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Do you attempt to contact your frequent customers?

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Mazzarins Demise Profit Development and Research Association	Posted - 2008.06.25 13:36:00 - [1] Edited by: Mazzarins Demise on 25/06/2008 13:37:37 It's always nice to receive a little customer feedback about your business whether positive reinforcement or criticism, but similar to real life, nobody will tell you how they feel unless they don't like you or you ask them about it. This is what I've attempted to do. In the region where I conduct business, my customers buy several of my products at one time and eventually come back and buy more. In an attempt to better serve the market I preside in and suit other people's needs faster and cheaper, I have attempted to contact customers who repeatedly purchase goods from me, but I've hit a snag. So far I've sent about 10-15 friendly EVE-mails to customers thanking them for their purchases while asking them how they feel I can better serve them and other customers, be it more competitive prices, more variation of goods or simply special orders via contracts. So far though, not a single person has responded. The only conclusion I can come up with is people think I'm a bot or are freaked out they received an EVE mail out of the blue from someone they don't know. In real life I know communication with customers is very important to run a better business, do you believe that this notion holds true in market trading in EVE as well?
Maestro Del'Tirith Del'Tirith Holdings	Posted - 2008.06.25 13:53:00 - [2] Note: I don't have customers, I have happy donaters who decide to buy something from me that I had satisfied by a buy order for half the cost after waiting 10 minutes. That said, if I DID have customers, I think in the Eve marketplace you have to consider that the seller is not shown on orders. They aren't buying from you, they are buying from 'the market'. I think where customer building comes in, and is useful, is when you have a very select market (say, selling capital class ships to 0.0 alliances that order on a regular basis and need a supply) or if you are working in an area that has difficulty attracting goods (i.e. selling in the pirate faction stations or something similar) and want to know what they would like to have. I doubt the average eve player bothers to notice who they are buying from or selling to. This and the fact that all of an item is the same (i.e. no variation in quality of items) is why I feel the best market analysis is purely numbers based (i.e. the history tab)...I don't think that in general, for most items, focus group or survey style market research is very valid in Eve.
Mazzarins Demise Profit Development and Research Association	Posted - 2008.06.25 14:01:00 - [3] Edited by: Mazzarins Demise on 25/06/2008 14:01:06 Originally by: Maestro Del'Tirith That said, if I DID have customers, I think in the Eve marketplace you have to consider that the seller is not shown on orders. They aren't buying from you, they are buying from 'the market'. I doubt the average eve player bothers to notice who they are buying from or selling to. This and the fact that all of an item is the same (i.e. no variation in quality of items) is why I feel the best market analysis is purely numbers based (i.e. the history tab)...I don't think that in general, for most items, focus group or survey style market research is very valid in Eve. That's basically what I surmised after creating this post as well. There really isn't any possibility for brand or customer loyalty since people merely look at numbers on a page and purchase the lowest one on there. Just for the sake of being friendly, I think I'll continue to send out the occasional EVE mail but I won't use it as a means of garnering information. Ironically I've received a couple of "thank yous" from people for couriering my goods, but I think that's because I tipped them for an expedited service . But it still put a smile on my face none the less. Thanks for the input.
Vhaluus	Posted - 2008.06.25 14:01:00 - [4] yeah as said by Maestro, if you're covering a specific niche then it may be worthwhile though even then it would probably be limited to 'what else do you want' or arranging private, regular sales. Otherwise even if they do respond all they'll say is 'yeah sell it to me cheaper please?'
Mazzarins Demise Profit Development and Research Association	Posted - 2008.06.25 14:03:00 - [5] Originally by: Vhaluus Otherwise even if they do respond all they'll say is 'yeah sell it to me cheaper please?' Good point.
