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Home » Marketing Articles » Use Forums To Improve Customer Relationship Management

Use Forums To Improve Customer Relationship Management

Forums are great for learning, sharing of ideas, and generally masterminding with peers, but give some thought to the impact they can have on your lead generation efforts, as well as on your customer relationship management activities.

Joining an active forum can significantly accelerate your rate of learning – whether you are a newbie or an experienced practitioner.

For newbies - even if you merely 'lurk' in the shadows and don't post on your forums - you will learn a lot by reading questions by others, and the helpful replies by experienced forum members.

The benefit for the experienced members can be thought of as a web version of masterminding - ideas can be shared and validated, and various techniques can be discussed with peers – often on different continents and in different time zones – something not nearly as feasible in the physical world.

Apart from the information sharing and networking that forums offer, they have the potential to both positively and negatively impact your marketing efforts, levels of customer satisfaction, and the overall sentiments towards your customer relationship management.

The remainder of this article will give you some ideas as to how you can use forums in a positive way to improve your marketing initiatives. A follow-up article (Forum Perils for Customer Relationship Management) will cover how to avoid the negative impact forums can have on your business.

Forums can positively impact your marketing strategy and initiatives in the following way:

* Conduct Market Research / Investigate Market Reputation

Search engines make it so easy to research what is being said about both your products, as well as those of your competitors.

Simply type in the name of the product of service you want to research, followed by 'comments', 'review', 'scam', or any other relevant term. Within seconds you will have a list of website reviews, blog postings, and forum comments.

Ignore the first two (many are by affiliates just punting the product hoping to earn a fee) – the ones to read are the forum conversations, where you will invariably get some pretty honest feedback – good or bad – about the product.

If you get some glowing comments in public/membership forums for your products, contact the individuals to see if you can post these as testimonials. Negative comments should also be reacted to – once again, contact the individuals and see if you can rectify the situation. Often a 'fixed' bad experience can convert a vocal detractor into a fan – most people can tolerate a mistake, what makes them irate is when you ignore them, or pretend that no problem or grievance exists.

* Customer Relationship Management – use for Satisfaction Tracking

If your business markets a product to quite a large user base, it makes marketing sense to set up a product-specific forum, and actively promote the forum to your customer base.

Once active, the postings by your customers will give you a good indication of the overall sentiment towards your product, as well as your service levels. Prospects can also use the forums as a gauge of product popularity and level of active support.

Your forum will also provide you with a communication channel to your customer base. You can use it to conduct quick polls – essentially a free customer relationship management alternative to paid-for satisfaction audits by market research firms.

* New Product Ideas / Launches

Whether your website has a forum or not, it is worthwhile to join a couple of the more active forums related to your market. By monitoring questions, complaints, and cries for help, you can possibly identify the need for new products or services. A forum can also be a no-cost way to launch a pilot for a new product or service. You can get some early sign-ups/purchases without a major investment in marketing, and at the same time use the opportunity to get some quick testimonials.

* Positioning As An Expert / Attracting Traffic

Beyond merely identifying needs, you can use these forum questions as an opportunity to position yourself as a helpful expert. To do this, you need to monitor the most active threads (gets the most readership), and where you have the expertise, provide quality responses to posed questions. This will help grow your reputation over time.

If you ensure that your signature includes your website address – preferably with a short tagline indicating your USP – this can prove to be a very useful method for lead generation, and importantly, one that delivers qualified prospects.

If you notice frequently repeated newbie questions, consider setting up a FAQ section on your site, and then direct the enquirer to the page, rather than providing a comprehensive answer in the forum.

* Finding JV partners

Monitoring active forums has another positive marketing spin off - it will help you identify potential JV partners. In the same way you are being assessed as to your expert know-how, you can use the postings by your peers to identify those with whom it would make sense to explore setting up joint ventures. This could get you access to mailing lists that you currently do not have, and in so doing, significantly broaden your marketing reach.

