Customer service is one of the most important aspects of a business that should not be overlooked and in the world today, quality customer service could help propel your business forward. The best customer service is helping your customers efficiently and in a friendly manner, to ensure that they are satisfied with your service. This includes providing a professional and high-quality research before, during, and after all requirements are met.
A customer can become your most important asset, which is why much emphasis is placed on ensuring that they are satisfied. However, as important as this is, not every business provide a professional customer service good enough to keep a customer. A 2011 research on the effects of customer service in Turkey found that there is improved customer satisfaction and customer loyalty when customer service is improved.
Hubspot Research also found that successful customers can become your best salespeople and 77% of the subjects shared positive experiences that they have had with companies in the past year. In addition to that, the research also established that acquiring new customers is about 5 to 25 times more expensive than keeping the current ones. The same research in their 2017 State of Inbound report showed that about 63% of respondents described generating traffic and leads as their top marketing challenge. This has been linked to poor customer loyalty due to poor customer service.
Customer satisfaction is a great way to boost your business and if you have never considered it a priority, it is never too late to begin. If you also feel you have been getting it wrong all along, despite your efforts, you can always change the approach and try again.
Here are a few crazy ideas you can try to help improve your customer service:
1. Answer Questions with Videos
Answering questions with videos is an easy and interesting way to communicate with your customers, especially if the questions are complicated. You can put videos up on your site to address frequently asked questions and also take it a step further by responding to emails with videos. Most online retailers tend to use the same template consistently, which could get boring in the long run. You can spice it up a little by including personalized videos and addressing the email properly. Personalize the video by mentioning the customer’s name, introducing yourself properly and then addressing the question asked. Although a little bit tasking, it helps improve customer service.
2. Build Credibility by Publishing Reports
Every customer would want to rely on your credibility and a great way to build it is by publishing reports for them to see. Be transparent enough and let them see where the company or business is per time. Publish reports that show a summary of your support metrics, how you interacted with customers, your small and big moves and progress so far. You can decide to do this monthly or yearly and watch it help you connect with your customers and increase your revenue in the long run.
3. Send Personalized Appreciation Notes
Say “Thank You” in a special way by sending out personalized appreciation notes. Make the notes as special as they can get, even if it involves them being handwritten and addressing each customer by their names. When a customer purchases a product, whether online or offline, try to include a small personalized appreciation note. There are several mailing options, like MailChimp, that can help customize online notes to be sent via emails. However, for handwritten offline notes, MailLift can do the job and send them directly to your customers on your behalf. There is a higher tendency that these customers will be back to shop with you again.
4. Send Heartwarming Cards
This is similar to appreciation notes, but you can take it further by sending cards on special dates when people create memories, like birthdays and special holidays. Many adults tend to forget their birthdays as they age, but you can make them remember the day in a special and fun way by sending cards. Apps like Happy Birthday Email will help collect the necessary data and send a personalized birthday message to every customer. You can also send holiday cards at the end of the year to appreciate your customers and wish them a blissful holiday.
5. Get Social Media Friendly
Social media is the cool way to interact with customers today and you may want to utilize that to its maximum capacity. Respond to your direct messages as soon as possible; you could get a social media manager to help manage your accounts effectively and improve your customer service. Also, try to repost pictures from your customers when you are tagged in their photos. Most of the time, they want recognition from the brand that they have patronized. If you think reposting all pictures will mess with your feed, you can utilize the story feature on Facebook and Instagram, for example, and share their content. It will help them love you better and strengthen loyalty.
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You can also create a Facebook group of your most loyal customers and engage them in discussions about your brand. Introduce coupons and VIP sales in the group once in a while, to make them feel special about being a loyal customer.
6. Make a Donation in your Customer’s Name
If your brand does a form of charity every year, this could be your chance to make your customer happy by including their names on the list of donors. You can then send a mail to them, including details and screenshots, to let them know. Knowing that they are giving back to the community by just patronizing your brand, they will want to come back again and spend as much as they can on your products.
7. Give Special Discounts
One of the ways to appreciate your loyal customers is by giving them special discounts, You can add this to the appreciation notes or customized special cards. Send them uniquely via email to show them how special they are to have been chosen to get such a deal. You can also give out random freebies at specific times during the year, especially on special holidays.
8. Take Customers on Vacation with Brand Employees
Some of the best companies to work with are those that take employees on vacations. You can take it a step further with your brand by bringing in customers once in a while. Look out for loyal customers that deserve such honor and let them join your employees on a vacation. This will not only put a smile on the faces of your customers but also promote your brand positively to other potential customers.
9. Community Outreach
Coordinating a community outreach is a way to give back to the community as a company. It also helps to build your brand reputation, as more people will trust you even more and it helps your brand embody a positive personality. In addition to this, you will attract other people in the community to know more about your brand and even if they can’t afford to buy from you, they will have positive remarks about you.
10. Create a Customer Service “Hall of Fame” with Your Best Customer Testimonials
When you provide an amazing customer service, you will get amazing customer reviews in return. Consider creating a hall of fame with your best customer testimonials to give people an idea of the excellent service you render and also to honor some of your loyal customers as shown on Lyfe’s testimonial page.
This increases trust for first-timers and act as proof or reference for intending customers.
Conclusion
These ideas, if maximized well, could help improve your customer service. If you have tried any before and there were no tangible results, you may want to give a second try now and be more deliberate about it. You can also try other ideas and observe your results. Improving customer service can help increase traction for your brand and also help you build a credible and reputable brand in the long run.
You can also be a little extra by adding some humor and an interesting tone. You don’t necessarily have to sound official with your customers when you can as well just play around with words and put a smile on someone’s face. Quit using the usual default template most brands use and try to have a conversational tone while responding to your customers.
