is Sexual Harassment 

According to research, within the ad industry 26% of people report being sexually harassed at some point throughout their career. An overwhelming 72% of those people report it happening more than once, and a quarter of those say it has happened to them six times or more. Of those, 17% say they have never reported it to anyone. 

Who are the Victims

The report revealed that of those individuals fallen victim to sexual harassment, 34% were women and slightly less than 10% were men. Between the ages of 18 and 24, 5% of men and 20% of women report experiencing sexual harassment within their first few years of working, and nearly one-third of all people say they’ve seen it happen to others.

Who are the Perpetrators

Within the ad industry, a whopping 82% of victims report being sexually harassed by someone in a higher position or in senior management. Many reported management playing a huge role in encouraging and covering up sexual harassment in the work place in order to gain or retain business, less than 20% officially filed a complaint. 

Why Isn’t it Being Reported

With a majority 96% of people agreeing that sexual harassment shouldn’t be tolerated in the workplace, it’s surprising that 83% of cases never get reported. One reason may be that 66% of people believe the perpetrators will get away with it, and that nearly half (41%) of the victims are ignored or silenced before they can make their case.

Some People Don’t Consider it a Problem

Nearly ten percent of people questioned believe that unless physical assault happens, they would rather just consider it banter or flirting. 3% of people believe it’s not that bad of a problem, and another 7% aren’t sure how they feel. Surprisingly, 25% of people believe sexual harassment is a trend or this year’s bandwagon issue.

What To Do If You Experience or Witness Sexual Harassment

The first thing you’ll want to do after you’re in a safe environment is contact a San Francisco sexual harassment attorney. Keep thorough documentation of any unwanted conduct, which will serve as evidence in your case. Once you find out who your employer has designated to receive complaints, you can file a report.

How to File a Report

Once you have your lawyerand evidence, you will file an official sexual harassment complaint within the company. At this stage, everything will go on permanent record and potentially be used against you, so you should have your lawyer present. You have a legal right to continue your job without threat of further harassment or retaliation. 

Sexual harassment occurs more frequently and is under reported more often than once thought. With the fear of losing one’s job, the stigma attached to filing a complaint, and the possibility of being ignored, most cases go unreported. However, you can be more confident knowing the facts and having a good lawyer on your side.

The post How Pervasive Is Sexual Harassment in the Ad Industry? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

The auto-industry is in the midst of a change. The values, expectations, and behavior of car-buyers are shifting. On top of this, the products for sale are becoming iteratively more advanced, the manner in which new cars are developed marches ever forward, and the ways in which manufacturers get everything they need for a finished product is like never before. 

Automakers will need to pivot to keep pace with this bold new landscape. In particular, the methods of marketing to consumers have been (and will likely continue to be) in a state of flux. Today, we’re going to look at the new standard for quality marketing and explain how catering to these customer experience expectations may help auto sellers thrive like never before.

Where The Automakers Have Been Lacking

While there’s little doubt that some, like the lemon law attorneys at Conn Law, would tell you that automakers have been falling short when it comes to quality checking their products, a more readily recognizable way they’ve been dragging their heels is when it comes to delivering personalized and engaging customer experiences. Info shows, however, that there exists a great deal of untapped potential here in the auto industry, as we’ll soon see.

Thanks to the so-called “new normal,” the shift in behaviors brought about by the COVID-19 crisis, many of the stages that car buyers would undertake in person on their road to owning a new vehicle now take place digitally and online. Researching what car they want—happens online. Finding a dealer who sells said car—happens online. Even buying a car, in some cases, can happen online—marketing the sale of said automobiles is undergoing a similar change.

Where in the past, a singular, offline experience was the way to go, the modern approach should be emphasizing a comprehensive customer experience throughout an evolving customer journey. That journey can start from multiple points online and even end with customers deciding they want to purchase online, at the dealership, etc. Remember that customers can weave between online and physical counterparts on each stage of their decision-making process toward buying a vehicle, and marketing has to account for this.