If you are adding an online component to your offline business, or starting to investigate an online business opportunity, consider how you can incorporate the points listed above. For those suggestions that have a nice fit with your market, make a decision to take action and include them in your marketing activities. By actively and consistently applying these forum tactics you will find that both your lead generation and customer relationship management initiatives will be far more productive.

© 2005 Intellinova (Pty) Ltd. - All Rights Reserved

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Bad Credit Personal Loans: Breaking Barriers Encompassing Bad Credit

In the phrase bad credit, what is important is - 'credit'. If you get that part then bad credit will no longer pose as a liability. Bad credit is conceived by people as something that will prevent them from getting loans. This might have been true few years back. But the configurations of loan market have re-adjusted themselves to incorporate bad credit. People from all walks of life are finding bad credit personal loans equal to their inclination and requirements.

People who have bad credit must understand that there is no way that can prevent them from getting personal loans. Bad credit personal loans have considerable choices for consumers. This is because bad credit personal loans are not unlike personal loans. the loan process for bad credit loans is similar to personal loans. Your credit displays bad credit therefore; a special loan type was devised bad credit personal loans.

Bad credit still intrigues many people. Bankruptcy, county court judgments, closure, charge-offs will definitely show itself as bad credit on credit report. Single late payment will affect credit ratings. But new threats for credit are emerging. Things like unpaid parking ticket not keeping on one address for a long time can also result in bad credit ratings. Borrowers suffering from such setbacks say that it is unfair. However, the inclusion of such problems has included more flexibility among loan lenders. Loan lenders have come up with great personal loan packages for those with bad credit.

Search for bad credit personal loans should begin with getting your exact credit score. Get your fico score, lower the fico score more negative is your credit situation. Fico score ranges from 300-850. Below 600 is bad credit. Experian, Trans union and Equifax â€" these three credit reporting agencies will have a detailed report of your previous financial dealings. This will enable you to find out where the fault lies. If it can be corrected, sometimes credit reports carry wrong information, then make an effort to remove the fault. Start paying your bills on time, close any unused accounts. Some small steps can help you improve credit but they may not be suitable for every bad credit personal loan borrower.

As bad credit personal loans borrower, you should know that though credit check is fundamental to loan borrowing, it is not the only deciding factor. Regular income, stable job history, equity, savings, collateral â€" will all have a say in getting bad credit personal loans approved. You recent credit history, if it is positive, will promise great returns while looking for personal loans for bad credit. Being honest with personal loans lender about your credit situation will enhance your credibility as a borrower.

On the other hand be aware of your rights as a bad credit borrower. This will avoid you from getting duped. The right to extend personal loans for bad credit remains with the lender. There will be lender who will draw a line on how much risk they can take. This means that if you have a serious debt condition then bad credit personal loans might not be offered to you. In such a case, credit counseling would be a better option.

Secured and unsecured lending is available for bad credit. With secured bad credit personal loans the risk is considerably reduced for the lender because security is presented. With unsecured bad credit personal loans no security is prearranged. This loan type is better for smaller loan amounts.

For personal loans lender bad credit means risk in general terms. Therefore, the interest rates will be higher. However, bad credit consumers must understand that it is not as severe as it seems. The interest rates for personal loans bad credit are calculated taking into consideration the general rate of interest nationwide at the time the loan application is made and the particular risk of the personal loan in question. This process rules out any possibility of being unjustly addressed due to bad credit. Bad credit borrower should ask for quotes from various lenders. This will enable you to deduce the cost of bad credit personal loans. With research you will find that different loans lenders will have different interest rates and terms. Comparing will help you select the best bad credit personal loan.

Take time and rebuild your credit by being regular on bad credit personal loans. Gradually you will re enter the expanse called good credit. In the meanwhile you have a great opportunity in hand called bad credit personal loans.

Summary

People from all walks of life are finding bad credit personal loans to equal their inclination and requirements. This is because the loan market has become more flexible for those with bad credit. Loans lenders instead of high interest rates are offering reasonable interest rates. There are more things than bad credit that gets a personal loan approved - regular income, collateral, job history........