If you and your competitor have the same offers, is it how customers choose who to buy from completely random, or is there more to it? What about a scenario where they have a slightly better (objectively) offer? Does this mean that everyone will flock to them?
Of course not!
If your relationship with your customers is strong enough, your business will become more prosperous and resilient. So, how do you build this strong relationship? Here are the top ten ways you can do it.
1. Improve your customer service
The first thing you must understand is that when everything’s going right, no one is paying attention to your actions. You see, a successful business or a successful leader are the ones whose presence is sensed but not seen. Your customers will usually direct their gaze toward you once something is awry.
You’ll leave a much better impression by training a better customer service (or outsourcing it to someone reliable). In a way, getting familiar with your customer service, and understanding how capable they are, may give a better outcome than if everything was flawless from the start. This way, their fears of future problems will be dismissed, as well, because they’ll already know that you can tackle any of these issues.
2. Have a more generous return policy
Your customers want to trust you. Why? Because it’s in their best interest. However, they sometimes don’t have the luxury of trusting you. Spending too much money on a product that doesn’t perform as promised can put a customer at risk. However, what if this risk wasn’t as high? What if they could return the product they don’t like and get their money back? With a more generous return policy, you can do just that.
Does this expose you to a higher risk of friendly fraud? Sure!
However, it also communicates that you value client relationships more than profit. It also communicates that you have full confidence in your product. You’re so confident that they won’t want/have to send it back.
3. Start using CRM software
You need to learn more about your customers to make a better relationship with them. One of the ways to do so is to start using CRM software. The customer relations management software is exactly what it sounds like. This massive tool contains all your customer data, from their profiles to the tiniest useful shred of data you have on them.
Now, many of these tools are out there, and picking the right one won’t be easy. We suggest that you look for the ultimate guide to CRM software to get an idea of what you’re looking for. Assessing an offer is impossible when you don’t have a reference point.
4. Directly ask for feedback
Sometimes, you need customer feedback. You must first find out how they see you to improve how they see you. The problem is that many users (satisfied or not) just won’t leave feedback. This silent majority may be the key to all your problems, so why not ask them directly to get involved?
Sure, some may argue that if they wanted, they could have easily left you a 0-5 stars or written a short comment, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Namely, people want their opinions to be heard and sought after. Sometimes, all you need to do is ask. Don’t be lazy; the future of your business depends on it.
5. Be graceful when responding to negative feedback
The next thing you need to understand is the importance of the way you respond to negative feedback. Only those who are too sensitive will enter these internet arguments and try to be loud and aggressive to hide their lack of confidence.
You need to be graceful when responding to negative feedback. First of all, not all negative feedback is useless. Some of it is constructive criticism. Second, some people slandering you online may still be salvageable as customers. Just:
- Take them seriously
- Thank them for their honest opinion
- Tell them that you’re sorry they’ve had a negative experience
- Promise to do more in the future
This simple moment of human attention and reassurance can change their opinion about your brand by 180 degrees.
6. Personalize your marketing
With the right tools, you’ll have a pretty easy job personalizing your marketing. People love preferential treatment, so they need to feel like you’re targeting them specifically. They need to get an offer they’re interested in (something they’ve left in the shopping cart or looked at on your site), be addressed by their full name, etc.
The biggest problem is that you’re walking a thin line between marketing personalization and user privacy. You still need to remain compliant with laws like GDPR and CCPA. Still, balancing between these two takes finesse. This is one of the reasons why so many businesses hire specialists.
7. Provide consistent quality in your content marketing
Your content marketing is how you demonstrate your value, knowledge, and authority to customers and potential customers. However, for this to work, you need quality and quantity in your content marketing. Even the best content won’t mean much if it’s the only piece published on your blog.
The rule of seven suggests that some people need at least seven interactions with your brand before they become paying customers. Well, look at this as seven different pieces of content. Each of them needs to be equally as good (or, at least, approximately as good) to leave a lasting impression and reinforce their interest.
8. Train your employees
Your employees will determine the effectiveness of your enterprise, as well as your general success rate in this field. So, you must hire the right talent and train your employees as best as possible. Make sure you start with a great employee selection, onboard them properly, and quickly find a mentor. This last part is important because this is the only way you can (at least partially) transfer some experience.
Remember that training employees is a never-ending process. It’s a constant loop of feedback and improvement. However, training costs, so ensure you always have the money for this.
9. Be more transparent
The best way to build trust is to be more transparent about what you do as a business. For instance, having hidden costs is a strategy that never pays off. Why? Well, because this is the information that will eventually become public knowledge. When that happens, you’ll lose face and the client’s trust for good.
As a business, you must be more transparent (good news and bad alike). You want to be straightforward and clear in your communication and be extra careful about your public reports and how you respond to feedback. Being more transparent usually means being more responsible, and that’s how people will interpret it, too.
10. Actively listen
Finally, you need to listen actively. Previously, we’ve already addressed this in the feedback section, but this is so important that we have to return to it once more. Listening and actively listening are two different things. Try to interpret what people mean and why this is important.
You might also want to look for brand mentions and see what people say about your brand when they think you’re not listening. Sometimes, this is how you’ll unveil the real truth about your reputation and brand.
Building stronger customer relationships requires an approach from multiple sides
Building a relationship with your customers takes so long, and just a single instance of carelessness destroys everything. You need to be more attentive. Most of the time, problems won’t just come out of the blue. If you’re involved and in touch with your customers, you’ll have the time to fix the issue. Also, as long as you’re open, transparent, and forthcoming, you have nothing to worry about.
