🚨NEW FREE WORKSHOP FOR 2022🚨 Learn how to create a PROFITABLE handmade business online without keeping up with social media 🔽 Watch the free workshop here: bit.ly/3vzi1Kg
I recently had a print come out the wrong colour and because its drop shipped I didn't know. when the customer told me i thanked her for bringing it to my attention so that I could fix it and offered a refund or a reprint. in the end she said neither she would take it as it was so i shipped her one anyway and she gave me a 5 star review. its possible to turn things around. great content as always!
Hi! I had my first annoyed customer on etsy. They misunderstood my earring stand size listed as 7cm and instead she thought it was only half of the item that was to be measured despite seeing on her ruler that the entire item was 7cm. She wanted to be partially refunded which I did and I just updated my listing saying its for the entire item to avoid further confusion. I think she saw someone else's listing having the measurements starting at the earring holes and thought that was what the measurements stood for. Now I just specify its overall and apologised for the confusion. Lesson learnt sometimes what you think is easy to understand is not always understood by everyone.
@@CreativeHiveCo Thank you. I've learnt a lot from your channel and recommend you to others since your advise is so valuable. As for an update. They left a 4 star rating which I'm grateful it wasn't worst so that's a plus. 🙂
And you go the extra mile for an abusive customer, and then they still post bad reviews all over the internet. Some of them you can never please no matter what
I can totally agree that we can't please everybody. Customers like that do exist but sometimes (or maybe most of the time) it's still worth the shot to go the extra mile.
I had an older gal from West Hollywood contact me this week and she didn't know how to navigate online shopping. She also had already placed two separate orders (which I had already shipped) and didn't remember what she ordered but was sure that she wanted to change them. I sat on the phone and patently helped her through the process until she ultimately decided that she wanted what she had already ordered. She wasn't elderly, just not very tech competent and it did make me wonder if she wasn't intoxicated at some point. In general, I like helping people make a purchase of they ask and in this case my efforts will likely land me more sales from this woman, but sometimes the attitude that people give you make me not want to offer my phone number for customer service.
Great advice as always, Mai. I work in retail in my 'day job' and I agree with everything you have said. Especially offering multiple options such as refund, replacement product or a discount on their next purchase, free delivery, etc. By allowing the customer to choose an option, as you say, they feel more in control, acknkwledged, and in my experience, instantly calm down. In most cases, you can turn this negative around, and in fact, the customer leaves happier than the customer who just made their purchase and went on their way.
Hi Mei! This is my first time commenting on your videos (but I've sent you an email asking about etsy vs shopify, and thank you so much for responding so kindly!). Great video as always, and I love your new blue streaks!!
Thank you so much! I'm so happy that you commented - it totally helps others see these videos! And I'm always happy to answer questions, so thank you for reaching out! 💗
Your channel is the key i needed to motivate myself to launch my product! I am an artist for over 12 years now and i have finally found my voice to say « i am ready to move forward my business but like never before! » What stopped me was the lack of knowledge i had about everything about how to create a business : how and witch platform should i use to seil? how do you do the shipping? how to interact with customers? I want to be a HIGHT quality business selling High quality product for collectors, i know what i want and how i want it to be presented. This video is so much helpful because that is exactly how Big business is built upon 🎉 - I still need to figure out my plan on how to create and launch content to promote my art but also to create a fan base and to show how much my art is worth for as i create quality product. Being greedy is not the healthy road to take and i did learn that with two customers i had before and they both brought me excellent leçons to remember even if it was not always my fault. Read down below in my comment to read my experiences so far about these situations⬇️:
- My 1st bad experience with a customer was that i trusted my customer 100% because he made his first order with me and he did pay the full payment when he received his painting, so i did not ask for a down payment when he ordered his second painting. The painting was almost done and he told me that i he did not like it one bit and that it was too expensive so he would not buy the painting and it left me very sad to know that it did not matter to them the many hours i’ve putted into that painting and for them it felt like trash. Ever since then I ask for a down payment (half of the price) before i start creating the painting officially.
