Whether you are a startup or a large-scale business, when it comes to clients, the emphasis is almost always on attracting and acquiring them. People and companies seldom discuss how to manage existing customer relationships.
It turns out, however, that keeping existing customers is much more lucrative than gaining new ones!
How to Manage Customer Relationships?
According to research, gaining a new client is five times more expensive than keeping an existing one. Furthermore, increasing customer satisfaction by just 5% will result in a 25-95 percent increase in company income.
This is why you must successfully handle your customer relationships. Here are some of the best practices to follow.
Respect your client’s time
Waiting time is bad for everyone, not just the service industry. People, on the other hand, dislike waiting for long periods. This can happen in stores, on the phone with customer service, or while visiting an organization for a meeting.
Value your clients’ time, regardless of what industry you’re in.
For example, don’t simply invite customers to come in for a meeting at their convenience. This is because there is always the possibility that you will be unprepared for an unexpected meeting. To avoid making your customers wait too long, make appointments ahead of time so that the relevant people inside the company are not overbooked.
Also Read: The Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Media
Automated appointment scheduling software can help in this situation. These tools allow users to create a booking page where customers can schedule meetings with their team.
Have presence across various customer touchpoints
There was a time when determining which platforms brands could use to reach consumers was relatively simple. However, with the advent of technology, the number of possible interactions between a brand and a customer has increased dramatically.
According to Marketing Week, 15 years ago, a customer can only engage with a brand across two touchpoints. Consumers nowadays, on the other hand, are more likely to use more than six touchpoints.
What are these touchpoints?
Traditional (TV, radio, or print ad) and digital (search engine, social media, or company website) media, as well as brick and mortar and online shops, can both introduce a customer to a brand message.
An omnichannel approach is the most effective way to provide efficient customer service. This means that across all platforms, brands must have a consistent brand experience. This helps consumers to quickly change channels while maintaining the same level of service.
Check which is your most popular touchpoint and put some additional efforts into it. E.g:- If your touchpoint is social media, put a dedicated team into work into your social media presence. If you do not have the resource for the job, hire a social media company to take care of your social media.
Create a tailored plan for providing assistance based on the identified medium.
Use a Quality CRM
There was a period when businesses believed that customer service software was just for large corporations. However, times have unquestionably changed.
According to CRM Magazine. Ninety-one percent of firms with more than ten employees have CRM software in place. This software industry itself is poised to reach a staggering revenue of $80 billion by 2025!
What is the appeal of CRM software? This is because, in today’s fast-paced environment, customer service software has become a requirement for staying competitive. CRM software enables businesses to simplify processes, strengthen team collaboration, standardize data management, and enhance customer relationships.
Also Read: How to Conduct Keyword Research for Ecommerce Store?
For example, Amazon’s CRM system uses data gathered during purchases to personalize the customer experience. As a result of monitoring past transactions, Amazon’s CRM ensures that customers are recommended items they are likely to buy the next time they visit Amazon!
Implement a suitable CRM system in your workplace. There are many custom CRM development companies providing bespoke CRM development solutions to fit your requirements.
Leverage AI via Chatbot Integration
45 seconds are up. According to Comm100, the average customer would wait 45 seconds for a live chat response. And a question that isn’t answered in a future customer that you’ve lost to a rival.
Leaving your customers happy with a swift response is one of the most important ways to manage your customer relationships. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in. Gone are the days when customer service representatives were solely responsible for responding to customer inquiries.
AI is now being used by automated chatbots to answer commonly asked questions. This improves the response time of a live chat while also increasing customer interaction.
Examine how you can use chatbots to enhance the customer experience. The best way to do so is to define the main processes and interactions with customers that can be automated using artificial intelligence.
Identify Client Requirements Before They Realize It
Marketers have a popular misconception that smartphones were not necessary in the first place. Apple, on the other hand, produced it. This isn’t correct! It is impossible to establish a need.
Although there may not have been a specific need for smartphones, the pain points associated with connectivity were still present. This is why, when it was first launched, the technology took off! Apple was effective in solving a pain point before customers became aware of it. As a result, it has risen to the top of the market.
When it comes to managing customer relationships, the same mindset is needed. Businesses must also learn to recognize their customers’ expectations and challenges ahead of time and do their best to solve them.
Conduct extensive market analysis to accomplish this. Try to put yourself in your client’s shoes and consider all of the potential issues. Using customer surveys to get a deeper understanding of your customers while you’re at it.
Examine how you can alleviate their concerns while still enhancing the brand’s reputation and trustworthiness.
Don’t Stop Engaging
Have you ever heard the phrase “top of mind”? This is what any marketer aspires to. It refers to a company’s ability to stay among a consumer’s top choices within a given industry. Coca-Cola and Pepsi, for example, come to mind when you think of carbonated beverages. This is a great example of the top-of-mind effect!
You must communicate with your customers even after they have purchased to minimize customer turnover and increase retention. After purchase, a simple thank-you email will go a long way.
Similarly, giving customers newsletters or suggestions for items based on their previous purchases is a perfect way to keep them engaged.
Here are a few communication ideas to consider:
- Request feedback on the products you’ve purchased. This aids in the collection of customer data, which can then be used to change the consumer engagement approach.
- Emails may be used to cross-sell goods by informing customers of new discounts and product recommendations.
- Give post-purchase incentive points to promote your customer loyalty program.
- To turn your loyal customers into brand advocates, ask for referrals.
The secret to communicating with customers after they’ve made a purchase is to make them feel known and to provide them with value-based solutions. Give this stage as much focus as possible to prevent post-purchase dissonance.
Also Read: The Best Content Management Platform For SEO
Ending Remarks
Your company’s most important asset is undoubtedly its client base. You may have the best marketing campaign and the best goods in the world, but if you don’t handle the consumer experiences well, it’ll all be for naught.
There are several aspects to maintaining customer relationships, including identifying customer expectations, voicing their questions, and immediately responding to them.
To get started, try one of these six techniques. Above all, take a customer-centric approach to all of your decisions, and you’ll be able to automatically please your customers.
