How To Improve Your Relationship With Your Customers
If you’re working towards running the best business possible, then it’s crucial that you begin to adopt a customer-centric approach to your daily operations. After all, when you put customers first, you’ll find it easier to manage their expectations and elevate their happiness levels. As a result, they’re more likely to recommend your business to others, while also becoming repeat customers themselves.
With that in mind, here are some simple ways in which you can begin to improve your relationship with your customers.
- – Help employees communicate better. Employee training should provide employees with the opportunity to develop their communication skills. For example, you make work to enhance their confidence so they can communicate clearly and effectively. Not only will this support improve customer relations, but it will also help when it comes to building a rapport with your teams that will allow your business to run smoothly.
- – Embrace technology. The right technology can also serve to enhance the customer experience. For example, a Teams CcaaS Solution can help you to deliver a seamless digital customer experience, where customers can reach out to a member of your team through video calls, SMS messages or emails. By giving them a range of options to choose from, customers are likely to feel more comfortable reaching out.
- – Hold yourself accountable when making mistakes. Mistakes, while frustrating, are sometimes unavoidable. In fact, even the most successful businesses have navigated their way through mistakes they may have expected to ruin them. This proves that the mistake is often not the issue – the way you respond to it is. Being dismissive suggests to your customers that you don’t care about the impact your mistake had on them/their experience with your business. Conversely, holding yourself accountable and being proactive in your response to these mistakes, shows them you’re passionate about improving their experience. As a result, showing accountability can be a great way to improve your relationship with your customers.
- – Host focus groups. If you want to maintain a solid relationship with your customers, you have to know who they are. This way, you can continue to develop products/services that are profitable and will perform well when released. However, as consumer behaviours change so often, you need to promote open communication between yourself and your target audience. Focus groups are a great way in, as they provide you with an opportunity to interact one-on-one with your target audience. Their candid feedback will allow you to identify any mistakes you may be making that could be costing your business hundreds of dollars in revenue. It can also put you on the path towards success.
- – Show them the ‘people’ behind the brand. Showing your customers the ‘people’ behind the brand, such as by including an ‘About Us’ section on your website, is a great way to humanise your brand. This is because it “gives the audience a relatable person to connect with. As they grow to appreciate this person, they increasingly engage with the brand and patronise the business.”
- – Interact with your customers on social media. Regardless of whether you spend your free time on social media, there’s no denying that carefully cultivated social media profiles can do wonders for your business. For example, not only do they expand your global outreach, but they also provide you with an opportunity to bond with your customers. For example, you could host an Instagram Live to showcase your products and respond in real-time to their questions and comments.
- – Show some appreciation. Finding new and creative ways to show your customers that you appreciate them is essential when it comes to building lasting relationships. After all, failure to innovate could mean that your customers begin to look elsewhere, especially if they feel as though they receive few rewards for their continued patronage. Thankfully, there are various options to consider here. For example, you could put together a rewards system for repeat customers, or offer them exclusive discount codes. Sending out messages thanking them for their purchases can also go a long way in developing a relationship with them.
- – Personalise messages. By personalising outgoing messages (such as emails and SMS messages), and including your customer’s name in correspondence you can “make your customers feel included, seen and appreciated when you communicate with them.” This, in turn, will improve the relationship you share as they feel as though they are valued and respected. Where this is not possible, you should try to be friendly and approachable in your communication style, to create a similar sense of ease and comfort.
