Your customer is your biggest priority in your organization. They are literally your bread and butter and need to be treated as such to ensure that they are loyal to your brand. The customer experience is currently one of the biggest differentiators in a customer’s choice of brand.
In fact, research shows that 86% of customers will pay for better customer experience, and this is all based on how a customer is treated in the organization. Communication with the customer plays one of the biggest roles in customer experience, and brands are investing heavily in optimizing each touchpoint with the customer.
80% of companies globally are now investing in their multi-channel platforms to ensure that customers’ needs are met on each platform. The power of customer experience has skyrocketed over the last few years and has little chance of slowing down.
So, if you are looking into heightening your customer experience by tweaking your communication strategies, we thought we would help. Here are 4 techniques that you can implement over the next few months to really drive that customer experience up.
Have a Personal Relationship With Your Customer
One of the most important things to consider is not to treat your customer like a number. In this day and age, a personalized interaction will go a long way between a customer and a company, so make sure you spend a bit more time on creating that heightened experience for your customer.
If you are client-facing and manage a number of accounts, make sure you take the time to get to know who your customer is, their interests, and their buying behavior. By knowing this, you will be able to predict the next purchase and have it ready for them with an extra discount or added product to keep them around.
Many client-facing executives ensure that the customer knows them by name by reinforcing the personalization with the customer. Whether it be wearing a customized ID badge at all times or leaving quirky business cards, it is vital to have that personal relationship established for extended brand loyalty.
Ensure Those Communication Lines Are Open at All Times
While being available to your customer 24/7 is challenging, especially if you are working in a smaller company, you will need to ensure that your company is as transparent and available as possible. Promoting accessibility, transparency, and accountability is a key feature of gaining customer trust, and if you can demonstrate this practically to customers, you will start building a brand loyal customer base.
You need to, however, keep in mind that different customers prefer different types of communication. Some opt for the traditional phone call, while others opt for email, WhatsApp, Facebook, or any other kind of instant messaging. You will need to be prepared for all types of requests. While some people hate picking up a phone call, in a lot of cases, you will find that this type of communication strikes a better cord with a customer and you can address any concerns or problems directly.
Make sure you have someone who will be able to man your social media and chatbots. VoIP phone services are also a great investment for your company. Not only are they cheaper, due to using the internet, but your customer will have that instant access they need should they need support, troubleshooting or to have contact with an actual person in a company.
Ensure Those Communication Lines Are Open at All Times
As much as you need to have an open line of communication with your customer, you will also need to ensure that communication is taking place within your company too. Customers are incredibly put off by breaks in service or something going wrong due to the lack of communication between departments.
No matter how big or small your company is, interdepartmental communication is vital, and there has been a defined move over the last five years for organizations to break down organizational silos. Sales staff and client-facing staff can action queries and requests easier if they have direct access to departments like warehousing or supply chain to track progress.
One highly effective way to ensure that departments can communicate information to each other in real-time is by setting up team communication tools. There are hundreds of online tools and software for you to choose from. From instant team chats to task progress and monitoring tools, the options are endless. You also don’t need to pay an arm and a leg for them as many of the tools are free, or have a really low monthly subscription. It is really easy for anyone to log into a dashboard, check the status of a task, communicate with the assigned employee, and action it.
Take Criticism as a Learning Curve
They say that the customer is always right, but in a world full of perpetually unsatisfied customers, this is not always the case. However, in saying that, it is critically important to listen to what your customer has to say. You can learn a lot from simply listening to what your customer needs and wants, after all, they are the ones actually using the product or service.
If you receive criticism or complaints, take time to actually take note of what they are saying and identify where you can improve your offering. You might find an opportunity to heighten your offerings and set yourself apart from your competitors.
Send out surveys via your mailing system once they have used your services to find out how they found your service. Random surveys are also great to check in with your market and test out new offerings. Lastly, watch your social media. Facebook ratings are very important to monitor and should a customer leave a negative comment, do not delete it, but rather address it. You will demonstrate your accountability and transparency to other customers.
Last Thoughts
Remember that the customer journey is a critical aspect of your business. From the first time your customer comes across your company to the delivery of the product or service, each touchpoint needs to be optimized for a customer to feel a personalized connection with your brand. Take the customer journey yourself to identify where the weak spots are in your organization. Enter from various points; social media, the website, and calling up the company to test what needs to be improved upon. And remember, ensure that client-facing staff is always educated, informed, and up to date with everything in the company.
customer relations concept -DepositPhotos
