Return Customer turns 5 years old this week! Thanks for reading this year and for your support.

Now that I’ve hit the 5 year mark, I need your help. What do you like most about Return Customer? What would you like to see? Why do you read Return Customer? Please take a moment to leave a comment and let me know.

I always find it interesting to review the data on how people find their way to Return Customer. Here are this past year’s highlights:

Top 5 Most Read Posts

These posts were the most visited this past year:

1. Why Customers Hate Convenience Fees for Credit Card Transactions
2. Four Customer Expectations
3. 5 Ways to Better Treat Your Customers
4. How to Convince Customers to Buy Today
5. Do not respond to this email!

Top 5 Referrers

These great sites have sent more people to Return Customer than any other non-search site over the past year:

1. 9rules
2. Aweber blog
3. Alltop’s Customer Service Directory
4. Get Satisfaction Blog
5. Service Untitled

Top 5 Searches

The following searches (linked to their respective posts) brought the most people to this site last year:

1. convenience fee
2. customer expectations
3. how to treat customers
4. returning customer
5. proactive customer service

If you have any comments on things you like or that could be improved with Return Customer, please leave a comment, send me an email, or follow me on Twitter.

I’m looking for some guest bloggers to share their experiences and lessons here on ReturnCustomer.com.

Your post could be about anything business-related, be it marketing, customer service, e-commerce, best practices, etc.

I only ask that your post be unique to ReturnCustomer.com.

You can include a byline with your post with links back to your blog or site if you wish.

For two examples of previous guest posts on Return Customer, see:

5 Ways to Better Treat Your Customers

5 Ways to Win New Customers and 10 Ways to Keep Them

(Yes, those are both lists but you don’t have to write a list post if you don’t want.)

If you are interested in being a guest blogger and writing a post for ReturnCustomer.com, please let me know.

Thanks!

Return Customer turns 4 years old this week! I appreciate you, faithful readers, for supporting me and making this another wonderful year.

I always find it interesting to review the data on how people find their way to this site.

Top 5 Most Read Posts

These posts were the most visted this past year:

1. 10 Tricks Customers Hate and 10 Treats They Love
2. Proactive Customer Service
3. Four Customer Expectations
4. 5 Ways to Better Treat Your Customers
5. Show Empathy to Customers

Top 5 Referrers

These great sites have sent the most people to Return Customer than any other non-search site over the past year:

1. 9rules – I’m a member of 9rules’ business community
2. Aweber blog – valuable information for any online marketer
3. Smiley Cat – Return Customer is featured in the Typography for Headlines gallery
4. Donor Power Blog – Jeff Brooks’ great non-profit blog
5. Marketing Profs Daily Fix – get your daily fill of marketing tips and news

Top 5 Searches

The following searches (linked to their respective posts) brought the most people to this site last year:

1. proactive customer service
2. customer expectations
3. return customers
4. how to treat customers
5. huggies customer service

If you have any comments on things you like or that could be improved with Return Customer, please leave a comment, send me an email, or follow me on Twitter.

I look forward to a big 5 year celebration next year!

Return Customer turns 3 years old this week! Thank you, loyal readers, for making this another great year.

I once again reviewed the data on how people arrive at this site. There seem to be some perennial favorites among the most read and referring sites when compared to last year.

Top 5 Most Read Posts

Based on traffic data, these were the top most visited posts this past year:

1. How to Get People Talking About You
2. Think Outside Your Constraints
3. Four Customer Expectations
4. Clever Auto Reply Email Address
5. Your Small Business is Worth More than a Free Email Address

Top 5 Referrers

Thanks to these non-search sites that were generous in linking to Return Customer over the past year:

1. The Aweber blog has mentioned several of my articles over the past year.
2. 9rules – I’m a member of 9rules’ business and marketing communities
3. Service Untitled offers solid customer service articles and interviews.
4. Smiley Cat – Featured in the Typography for Headlines gallery
5. Particle Tree and their “Guide to Email Roundup“

Top 5 Searches

The following searches (linked to their respective posts) brought the most people to this site last year. It is always interesting to see the diversity of incoming keywords and phrases:

1. customer expectations
2. southwestairlines@mail.southwest.com
3. honesty is the best policy
4. proactive customer service
5. digiorno pizza coupons

If you have any comments on things you like or that could be improved with Return Customer, please leave a comment or send me an email.

I look forward to celebrating four years in 2009!

Return Customer is 2 years old! The past year has seen my readership double due to your support, comments, and links. Thank you!

Looking back at this past year I found some interesting data on how people arrive at this site and which posts were the most popular.

