What is the major thing that distinguishes powerful brands from those companies that just sell stuff? The answer is supreme customer experience and relationships. Undeniably, the product or service you sell matters, but the conversations and support associated with each transaction are the things that keep them coming back for more.
Most businesses see customer relationships as something after someone becomes a customer. Loyalty programs, customer support teams, and emails are some of the examples big brands maintain contact with the customers they already have. But what about building relationships with prospective customers?
Building strong customer relationships is not only important once they become your customer, but it becomes even more important during the processes of sales and marketing.
So what are the different ways to build strong relationships with your customers or prospective ones? Here are the top 6 strategies to satisfy your intellect.
Self-service opportunities
Self-service opportunities are the ones that give customers the opportunity to get answers themselves without the help of a customer service representative. It works wonders in terms of building trust and strengthening connections. There are times when customers have had a small question about the product they considered buying. They don’t want to call the business or send an email. They just want a quick answer.
This is where the self-service opportunities come to the rescue of the customers. It includes the options like chatbots, online portals, and mobile applications. Customers can use such self-service opportunities to get quick answers.
Give priority to customer experience
Prioritizing customer experience is the key to maintaining customer relationships. Brands that are exceptionally well with the customer experience bring more revenue than their competitors that lag in customer experience. Do you know what the three invaluable benefits of prioritizing customer experience are? It takes customer loyalty, customer retention, and referrals to a higher level. So, you indeed attract more revenue to your business.
Multi-channel communication approach
Do your customers reach you whenever they want to? If not, ponder over it again. Active communication is one of the most important elements of building strong relationships with customers. Use different channels and software for generating leads.
For instance – You can use cold email outreach software, live chat, social media channels, or text messages to achieve more leads and give your customers the best experience. You can identify the right channel by understanding your target audience and focusing on brand engagement. Thus, a multi-channel communication approach takes you closer to gaining more customers.
CRM Tools
Customer relationship management or CRM is a customer-centric strategy to optimize revenue and customer satisfaction. The more you understand your target audience, the easy it becomes to give a kick to your sales. Nowadays, there are several CRM Tools that have the power to record the likes, dislikes, and spending patterns of customers.
You can then build detailed profiles of your customers as per their preferences. CRM tools make it easy for your business to gain insights about your customers, faster communication, segment your customer base effectively and ultimately increase customer retention rates.
Always ask for feedback
Gaining the feedback of the customers shows them that you care and are constantly making an effort to improve your services. You can opt for various methods to gather the feedback of your customers, like sending them regular surveys, asking the feedback on social media platforms, and whatnot. If you deliver a physical product, you can include a card in its packaging with a survey and ask them to fill it out.
Besides, including a link in your email signature that takes them to a short welcome note with a survey is also an easy way for them to tell about their experience. When customers see that their feedback matters to you and you make changes as per their feedback, it builds more trust between you and them.
Maintain transparency with your customers
Honesty and transparency is the foundation of building stronger relationships with your customers. If something goes wrong with their product or service, it is your responsibility to inform them at the earliest. Plus, you should apologize for your mistake too. Customers respect you more for accepting your mistakes and improving them rather than trying to cover them up.
Hiding the mistakes only erodes trust. Furthermore, share relevant information like the mission, values, and vision of your business with them. Keep updating them about the products and services. Doing all this will keep the transparency factor high with your customers and will drive them more toward your services.
To make a long story short
You have to constantly come up with reasons to make your customers emotionally connect with you. Having the right tools and customer relationship strategies by your side can change the whole business game. So, start implementing them now and let your business notice the difference. After all, Chaz Van de Motter couldn’t be more right when he said – Customer service is about empathy.