Iosue	Posted - 2008.06.25 14:26:00 - [6] I think you're looking in the wrong place. Speaking from an EvE consumer's perspective, the only place I've really seen adverts for an EvE business is in on the Sell Order forums (aside from the IPO or bond offerings in the MD forums). IMO, this is where the notion of customer service really matters. Not so much in filling buy or sell orders, but in setting up contracts quickly and close to my operations. The SO forums is where a business can gain a reputation with other players and receive feedback on their operations/performance.
Mr Horizontal KIA Corp KIA Alliance	Posted - 2008.06.25 14:39:00 - [7] I don't contact my customers so much, but my suppliers and competitors. Director \| www.eve-bank.net
northwesten Trinity Corporate Services	Posted - 2008.06.25 14:53:00 - [8] when i use to be in Kr0m and other pvp corps i use ot send them a survey how did they like the services of been killed by me :P Trinity Corporate Services
Mazzarins Demise Profit Development and Research Association	Posted - 2008.06.25 14:58:00 - [9] Originally by: Iosue I think you're looking in the wrong place. Speaking from an EvE consumer's perspective, the only place I've really seen adverts for an EvE business is in on the Sell Order forums (aside from the IPO or bond offerings in the MD forums). IMO, this is where the notion of customer service really matters. Not so much in filling buy or sell orders, but in setting up contracts quickly and close to my operations. The SO forums is where a business can gain a reputation with other players and receive feedback on their operations/performance. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. Originally by: Mr Horizontal I don't contact my customers so much, but my suppliers and competitors. I've only done that once myself and that was to tell my competitors I was moving out because I was going to other ventures and didn't have the time to engage in a price war. Needless to say they were quite happy and bought out all my stock which I quickly raised the prices on to get more of my money back . Originally by: northwesten when i use to be in Kr0m and other pvp corps i use ot send them a survey how did they like the services of been killed by me :P Hehe that's pretty funny, can't imagine you received an overly positive result .
Kazzac Elentria	Posted - 2008.06.25 15:34:00 - [10] Yes... a few private contracts for supply have come about because of it. Sometimes it pays to find out which alliance is buying what at any given time.
Ricdic Corporate Research And Production Pty Ltd Zzz	Posted - 2008.06.25 15:36:00 - [11] I had an incredibly long post here but felt it went a little too off-tune so it will be posted in it's own thread once completed in ideas discussion. I will link it from here as I think some parts of it are very relevant to this discussion http://oldforums.eveonline.com/?a=topic&threadID=500043 Largest Empire Research Alliance in EVE!
Mazzarins Demise Profit Development and Research Association	Posted - 2008.06.25 15:57:00 - [12] Originally by: Ricdic I had an incredibly long post here but felt it went a little too off-tune so it will be posted in it's own thread once completed in ideas discussion. I will link it from here as I think some parts of it are very relevant to this discussion I look forward to reading it.
Shar Tegral	Posted - 2008.06.25 16:33:00 - [13] If I see a name I recognize, yes. If someone buys out a large order, yes. I do it simply because I don't mind removing the market interface from the equation. It can also lead to building a relationship or strengthening an existing one. Customer appreciation doesn't amount to much in Eve with the general masses however with those rare that value it... it is a great commodity. Since you never know, it is worth it to expend some appreciation where you can. (Heck I'd send a thank you eve mail to each of my customers if I could automate it somehow!) Hmmmm... that is an interesting point and experiment worth trying. To Shar -verb: 1 - To say what you mean. 2 - To say what it means. 3 - To say something mean.
Ricdic Corporate Research And Production Pty Ltd Zzz	Posted - 2008.06.25 16:39:00 - [14] Enjoy the read http://oldforums.eveonline.com/?a=topic&threadID=500043 Largest Empire Research Alliance in EVE!
Shar Tegral	Posted - 2008.06.25 16:39:00 - [15] Originally by: Shar Tegral Hmmmm... that is an interesting point and experiment worth trying. Thank you to all of my customers. The ones I know about at least. To Shar -verb: 1 - To say what you mean. 2 - To say what it means. 3 - To say something mean.
