4) Making the customer jump through hoops for a refund or exchange. I recently had to return a product to a national bookstore chain. Before the clerk refunded me, she asked me for all sorts of personal information. I refused to give this information. I explained that I hadn't given this information out when I made the original purchase, and didn't see the purpose in giving it out to get my money refunded. After 15 minutes and a visit from the store manager, they finally relented and gave me my refund. The time spent waiting in line, plus the time spent to get my refund, added up to 20 minutes. This company wasted 20 minutes of a customer's time, all in the effort to get information. If you have to disregard your customer's time in order to gather a marketing profile, you're defeating your long-term marketing goal, which is to retain a satisfied customer base that makes repeat purchases.

Russ Mate is President of MateMedia, Inc.

www.matemediainc.com

sales@matemediainc.com

Your Partner on the Web

Toll Free 1-877-309-7521

MateMedia offers the following services:

Web Hosting

Web Design & Development

Search Engine Optimization

Domain Name Registration

webmaster@matemediainc.com