Top 5 Most Read Posts

Based on traffic data, these were the top most visited posts this past year:

1. The Lost Art of Accepting Thanks
2. Three Constants in Business
3. How Not to Respond to Customer Emails
4. Secrets of a Successful Innovator
5. Think Outside Your Constraints

Top 5 Referrers

These sites sent me the most visitors over the past year:

1. Google – search results
2. 9rules – I’m a member of 9rules’ business and marketing communities
3. Particle Tree – They included me in a great “Guide to Email Roundup“
4. Yahoo! – search results
5. Smiley Cat – Featured in the Typography for Headlines gallery

Top 5 Searches

The following searches brought the most people to this site last year. You’ll see the search terms and then the resulting Return Customer post below.

1. southwestairlines@mail.southwest.com – Clever Auto-Reply Email Address
2. customer expectations – Four Customer Expectations
3. huggies customer service – Customer Service Done Right: Huggies
4. return customer – Return Customer home page
5. please do not reply to this email – Do Not Respond to This Email

If you have any comments on things you like or that could be improved with Return Customer, please leave a comment or send me an email.

Keep up with the latest from Return Customer: subscribe to the RSS feed or sign up for email updates.

I look forward to the coming year!

Once again the great folks at 9rules are inviting you to join our network. It has been a little over a year since I joined 9rules and it has been great.

If you’ve got a blog or website that has great content, then join us. October 25th is your chance to submit your site for consideration to 9rules.

You can read some details on the 9rules blog:
http://9rules.com/blog/2006/09/9rules-round-5-october-25th/
http://9rules.com/blog/2006/10/round-5-midnight/
http://9rules.com/blog/2006/10/9rules-round-5-contest/

You’ll be able to submit your site only on October 25th at 9rules.com/submit. Good luck!

Update October 26, 2006: The submission round is over and pulled in 1190 sites. I look forward to seeing the new additions to the network when they are announced.

As you know, I’m a member of the 9rules network. This community features some of the best blogs and websites on the web. Since I joined 9rules last year, I’ve seen a direct correlation to a boost in my readership and have been able to associate with some truly talented people.

Do you have a blog or website? Today you have the opportunity to join the network. The 9rules folks are taking submissions until midnight Eastern time today (5/17/2006). You can submit your site here:
http://9rules.com/submit

Update 5/18/06 – The submission round is over and pulled in 700 sites. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Beginnings

I’ve been asked what got me started writing Return Customer. I’d say it was a series of unfortunate events with retail stores that planted the seed in my mind. I wanted a place to vent my frustrations but soon realized that the internet is full of sites bashing companies and each other. I wanted to put a positive spin on things and hoped we could learn something beneficial together.

First Year Highlights

• First Post – Creating Return Customers Starts Here
• Best article involving pirates – Communication When You Can’t Deliver
• I’m accepted into the 9rules community – 9rules for a Successful Business
• Favorite sports analogy – Admit Defeat
• I’m published! – Customer Relations for the Web Guru
• Famous commenter – Guy Kawasaki
• Book most discussed with my wife – Creating Customer Evangelists

Contest Winners

Yesterday wrapped up the Return Customer Birthday Contest. Thanks to those who participated. I drew random numbers out of a hat and the winners are:

• Comment #2: Roger Brown
• Comment #5: Rob Poitras
• Comment #3: Glenn Graves

Congratulations! You should be getting your copy of Getting Real shortly.

Thank You

Thanks for reading Return Customer this past year. I look foward to the coming year and hope you do, too.

Next week ReturnCustomer.com celebrates its first birthday! Thanks to you loyal readers, it has been a great experience thus far. Here is your chance to get a little birthday present for yourself.

The Contest

1. Name a company that excels in its field and is worth emulating.
2. Tell us why you think the company is a great example worthy of our attention and respect.

Prizes

The nice folks over at 37signals have agreed to give away three copies of their e-book Getting Real which I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed.

The Rules

1. Add a comment below with your name and email address (if you win, we need to contact you!)
2. Tell us the company you like and why you think it is noteworthy.
3. Choose your company wisely because I’ll only accept one entry per person.
4. The contest will be open until I get around to disabling comments on the evening of Wednesday, April 26th. So get your entry in early!
5. Three winners will be selected at random from all entries that meet the requirements set forth in these rules.
6. The judge’s decisions are final. (That’s me)
7. Winners will be announced on ReturnCustomer.com’s birthday: Thursday, April 27th.

Tell Your Friends

Don’t be selfish, tell your friends about ReturnCustomer.com and this contest. They may win the prize instead of you, but they’ll love you forever because of it!

Questions?

If you have any questions, drop me a line and I’ll update the contest instructions if needed. Let’s save the comments below for contest entries.

Have Fun!

Update #1 (April 22, 2006): I simplified a few of the instructions.
Update #2 (April 26, 2006): The contest is closed. Thanks to all those that entered! Winners announced tomorrow.

Before we begin, read what a “Return Customer” actually means to your business.

You and I both want to find, nurture, and keep return customers. On this site you’ll find examples from everyday consumer experiences in stores, on the web, over the phone, or walking down the street that provide valuable lessons to improving your business. I’ll search for news articles that can also teach us of what to do and what to avoid.

Welcome to ReturnCustomer.com!