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Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

January 21, 2015

Why customer service matters as a blogger

January 21, 2015

Don’t underestimate good customer service.  I am always on the phone with Tubu.net, my hosting tech support, a lot.  As someone who “does” customer service for a day job, I get it from both sides of the coin.

Why Customer Service Matters for Bloggers

A little bit ago, I had a stupid problem, but it seemed like a not-stupid problem.  I was trying to upload pictures to WordPress and it wouldn’t let me.  It kept saying that the file wasn’t permitted for security reasons and I’m all like, “What’s such a security threat?  It’s just a picture of my outfit.”

I thought it was because I updated my theme.  The last time I added a new theme, WordPress freaked out.  I was panicked, so I called Tubu support and had such a great experience last time that I figured I would call again sooner this time.

Let’s be honest, I’d just try to keep doing the same thing over and over expecting it to work.  I guess I’m growing up when I recognize that I can’t fix this one myself.

Here’s the crazy thing: I talked to the same guy I talked to last time.  It’s been a few months, sure, so it wasn’t an immediate recognition on his end, but it was the same guy as before.

It was so reassuring that I 1) was talking to someone in America who I could understand and 2) had a positive experience with this person in the past.

It ended up being a really stupid-easy fix.  We tried using Chrome, removing spaces from my file name, he did some tech voodoo over in Back-end Webroot PHP-land…nada.  Turns out my genius self didn’t end the file in .jpg.

That makes a difference, folks.

But kudos to Rick who was probably sitting there going, “Wow, lady, that’s the first thing I would have checked.”  I know he was thinking that because most of the time I’m sitting at work thinking, “Did you really just call me when you couldn’t post to Facebook but you didn’t check to see if you were still connected to Facebook first?”

Side note: can we strike “please advise” from all emails?

It’s so rewarding when people are genuinely excited and thankful for your help that it eases the sting that you just took 30 minutes to explain how to highlight text and change the font size.  Or, in Rick’s case, to figure out that I needed the file extension.

He was laughing along at with me, making conversation while we waited, and just made the overall experience really pleasant.

Sometimes you just need that little reminder that there’s always someone on the flip side.  I try really hard to be nice to customer service reps because I’ve been in those shoes; I don’t want someone yelling at me, so I don’t yell at them.

Also, when you lose your cool, it’s a one-way ticket to I’m Going To Do As Little As Possible To Help You-sville.

Moral of today’s story: good customer service is imperative.

As a blogger, it’s important to think about what customer service means to you.  It can be responding to comments, reading other blogs, retweeting content to support the blogger, making sure what you’re repinning isn’t just a weird spam link, etc.

You are a brand, whether you think so or not.  How you conduct yourself matters and reflects back on you.  Good customer/reader service deepens your brand image in a meaningful way.

Write down a code of conduct for how you’ll approach situations.  What would you say if someone wanted you to write a review for free? (Here’s a great response!)

How will you approach others about writing a guest blog for them?  (Here are three ways to be a good guest poster and here are some tips for inviting guest posters.)

Or do you have a time frame of when you can realistically respond to comments?  Write it all down and stick to it.

This will contribute to a strong, positive image for your blog.  Your readers will know what to expect and you’ll be happy knowing that you have a plan for responding graciously to all kinds of situations.

What was your last good customer service experience like?  How do you offer good customer service to your readers?

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15 Comments · Labels: Digital Creatives Tagged: blogging, customer relations, customer service, tubu.net

  • Julie @ Artwork by JM

    So many great tips!! I definitely agree that customer service is a HUGE deal. If I ask someone a question on their blog and they never ever get back to me, that is going to effect my view of them and their product. I know sometimes stuff happens and people have other stuff going on but if you never reply to any comments ever….I’m not going to bother commenting again.

    • Angelica @GardeningInHighHeels

      Thank you! I’m hyper-sensitive to customer service since I have worked in retail and/or have somehow interacted with customers. It’s the face of the company just like you are the face of your blog (sounds weird to say, of course you are! haha). I agree with you on the commenting. Things come up so that’s why you need to have a plan in place!

      • Julie @ Artwork by JM

        I know what you mean. I worked in retail for around 8 or 9 years but never an actual customer service phone type job.

  • Marissa Burdett

    I. Love. This. So much of this resonates with me (obvi) and I just think it’s important to see how this can transcend into the blogging realm too. Patience and coming from a place of understanding and listening first is so important for branding–not to mention, it’s just the right thing to do!

    • Angelica @GardeningInHighHeels

      Absolutely! There totally should be some sense of decency, y’know?

  • Meghan Hayes

    It is a million times a million important. Even though I’m not really on the phone, I do encounter many customer service issues working at a doctor’s office. I beam with pride when the patients tell Dr. Hooper how much they like the front desk staff or they compliment how well I or one of the other girls handled a situation or a problem they were experiencing. Good customer service makes my day. I also love when I can talk to someone who is a fluent speaker of English.

    • Angelica @GardeningInHighHeels

      I agree! If I have a good experience, I’ll be a thousand times more likely to repeat __ with them be it purchase again, comment more, etc.

      And yes, speaking with someone whom you can understand is muy importante!

  • Nadia

    This is a great post. The articles you linked to had so much great information too, especially the one talking about responding to review requests! Thanks so much for sharing!

    • Angelica @GardeningInHighHeels

      Thank you for reading! I read that post yesterday and knew it had to be included. It’s a perfect (and polite!) response and a great example of the situations that should be accounted for.

  • Jana Tolman

    This is a fantastic post! I’ve worked in customer service as well and after that experience I really learned to be a lot more understanding of people and their requests. You are so right, it is incredibly important as a blogger to be kind, courteous, and make sure you conduct yourself in a way that does your bloggy brand proud! 🙂

    • Angelica @GardeningInHighHeels

      There are so many people who don’t understand, so I’m glad that you can relate! A good experience with another blogger is just as important and memorable with a sales associate. Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts! 🙂

  • Jenny Trevon Albertson

    I love this. I especially love it when I get someone in customer service who can understand me and I can understand them. Also I never really thought about customer service as a blogger but now I will think about it and ask myself if I’m doing a good job. Thanks.

    • Angelica @GardeningInHighHeels

      Thank you for sharing! I hope it helps to add to your blog brand 🙂

  • Jessica ThePyreflies

    I’m so happy I found your blog, i really enjoyed this post and can’t wait to read more! The tech voodoo part really made me laugh, because that’s exactly what I call it! haha! 😉

    Jessica
    the.pyreflies.org

    • Angelica @GardeningInHighHeels

      Thanks for stopping by, Jessica, I’m glad you’re here!

      It seems like total magic to me. I have a little understanding, but it’s mostly just like, “Do what you do, Imma be over here polishing my nails and writing about how it turned out.” Haha

Who’s Angelica?

Life Un-styled Blogger, Gardener, Shoe Lover..among other things

I'm here to encourage and empower you to grow where you're planted and embrace the weeds that sometimes pop up. I'll share inspiration, products I like (and you may too), and stories from the garden.

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