Delivering On The Marketing Dream

As such, each of these customer touchpoints should be memorable and the experience should serve to drive the customer further down the path of making a purchasing decision. It should also, in addition to leaving an impression through sheer “wow” factor, be informative enough that customers feel even more confident in the car-buying decisions they are making.

There is now, in this new world of intertwined online/offline experience, even more opportunity for manufacturers and car dealers to become more cooperative in their marketing efforts, with each supporting the other to boost customer satisfaction and accommodate customers through whatever means make them feel most comfortable as they advance through their journey.

This approach gets results too. More than half of current car-buyers (a percentage that’s sure to grow) say that convenience and clarity throughout the process would make them more apt to pull the trigger on a deal, so for automakers, the new approach to selling cars should be clear.

The post Car Marketing In The New Normal Is All About Delivering Memorable Experiences Via Different Channels appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

A 2017 Forrester study reported that 68% of B2B buyers prefer to do their own research. Most recently, researchers are seeing this trend vastly accelerate due to the onset of COVID-19. In fact, McKinsey found that “self-serve and remote interactions have made it easier for buyers to get information, place orders, and arrange service, and customers have enjoyed that speed and convenience.” 

This means that the content you provide not only needs to be relevant and worthwhile, but also convenient for your customers to access and absorb. There’s a massive shift away from creating content that is gated. Additionally, you need to match the content type to where your buyer is in their journey. Content Marketing Institute’s recent study about what works for demand-generation content in the early days of 2021 found the following:

How This Data Impacts Businesses

Tending to the early stage and middle stage of the buyer’s journey for your company is critical. Having quality content for the wider audience at the top of your funnel shouldn’t be underestimated. If you take a look at the chart above, you’ll notice that Interactive Content, Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos are most effective in the early stage, and Case Studies, E-books, Webinars, and White Papers are the most effective at the middle stage.

As you think about the content you’re going to create, matching the best content to the best form for its function ensures that you’re maxing out your budget and your energy. It wouldn’t make sense to create a case study aimed at a buyer persona who’s at the early stage of their buyer’s journey, because it’s only 15% effective. Case studies are a better match for customers who are in the middle stage and late stage.

It’s important to note that this year E-books are rated as more effective in the middle stage than in the past. This points to the fact that demand gen marketers are using E-books further down the funnel than in the past. This provides those buyers with content that’s meatier and inculcates trust along the buyer’s journey.

Combining Components to Maximize Outreach

Studies have shown that we all prefer to consume content in a variety of ways. One technique to address this is to provide information in various forms, or in a combined form.

As an example, take a look at this CNC machining masterclass. The course is a combination of video content and written (article) content. It could technically fall under “other types of content,” but truly, it’s a mashup of several. The course also includes downloadable checklists, such as the “Least Effort DFM Checklist for CNC Machining,” for the user to have on hand. This sort of stacked value truly meets the buyer where they’re at and maximizes the early stage and middle stage of the journey.

You’ll also note that the course does not require an email address to access it. Buyers have too many emails sitting in their inbox already. By meeting the customer where they’re at, this content is consumable, accessible, and convenient. It hits several of the points McKinsey raised.

If you wanted to take a look at a different field, Axero Solutions, an intranet software company, offers case studies that are downloadable without being gated or requiring an email address. However, they also offer various other resources, including an “Intranet University” and multiple e-books and guides.

Overall, as content continues to flood the internet, including social media channels, content will need to focus more and more on building a relationship with the customer and meeting them where they are before they realize they have a problem. Quality content can strengthen a relationship with the customer when you’re not around.

The post Why B2B Companies Need to Change Their Content Marketing Strategy Immediately appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

There’s no denying that misinformation runs more rampant, for instance, just like there’s no denying the increased ability to spread awareness about prevalent issues. One less-thought-of impact is the law. Specifically, how social media affects lawsuits. Here’s what you need to know.

A Real Life Example

Social media and cars typically go together in the form of photos or videos, but this case deals with Lemon Law. If you’re unfamiliar with what Lemon Laws are, check out the website for Conn Law in San Francisco for a rundown.

In this instance, someone had purchased a Kia that ended up having a serious issue shifting gears. Being a major problem, they took it into a shop for repairs but no one could seem to fix the defect. So, they hired an attorney and filed a Lemon Law claim.

