March 15 is World Consumer Rights Day. What exactly is World Consumer Rights Day? Essentially, today is a day to raise awareness regarding consumer rights across the globe. Consumers deserve respect. They deserve to be protected. And also, today is a day to speak out against any such social injustices or abuses that might undermine consumer rights worldwide.
The origins of this day came about because, in 1962, President John F. Kennedy formally addressed Congress specifically about consumer rights. Before that, no notable leader had done so. This is why March 15 was chosen as World Consumer Rights Day.
Why Consumers are So Important to Small Businesses
Consumers are the reason you are in business. They represent your bottom line. Especially where small businesses are concerned, consumers keep companies afloat, plain and simple. Consumers are essential to keeping operations running effectively by buying products, patronizing storefronts, and engaging with what companies have to offer. To a large extent, consumer demand dictates the market, any market.
This is precisely why consumer rights should be at the forefront of every entrepreneur’s mind. From ensuring fair and equitable treatment to implementing ethical advertising and marketing behavior to ensuring that information is disclosed as it needs to be, businesses have a responsibility to keep the customers informed and abide by all relevant laws.
What Can Small Businesses Do on Consumer Rights Day?
Train your team on how to treat customers. Sometimes refresher courses are in order. Customer service is all about, if nothing else, the consumer. The key is to get your team excited and motivated to engage with consumers. You want to remind them of your company’s commitment to customer satisfaction. You also want to raise company awareness of how essential customer service is to your continued success. Spend some time on World Consumer Rights Day, ensuring that your team understands the importance of keeping your customers happy and understanding their rights.
Make sure people know you are celebrating World Consumer Rights Day. That is to say. You might kick off a special week of events. Send out emails. Create a newsletter. Use your social media accounts to inform people of what you as a company will do to commemorate World Consumer Rights Day. And then get creative about the types of activities, specials, and activities you hold during this particular week.
Make a real effort to thank consumers. People want to know that you are invested in their happiness and safeguarding their rights as customers. Please make sure they know where exactly your company stands in this respect. Be it on social media or in a more formal way, deliberately creating a plan to thank consumers for their continued patronage of your establishment really can go a long way on this consumer rights day.
Dedicate some time to learning about consumer rights around the world. In some countries, consumer rights look differently than they do here in America. Consumers have very few rights in some countries, and consequently, social injustices are a real problem. What does the picture look like for customers around the world? And by the same token, what can you as a company do to help potentially? The more you as a business owner know, the more you are aware of, and the better position you are in to try and generate change.
Give customers the necessary information to make an informed decision. The last thing that consumers want is to be cheated or, in some way, deceived. World Consumer Rights Day, is all about ensuring that customers know what their rights are, what best practices are, and how they are influential in helping dictate the terms of the marketplace.
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