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January 25, 2019

Responding To Negative Reviews Online

Take A Negative And Turn It Into A Positive

If you own a business, it is inevitable that you’ll have a negative interaction with a customer.  No matter how hard you try, someone won’t be satisfied with your service, products or performance.  Even though a negative review can hit you like a punch to the gut (especially considering that 91% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations), it’s important to slow down, take a breath, and look at this as an opportunity to put your customer service on display in a public forum.

Look at a negative review as an opportunity to show potential customers how amazing your customer service is.

Follow these steps, in order, to minimize the impact a negative review can have – and you’ll show potential customers why they should do business with you

1. Take A Deep Breath.

Responding to a negative review while angry can make you look foolish, and can scare away potential customers.  No one wants to business with crazy.  Amy’s Baking Company’s owners made this mistake by replying to negative reviews with insults, obscenities and threats.  Thousands of people left fake reviews of the business in hopes they would be insulted by the owners too.

Don't Respond To Negative Reviews Like This

As much as you might want to respond negatively, don’t.  It will hurt you and your business much more than it will hurt an anonymous person on the internet.  Once you’ve calmed down, proceed to step 2.

2. Acknowledge The Complaint

As diplomatically as possible acknowledge the complaint the customer has.  Take ownership of the mistake, and explain why it happened and how you’ll avoid it in the future.  No one gets it right every time, and most customers are actually pretty understanding of unique circumstances that might have caused their problem.  Definitely don’t be like Comcast. In the clip below one of their customer service representatives refused to cancel someone’s service and argued with the customer!

A simple way to start a reply to a negative review is with this statement: Thank you for the feedback.  We always aim for 100% satisfaction, and we are sorry if we fell short.

That statement takes ownership of the problem, acknowledges it, and immediately builds rapport.  It isn’t angry or argumentative.  It’s supportive, and understanding.  It opens up dialogue.

3. Make It Right (If Possible)

Respond to online reviews the same way you would with an in-person complaint.  If someone is unhappy with something they ordered from your restaurant, at  the least you’d remove it from their bill.  You can use this same approach with online reviews.  If someone leaves a 1 star review, complaining about their dinner – offer them a free meal or gift certificate.  Ask them to give you a second chance, and then don’t disappoint.  If a product is broken during shipping, send out a replacement.

4. Follow Up (Offline)

After you’ve publicly addressed the complaint reach out to the person directly.  Be sympathetic towards their situation, but be earnest in your desire to make the situation right.

Your business’ service shines when dealing with an unhappy customer.

tldr; 1. Calm Down. 2 Acknowledge The Complaint. 3. Make It Right. 4. Follow Up

The best way to fight the occasional bad review is with consistent positive reviews.  We’ve got a tool that can help your happy customers leave feedback, and help you resolve any complaints customers might have before they leave the dreaded 1 star reviews.  For more information check out, Skragglies Reputation Management

July 28, 2018

Digital Marketing Tactics to Boost Your Conversions on Mobile-First Content

If you haven’t noticed that mobile traffic is conquering the internet you may want to take a quick look at your analytics. According to Search Engine Land, nearly 60 percent of search is from mobile devices. Mobile is something that can’t be ignored.

What may have worked great for your users on a desktop could be failing your business on mobile. If you haven’t been looking at mobile marketing, lets dig in a bit and show you a few tactics that are, in my opinion, great ways to improve your conversions for mobile users.

Create a Sticky Header

With the new mobile first index a number of marketers have decided to avoid pop-ups (at least on mobile) to ensure that rankings don’t suffer. After January 10, 2017, in an effort to improve mobile search, Google decided that pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on mobile devices would not rank as highly.

Some of the examples provided by Google included a popup that covers the main content, either immediately, or while they are browsing later. You can read more about this update here.

With pop-ups being out of the question for some, sticky headers can be a useful tool for those trying to:

* Capture emails

* Get phone calls

* Create urgency

* Promote a sale or contest

* Direct people to a specific landing page.

A sticky header remains at the top or bottom of your site as a user scrolls, so it is never out of sight.

Opt-in Pop-ups

One of the reasons why some users might be ignoring your pop-ups is because they are annoying. Nobody likes them, but let’s face it, if it didn’t work digital marketers probably wouldn’t be using them. Instead of using the traditional pop-up that is triggered by a new visit, time on site, or activity, why not let the user initiate.

Try this. Create an image with a compelling offer. When a user views the image they will ideally click on the button within the image, and a pop-up will be triggered. The pop-up can ask for their information and the visitor will be more inclined to fill it out since they were the one who initiated the action.