If the court acknowledged the claim, Kia would either have to replace the car with an identical one or refund the full purchase price of the vehicle plus legal fees. The case was so simple that it would have been an easy victory, but the owner of the car did something to ruin the entire claim.

He was a teenager, his parents had bought him the car, and he decided to have a little fun with it before the case went to court. He took it to a racetrack, videotaped the races, and posted the videos on Facebook. You can probably imagine the damage he did to the Kia since the gears wouldn’t shift properly.

With the video up for all the world to see, Kia’s defense team made quick work of blaming the teen. They used the video as evidence to show it was the teen’s fault, not theirs, that the car had issues. In the end, Kia won the case because a few social media posts.

The Moral of the Story

That’s just one real life example from Virginia that happens to deal with a Lemon Law case, but what you chose to share on social media holds the potential to impact just about any legal case you can think of. While cat memes don’t pose a threat, personal statements along with photos or videos could.

Prosecutors rely on digital evidence in harassment cases, custody battles will take photos showing the condition of your home or how you take care of your children into consideration, and DUI prosecutors have field days using photos of people drinking against them.

This isn’t meant to scare you, of course, just to ask you to think twice about what you share online. You never know what kind of lawsuit you might find yourself apart of in the future and what seemingly harmless posts and attorney might try to use against you.

The post The Impact of Social Media on Lawsuits appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Fully understanding the value of superior customer experience and how it generates value is critical in combining these two into one value marketing super-tactic. With less than half of all customer experience leaders knowing what ten additional points on their net promoter score would mean for their business, it’s time to examine this much needed relationship.

The Disconnect

Efforts to create a better customer experience begin with broad aspirations, often leading to disruptive initiatives that entail bold moves and innovations. This is coupled with a failure to quantify economic outcomes relating to the differences in consumer experiences, which leads to clear costs with unclear near-term results.

Questions about business policies, investment in innovation, and cross-functional priorities arise. These are rarely answered, however, as executives stall before they get going without a solidified link to value. Early gains, momentum, and a position of strategy at the table cannot be obtained without that link.

A Better Path

Thanks to science, research, and methodology, there’s a better approach to connecting customer experience with value. It requires patience and discipline to build the analytical approach required to make this connection, but it’s well worth the time and effort spent.

Properly establishing this link gives you key insights into what customers care about most, where to focus your efforts, and how to maintain the consumer experience at the top of your priorities list. Do this correctly, and you’ll also be able to direct investments properly as you approach a self-funding program.

Building the Link

Your first step in creating this connection is to develop a hypothesis about customer outcomes. Start by identifying customer behaviors that reveal the value in your industry. Airlines, for instance, would identify what promotes more travel and travel revenue while specifying what creates a lower cost to serve.

Next, connect customer communication to their action. What are they saying in satisfaction surveys and how has their behavior change over time? Create a data set from the results of past surveys, identifying what drove satisfaction rates and recommendations to friends. Linking survey results to your databases will help create the backbone of customer experience data.

Use this data to create a model, in graded short list form, of subpar points and notes of high regard to customers. Then, figure out how you can eliminate the negatives while doubling down on the positives. Keep your focus on issues with the highest payouts.

Third, use that data to compile two years’ worth of satisfaction outcomes and look at the churn rate. Then, consider what measures could be taken to turn just 5% of your dissatisfied customers into neutral ones. The goal here is to use their feedback to determine how you can move them up the value chain, ending at a satisfied level.

Fourth, analyze trends in a way that looks to the future. Looking backward over too long of a period yields inflated economic results, leading to bias in investment decisions. Analyzing trends on a yearly basis changes the outcomes measures for your value chain, providing more precise and actionable data.

Finally, track your outcomes. Quantifying the value of customer experience requires you to track each segment that matters most. As you link satisfaction to business outcomes, you are better able to set appropriate priorities and quantify payouts.

The post Connecting Customer Experience With Value appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

One more controversial feature is the speed filter, which indicates how fast a user was going at the time the picture was taken. Snapchat will be dropping this feature soon, but why? Here’s everything you need to know about the company’s decision.