- My 2st bad customer experience was with a lady starting her own business as a pet groomer and asked me to create her logo company. I did not put a very high price for it but enough to make a little and to cover my time and was wayyy more cheaper price them if it was made by someone else. I always create many free sketches of the design to seek which one fits best for my customer’s choice and i make sure they are fully satisfied before i start officially creating the design and asking for the first payment. That said: my customers are informed beforehand that minor changes are totally fine as long as it doesn’t not require me to start the hole design all over again from scratch. I was finally done with hers and asked if she was satisfied incase minor changes where needed… After asker for others opinion (what she should have done BEFORE i started the original concept) She requested that minor changes where necessary: She literally asked me to change every bit of it which ended changing the whole design. So i gave her the option of: Staying with what i had made or getting charged twice the amount since it is asking me double the hours spent and also taking the time i’ve specifically put aside for another customer. She told me that it was totally unfair and that it should have been mentioned beforehand to every customer (but whyyyy should i pay for her mistakes if she changes her mind at the very end of itttttt?) - so she ended paying double the amount but with have the design that she wanted the most. Anyway like you said: Simple sometimes its not simple enough: Minor changes = taking a letter out or adding a letter and Big changes = Changing the hole design
Hi! Thank you so much for sharing your story!! You've handled those past bad customer experiences very well! ️❤️ You kept your calm and handled it professionally. Having some revision, payment, return, etc. policies in place and making sure it's clear with your customers is going to help you a lot too in the future. Where do you currently sell your art, btw? 😊
Excellent video amen. Have you noticed a price point area where you have the most seemingly unreasonable customer complaints? Also, Do you try to follow the reshipping solution whether the price point was $20 or $200? I'm currently working an hourly job while scaling my products line. The corporate environment I'm working in in the town I'm currently located in has the 5th highest crime rate in the state so I see more theft, product & label switching and product return scams than most places. That alone makes me a little apprehensive of certain industry customers and price points involved lol. I'll try to open my mind a bit but I've been all over the country traveling and working. It appears there's more dishonest customer scams as a whole than there was 2o years ago. There's no shortage of abundance of people who operate scams for their primary income. Just thinking out loud... Thanks for sharing, James, Rescue Kitty😺 & Snowvan
I haven't really seen problems at a particular price point, no. I think it also depends on the information you're given as well. If someone says they didn't get their package, but it shows as delivered, then getting the post office or shipping company involved first may be the way to go. For re-shipping issues, I try to get a feel for what the problem is before offering to reship, unless I know it was definitely something that was my fault. Sometimes it's handy to have them ship the old one back to you before shipping out a new one. There are some tricks to try first.
Hi Mei. I once had this customer who wanted to place a wholesale order but would never pay the advance and canceled the order every third day. This repeated again and again for a fortnight and I was forced to block her. A week later, she found that I had blocked her and then made the advance payment and complained to a fellow seller about losing her money. Fortunately for me, this seller was a friend and she contacted me immediately. I unblocked the customer and told her that I was forced to concentrate on another set of orders and blocked other customers temporarily so that I can focus. Phew!
First of all I just wanted to say that your hair looks fabulous Mei! Love the blue in your hair and it really suits you 💕 secondly, this is a great video because a lot of people can relate to this and it can be really scary when a customer is unhappy. You made some really good points about dealing with difficult customers and as hard as it is, I think you are right when you say to stay calm, professional, and patient with customers to try and resolve things 😊
Thank you, Amy Louise! I know sometimes it's hard when we know we're right but working with the customer to diffuse the situation can really go a long way.
Great advice! Different, but I work a shop and see all sorts of shady business BUT ALSO genuine ones aswell. So navigating it is hard. Shady ones like. Wanting refunds without bringing items back. Bringing in items to refund that we dont sell. Making up their own rules ie. Layby/afterpay. Wanting refunds on items 6months later. Sometimes it's good to stand firm as its company policy but online is a different beast! But yes you do have genuine complaints/issues too. We've all been there when a package hasn't arrived or something arrives broken
Yea, and it's those really not genuine ones that make it hard to have a generous return policy. But I guess erring on the side of helpful (most times) can help your business the most.
Thank you for this video! And I love your new hair style 😊 Could you do a video about how you managed taxes when you were in the first few years of your business? Ik I have to do them but I don’t know where to start since I’m solo rn 😥
Yea this is only an issue in America. American are so entitle and you don't see in other country as much. I once order from a European store and wanted to exchange my item. The item was the wrong size. They expected me to pay the $20 shipping back and $20 shipping to get the item. I was mad (but understanding cuz who want a $40 shipping lost?) but accept it. If I was to have bought it from an American company they would offer to exchange it for free or even find a store or something for me to exchange. I do think it great American store offer so much customer service but it does make the people soooo entitle and stuck up. I have work in customer service so I am pretty humble. I didn't give them any trouble when they refuse to exchange it for free. You do make a great point though, customer service go a long way. I never shop from the European store ever again. While I understand they can't stand a $40 lost, I do find it unfair they expect me to deal with a bad item (cuz their website didn't list measurement and a xl was a 4xl to them) . I think I would have been ok with 50/50 where they cover half the shipping so I wouldn't be out $40 just to exchange an item. So your advice on offering option really do make sense and it is some of the best advice I heard (from a customer point of view). Even if they didn't offer me a good solution, if they had at least try, maybe I would go back. Now it is more like 100% I am never going back. They just didn't make any effort and I don;t think they care. Although I didn;t leave any bad review but the idea of losing customer is almost as bad as a review.
