R*E*S*P*E*C*T

I want to thank Blog Frocks for my new look- while I can design a scrapbook layout, when it comes to designing websites and so on, I so totally suck at it (for proof of this- check out 4Ever Digital). So I'm relying on the talented people who posted blog skins and such to decorate my blog. So- thank you! I love it!

And on to today's rant. Because that's what it is- a rant. I came across a post on 2Peas where a customer offered some suggestions. She was upset that she had purchased a kit where the scanned/photographed elements weren't cleaned up as well as they could have (and should have) been. I came across the same post on another site.

The responses shocked me. On 2Peas, designers and customers alike agreed with her. 2Peas, where simple threads on what a SAHM wears around the house can turn ugly in a matter of moments. Pretty civil thread, I read her comments (didn't reply there) and took them to heart. Sure, I wondered if she had purchased one of my kits (don't we all?), but I also know that I do not offer scanned elements in my kits- no scanner, a little hard to do. On this other site, the responses were, well, insulting.

Designers: customers do not deal with us on a face to face basis. We do not have the luxury of meeting our customers in person, and many live hundreds of miles away from us. Customers get to know us, personally, through message boards. How we respond to a thread that complains about kit quality can have a major impact on whether or not customers will want to buy from us.

Think about it. If I'm reading a thread where a customer says 'Designers, please take pride in your work, please double check all elements, yadda yadda yadda', I would much rather, as a customer, read 'Great suggestions! Have you emailed the designer? Most designers would be more than willing to help resolve any issues if you do email them. Thanks for posting' instead of 'Have you emailed the designer? Because posting this in a public forum is harsh/insulting/inflammatory/humiliating and nobody wants that.' I really, truly do not see the point in humiliating a customer for posting not only a complaint, but a suggestion on what can be done to fix the problem so that it doesn't happen again. Because that is what they did.

Truthfully, when I read those posts, I was turned off by the designers that did say that posting the complaint in a public forum was harsh/inflammatory/insulting/humiliating. I will not buy from that site, will not visit that site again. If this is how their designers treat a customer in a public forum, I'd rather not associate myself with them. I treat all of my customers with respect- whether or not they have a complaint.

The reason that this bothers me is that I think that designers need to be able to handle criticism well. We all want to improve our designs- we want our customer to be happy. I just don't see how humiliating a customer in public (because, let's face it, if I had posted that comment, and people said those things to me, I'd be humiliated for even bothering to post my opinions- and that's not how it should be). Some people can't handle criticism well (and I'll be honest- I'm not the best at it. See my post about using flowers on boy layouts).

Once we start to design elements, we stop being totally free on message boards (at least on scrapbooking message boards). We do need to think through our posts, because everything that we post will be seen by potential customers (especially if we use the same screen name on every board). Respect your customers- no matter how they choose to post their complaints, compliments, and suggestions.