I can see today how advanced businesses are, especially when interacting with their customers. We have chatbots who are available 24*7, and we have exclusive template messages that reply quickly. All thanks to the online shopping experience, the choosing and buying are fast and efficient but mechanical as well. Everyone is encouraging the chatbots and the latest advancements, but most customers trust human interaction. They find it a lot easier to process.
Global businesses already have significant loyal customers due to the various tools and workforce. Can small businesses achieve this goal? If yes, then how?
Today I will share essential tips for small business to improve their customer experience.
1. Know your customers better than your competitors
You are a business owner; either you are selling a product or a service, which means you are offering a solution to people. You call those people your customers. Do you think just by selling products you could generate revenues? After some time, customers need the motivation to buy your products. They want you to take care of the smallest problems, it shows how considerate you are with their time and money.
Established businesses have access to some effective tools, which they use to enhance customer experience. What can small businesses do, especially with a fixed budget? Fortunately, small businesses can now enhance the customer's experience with the help of the available Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system tools. If you wish to transform your business in the marketplace, then you must be willing to invest in the required tools. See, this is not about investing in high-end tools. It is primarily about the data you are getting and how you plan to implement it in your marketing campaigns, focusing on your target audience.
2. Prioritize solutions over calls
I remember rarely a time when my issues were resolved through a customer executive. This is not a pleasant experience for me when my call is in a transfer loop, yet I end up without any solution. I am not alone in this; according to the salesforce study, 26 per cent of customers have gone through numerous calls, yet the issues were not resolved.
Is there any effective solution to this? Yes, It is simple; when businesses understand the importance of time and money, they must treat their customers the same way. When you are training your customer representatives, focus more on empowering them with tools, resources, and adverse challenges so that they can resolve the issues from their end. You have no idea how much resources and time you will be saving.
3. Make your customer's life easy
Salespeople and account managers conduct post-sale follow-ups to check in with customers and maintain track of things. Businesses must create and make available comprehensive knowledge bases to give a more thorough and proactive client experience. Do you know what would be some great knowledge bases? Technical manuals, white papers, how-to guides, product tutorials, FAQ pages, and technical documentation are all great places to start.
4. Conduct surveys after interactions
Asking customers directly, especially soon after an interaction, is easy to learn how to improve your customer service. Send automated surveys to customers asking about their most recent interactions with your services.You can conduct your surveys through any of the following -
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SMS messages
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Triggered emails
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Chat pop-ups
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Online surveys
The fact that these surveys are real-time means that the information is still fresh in the customer's memory and enables you to tailor the survey to a particular call, chat, or email. You may not need to invest in another tool for this, and your CRM platform offers these features most of the time. Make sure that you choose your CRM tool accordingly, which allows you to take care of the small details of your customer.
5. Give a call to your former customer
Ironically this is the easier yet challenging task for any customer representative. I said easy because interacting with someone who was already in alignment with your product and didn't need convincing to buy it. I said difficult because the customer is not buying from you presently, so there must be some disappointment from her side. I would say there is no special hack for it; you have to go back and initiate the conversation just as you would with an old friend.
You must keep your biases in check and muster your wisdom to interact with the customer. You will be surprised that most customers are ready to have a good conversation with you.
You can easily strengthen your relationship with that customer. Look at the bright side; if you've already made the required efforts to address and resolve the issues that customers initially expressed about your product, service, or support procedures, they might be even more willing to give your company another chance.
6. Encourage the customer to give positive reviews and referrals
I have seen one particular thing while interacting with customer executives. They are flawless while resolving my issues but passive while encouraging me to share my descriptive review or provide their services with a rating. Your business has a huge responsibility to take care of its customer's woes, but it needs to be mutual at one point. What is the customer's responsibility now if the business goes beyond its comfort zone and assists its customers? Encourage them in a way that they are willing to bring potential leads to you.
Give them rewards if they provide you with referrals for new clients. When they take the initiative and share the benefits of your services/ products, they are justifying the fact that they loved your product. Additionally, the more people recommend your company to their friends, the more you establish a reputation for providing top-notch customer service.
I believe now you must be feeling a bit confident about your small business. I want to add that while you are on the journey to understand your customers, do not hesitate to implement a different approach. It can be different but use it wisely, and remember the purpose of your business.
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Shellye Archambeau is determined to help you with all possible strategies to climb the ladder of success. She values your feedback. Do mention them in the comment section below.