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. [email protected]
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. [email protected] – 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.