12 Ways To Keep Your Customers Happy
Running a business means that your customers become your top priority. Without the people who purchase your products and services, your business would quickly start to have trouble and eventually fail. Because of this, keeping your customers happy and satisfied should be at the top of your to do list every single day. Apart from always offering a friendly smile and a helpful hand, what else can you do to improve your company’s customer service standards and ensure total satisfaction?
We’ve put together some top tips to help you:
Tip #1 Invest in a Wireless Phone
Today’s business owners aren’t spending as much time sitting at their desks. Perhaps you’re more mobile and are often out meeting with your customers or clients in person, or maybe you spend most of the working day in the thick of it on the work floor, instructing, encouraging and getting involved in business tasks with your team.
There are many good reasons to get away from your desk. However, if that’s where your business phone is located, you could end up missing important calls from employees, business contacts, suppliers, and your customers. A business wireless phone allows you to take these calls from wherever you’re located, ensuring that the customers who’re trying to get in touch will have their queries dealt with as quickly as possible.
Tip #2 Boost Your Social Media Presence
Customers are using social media more and more when finding brands, products and services. With millions of users across popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, this is the perfect opportunity for your company to reach out and utilize all the features available for providing the best possible customer service online.
Today, customers are increasingly using social media to ask questions and make complaints, especially on Facebook and Twitter where it’s easy to get in touch directly with brands via direct messages, comments, or tweets. Ensure that you have a team managing your social media profiles throughout the day, getting back to customer queries as quickly as possible.
Tip #3 Monitor Online Reviews
Your company’s online reviews are a huge factor when it comes to swaying potential new customers in your direction. With so many opportunities to both leave and read company reviews online, it’s no surprise that other opinions are the first thing many potential customers look for before they decide whether to part with their money.
One or two negative reviews is normal. However, a lot of them can quickly become disastrous for your business. Monitoring your online reviews on your website, social media, directory sites and trusted third party review sites is essential. This will help you keep on top of what your customers are saying about your brand. In addition, you should also aim to get in touch with customers who leave bad reviews to apologize for their experience and find out what they would like from you to rectify the situation. The way that you respond to a bad review can make a huge amount of difference.
Tip #4 Say Thank You
Practicing regular gratitude has some wonderful benefits for your personal life. When it comes to business, the power of saying ‘thank you’ is just as strong. Remembering to always thank your customers for their loyalty and for choosing your brand over the others can have a lasting effect.
Don’t just verbally say thanks when customers get in touch or after they make a purchase, though. Stand out from the crowd by coming up with innovative and creative methods of expressing your gratitude to your customers. For example, you could send hand written thank you cards with a money-off voucher included when a customer spends a large amount.
Tip #5 Get Personal
Every communication between you and your customers should be as personalized as possible. When you receive a marketing letter or email, seeing ‘Dear Customer’, or another similar generic opening line, can be boring and ineffective.
On the other hand, taking the time to get to know your customers’ names and addressing them accordingly can make a massive difference. This shows that you’re not just interested in what your customers can offer you in terms of money, but that you also care about who they are as people.
Tip #6 Be Mobile Friendly
Assuming your business has an online presence, it’s never been more important to accommodate mobile users. Today, more and more customers are switching from the traditional PC or laptop to smaller, portable and more convenient devices such as tablets or smartphones. Shopping, or even browsing a website on a smart device can be tricky and frustrating if the site is not mobile optimized. Be sure to offer your customers the best possible online experience by not only designing a website with a simple, user friendly interface, but by also ensuring that a responsive layout is used.
Tip #7 Offer Loyalty Programs
Customers want to feel that you value their loyalty and returning business. One of the best ways to demonstrate this is to offer customer loyalty programs. For example, a card on which they can collect points to spend, free products after a certain number of purchases, or regular money-off vouchers. Depending on the type of program that you use, you can also take advantage of data collection to improve the customer experience even further. For example, by using a card that customers must swipe or key-in when purchasing, you can track their choices and offer deals on products tailored to their preferences.
Tip #8 Encourage Customer Feedback
The only way to be truly sure that your company is providing its customers with what they need is by asking them directly. Encouraging honest customer feedback is essential for your business. You can then use it to determine what is being done well, and which areas could do with some improvement. Today, it’s simple to ask your customers for feedback. Using social media, you can share surveys and polls that your customers can then fill in conveniently from the comfort of their own home or even on the go.
Tip #9 Improve Your Content Marketing
Content marketing strategies aren’t just for bringing in new custom and driving further traffic to your website. In fact, the kind of content that your business produces can be very useful in improving the standard of customer service that you provide. For example, starting a business blog that publishes a plethora of useful information for your customers will certainly go down well. Most people today use the internet when they want to learn something new, and your customers are no different. You could include tips for how to more effectively use your products and other information or advice to enable your customers to improve their overall experience with your brand.
Tip #10 Start A Contact Center
Even though customers are increasingly turning to online methods of getting in touch such as live web chat, email or social media, many still expect to be able to call up and speak to a customer representative in person if needed. Without a contact number on your website, customers who prefer to call are surely going to be frustrated, and you could end up losing their business. Today, it’s never been easier to set up a business contact center. You can outsource the work to a professional communications company, or save money by using VoIP call technology.
Tip #11 Create A Community
Brands that do well know the power of creating a strong customer community. This can be done by starting a forum, encouraging high levels of social media engagement, or even simply turning on comments in your business blog and asking customers to leave their replies. Customers will feel much more valued by your brand if they’re treated as important members of your community. You should not only encourage your customers to interact with your brand as much as possible, but also with other members of your audience.
Tip #12 Go Above and Beyond
Providing outstanding customer service is all about going above and beyond the call of duty. Sometimes, it’s the little things that you don’t have to do, but choose to do anyway, that can make all the difference. For example, you could consider sending out Christmas cards to your loyal customers, or offering exclusive deals that they can’t find anywhere else.
When it comes to going above and beyond the call of duty with customer service, it’s often down to your own discretion. For example, you could arrange next day delivery free of charge for a customer who’s had a problem ordering, or replace a broken product in addition to a refund. It will all depend on the situation at hand and what you think the best choice is for your business and your customer.
Looking after your customers is essential to business success. Customers are always looking for brands that value them and treat them with the highest level of respect.