Create Signup Forms within Blog Content

As a generation that grew up on desktop computers, you might be used to seeing opt-in forms that a nicely placed within a sidebar of each blog post. This is great for desktop users but as soon as you convert this over to mobile where does that signup form go? Depending on your template, your signup form might be excluded from mobile, or added to the very bottom, or worse it ends up at the top of the post before the content.

As you look through your content on mobile check to see where your opt-in forms are being placed. One of the best places you might consider placing opt-in forms is within your content. Maybe after the first or second paragraph, or at the end of the article before the comment section.

Reengage Your Audience to Close the Deal

If you run an ecommerce store you may have noticed that a good portion of your traffic doesn’t convert. MobileShopTalk wrote an article back in 2016 that claims nearly 80% of mobile audiences don’t complete their purchases online.

So how can you improve your conversions and get more of your traffic to convert? Well, the first step is to ensure that they don’t leave your site. Secondly, give them a reason to convert now. This is especially true considering that EmberTribe claims 95% of first time visitors to your site won’t return.

To help with your mobile conversions, consider adding a pop-up offer that appears when all activity has stopped. A lack of activity might be a signal that a user is about to leave. Try offering them a discount that expiring soon, give them something free with purchase, or offer them a chance to leave their email for special offers in the future. Don’t let them leave you empty handed.

A special thank you to Dale Carnegie Los Angeles and Fremont College digital marketing school for assisting in the creation of this article. Enroll today by visiting their website dalecarnegielosangeles.com or Fremont.edu.

December 22, 2016

SEO Checklist & Guide

We wrote this a few months back.  It’s not meant to be an exhaustive guide on SEO, really more of a primer on the many facets of on page SEO & how dramatic a few changes can be in getting your website in front of the people you want to see it most.

The SEO Checklist and Reference Guide for Local Businesses

This SIMPLE Checklist and Guide will help you:

  • Get More Traffic
  • Start Generating Leads with your Website
  • And… Get New Customers!

You can download the checklist and reference guide here

November 7, 2016

Skragglies Web Designer Scholarship

November 8, 2016 (Rockford, IL) – Skragglies founders, Justin Skaggs and JP Miller, have big plans for Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin high school Skragglies Web Design Logostudents and today are announcing a yearly cash scholarship to help cover some of the costs of higher education.  The FutureWorks Web Design Scholarship provided by Skragglies is an outreach to the community aimed at encouraging the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs right here in the Midwest.

The FutureWorks Web Design Scholarship is aimed at students with plans to attend public and private schools in Illinois, Wisconsin, and certain online programs*, who will be majoring in internet technology, web development, web design, graphic design, or other related fields.

An information session will be hosted on January 9th, 2017 at 5PM CST live streamed through the Skragglies facebook page where the Skragglies co-founders will talk directly to interested schools, students and their parents about this great opportunity.

“Skragglies is making an investment in local high school graduates to encourage future innovation and economic growth. Inspiring young web designers and developers to follow their passion is just an extension of our mission.  For us, our company isn’t a success until we are able to give back to those that are designing our future. We want to be a part of planting the seeds of success for tomorrow’s industry innovators.” – Justin Skaggs

FutureWorks Web Design Scholarship Applicants should submit a completed application and submit high school transcripts and link(s) to their online portfolio between January 9 and February 28, 2017. Two $250 Cash Scholarships will be awarded on April 14, 2017.

FutureWorks Web Design Scholarship

For an example of what to include in your application please take a look at this: The Application PDF

*Online Degrees from regionally accredited Illinois and Wisconsin colleges will be accepted, as well as web developer micro degree programs from Udacity.

October 30, 2016

Free Website Templates

Get Your Business Online In a Day with Skragglies.com’s

FREE WEBSITE TEMPLATES

 

These free to download, free to use, no link back required Single Page Application style website templates are super easy to customize – even if you aren’t familiar with HTML5.  All of the images used in the demo versions are included as well.  Several small businesses in the Rockford IL area have already used them and absolutely rave about the simplicity of changing the images, and ease of use in replacing the headings and body content. It’s very easy to make them as unique as your business is!

Click the images below to see the demo versions in action!


Free Website Templates Rockford IL

Fiest!!! – Skragglies.com Free Website Template

Free Website Template - Rockford Web Design

Samurai – Skragglies.com Free Wesbite Template


 Included with the free templates you’ll get:

A detailed walk-through on how to easily change the images, headings, text, and color scheme!

***Bonus: A $10 off coupon for hosting your website with Skragglies.com