Thank you for the reassurance. How do you deal with those customers who complain in the reviews that their package took forever even though they know its the mailing service.
Not related to this video, but i've been wondering whether to use the word 'I' or 'we' when setting up a website? It's only me for now, but should I use 'we' to make it more professional or keep it true with the 'I'? Thank you :)
I tend to go for the formula that if it's just you, then to stick with "I" - let people know that you are doing it all and rocking it! If you have anyone helping you consistently then I would default to "we" since it's become a team effort, even if the team isn't publicly visible.
When you have a customer who starts by cursing out your rep and won't even give them a chance to respond to their complaints, there are not really a lot of alternatives.
It's really not easy to handle these kinds of customers but in tough situations like this, handling the situation in a professional and calm manner will be your best weapon.
🚨NEW FREE WORKSHOP FOR 2022🚨 Learn how to create a PROFITABLE handmade business online without keeping up with social media 🔽
Watch the free workshop here: bit.ly/3vzi1Kg
I recently had a print come out the wrong colour and because its drop shipped I didn't know. when the customer told me i thanked her for bringing it to my attention so that I could fix it and offered a refund or a reprint. in the end she said neither she would take it as it was so i shipped her one anyway and she gave me a 5 star review. its possible to turn things around. great content as always!
That's awesome, Jackie! The way you handled that was perfect, and that customer will definitely remeber it.
This is a solid channel for small business... I'm so grateful I found your help!! ❤️🌹
Thank you so much, Kristy! I appreciate that so much!
Hi! I had my first annoyed customer on etsy. They misunderstood my earring stand size listed as 7cm and instead she thought it was only half of the item that was to be measured despite seeing on her ruler that the entire item was 7cm.
She wanted to be partially refunded which I did and I just updated my listing saying its for the entire item to avoid further confusion.
I think she saw someone else's listing having the measurements starting at the earring holes and thought that was what the measurements stood for. Now I just specify its overall and apologised for the confusion.
Lesson learnt sometimes what you think is easy to understand is not always understood by everyone.
That was a good way to handle it, Kelli-Marie, and a good adjustment going forward. If it made it clearer to future customers, then all the better!
@@CreativeHiveCo Thank you. I've learnt a lot from your channel and recommend you to others since your advise is so valuable.
As for an update. They left a 4 star rating which I'm grateful it wasn't worst so that's a plus. 🙂
And you go the extra mile for an abusive customer, and then they still post bad reviews all over the internet. Some of them you can never please no matter what
I can totally agree that we can't please everybody. Customers like that do exist but sometimes (or maybe most of the time) it's still worth the shot to go the extra mile.
I had an older gal from West Hollywood contact me this week and she didn't know how to navigate online shopping. She also had already placed two separate orders (which I had already shipped) and didn't remember what she ordered but was sure that she wanted to change them. I sat on the phone and patently helped her through the process until she ultimately decided that she wanted what she had already ordered. She wasn't elderly, just not very tech competent and it did make me wonder if she wasn't intoxicated at some point. In general, I like helping people make a purchase of they ask and in this case my efforts will likely land me more sales from this woman, but sometimes the attitude that people give you make me not want to offer my phone number for customer service.
Yes, I think most people do genuinely want help and are mostly reasonable, but it's always that one or two that make you question everything!
Great advice as always, Mai. I work in retail in my 'day job' and I agree with everything you have said. Especially offering multiple options such as refund, replacement product or a discount on their next purchase, free delivery, etc. By allowing the customer to choose an option, as you say, they feel more in control, acknkwledged, and in my experience, instantly calm down. In most cases, you can turn this negative around, and in fact, the customer leaves happier than the customer who just made their purchase and went on their way.
I think what you said - that they get a sense of control - is really key and can definitely de-escalate the situation more quickly.
Hi Mei! This is my first time commenting on your videos (but I've sent you an email asking about etsy vs shopify, and thank you so much for responding so kindly!). Great video as always, and I love your new blue streaks!!