Ulstan State Protectorate	Posted - 2008.06.25 17:36:00 - [16] The current system isn't well setup to encourage customer/seller interaction for most purchases. There is no real product differentiation, so the customer just buys whatever he wants from the cheapest sell order at the moment - they're all selling the identical product and he can't see who is behind each buy order, so why not? Suggestions to change this and allow 'branding' of items so you would have people actually seeking out the products of a specific businessman, instead of buying what was nearest/cheapest, have been around for quite a while.
MilowFV Echo Heavy Industries	Posted - 2008.06.25 17:41:00 - [17] I ve given it some though now and then if I see someone buying large quanities, but I ve never gotten around to it. I figure if you see someone buying from you once or twice a week you might just make a side deal and set up a contract for him at a fix price per unit or something. It does have some draw backs when the price climbs on the item and I am sure if the price falls it would also have a draw back of the guy just buying off the market again. So I am sure it would work best on stuff that is somewhat stable in price.
Confuzer Polaris Project Curatores Veritatis Alliance	Posted - 2008.06.25 19:26:00 - [18] I only contact producers when I buy lots of them. Also some Jita traders who update like bots are high on my list to contact... ----------------- Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It's not a thing to be waited for - it is a thing to be achieved.
Mazzarins Demise Profit Development and Research Association	Posted - 2008.06.25 19:34:00 - [19] Originally by: Confuzer Also some Jita traders who update like bots are high on my list to contact... I know the feeling. Sometimes I think Amarr is fast, I'm in for a treat when I go to Jita I'm sure of it.
Zanphear United EVE Federation	Posted - 2008.06.25 19:54:00 - [20] Id say that on the normal market I doubt the normal consumer of your products is gonna care much about your business, he just buys off the market and doesnt think of it. however if you do marketing through for example the forums Ive seen and know alot of people have their thread bumped by customers giving feedback. fx. if you sell freighters and you deliever them before you sell them, after you finish the sale you could ask that customer to give you some feedback on your service on your forum post thus providing you with what he thinks of your service and a bump :) I hope I covered what you meant and I hope it made sense, :) cheers
Ben Bitdiddle	Posted - 2008.06.25 21:37:00 - [21] Yes, I occasionally contact the people who buy stuff from me (and I've even been contacted by a buyer on one or two occasions). However, the conversation is always of the form, "I see you just bought all of my X, would you like to buy some more X?" Doing this has resulted in a lot of profitable follow-up transactions, and is beneficial because it's faster than putting up another sell order and waiting and you save on broker fees and taxes. I don't generally ask people how I can serve them better, but of course they will always tell me anyway. "I would like some more X and also do you have any Y?" or "I would like some more X and can you by chance deliver it to [place]". So I suppose you can get "customer feedback", but I doubt anyone would be interested in providing this information unless it is in their interests to do so.
