Customer service has always been paramount to retaining business but with increased access to competitors, it is now more critical than ever. We’ve collected some innovative ideas to keep your customers engaged and returning with new business.
89% of consumer stop doing business with a company after poor customer service according to the RightNow Customer Experience Impact Report.
1. Utilise online tools to create a community
It’s a well-known fact that consumer engagement leads to business retention, so you need to make your customers feel valued as part of a community. Bring your customers together through interactive websites, social media, webinars or special events. The extra effort will pay dividends when customers choose to return to your business.
2. Use data tracking to personalise experiences
Go the extra mile and personalise the shopping experience by adding a personalised note or email with purchases. Utilise social media to increase consumer engagement, by sharing customers happy moments on Facebook or Instagram. Target them with Facebook ads that resonate with their interests. Personalised experiences stand out in a customer’s mind among hundreds of other purchases.
To discover customers’ individual needs, you need to be able to consolidate their data. Having a POS system that seamlessly integrates with your ERP allows you to do this.
3. Respond to customers quickly
Speed is essential when dealing with customers and it’s another business aspect which will be compared to your competitors. Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots are a great way to speed up your process, plus they limit the amount of phone queries you’ll receive for simple questions. Don’t be deterred if you think chatbots are impersonal – Hubspot recently found 40% of customers don’t care who answered their query – as long as it was resolved.
4. Give your customers a way to provide feedback and use the information to improve your business
Feedback is imperative to customer satisfaction so don’t be disheartened when a customer complains. If they’ve taken the time to share their opinion, they are probably representative
Original Source: https://www.achieveforum.com/intelligence/research-tools.aspx
of a larger group of customers who share the same view. This can and should be used to your advantage. Take the complaint as constructive criticism and make the effort to implement some changes. By providing your customers with feedback options, it allows you to discover ways you can improve before your competitors beat you to it and it demonstrates your proactive customer service.