Thank you so much! I'm so happy that you commented - it totally helps others see these videos! And I'm always happy to answer questions, so thank you for reaching out! 💗
Your channel is the key i needed to motivate myself to launch my product! I am an artist for over 12 years now and i have finally found my voice to say « i am ready to move forward my business but like never before! » What stopped me was the lack of knowledge i had about everything about how to create a business : how and witch platform should i use to seil? how do you do the shipping? how to interact with customers? I want to be a HIGHT quality business selling High quality product for collectors, i know what i want and how i want it to be presented. This video is so much helpful because that is exactly how Big business is built upon 🎉 - I still need to figure out my plan on how to create and launch content to promote my art but also to create a fan base and to show how much my art is worth for as i create quality product. Being greedy is not the healthy road to take and i did learn that with two customers i had before and they both brought me excellent leçons to remember even if it was not always my fault. Read down below in my comment to read my experiences so far about these situations⬇️:
- My 1st bad experience with a customer was that i trusted my customer 100% because he made his first order with me and he did pay the full payment when he received his painting, so i did not ask for a down payment when he ordered his second painting. The painting was almost done and he told me that i he did not like it one bit and that it was too expensive so he would not buy the painting and it left me very sad to know that it did not matter to them the many hours i’ve putted into that painting and for them it felt like trash. Ever since then I ask for a down payment (half of the price) before i start creating the painting officially.
- My 2st bad customer experience was with a lady starting her own business as a pet groomer and asked me to create her logo company. I did not put a very high price for it but enough to make a little and to cover my time and was wayyy more cheaper price them if it was made by someone else. I always create many free sketches of the design to seek which one fits best for my customer’s choice and i make sure they are fully satisfied before i start officially creating the design and asking for the first payment. That said: my customers are informed beforehand that minor changes are totally fine as long as it doesn’t not require me to start the hole design all over again from scratch. I was finally done with hers and asked if she was satisfied incase minor changes where needed… After asker for others opinion (what she should have done BEFORE i started the original concept) She requested that minor changes where necessary: She literally asked me to change every bit of it which ended changing the whole design. So i gave her the option of: Staying with what i had made or getting charged twice the amount since it is asking me double the hours spent and also taking the time i’ve specifically put aside for another customer. She told me that it was totally unfair and that it should have been mentioned beforehand to every customer (but whyyyy should i pay for her mistakes if she changes her mind at the very end of itttttt?) - so she ended paying double the amount but with have the design that she wanted the most. Anyway like you said: Simple sometimes its not simple enough: Minor changes = taking a letter out or adding a letter and Big changes = Changing the hole design
Hi! Thank you so much for sharing your story!! You've handled those past bad customer experiences very well! ️❤️ You kept your calm and handled it professionally. Having some revision, payment, return, etc. policies in place and making sure it's clear with your customers is going to help you a lot too in the future. Where do you currently sell your art, btw? 😊
Excellent video amen.
Have you noticed a price point area where you have the most seemingly unreasonable customer complaints?
Also, Do you try to follow the reshipping solution whether the price point was $20 or $200?
I'm currently working an hourly job while scaling my products line. The corporate environment I'm working in in the town I'm currently located in has the 5th highest crime rate in the state so I see more theft, product & label switching and product return scams than most places. That alone makes me a little apprehensive of certain industry customers and price points involved lol. I'll try to open my mind a bit but I've been all over the country traveling and working. It appears there's more dishonest customer scams as a whole than there was 2o years ago. There's no shortage of abundance of people who operate scams for their primary income. Just thinking out loud...
Thanks for sharing,
James, Rescue Kitty😺 & Snowvan
I haven't really seen problems at a particular price point, no. I think it also depends on the information you're given as well. If someone says they didn't get their package, but it shows as delivered, then getting the post office or shipping company involved first may be the way to go.
For re-shipping issues, I try to get a feel for what the problem is before offering to reship, unless I know it was definitely something that was my fault. Sometimes it's handy to have them ship the old one back to you before shipping out a new one. There are some tricks to try first.
It's so nice to see our very own American Idle UA-camr. Mei is always bursting with energy and valuable information.
Awww, thank you, M M! I appreciate that!
Hi Mei. I once had this customer who wanted to place a wholesale order but would never pay the advance and canceled the order every third day. This repeated again and again for a fortnight and I was forced to block her. A week later, she found that I had blocked her and then made the advance payment and complained to a fellow seller about losing her money. Fortunately for me, this seller was a friend and she contacted me immediately. I unblocked the customer and told her that I was forced to concentrate on another set of orders and blocked other customers temporarily so that I can focus. Phew!
Oh divya, this sounds like a nightmare! If she continues on this way in the future, you'll have to decide if she really is the ideal customer for you.
