It is easy to get swept up into the day to day of business. With so many things to do and so much we want to do, sometimes we need to take a minute and remember how we got to where we are today. Our employees? Yes, of course. But also, take an extra minute to appreciate our customers. Marketers and sales professionals have a lot of pressure to help grow the business, albeit the primary goal of a business in general, but we must remember to take care of and nurture our relationships with our customers. This means creating new relationships and closing new business, but also taking care of and nurturing our relationships with existing customers.
Here are 5 ways that companies can improve customer relations.
- Focus on your social media channels
Oh, the beauty of technology. A free customer service opportunity for us to interact with our customers has inherently been created: social media. And we, as business professionals, should know a great opportunity when we see one! By creating and maintaining social media channels, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, we have a direct way to communicate with our customers and learn about what they like. Especially with tools provided by social media analytics, we can find out what people need and want, but also what they are saying about the brand. With the right analysis, it’s similar to sending out a massive survey to all your customers, and then using that survey to learn about what people are looking for and often times, any issues they may have with your offering or just any issues in general. The information is available; it’s up to us to listen and then act on what we can learn via social media.
- Create a comprehensive FAQ Page
With the data-centric world we are living in, people want quick access to helpful information. Customers don’t want to have to read through 100 different questions or have a search bar that doesn’t pull what they are looking for. A well thought out FAQ page makes anyone, especially customers, happy. Bonus for your company: you may even stop getting the same questions over and over again. Put the information out there, easy to access, and both parties win. Of course, some customers prefer having answers accessible, while others prefer to send a support email. For less complicated questions especially, the more resources available, the better.
- Personalized Email Communication
People have gone numb to that email they know is just automatically generated and sent. Personalized communication, on the other hand, will never go out of style. So bringing that back to email communication, whether it is a first touch with a prospect customer or a follow up/check-in email with an existing customer, feeling like an individual (or individual company) instead of a number on a list is something that customers remember.
- The Best Brand Advocates are Happy Customers
A truly happy customer should want to share their experience with the world. If you feel that you need to ask not twice, but five times for them to be a brand advocate, it is worth nurturing the relationship for a bit longer so it can come along authentically. A customer’s authentic review can transform into a testimonial, reference or expanded network. Since often it comes down to who you want to do business with, a happy customer will become your best brand advocate because they will want you to do well and have a great recommendation for its network, as well.
- Bring Back the Handwritten Note
Handwritten notes will never go out of style. Emails are expected in the business world, but who doesn’t love getting a nice note in the mail? Those that take the time to personalize interactions and do something different to make sure their customers feel appreciated will always be remembered.
