A few weeks ago, my PC of a number of years began warning me to replace my hard disk drive soon. That in itself is pretty cool. (Not that my disk drive was failing, but that the operating system warned me before it actually did!)
Rather than replace the hard drive, I opted for an updated computer. I have a daughter entering her teen years faster than I'd like, and I want to postpone her passing me with the tech as long as possible.
Customer Reviews: More than meets the eye
As with most things on Amazon, there are choices. Boy are there choices! After doing a small bit of research based on what I had hoped to use the computer for, a gaming machine seemed to be a good compromise between cost and performance. (My main use for the machine isn't gaming, actually!)
So, now I start trying to decipher amongst a bunch of fairly competitive choices. They were roughly all the same price for what you got, and the number of stars, and number of reviews, were similar too.
I began reading the customer reviews. I usually start with the critical reviews. Not that glowing reviews aren't helpful, but they can be padded by the vendor. Critical reviews tend to reveal more.
As I was reading the reviews for some CybertronPC machines in my price range, I noticed something. It wasn't so much whether or not the computer had issues or not, or even what the customer said about the computer.
It was CybertronPC's response to the reviews.
It wasn't even just that they responded to the critical reviews professionally, and made every effort to fix the problem.
I'm quite sure that they read each and every review — even the five-star ones — and take every opportunity to go above and beyond to fix any issues that may have arisen during the purchase. One of the five-star reviews on the machine I bought (linked above) mentioned a missing wifi adapter, as well as the prompt response by the company to fix the issue. (This was certainly a good customer!)
CybertronPC took the opportunity to apologize again for the already-resolved issue, and throw in another reminder about the technical support for their PCs (which is free lifetime support, by the way).
A sign of taking business seriously
Does it take a lot of time, money, and energy to monitor, and respond to, these reviews? Not a whole lot.
Is it a good return on investment to take the opportunity to build up relationships with satisfied customers, and reduce collateral damage with unsatisfied ones, in a high-traffic, high-influence forum? Of course.
Good, or even great, customer service isn't rocket science, and responding thoughtfully to Amazon reviews is low-hanging fruit.
But a company engaging in this way with its customers it does leave an impression. And it can't be just lip service, either; the customers can respond to the response and call the company out if they don't do what they said!
This care was the distinguishing factor for me. It was a sign that they took their business very seriously and worked to uphold their reputation, and it's why I dropped nearly a grand with them, sight unseen and never having owned one of their PCs before.
I was buying a computer, sure. But I was also buying into a company that, by all appearances, stands behind their products 100%.
So far, it looks like I made a wise purchase. Oh, and it looks really cool, too!
I’ve never heard of this company, but it’s always a good idea to check out customers responses to items. I’m always looking up reviews for items and even restaurants. Pretty much anything I spend money on, I’ll check a review for it first!
It’s indeed a great example of getting customers and keeping them. I think in most businesses, as the competition is fierce, you cannot compete only on price. Good client support / service will always make the difference.
Yes.
My wife got me a coffee press for Christmas. She told me about how the company directly involved the customers in the design and improvement of the product, even through the Amazon reviews. That was what convinced her to purchase it through them.
CybertronPC is smart to aware that Social media is too powerful to ignore. If they manage all these social media channel well, they not only build up their reputation and image, their sales will increase as well.
Absolutely. The real power is managing the social channels well AND delivering on excellent customer service.