Listening to Your Customers on TPT

Kirsten 0:00

you're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

Hey, there TPT sellers. I know this is a topic that's a pretty hot topic. And it has to do with some reviews that are not so stellar in your store, specifically anything below five stars. So maybe it you see a youth have a new review. You look at it, and it's three or four stars and you become incensed, you become enraged. And when you're reading this review, you obviously you know see they did not understand how the resource works, and you feel a little sighted that they would rate you lower than you know you deserve. So as much as it might make you a little Tift or upset, this is actually the perfect opportunity to really listen to your customers. As hard as it is you can learn some valuable lessons by listening to the customers, both the good and the bad. So that's what this episode is all about.

I could tell you stories, so many stories on the number of reviews or correspondence that I've seen in my own business and from what people share in Facebook groups have their own experiences with reviews and emails that they get from not so happy customers. But when you think about the overall picture, what are the odds that every single person who buys or downloads your resources is going to be 100% happy with everything I can promise you there's a very slim chance that would be the case. What we see as our baby our business is our baby is not just not going to be everyone's cup of tea and this is for any business, any business out there. Not everybody is going to like what they offer what they sell. And that is the first step to being a business owner. So today we're going to be talking about a few big things to know when it comes to customer service. and two tips to listen to your customer feedback, both the positive and the negative.

Just a recap of what customer service even is, is it's just providing support to both potential and existing customers, you'll see that customer support may be in the q&a for both potential and existing, you might have a review or an email or a Facebook message from potential and existing customers. So it's just you're you're providing support in a professional way. So of course, you're not going to, you know, be right, the person who gave you a really bad review, you have to be professional about it.

So here are a few things to keep in mind with customer service. Number one is to make it personalized, don't have a cookie cutter response. Unless it's like you know, an automatic I'm away from my office on the weekends, you can you know, all of that your response should be personalized, your correspondence should be personalized in a way that matches who the customer is just based on the vibe that they give out. Another thing to keep in mind is to know the ins and outs of your resources and services, pretty self explanatory, you should know exactly all about your resources, all about your services that you offer your products or your courses or your memberships, you need to have a very, very knowledgeable understanding of how your resource even works. So it'll be very easy to explain, if somebody has a question about it, or somebody is unsatisfied with it, you can kind of go ahead and explain it to them. Also just making it convenient to communicate with those potential customers. As much as maybe we don't really look, I don't want to talk to people, I just want them by my resources, that's not going to be the case as a business owner. So just making it being assessable in the TBT q&a, in the email, the Facebook messages and Instagram messages. Of course, with boundaries, you shouldn't be responding. You know, as soon as you get a q&a, even though I do that, probably more times than I should have been. But you shouldn't be up at 1am answering an email of an angry customer, that they need the they need this resource as soon as possible or something like that. Don't worry about that just make it convenient, not only for you, but also in how you access those customers. Something I do note is if I am interested in a resource, I'm not sure much about it. And I just kind of want to get a feel for the TPT seller. It's really concerning when I see a lot of questions from you know, really great questions from a lot of potential customers. But in the answers, there are none. There are no answers, no responses. That's a big red flag for me, as a potential customer. I like seeing correspondence, you know, the TPT seller actually is there answering questions, just kind of really getting a feel for who the seller is, I don't want to make a purchase from a seller like that. And then if something's not working, I get no customer service from it. So it's very important to be present in those avenues. All right, so here are two tips to listen to your customers. Number one, check those reviews, as hard as it might be. Take a look at those reviews that you get. Reviews are a powerful way to understand what your customers need. Sometimes you don't know what a resource is missing until someone brings it up in the reviews. They might say something like I wish it had more digital options. I wish it had, you know, an editable version, instead of being offended that they're suggesting this like how dare you say I should make it editable No way.

Use it to improve your resource. You can also take the reviews to update it. So taking those negative reviews turning into a positive and at your discretion updating it if it's a really good suggestion. And then something that you could also do after you update what you you know you need to or improve it. Make sure to go back to those reviewers and comment to let them know that changes were made and, of course a friendly, professional courteous manner. You never know they might change their review from a two to a five. This is all of course at your own discretion.

You do not have to follow exactly everything. Every single suggestion every single person asks definitely make sure to check the reviews because it's actually a really powerful way to kind of see what But they need more out of from your resource, and what they really like about your resource. So it can also help kind of create me help you when you're creating new iterations of that resource in your store.

Another tip, the second tip I have is to ask for feedback, yes, be vulnerable. And just get out there and ask, email your list. If you have an email list, create a poll in your social media, ask what they're really looking for in a resource. You can also have them download a freebie in exchange for feedback. So just get them to download something, you know, after a few days of, you know, see if they implemented it and see what they like about it. If you have, here's a really cool idea, if you have a resource that is just a total flop, it is not selling at all, it's just sitting there in your store collecting dust, maybe you can kind of do like a little pilot test pilot, consider getting some feedback from a few people like that you choose randomly, who might subscribe to you and download the action, you give them the resource, they'll give you some honest review on how the resource could be improved. And this could be really telling if they are saying this is a really great resource. I'm like, This is awesome, there's really not much I would want to improve like it's, it's all great, then that might come down to how your listing it how you're marketing that specific resource. So depending on how they give you for feedback, you can really use that to possibly tweak up your resource, or possibly tweak up your listings and how you're marketing it.

My creative action tip for you is to check a few recent reviews. What did the customer like about it? What did they dislike? And how can your resource based on those reviews be improved? So just take a look in a few recent reviews for some resources and see what the feedback is? How could you improve it, if you're looking for some tips on creating a viral worthy resource, I do have my conference presentation from this year's TPC forward conference. In my TPT store. If you're interested in that, you can take a look at the link in the show notes or on the blog. So it's entitled creating a viral worthy resource. I do share a little bit of how I improved the resource and how I took what the customer said in mind in the case study that I share with you in that presentation. But either way, I know you'll get some really great tips.

All right. Well, thanks for tuning into this episode. I hope you got some really great ideas from this. And don't worry, it's okay, if you don't always have a five star review. Remember, that's one of the main things I should probably make sure to mention. It is not the end of the world. If you get a four or three star review, you're still doing just fine. You have to just remember that not everybody is going to be satisfied with your resources. And once you have that in your mind, like okay, most people like my resources, there's gonna be a few people who won't. It's just life. That's how it is not everybody's gonna like you not everybody's gonna like your resources. So just keep that in mind. And definitely don't be disappointed on a four star review. Maybe ask why they didn't give that five stars but don't push it. A four star review is just fine. All right, well, I will see you again in the next episode.

Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.