Controversy

Introduced in 2013, the speed filter has drawn the ire of safety advocates across the country who say it encourages reckless driving. If you’re spending time looking at and using your phone, then you’re putting yourself and others at risk.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that playing on your phone behind the wheel is dangerous, but it causes roughly 1.6 million accidents each year. In 2019, those accidents killed 3,142 people. Snapchat’s filter isn’t immune to those statistics, either. Countless families have filed lawsuits over loved ones who were injured or killed while using it.

Snapchat Inc. had previously defended their speed filter. However, they have since changed their mind in light of the lawsuits. A 2015 incident left a Georgia driver with permanent brain damage, while another that same year left three young women dead in Philadelphia.

Florida saw five die in 2016 while using the filter. In 2017, three men in Wisconsin thought it would be fun to see how fast they could go while using the app. They reached 123 mph before wrapping their car around a tree, killing all three of them. Keep in mind that those are just a few of the cases involving the speed filter.

The Response

Snapchat did change the feature from a filter to a sticker and added a warning about driving while using their app. They also capped the top speed at 35 mph. While those are efforts on the company’s part, the feature still poses an immense danger for drivers.

Legal professionals, similar to car accident attorney Dan Rose, have picked up numerous cases against Snapchat Inc. Meanwhile, federal courts have made it possible for families to sue the company over injury and death, stating that Snapchat’s feature shows negligence.

Some legal experts have even built cases around teens believing, for whatever reason, that they will receive a prize for topping a certain number of miles per hour, most often 100. That’s a terrifying thought and incredibly dangerous. The company continues to fight these cases, though, saying their feature is not the cause of any accidents.

In the meantime, however, Snapchat Inc. will remove the speed filter to avoid any further lawsuits. So, that’s one feature you can kiss goodbye in the near future. Don’t worry, though, you’ll still have all your beloved face filters and the full suite of Snap effects to enjoy. 

The post Say Goodbye to the Snapchat Speed Filter appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Advancing Technology

New technologies are being developed at a rapid rate, and organizations are excited to see theirs enter the market. The Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety now has a breath-analyzing interlock device ready for commercial use by the end of this year and a consumer version coming in 2024.

It would work like a breathalyzer and is intended to be standard on all vehicles. So far, it’s a top choice among safety advocates. The government has also been working on a research and development project with automakers for over a decade known as Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS).

DADSS is designed to passively detect intoxication, preventing the vehicle from starting if the driver is over the legal limit. The system could use a combination of recording the driver’s breath without an added device and a touch-based system that would detect blood alcohol level under the skin via infrared light.

Volvo also has integrated driver monitoring systems featuring cameras and sensors as part of their suite of safety systems. Both would function to ensure intoxicated drivers can’t start their cars. While all of these are great options, there’s one group pushing for immediate change with current technology.

Existing Tech

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has launched a campaign designed to push automakers to make an immediate change. The group focuses on existing safety technology such as driver monitoring and lane assistance controls, pointing out that these assistive features could already be used to curb DUIs.

They want automakers to implement these as standard features now, rather than waiting for DADSS or autonomous technology to reach the market. There are currently 241 options that would help combat drunk driving, and MADD is furious that the industry hasn’t utilized them in this manner.

The auto industry disagrees, saying these current technologies aren’t advanced enough for the task just yet. Their concerns are devices misreading levels of intoxication, stopping people from driving or even forcing a car off the road through assistive steering and lane controls.

A Government Push

MADD just might get their wish with the current makeup of the federal government, though. The Reduce Impaired Driving for Everyone Act, a piece of bipartisan legislation, is coming to the floor of the Senate soon. There’s a similar bill in the House as well.

Both task the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with creating rules and standards around implementing anti-DUI technologies. With several Democrats and Republicans already on board, either bill is likely to pass.

The auto industry spoke up here, as well, saying they would prefer to wait for the accuracy of the DADSS system. The NHTSA agrees, but the DADSS team has a few tweaks to make before its expected launch in 2023.

