Your business wouldn’t be able to run without your customers. Ultimately, they are the targets of any marketing tactic, and yet learning the ropes related to customer service takes practice and experience. You learn some lessons the hard way, but you can also gain useful insights from veterans…like DDW.
Here are 7 tried-and-tested ways which can help your business gain and retain customers.
1. The Customer is The King
Whether you wish to sell a product or a service, the way you treat your customers is very likely a deal maker or breaker. If you wish to be a business worth its salt, consider the following tips:
- engage with your customers: answer their queries and acknowledge their feedback
- if you do not receive any feedback, ask for it!
- when initiating feedback, make it specific; use questions like: ‘How would you rate your experience with us? and ‘How likely are you to recommend our service or product?’
- do not ignore complaints; efficiency is key; certain complaints aren’t even worth addressing beyond a certain timeframe
- come up with effective solutions to issues. Inadequate solutions rub clients the wrong way
- follow up on interest shown by potential clients
- send out re-engagement emails
- send thank-you emails
2. Digital Marketing is Your Friend
Digital tools offer invaluable resources worth tapping into. Make these tools work for you by learning more about how to use them and maximise their full benefit.
Know Your Audience
You can learn more about your customers’ spending habits through specialised software. Once you’re aware of the products they tend to purchase, how much they typically spend, whether they are likely to use discount codes and so on, you can segment your marketing efforts accordingly.
Email Marketing
Don’t underestimate its power! Keep clients informed about new services, products and other business updates.
Social Media Campaigns
Choose the best social media platform for your business based on information about your audience and current trends related to your product or service. Then, make your campaign as fun and wide-reaching as possible.
3. Take Good Care of Existing and Loyal Customers
Existing and repeat customers are one of your business’ greatest assets. These customers often spend more than new ones – 67% on average – and they tend to buy more often. Plus, they are more likely to refer their friends and family to your business, for free! We know that word of mouth marketing is the best form of advertising.
Reward Loyalty
The right moves from your end can help loyal customers feel valued, which is at the crux of customer retention. Some of the perks you can reserve for your loyal customer base include:
- sneak peek at new products
- prior notification about offers
- exclusive deals with promo codes
- monthly newsletters
- exclusive tips and tricks related to your product and service
100% Money Back Guarantee
A business gains and retains customers by offering a good service that’s not only good on paper. As the adage goes, the proof is in the pudding. Offering a 100% Money Back Guarantee is quite a bold move for businesses, which is why not all companies opt for it.
Of course, this is not the case with storyboards.io: apart from offering customers a bespoke, premium product, they also offer this perk. Not only that, free delivery is available within a mere 24 hours after placing an order. Now if that’s not a great service, we don’t know what is!
4. Networking
While digital marketing offers many advantages, there is something unique about in-person networking events. The following might benefit your product or service:
- taking part in relevant events
- sponsoring local groups
- setting up a table or booth at a market
- setting up live educational events
You can also link up with other businesses to offer special perks to your clients. For instance, offering your clients a 10% discount on cinema tickets might be an attractive incentive. Affiliated content is another brilliant idea through which you leverage another brand’s perceived value to promote your own.
5. Invest in Brand Awareness
This goes a long way in attracting new customers to your product. You can do this directly, namely by sharing your business card, giving away freebies, and including buttons of your socials across all channels of communication.
You can also navigate this route indirectly by publicising your brand’s values. Customers are more likely to buy from brands that mirror their own core values, such as giving back to the community and advocating for certain issues. Additionally, content marketing that communicates humor, authenticity, consistency and care, can resonate well with customers.
6. Build Trust
Customer relationships and personal relationships have many things in common. One of them is the importance of trust. In fact, results from the Gartner 2019 Brand Trust Survey revealed that 81% of consumers would refuse to do business with or buy from a brand that they don’t trust.
Thus, while investing in social responsibility initiatives can be a good way of earning your brand a good reputation, customers tend to sense when it’s just a front. Greenwashing, for instance, can permanently tarnish your reputation.
7. Focus on Bringing Value
It’s useless having a good marketing strategy if the product or service you’re selling doesn’t add value to your customers. Once you make sure that your product or service actually serves your customers, you want to ensure that customers are able to maximize its value.
To do this, you might want to provide live demonstrations, tutorials, webinars or workshops, depending on the nature of what you’re selling. Having an informative FAQs section on your website and regularly updating it with common queries, can be another effective way of educating the public about the nuts and bolts of your product and how they can enjoy its full benefit.