Hey everyone, this has been something I’ve been hoping to write about since my last (and very negative) experience with an online business owner. This article is not only based on my experience but also compiled from stories from friends/family as well as online rants, tweets and the likes. I believe great online sellers as well can notice possible areas of improvement from this.

Clients make up every business. Merriam-Webster dictionary describes a business as "dealings or transactions especially of an economic nature." It further describes a transaction as "a communicative action or activity involving two parties or things that reciprocally affect or influence each other."
Basically, with no second party (usually the client), no business exists. Treating clients right is one of the most effective ways of growing your business. Ensuring Customer/Client happiness and satisfaction often leads to a butterfly effect: Friend A tells Friend B about "how great your business is" and Friend B goes on to tell Friend C and so on. Great Customer Service and satisfaction is the cheapest and most reliable for of advertising (Word of mouth). The same can also occur where they spread bad reviews about your business to friends who tell other friends.
Here is a list of things you, an online business owner could maybe look out for with regards to client satisfaction in order help your business achieve its goals.

Keep your DMs open (or at least leave some contact information)

This never happened to me but I have heard stories where it is difficult to contact a business owner just because they do not have DMs open or even leave any contact info. Personally, I would feel discouraged about this and 8/10 times, I would probably take my business elsewhere. The other two times are probably situations where this business is highly recommended or I particularly want to patronize this business and no one else. Now, I understand the risks of leaving your DMs open or placing your contact info out there for the world to see. One of the biggest issues like this is that you get inappropriate, non-business related messages which can range from spam to unexpected sexually-related messages. Blocking users that send such is one way to go about reducing this but perhaps it might be easier to have a separate profile just for your business and this way, you can close off your DMs on your private profile and direct any business enquiries to your business profile. If you choose to go down this path, do not forget to constantly post about your business page from your personal page (especially if you have a large online following) and also let everyone know to go whenever they have business enquiries. You will still need to block users but it will be less.

Use pictures of your work not randomly googled pictures

I cannot stress this enough. No way will I be comfortable patronizing you if all you show me are images off google and nothing from your personal portfolio. Even if you have not had any clients before, you should still have something to show. Think of it like this, would you hire a first-time caterer for an event without tasting a sample of their cooking? Obviously not. Same applies with online businesses. I’m not going to buy accessories from you if you can only show me what it should look like from google. At least send me a picture of a sample on display at maybe your house or shop just so I have a glimpse of exactly what I am buying. This way I will be more confident and willing to pay for your items.

Actually do your job

This one is from a personal experience I had in the early stages of udobizNG. I paid an online advertising account to help spread word about udobizNG. I paid the fee in full before the job was done (yeah never again…now I see why people pay a sum upfront and the rest after completion). What pissed me off the most about the person was the fact that I paid for a week long advertising package and this took three weeks to carry out because I always had to remind said individual to actually do the job. As a client, I don't have to be disturbing you after paying for your services and you should be doing the job I paid for. Obviously we understand that we might not be the only clients but do not accept to do a job without giving the full details of any possible hiccups. I have heard from people who have missed special occasions because of a tailor’s promise to sew a dress on time or situations where actual contractors were kicked out for not being able to deliver something even close to the agreed deal. Nobody in their right minds will criticize you for failing to meet up a certain deal if you made it clear how unrealistic it was from the beginning and only accepted the job because the client would not agree to go elsewhere (maybe have them sign an undertaking though, some heartless people might still sue). In my case, even on the days the advertising was done, it was not according to our agreement. Luckily it was not some ridiculous amount of money that I could not part with at the time but needless to say, I learned a lot from that experience.

Be polite to customers

Yes, we know that at different points, everyone has a bad day. This does not mean, however; that you should take out your frustrations on your clients. As a business owner, you should learn to keep emotions in check as well as keep your personal and business lives separate. Now regarding those rude, over-bearing customers (because we know how some people are) who take pleasure in driving others to the edge, my advice would be to let them know in a polite manner that respect is reciprocal and you deserve to be treated with respect, regardless of how much you need said client’s money or whatever they are offering. Do not speak rudely to clients based on the experiences you have had with other clients but do not become a door mat and let clients who do not view you as an equal in the transaction walk all over you. There’s a thin line between those two and it is up to you as a business owner to decipher said line. This point goes both ways actually. Clients and entrepreneurs have to be polite to each other during transactions.

Avoid controversy

This is very important especially if you're using your identity to promote your brand. For this point, I’ll use a hypothetical scenario to illustrate. We have a person named Doe looking to hire a clown for a birthday party and Doe has narrowed the search down to two clowns both with good reviews and adequate pricing. To better help with the decision, Doe goes online and finds that both clowns have personal twitter profiles linked to their clown profiles. One clown tweets what Doe perceives as non-controversial/ non-insulting content and maybe gets into one or two arguments while the other one is always in some sort of argument or the other based on constant controversial or insulting tweets. If I were Doe, I would definitely hire the clown with less drama attached especially when there is a chance that you can one day be associated with said person and get involved in unwanted drama/bad situations. Controversy is always going to exist as not everyone will agree with your opinions but as a business owner, you should learn when not to get involved in a controversial topic and also strive not to be the source of controversy as this can scare away potential clients.

Don't reject customers except for moral reasons

Believe it or not, I have been told by people that they were refused service because they did not look “rich enough” or had a small disagreement sometime in the past. Now, as a business owner, you have a right to choose who you would like to serve and who you wouldn’t but declining to serve someone should have a very good reason behind it. You should not decline to sell your clothes to someone because they do not fit a particular demographic. If they can afford your clothes, they are in your targeted demographic. Same way you should not decline to supply parts (for example) to someone because you had a minor disagreement. It can be understood if you had a major fallout where the person said something truly hurtful and you decide not to interact as much with said person again but not for a disagreement where you lost a debate and are still sulking about it. One very good example of rejecting a customer is when a very drunk person goes to a bar and the bartender refuses to serve said person due to morals. Bottom-line is, as long as you have a client that can afford your services from a moral standpoint and is not mentally tasking, you should not be refusing to serve them.

Always be ready to change strategy

This is not really from the view of a client but just overall advice. If you have a business strategy that is obviously not working for you after a long time of committing to it, change it. Do not be afraid to experiment and implement new ideas. Sit down, look at what in the old strategy has worked and what has not worked, and build up from there. Do not hesitate to ask other business owners for help because I guarantee they have been there at some point. I know patience pays off but as a business owner, you have to be smart at choosing when to wait for something to happen, or making it happen yourself.

Once more, thank you for reading. I would like to hear your thoughts regarding this topic in the comment section below. Please share the blog post and don’t forget to spread word about udobizNG.
Regards.