Deliverables: Your Promise to Your customer and Delivering on Your Deliverables
Your call to action makes a promise – it says ‘click here to’:
- Join and get …
- Buy now and receive …
- Book an appointment for …
- Save when you …
- Reserve now for immediate …
Make sure you deliver on your deliverable. Your deliverable is the thing your customer agreed to exchange his time, information or money for. If he:
- Signed up for a newsletter
- Booked an appointment
- Filled in an online survey
- Purchased a product or service
You owe it to him, and he expects to receive it as soon as humanly possible. After the click, your next most crucial step is to:
- Communicate how and when you will deliver the solution to your customer’s problem
The more informed your customer is about the delivery process, the higher his level of trust will be in your ability to deliver on your promise.
Put Yourself In Your Customer’s Shoes
Think about the last time you ordered, booked or signed up for something online. How did the website and company handle your submission? Did you experience any of the following?
- I didn’t receive any information about when to expect delivery
- The delivery timeframe wasn’t clear or changed after I completed the order
- I had to call the company to find out what was going on with my delivery
- It took [x] hours/days to hear back about where my product was
- Customer service never returned my email or call
- I received the wrong product or service and couldn’t easily find a way to return it
Would you order from the company again? Why, or why not? How would you describe your experience to a friend? Did you tell a friend about it? Think about how the same experience might affect your customers and your online reputation.
- Are you making the same mistakes or are you taking better care of your customers?
- If not, why not?
When a customer completes a call to action online, he expects immediate results and satisfaction, don’t you? When you search for a solution online, you’re looking for an answer ‘right now’, not two weeks from now. If you can’t deliver soon, the competition can.
Deliverability: Pulse, Tempo And Customer Satisfaction
If it isn’t moving, breathing and making noise, it doesn’t have a pulse, and the customer will think it’s obsolete.
- Do your website, blog and social media channels make your company look like it’s fresh, alive and has a pulse?
- When did you last post an update online?
- Does your delivery process keep the customer informed about the expected timeframe, pending arrival or delays after they signup, book or complete a purchase?
Having a pulse shows your alive. But the tempo (or pace) of your delivery process, and how you communicate with the customer, shows you’re driven to deliver. The tempo may vary depending on the type of product or service you are delivering, the distance your product or service is from the customer and the complexity involved in delivery, but in all cases, it keeps the delivery product ‘alive’ and moving forward. A few examples to consider include:
- Immediate delivery
- On screen
- Thank you!
- Download NOW!
- Oops, your download failed, click here for immediate help
- Check your inbox (and spam folder!)
- Are you happy with your purchase, booking, membership? What can we do better next time?
- Tell a friend
- Tweet this
- Email
- Thank you!
- Click here to download NOW!
- Are you happy with your purchase, booking, membership? Click here to tell us how we can improve
- Next day delivery
- On screen
- Delivery will be on route shortly
- Here’s your tracking code
- Are you happy with your purchase, booking, membership? What can we do better next time?
- Tell a friend
- Tweet this
- Email
- Here’s your tracking code
- Delivery reminder
- Check your physical mailbox or front step
- Oops, delay, we’re working on it
- Are you happy with your purchase, booking, membership? What can we do better next time?
- Delivery in 2 – 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks or more
- On screen
- Delivery will be on its way shortly
- Tell a friend
- Tweet this
- Email
- Here’s your tracking code
- Delivery reminder
- Delivery pending
- Check your physical mailbox or front step
- Oops, delay, we’re working on it
- Are you happy with your purchase, booking, membership? What can we do better next time?
- Tell a friend
- Tweet this
- On screen
- On screen
- On screen
Defining Your Deliverable
Answer the following questions to help clarify some details about your deliverable and the tempo or pulse rate that may help keep your customers engaged and happy as they wait for the solution to their problem to arrive.
- What is your deliverable?
- A product
- Electronic
- Physical product
- A service
- Online
- Offline
- How and when do you thank your customer for his purchase, booking, submission, signup?
- Immediately online, on your website
- Via email follow up
- How do deliver it?
- Downloadable
- Physical delivery
- Pickup
- How soon do you deliver it?
- Immediately
- Next Day
- A few days
- A week or less
- More than a week
- Can your competitor deliver it faster? Cheaper?
- How do you inform your customer that his product or service is on the way or available for him in another way (e.g., Local pick up)?
- Thank you
- After delivery, how do you follow up with your customer to confirm the product or service has been received?
- By Email
- By email with a link to online satisfaction/survey form
- How do you find out whether your product or service met the needs of your customer and solved his problem?
- Survey
- Social media
- Follow up email
- Follow up phone call
- In person interview
- A product
If you offer a variety of products and services, be sure to think through your answers concerning each one, from the perspective of each product or service’s target audience. Try to be as objective as possible with your answers.
Next Steps
You can further enhance this description using the fillable worksheets in our Udemy Course.