Asantte	Posted - 2008.06.25 23:30:00 - [22] when i started the game i was reselling tech I loot in low sec and 0.0 and because i had zero interest in hauling minerals and building it myself i sought manufacturers to contact so that they would provide me with the stuff in bulk later on i started trading other goods that often required me to have chats with people in game taking initiative to make that first contact can be more profitable than keeping silent
Amarr Citizen 155 Alternative Methods Research Group	Posted - 2008.06.26 04:56:00 - [23] When my POS fuel delivery business was running in full-swing, I would often contact customers for several reasons. I kept a seperate spreadsheet that documnted the order date, customer name, delivery location, delivery specifics(tower size, amount of fuel, etc.) fuel cost, fuel price, and profit. Each time I quoted someone for a delivery I would make an entry into my spreadsheet whether I eventually made the sale or not(reasons on this later). After the sale was made, I was able to organize my spreadsheet data in order to keep track of customers' previous orders so that I had a pretty good idea of how soon before they would need fuel again. If it started getting close to the time that their tower would run out of fuel I would contact them and toss out a friendly reminder. I would also use that information in marketing larger packages to customers (such as "hey I noticed the last 2 months you've spent X isk on fuel each month and you always seem to forget about your fuel needs until its down to the wire, you could purchase X times more fuel which would save you X isk plus you wouldn't have to worry about fuel as often"). Basically, I was able to not only toss out reminders of possible low fuel on towers I had no access to, but I was also able to use my historical data to market to current and past customers. I could also use my spreadsheet data to contact individuals who asked for a quote but never actually followed through with the order. This way I already had an idea of their fuel needs and could potentially toss them a discount on their first order which usually led to future orders at the normal price if I performed well with the discounted order. Another way I used customer contact to my benefit was by sending out evemails that might references specials or even market speculation. The market speculation might be in regards to me speculating that Minmatar isotopes are going to increase by atleast X isk by next week, so if you operate minmatar towers you should get your orders in now. Take that last bit of information and toss in a bit of extra information to market it to different groups of customers. Also, on contacting customers, I keep several different mailing lists so that I can customize my evemails depending the type of customers. Some of my customers order on the dot the same day of every day of the month and don't want to be bothered between orders. Some fall into a category that knows the market well and aren't usually accustomed to being "led to water" but might react to historical data on their purchases as well as other pertinent information. While others have to be told exactly where the water is and exactly how to drink the water. Depending on what I wanted to accomplish, I stood a better chance of reaching my target audience and not annoying everyone else if I sent the evemails to specific individuals. The last reason I used fr contacting customers was to ask them to post in my forum thread if they were happy with the service they received. Nearly 80% of my total customer base picked me because of the other customers who posted on my thread or because of friends who saw my thread and recommended me for whatever reason. I used to manage a CRM(customer relationship management) system for a bank which is why I decided to implement a similar system for my Eve business. I wouldn't have had half the repeat customers had I not kept in contact with them. I got carried away there for a minute but I hope that adds to the pile of information you wanted. ---------------------------------------------- Why do it the hard way when you can do it the AMARR way.
Ralatina Another Market Alt Corp	Posted - 2008.06.26 10:13:00 - [24] Yeah I do contact them every now and again. If someone's bought a lot of items from me, and I don't want to give away what, if I have something else that would "fit" within that genre - let's say for the sake of argument that I sold someone a load of CN Cruise launchers through a contract, I might mail them and say I have a DG BCS or something like that. "related" items that could be of interest. Not that I do contracts, though, but that's the general idea of what I do.
Kazuo Ishiguro House of Marbles Zzz	Posted - 2008.06.26 10:45:00 - [25] Originally by: Shar Tegral Originally by: Shar Tegral Hmmmm... that is an interesting point and experiment worth trying. Thank you to all of my customers. The ones I know about at least. How do I get on the list? Zzz research towers Direrie NEW: Liekuri 20:1 low-end compression
Chomin H'ak The Trivenerate	Posted - 2008.06.26 16:18:00 - [26] I have RL customer service management experience and in the dealings with customers, you will generally get feedback from people who are dissatisfied or ecstatic (the dissatisfied usually contact you)about your product. This isn't prevalent in Eve due to the fact that there is: a. No product malfunction/recalls/returns b. No branding available. Realistically (imo), there are only two reasons one would be able to profit in this regard: 1. You wish for repeat business and put out kindly reminders to recall your most popular customer base. (i.e., see Citizen 155's post) 2. To initialize repeat business to be ABLE to write those kindly reminders to players who purchase in large volume. I personally tried to start sending mails to prospective repeat clients, but due to several factors it was not profitable in the long run for myself. But I think it would be dependent on the market you're involved in.
Shar Tegral	Posted - 2008.06.26 16:56:00 - [27] Originally by: Kazuo Ishiguro How do I get on the list? There, you are on the list. To Shar -verb: 1 - To say what you mean. 2 - To say what it means. 3 - To say something mean.
