Spectacular reviews are inspired by great customer service and a great product. You as a Hub can actually influence these throughout the order process.
How does this help me?
Great reviews play an important role in your Hub ranking, and alternatively in generating positive word of mouth and repeat orders for your 3D printing business. More on this here.
Gotcha! What’s next?
We’ve put together a treasury of tips on how to impress your customers in your order handling, with unlimited refills Scroll down!
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Thank your customers. It’s always good to show your customer your appreciation either when you receive a new order, or after the job is completed.
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Get back to them promptly. So you’re not able to check the files as soon as a new order request lands at your Hub, no worries! Be sure to leave a quick reply to acknowledge you received it and that you’ll get back to them shortly.
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Communicate clearly and genuinely. Talk to your customers as you would in person and don’t assume anything. If something is unclear or you have doubts about the model, be sure to clarify them with the customer before starting printing.
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Manage expectations. Especially when dealing with newbies, it’s best to take the proactive route and over-inform them. As Richard Branson says: ‘The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them—preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.’
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Use photos / live-streaming for updates. Who doesn’t like seeing their project while it’s being printed? The best Hubs add WIP (work in progress) images to the order page to show customers the progress on their prints in their glorious detail. And while you’re at it, you can add a bit of panache by including a live stream to the order page - more on how to set up a live-stream here.
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Always follow up. When customers deal with complex projects, the printed part potentially can affect the overall output. Being there for them after the job completion will go a long way and can easily translate into an awesome review and even continuous business for your Hub. Yes! Insert air punch emoticon here
Protip: Are you commenting the same thing over and over? A couple of canned responses such as a standard welcome message can be quite a time-saver! You can either use a free in-browser app for this like Auto Text Expander, or simply save them in your phone/ computer’s notes section. Easy, peasy!
Do you have any other tips when dealing with first-time customers? Still haven’t found what you’re looking for? Let me know in the comments below.
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Very useful @gabriela3d, thanks!
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Plain and simple explanation gabriella, great! This is how I like to do it… And I have picked up the tip about the default print settings. I always mention it to my customers, but not as straightforward as your example… like it!
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pivan
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Useful. An add-on: how to politely deal with customers that upload files with wrong measures? I notify the problem and propose a solution (*), e.g. :
Dear Alice,
your file is really small since you told it is in inch and you probably want it printed in millimeters.
I will apply a 25.4 scale and this should be fine. Is it ok for you?
(*) if you brought in a problem and you don’t have a solution, you’re part of the problem!
My 0.02€
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Glad you like it, @barryschulte! and thank you
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Thank you for the suggestions, @pivan! Proposing solutions when communicating problems is definitely the way to do it. This is great advice, thanks for sharing it!
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So easy and so clear! Thanks
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