You’ve probably heard the old adage that it takes more money to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. Especially during a time as polarizing as the year 2020, you need to rely on your customers’ loyalty in order for your business to find success and make it through this period of economic uncertainty. That being said, it can sometimes be difficult to think about the ways that you can improve your customers’ experience so that you’re able to retain them for years to come. Here are five great strategies to try to keep your customers happy, loyal and coming back for more.
1. Make it easy to connect with your business.
One of the easiest ways to improve your customers’ lives is to make it simple for them to get in touch with you. Having CRM contact center software helps you not only achieve this sort of streamlined interaction but also makes it far more personalized for the individual customer. For example, you can set up an omnichannel call center software solution in order to let your contact center take questions from customers via email, text, video, phone, live chat, and even direct message through social media. From there, you can pull each customers’ Salesforce CRM data, giving your live agent important contextual information about recent purchases or email communications that the customer might have received. This offers you a much more personalized approach to customer service which helps your reps communicate just how valued each customer is.
2. Create an internal action plan that prioritizes customers.
It’s one thing to talk about making changes to how you interact with customers, but it’s another thing to act on it. If improving customer service is a major priority for your business this coming year, clearly spell it out using the OKR framework. OKR stands for “objectives and key results,” and is a methodology pioneered by two of the brilliant minds behind Google to define goals and achieve them. If you’re new to the OKR process, consider using a software platform like Work Board in order to help you identify your goals and what steps need to be taken to reach them. Work Board comes packed with powerful features to ensure your OKR framework is executed properly, including real-time analytics and visuals that help you see where your business is and where it’s heading.
3. Send a survey to customers for honest feedback.
Surveying your customers is a time-honored tradition for soliciting feedback and can be very helpful for identifying your strengths and your weaknesses. While it might be tempting to send surveys only to your most loyal customers, consider trying to survey customers who’ve stopped coming to you, too, to see what caused them to leave. Gathering a wide variety of data will ultimately help give you a better picture of what to improve and what to maintain.
4. Keep your ear to the ground — the social media ground, that is.
Customers are constantly talking about your business, even when they’re not talking directly to your business. As such, it’s vital that you keep one eye on social media on a regular basis to see what people are saying about you. Even if you aren’t being directly mentioned or tagged on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, customers could still be tweeting about your wait times or other aspects of the way you run your company. These posts provide vital information on how to improve, as well as what’s working and should be retained.
5. Run delight campaigns on top of traditional marketing campaigns.
Generally speaking, most companies run advertising campaigns in order to convert customers to make a purchase. However, have you ever considered running a delight campaign for customers who’ve purchased a product or service? These sorts of campaigns can provide tips and tricks for how to get the most out of their purchase and can really boost customer satisfaction. From ideas on how to use their new phone or different short software tutorials, there are plenty of ways to create a delight campaign for your specific industry and product.