Alex Redwidth	Posted - 2008.06.26 19:45:00 - [28] Whenever possible I always try to drop repeat customers a note, if nothing else just thanking them for the business and letting them know to contact me directly for future needs. This is especially important on the more expensive items, as you can then private contract items to your customers and save on those pesky market fees, offering cheaper goods with better margins. For the most part, I get feedback pretty often, I think the problem might be bombarding customers with questions asking them what to improve, etc. Just offer a thank you, the 'talkative' ones will evemail back and then you can follow up with a 'if you don't mind could you provide some feeback' mail. I certainly think building a relationship with your customers is just as beneficial in eve as outside of it. On a couple of occasions customers have come back asking for advice on issues related to their purchase ('hey I fitted this, what else should I get?'), this has lead to further future sales at above market price as the customer now feels they are getting added value with their purchase. In a world where all manufacturers are created equal (well assuming the same skills ;) ), adding an intangible value to your product is a clear way to improve upon and survive against your competition.
Confuzer Polaris Project Curatores Veritatis Alliance	Posted - 2008.06.26 21:48:00 - [29] Just made a query in my transaction log, thank you for supplying (char name + number of transactions): Shrouded Figure 33 Aslord 32 Val'ka 26 Anest Dura 25 Neco Moribunda 24 bar1ga 24 Thukker Mix 23 gatwtal 23 Krasnie Trusy 23 ThaVin Lianocen 23 Nadira Aran 23 Paola Bracho 19 CreoDron 18 Fiorre 18 Seeboo 17 Sharos Loyalar 17 PitBlood 16 Jason Mitchel 16 leocaldari 15 ironhatchet 15 silverzee 15 Wad Macs 15 bigred monkey 15 Airimeh 15 Tevion Lacroix 14 joey117 14 Pax Dein 14 RebelO2O 14 Ademus 14 Fangedterror 14 bellsmad 14 Gudroll 14 Ayeson 13 Varunja 13 DeadlySPade 13 Targo Spatch 13 Umbi13 13 Trade Bouncer 13 Captain PaPPaCaP 13 BaiKangHan 12 Imperator Ceasar 12 Marbo Slyder 12 Ti Tar 12 Mawbster 12 Iron Eater 12 Alcazar 12 sirnathan 12 NITROX UpAllNightGaming 12 Franky Predator 11 Fleske 11 SiJira 11 Assasins Breed 11 T'Nalac 11 Zubb Ionesco 11 Senco Arahat 11 Ori Royven 11 Linn Chorn 11 LS Sledgehammer 11 Mademoiselle Arya 11 Juikukkeli 11 lokiet 11 State War Academy 11 HaulerODoom 11 Trader Joe's 10 Vanora Kime 10 Miles Primus 10 Laura Warp 10 Munstrum 10 O'Connor 10 agent magenta 10 Wicht 10 Ciuby 10 Malascostas 10 Wildhog 10 CrocodileHunter 10 Vegeto007 10 fastad 10 THREIGHT 10 Felben Modoltov 10 RaggiT 9 Miyamoto Isoruku 9 Karura Hagakure 9 Hital 9 Vendedor 9 MR Wa1sh 9 Sue Q 9 MacAnthony 9 Skadabr 9 Raymond Chappell 9 Jack Dread 9 Harokas 9 CEO Azreal 9 ----------------- Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It's not a thing to be waited for - it is a thing to be achieved.
Lemage Fine Goods for Fine Gentlemen	Posted - 2008.06.27 05:46:00 - [30] In my line of business contacting my repeat customers can be troublesome. Asking them such things might make them wish they were watching who they bought stuff from. Most often my best customers have been those I was pursuing relentlessly. Although you could say, I took surveys from their wrecks, and found out which modules they liked to fit on their ship. I then found out which system/station was their favorite, and proceeded stock the station with their favorite modules. Sometimes I would actually resell some modules back to them.

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