MADD and other anti-DUI organizations, however, feel the auto industry is stopping progress from being made. Other detractor wonder what might happen to jobs like this Boulder DUI attorney and state revenue made from DUI arrests. Those questions are usually overshadowed by the almost 10,000 lives lost to intoxicated driving each year, though.

If Congress passes one or both of their bills, some form of technology could become standard in all vehicles by next year. The U.S. might wait for DADSS, it might use existing tech, or it could choose another option hitting the market. Regardless of how it happens, standard issue ignition interlocks are on the way.

The post Fighting DUIs With Modern Tech appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Value is the name of the game in any market, but how do you define it? You might say, “That’s simple! A customer that values a good smelling home places value in a candle.” While that’s true, it’s only a small fraction of the equation. 

Put yourself in the shoes of that customer for a moment. If 20 companies are trying to sell you candles, what makes one more valuable than the next? This concept is one that puzzles even the best businesses and marketers. Here’s how you can better understand customer value and build success in your market. 

Defining Value

In the business world, value equals worth. Heading back to the candle example, how much worth does a potential buyer place in any given candle? Whatever product or service you’re selling, you have to decide why making a purchase is worthwhile to the consumer. 

While a candle will certainly make the buyer’s home smell better, there are other values at play that can derive a higher worth. Each of these values is what the customer gets in exchange for the price they pay. In this example, those would include:

• How long the candle burns
• What scents are available to choose from
• Chemical-free/organic ingredients
• The size or shape of the candle
• Color and the decorative nature of the container

All of these add value to the product, and that value does not change for the consumer. What does change is the price. Raising or lowering the cost only changes the buyer’s incentive to take you up on your market offering. So, the challenge is to ensure the cost to the consumer does not exceed the product’s value. 

Customer Value Models

Since each potential customer places a different level of value on any given item, including candles, it can be difficult to tell where that value lies. The best approach is a field value assessment, but that’s rarely a possibility. Luckily, there are plenty of other tools at your disposal. 

You could utilize direct and indirect survey questions, gaining valuable insight into where customers place worth. There’s also conjoint analysis and focus groups to better understand the perception of your product’s functionality and performance. 

While all of the above can help you determine worth and adjust price accordingly, you also live in the modern age. The internet is ripe with customer value management tools that can help you make better use of your surveys and assessments while organizing the information you need in an easier-to-understand way. 

These tools can also provide better insights, allowing you to leverage that information throughout your organization as you empower everyone from product managers to your sales teams and value engineers. Several also offer case study builders, which are an excellent way to boost value and therefore increase shelf price. 

The Bottom Line

Value is relative, but it exists in the minds of every consumer within your market. By understanding and building worth within your product, as well as creating customer value models, you can determine the best price-to-value ratio. While it is a complex science, there are tools to help you pave a clear path to victory. 

The post Understanding what customers value appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Humans have a tendency to try ridiculous challenges, but the prominence of social media has increased the number of serious injuries as more people attempt these bone-braking and sometimes toxin-ingesting tasks. You might remember the Tide Pod, Kiki, and car surfing challenges. 

Now, the social media site TikTok is sending people to the emergency room with a challenge called the “skull breaker.” While the name alone should be enough to warn people of how dangerous this activity can be, all too many people are trying it. Here’s what you need to know. 

TikTok and the Skull Breaker

If you’re unaware, TikTok is a social media site where users share short videos. It’s mostly used for lip-syncing, dancing, comedy, and showing off unique talents. However, the site found its first dangerous challenge in 2018 when the skull breaker started. 

In the skull breaker challenge, three people stand together and plan to jump at the same time. However, the person in the middle is unaware that they are the victim. Once they begin to jump, the other two kick or pull their legs out from under them. The resulting fall can cause severe brain and spine injuries, depending on how the person lands. 

The goal of the skull breaker challenge is to have the victim land on their head, which is where the name comes from. Given the stay-at-home orders during the Covid-19 pandemic, teens across the country have flocked to this challenge out of boredom. While TikTok has asked its users to stop participating in this and other dangerous challenges, people refuse to listen. 