Great info and tips as always, very very cute hairstyle.
Thank you so much! I appreciate that!! 💗
First of all I just wanted to say that your hair looks fabulous Mei! Love the blue in your hair and it really suits you 💕 secondly, this is a great video because a lot of people can relate to this and it can be really scary when a customer is unhappy. You made some really good points about dealing with difficult customers and as hard as it is, I think you are right when you say to stay calm, professional, and patient with customers to try and resolve things 😊
Thank you, Amy Louise! I know sometimes it's hard when we know we're right but working with the customer to diffuse the situation can really go a long way.
Great advice!
Different, but I work a shop and see all sorts of shady business BUT ALSO genuine ones aswell.
So navigating it is hard.
Shady ones like. Wanting refunds without bringing items back. Bringing in items to refund that we dont sell. Making up their own rules ie. Layby/afterpay. Wanting refunds on items 6months later. Sometimes it's good to stand firm as its company policy but online is a different beast!
But yes you do have genuine complaints/issues too. We've all been there when a package hasn't arrived or something arrives broken
Yea, and it's those really not genuine ones that make it hard to have a generous return policy. But I guess erring on the side of helpful (most times) can help your business the most.
Really supportive to listen to you Mei!
I'm really happy to hear that, Karolina! Thank you so much for watching!
Thank you for this video! And I love your new hair style 😊 Could you do a video about how you managed taxes when you were in the first few years of your business? Ik I have to do them but I don’t know where to start since I’m solo rn 😥
Thank you so much!! That's is a great suggestion and I've put it on my list of topics!
@@CreativeHiveCo ty! Looking forward to your video on it
Yea this is only an issue in America. American are so entitle and you don't see in other country as much. I once order from a European store and wanted to exchange my item. The item was the wrong size. They expected me to pay the $20 shipping back and $20 shipping to get the item. I was mad (but understanding cuz who want a $40 shipping lost?) but accept it. If I was to have bought it from an American company they would offer to exchange it for free or even find a store or something for me to exchange. I do think it great American store offer so much customer service but it does make the people soooo entitle and stuck up. I have work in customer service so I am pretty humble. I didn't give them any trouble when they refuse to exchange it for free. You do make a great point though, customer service go a long way. I never shop from the European store ever again. While I understand they can't stand a $40 lost, I do find it unfair they expect me to deal with a bad item (cuz their website didn't list measurement and a xl was a 4xl to them) . I think I would have been ok with 50/50 where they cover half the shipping so I wouldn't be out $40 just to exchange an item. So your advice on offering option really do make sense and it is some of the best advice I heard (from a customer point of view). Even if they didn't offer me a good solution, if they had at least try, maybe I would go back. Now it is more like 100% I am never going back. They just didn't make any effort and I don;t think they care. Although I didn;t leave any bad review but the idea of losing customer is almost as bad as a review.
Thanks for that perspective, Bobby! A little customer service really can go a long way.
Always giving business owners the advice and confidence they need
Thank you so much for watching! I appreciate it!
Another great video, Mei! Thanks!
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks again, Brandon!
@@CreativeHiveCo You're very welcome, Mei!
Love your hair dye,lovely mei😍😍
Thank you so much, Rebecca!! 💗
Thank you for the reassurance. How do you deal with those customers who complain in the reviews that their package took forever even though they know its the mailing service.
There isn't much you can do in that case unless you want to reply to the review and say you're sorry that the shipping service was slow to deliver.
Love the hair!
Thank you so much, Melanie!
Not related to this video, but i've been wondering whether to use the word 'I' or 'we' when setting up a website? It's only me for now, but should I use 'we' to make it more professional or keep it true with the 'I'? Thank you :)
I tend to go for the formula that if it's just you, then to stick with "I" - let people know that you are doing it all and rocking it! If you have anyone helping you consistently then I would default to "we" since it's become a team effort, even if the team isn't publicly visible.
@@CreativeHiveCo Alright thank you! ☺️ Finally I can feel confident about keeping it that way!
When you have a customer who starts by cursing out your rep and won't even give them a chance to respond to their complaints, there are not really a lot of alternatives.
It's really not easy to handle these kinds of customers but in tough situations like this, handling the situation in a professional and calm manner will be your best weapon.
Love your hair!!!
Thank you so much!! 💗
Sister your hair is looking dazzling !!
First comment
Thank you so much, Nandita! 💗
@@CreativeHiveCo that is so sweet you remember my real name ❤❤❤❤
Love your hair!!!
Thank you so much, Jenilee! 💗