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Educated Consumers
Educated Consumers
Not too long ago, a colleague asked me why we invest
so heavily in consumer education. We have made a conscious
decision to spend marketing dollars on consumer education
for a very simple reason. Educated consumers are simply
better customers.
Lets take a closer look at why educated
consumers are better customers.
Less Technical Support.
1.) Educated consumers require less technical support.
The reduced technical support results in lower overhead
costs. Often educated consumers can further reduce the
support burden by assisting or educating other customers
or potential customers in forums, newsgroups, user groups
or elsewhere in an industry community.
Often users with a strong technical background
or understanding will often assist in the forums and
provide users technical support. The result: an educated
consumer is a happy and helpful customer.
Easier Sales.
2.) Generally speaking educated consumers have a
better understanding of the technology, how it can be
used and how it will benefit them. A customers understanding
that an application will result in saved time, can easily
justify the software's expense. Cost becomes less of
an issue when long-term value is understood.
Reasonable Expectations.
3.) I hate to say it, but back in 1996 when we started
out, consumer ignorance resulted in unrealistic expectations.
Consumers purchased expecting that software would do
their dishes and vacuum. Regardless of how well the
software did what it was designed to do, if a customer
expects it to do something else, they will not be a
satisfied customer.
Educated consumers have realistic expectations and understanding
of what can and cannot be accomplished.
Kinds of Consumer Education
1. Articles.
Educational articles not only propagate the success
and understanding of a technology, but well written
articles will often establish the writer as an industry
expert.
Example http://www.feedforall.com/newsletter.htm
(on the bottom)
2. White Papers.
Real world examples of how other users are using
software to resolve problems or save time are often
great illustrations of technology in action.
Example http://www.notepage.net/whitepapers.htm
3. PPT Demonstrations.
Power point presentations not only assist with user
education, but also can be used by User Groups to further
evangelize and educate potential users.
All in all, educated consumers result in a happier user
with realistic expectations. Ignorance often results
in dissatisfaction and unrealistic expectations while
education leads to long term happy and helpful customers.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
FeedForDev http://www.feedfordev.com
an RSS component for developers.
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publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated. Send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
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at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
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