Potential for Injury

A moderate impact to the head can come with complications, but the severe impact of the skull breaker challenge is enough to cause serious brain trauma. Seizures, loss of consciousness, and severe spinal damage to the neck are also common. 

These injuries often come with long-term effects, causing physical and emotional changes to the victim. Someone who falls will likely develop the following:

• Difficulty concentrating
• Memory loss
• Chronic fatigue
• Blurred vision
• Seizures and tremors
• Changes in mood and character

These symptoms are similar to those suffered by athletes with head injuries, as well as those involved in car and other types of accidents where brain trauma is present. Luckily, there are ways for victims to seek compensation if they have been the brunt of this cruel joke. 

The Legal Battle 

Just like in slip and fall cases, victims can pursue damages against the liable party for this challenge. That includes both people who caused the injuries. It’s vital that victims seek the aid a personal injury attorney to ensure they get the full amount of compensation they are entitled to. 

Depending on the circumstances of the incident, personal injury claims in Denver can hold more than just the other two in the challenge liable. A school would be held responsible for not providing a safe environment for students if the skull breaker took place there, for instance. 

If you or a loved one has been the victim of the skull breaker challenge, then it’s imperative that you seek legal aid as soon as possible. The victim is entitled to financial compensation for any losses and pain that were a result of the injury. Don’t hesitate, hold those guilty accountable for this challenge. 

The post TikTok Challenges Are Causing Serious Injuries appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

What’s the harm in posting on your social media pages? It’s your page, after all, and you can make your posts more secure with privacy settings. Well, there is something to worry about besides employers snooping through your profiles. 

An increasing number of lawyers, investigators, and insurance companies are now using social media profiles to gather evidence in criminal and civil cases across the country. While it might seem unbelievable, these are the ways your social media can hurt you in a car accident case. 

Using Your Posts Against You

Let’s say you were involved in a hit and run, just like 600,000-700,000 other Americans are each year. That was the case Jacob Cox-Brown, a teen in Oregon. He struck two cars while driving home drunk on New Year’s Day and fled the scene.

Later, if you can believe it, he decided to post a Facebook status about the incident. Local law enforcement was able to piece together the incident using his status, the damage to his car, and the damage to the others. Cox-Brown was arrested. 

Your posts don’t have to be as blatant as that, but it serves as a simple example. Any post can be used as evidence, even without an omission. Pictures of you having drinks before an accident, for instance, could be used against you in court.

Twisting Your Posts

Comments, photos, and even status updates can be used by prosecutors in the modern courtroom. Attorneys are looking for anything that contradicts the opposing party’s words. That means that your activity can be twisted to fit the defense or prosecution’s narrative.

A handful of photos featuring you drinking could be used to say you drink a lot and often. Photos taken from inside your vehicle could work to prove you’re an unsafe driver. The examples are near endless, but they’re clear evidence that your “private” social media use is now as public as ever. 

Injuries and Severity

Part of the aftermath of a car accident is obtaining compensation for your injuries. Lawyers have recently used photos of a happy plaintiff to show that their injuries are less severe than initially claimed in cases of negligence. 

That means any images or positive, happy posts you share while injured could be used against you as well. It’s twisting your social media use out of context, there’s no doubt about that, but it might be enough to make a judge question how much pain you’re actually in. 

Fighting Social Media Evidence

It takes a skilled lawyer to help you fight against evidence brought about by your social media pages, especially when the evidence is twisted out of context. You’ll also need to rely on legal representation that’s familiar with the area’s judge. 

If you were involved in a wreck in Sacramento, for instance, then you would need a Sacrament car accident lawyer to fight in your defense. While not every judge takes social media evidence seriously, you’ll stand a better chance with a lawyer who is used to working with the judge if yours does. 

The post Ways your social media can hurt you in a car accident case appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Does Anyone Read Reviews?

The first mistake business owners make is thinking that consumers don’t care to read reviews. As it turns out, that couldn’t be further from the truth. A recent survey found that 86% of Americans turn to ratings and customer feedback before deciding to give a company their business. 

