How do custom t-shirt buyers know which t-shirt printers are great?  They ask other t-shirt buyers.

The web has made it so much easier for customers to share their experiences with each other. This is especially true for important purchases like custom t-shirts where getting the job done right is a priority.

Service businesses are learning that reviews, both positive and critical ones , can help them gain new customers online.

Here are 3 ways to allow your customers to share their experiences with others at PrinterListings.com:

Ask Them Via Email

A great way to quickly get feedback from your customers is to ask them via email.
In your order followup/thank you/promotional newsletter emails to your customers (you are staying in contact with your customer via email aren’t you??), you can easily link them to your specific company page at PrinterListings.com and ask them to share their honest feedback (and maybe a photo of their print job if they have it)

Here’s some sample wording you can use:

Hi, I just recently added my business to a new printing directory.

I value your opinion and would love to hear what you have to say. Your
feedback is essential to our success. Please take a moment to rate our
services at: http://www.printerlistings.com/Forward-Printing.html
(you can change the URL to your own business listing page)

Add a Link On Your Website

Your customers (and potential customers) are already visiting your website to get more information about your company (you do have a website don’t you?? ).  Linking to honest, independent reviews of your business is a great way to show customers that you stand behind your work and earn the trust of new customers by the word of mouth power of the web.

To make it even easier, each business listed in our directory has a special page of badges and the HTML code needed so they can easily link to their business listing and encourage honest reviews.  Here’s one example page of linking badges for one of our Preferred Printers, ForwardPrinting.

If your business is listed in our directory, login to your account to get easy access to the specific linking badges for your company today.

Gently Remind Them on Invoices

Each interaction with the customer is a chance to get valuable feedback that can help your company grow, and the invoice is no exception.  Whether you’re using an online invoicing tool like FreshBooks, or an old favorite like Quicken, you can easily add a quick link to your business page to encourage feedback from your customers. Something quick like:

We value your feedback! Please take a second to rate our services at: http://prli.st/forward

If you plan on adding a note to your invoices, please let us know and we can setup an even shorter URL for your customers to type in that will take them directly to your page on our site using our own private labeled URL shortening service at PRLI.ST

Get Creative!

We’ve left out many ways to get customers share their experiences with your company. There’s Facebook, Twitter, on hold messages during phone calls and more.  How will you use the power of referrals in 2010?

The CC Terminal iPhone app from Innerfence lets you process credit cards at trade shows, events, or anywhere your iPhone is.  This easy to use app has been featured in the official commercial from Apple and usually retails for $49.95.

One lucky PrinterListings Facebook fan will get this awesome app for small businesses  for FREE!

The CC Terminal iPhone app connects securely to your merchant account using the popular Authorize.net payment gateway.  You can also use the app with PayPal Website Payments Pro.

The app allows you enter payment details:

Process the charge securely and email a receipt to the customer:

And even collect a signature:

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Just become a fan of PrinterListings on Facebook: http://prli.st/facebook

That’s it!  if you’re already a fan of PrinterListings on Facebook, you’re already entered to win!

Once we reach 50 fans, we’ll use a random number generator site to pick a random winner for the prize.  The winner will receive a promo code for the Innerfence CC Terminal app that they can redeem in the iTunes App Store.

PrinterListings.com is an easy way to find, rate and review custom t-shirt printing businesses.  Find a t-shirt printer or list your business today!

Our goal is to make it easier for customers to find the right printer for their next t-shirt printing job.

It’s free to get your business listed; we also have premium listing options.

To make sure we get things kicked off right, we’re launching our service in 3 phases.

Phase 1: Beta Registration – Custom T-Shirt Printing Businesses are encouraged to add their company information to our directory.

Phase 2: Alpha Registration – customers are encouraged to share photos and experiences with printers they’ve used

Phase 3: Tell the world about PrinterListings.com

To see how to get your printing business listed at PrinterListings.com, please watch this quick 2 minute video or follow the 3 steps listed on the registration help page.