Exceptional Customer Service
In today’s competitive business world, the art of building and maintaining strong customer relationships is not just a luxury—it’s a necessity. As businesses strive to connect with their customers on a more personal level, exceptional customer service stands out as the bedrock of these relationships.
Previously I have taken you through an overview of the importance of Customer Relationships Building Strategies. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll explore strategies to create lasting connections with your customers, starting with the cornerstone of exceptional customer service. We’ll also delve into practical ways to apply these strategies to your email list, allowing you to connect with your audience in a meaningful and effective manner.
Personalization
– Personalization is all about making your customers feel special and unique. Addressing customers by their names during interactions shows you value and recognize them as individuals.
Your email list will allow you to do this automatically when you write your email in the template.
Effective Communication
– Regular, transparent, and open communication builds trust and keeps customers informed and engaged.
This is very simple to do. just make sure you send a regular email to your customers with your blog posts. Mailchimp allows you to set this up. They have step-by-step instructions on how to do it.
Listen to Feedback
– Customer feedback is a goldmine of insights that can guide your business in the right direction.
– Actively seek feedback through surveys, feedback forms, and social media channels. Google Forms and Survey Monkey are good simple ones to use. You just need to set them up and give the link in your email (called an email campaign) to your customers.
– Implement a feedback review process. Find out what your customers want and implement their suggestions.
– Show your customers that you value their input by implementing changes based on their suggestions, and communicate these improvements transparently. Offer them a free download ( A different one, not the original one they got to join your list)) to fill in the survey.
Value Their Time
– Customers appreciate efficiency and convenience in their interactions with your business.
– Streamline your processes, both online and offline, to minimize unnecessary delays and complications.
For example, as I said in a previous article only make your customers sign up once. Also, make the sign-up form as simple as possible. Only request the most basic information necessary. In my case, I do not need a family name so I only ask for a name and an email address.
– Provide clear instructions for customers on how to sign up, get their product and resolve simple issues on their own. How to download, has to have every single step explained. do not assume anything.
– Optimize your website for user-friendliness and speed, ensuring a seamless browsing and shopping experience. This will also help your SEO.
Reward Loyalty
Customer loyalty programs are a powerful tool for fostering lasting relationships and increasing customer retention.
Rewarding your customers with exclusive benefits, discounts, and special offers. Is easily done via email. It is perfectly acceptable to send out an email campaign with a discount for practically anything.
Black Friday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Boxing Day or any other celebration are all great opportunities to advertise a sale. But remember 5 and 10{1cb9c1be60a86aabf1612b1e24b621806ffc357588bf14e18c16b428c82f6e1a} are reserved for those who have bought from you before. Every other discount has to be substantial. Just not so substantial it deprives you of a profit and be sure each discount differs from the others.
Giving a discount is easy in ECWID and I imagine in most other shopping cart platforms. You just add a code in the back end of your product. then:
- For new customers give them the 5 0r 10{1cb9c1be60a86aabf1612b1e24b621806ffc357588bf14e18c16b428c82f6e1a} code in their welcome email.
- For sale just send it to everyone.
You can get really sophisticated with this by segmenting and tagging your email list but this is for beginners so the above is all you need. if you want to get more sophisticated you are going to have to read up on how to do that. just be careful not to create so much work for yourself that you don’t have time to do anything else.
Resolve Issues Gracefully
I would have thought that this one was pretty obvious. Email is not only the most common method that people are going to complain to you and so the following is the best way to handle them:
– Handling customer complaints and issues with grace can turn a potentially negative experience into a positive one.
– Apologize sincerely for any mistakes or inconveniences, and take responsibility for resolving the issue.
– Act swiftly to correct the problem, ensuring that the customer feels heard and cared for.
– Follow up with the customer to ensure their satisfaction and offer a goodwill gesture when appropriate.
Just one more important point even though email is the most common method of communication when it comes to complaints, if your business is on social media you must keep an eye on comments where your business name is mentioned. Fortunately, Social like Facebook will notify you when you are mentioned and that allows you to go through the same process as above. Just remember it is now in public. You have to be particularly diligent in your follow-up and stick to the process.
Engage on Social Media
– Social media platforms are valuable tools for building and maintaining customer relationships.
– Respond to customer comments and inquiries in a timely and courteous manner.
– Participate in discussions related to your industry, sharing expertise and insights.
– Share not only promotional content but also educational and entertaining material that resonates with your audience, showcasing the human and relatable side of your business.
This is just preliminary on Social Media. There is a lot more to engaging on social media. But that will be the topic of the next post.