It doesn’t end there, though. Take these statistics into consideration:

• On average, consumers read ten reviews before they know if they can trust a business.
• Roughly 57% of individuals require a four-star rating or higher to use a company.
• 91% of consumers between the ages of 18 to 34 treat customer reviews as if they were personal recommendations. 
• 89% of Americans also read the responses left by businesses.

Does Anyone Take Negative Reviews Seriously?

There are some people out there who are simply impossible to satisfy. Luckily, most consumers can tell the difference between an actual complaint and a ridiculous one. However, you should assume that even the craziest of complaints can impact your revenue. 

Forbes reported that just one negative comment can take away 22% of your potential customer pool. With four or more, you’re looking at up to 70% of possible business turning away before ever walking through the door. 

Whether you’re still starting up or competing with the likes of Microsoft, those numbers are staggering. If your number of low-star ratings and complaints are on the rise, you can bet that your competition is reaping the benefits. 

Is There Anything You Can Do?

Luckily, there are a variety of tools at your disposal. Companies like Bird Eye offer review monitoring software that allows you to stay ahead of the competition by increasing the number of reviews your customers leave as well as staying proactive about sour experiences. 

Bird Eye specifically helped create these stellar Schoenberg Family Law Group reviews, boosting them above the 4.5-star ratio and netting them over 90% five-star ratings. By using their software, Schoenberg can create customized templates that prompt clients to leave a review on a high traffic sites like Google. 

The level of personalization helps consumers relate to business brands, furthering their reasoning to leave a few words about their experience with you. Even better, instantaneous updates allow you tee see when someone leaves a rating or review. 

When someone does leave with a subpar experience, you can work to remedy the situation immediately. It isn’t unheard of for positive business comments and quality customer service to turn a one-star rating into a three or four-star review. 

If not, your potential customer pool can now see that you care about their business enough to right your wrongs. The combination, among other tools, allows you to turn the power of the consumer review into a valuable marketing asset capable of boosting your revenue. 

The post Here’s Why You Should Care About Online Reviews appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Inflating the Value/Price Ratio

It’s easy to get caught up in KPIs and metrics, but one of the easiest ways to foster customer value is to simply put yourself in their shoes. Value isn’t just about what your product or service offers, it also includes how their interaction with your brand makes them feel. 

So, go the extra mile. You could offer them a free gift for their business or add in a bonus service with the price. Actively listening and communicating with your customers or clients will also make them feel appreciated. 

Make it Easy to Buy

One of Amazon’s greatest points of value is their free two-day shipping for Prime members, not their marketplace. Give your customers as many options as possible for shipping and delivery. At the same time, the world of purchases is changing. Customers find value in being able to use PayPal and other methods to make a purchase outside of their credit cards. 

Unique Value Proposition

The ultimate way to foster value is with a Unique Value Proposition. This is what sets you apart from your competitors, telling customers why they should buy your product instead of someone else’s. Brands that deal in B2B find increased benefit in this regard. It takes some analyzing and plenty of customer value management, but there is at least one thing that sets your product or service apart from the rest.  

Branding is Key

Names are synonymous with value, which is why consumers trust the big-name brands in any industry. At the same time, these brands connect with their audiences on a personal level. It’s up to you determine how your brand can achieve that, but there is a little bit of method to the madness. 

First, identify anything your brand stands for or believes in. Next, look for anything that makes your brand unique in its creation, implementation, or service. From there, all you have to do is relay your findings in a conversational tone to your audience. This also builds off of your unique value proposition. 

Stellar Customer Service

Finally, you need to pump up your customer service. When issues or complaints arise, your brand’s ability to handle them swiftly while ensuring that the customer matters is vital. However, it takes more than focusing on the customer to deliver exceptional customer service.

The teams you have working in this department can only do a stellar job when they enjoy their environment. If you treat them as well as you expect them to treat your customers, then you’re setting yourself up to have one more edge over the competition. 

Building Value

With these five simple methods, you can quickly bolster customer value and build a brand that consumers want to interact with. That means more sales, customer retention, and the ability to fulfill your vision of your business. 

The post 5 Simple Ways to Create Customer Value appeared first on Social Media Explorer.