brand loyalty Archives

Improving your customer service snowballs into a host of benefits. From more satisfied clients to recommendations and better feedback, any brand flourishes after boosting its communication with the consumers.

If you’re a startup, you might need to cut costs somewhere. As a result, you end up not developing a reliable representative team. Perhaps you’ve been running your shop for a long time without paying too much attention to this aspect. It’s time for your approach to change.

Customer Service in 2021

Consumers now have an endless list of options at their disposal for any product or service. A bad experience leads to negative reviews, which anybody can see online and decide to go elsewhere.

Customer support can help. It comes in all shapes and sizes to mix and match per the company’s requirements. In turn, it can improve the various fields related to the way you run the business.

Self-Serve

You don’t need representatives to resolve all simple issues related to your services. So, publish a comprehensive FAQ section and sets of guides for the most common concerns. It’ll do half of the work for you.

Live Chat

An instant chatbox on your website provides instant solutions and prevents more significant issues from spreading like a forest fire. If you don’t have enough reps to match your website traffic, incorporate an instant chatbot for quick, automated responses.

Social Media

The majority of your target demographic is likely on social media. So, why let bad reviews simmer when you can take charge and respond, displaying transparency in the process?

Email

Many people might send queries to the official email address or use other email tools if their questions seem too complex for a quick chat. Have a rep monitor your account and answer salient issues quickly and politely.

Phone

Although it seems old-fashioned, phone support is still essential to businesses. Plus, the tech developments of the 21st century make it easier to bring your call center service to the future by introducing omnichannel routing, automation, or even AI.

Let’s see what kind of benefits introducing a mixture of these channels brings to your company.

1. Client Retention

Your rep team acts as a direct line of communication with your customers. They’re in charge of disclosing your mission and values and maintaining a positive brand image.

Think about it. If a person was satisfied during the first experience they had with you, and you keep displaying positivity, transparency, and high-quality, why would they switch brands?

Moreover, many consumers stay loyal to brands because of amicable, pleasant representatives. Even if you made a significant shift in the business model, a friendly rep can explain this new approach’s benefits, reassuring and retaining the customer.

2. Client Acquisition

Customer acquisition costs skyrocket when you don’t invest in a high-quality helpline. Today, most people will read company and product reviews before reaching out to a business.

On the other hand, one negative review can lead to doubts and mistrust, reducing the number of people who go for your brand. If there are a dozen, rarely will anybody decide that you’re worth their time and money.

Reputation management is vital to customer acquisition. It’s much easier to maintain by reacting to queries quickly and proactively than to do damage control after the fact.

3. Issue Identification

One of the primary responsibilities of any company is satisfying the buyers. You can considerably improve whatever you’re putting on the market by hearing out actual user’s suggestions.

While there’s merit to focus groups and analytics that examine potential customers’ needs, it’s sometimes even better and more valuable to listen to what your current clients are saying.

Collect, store, and regularly review all feedback your business receives through your support channels. If any issue comes up multiple times, fix it as soon as possible. Anything from the user interface to the packaging and product features can improve by listening to the primary consumers.

4. Increased Profitability

People are much more likely to continue purchasing your products after an initial positive experience with the brand. These small interactions are a deciding factor in whether they continue working with you.

Plus, surveys show that many are ready to pay more for a product attached to a positive customer experience. On the flip side, even a single negative experience can leave a lasting impression.

You can’t ignore these statistics, especially since other brands won’t. In the era where more companies are starting to invest in their support systems, any business that doesn’t follow suit is only to crash and burn.

5. Dispute Prevention

If you falter at any stage while providing a service, your customers might require their money back or a new product to replace a faulty one. Making dispute resolution as frictionless as possible reduces the potential for inflammatory statements or even legal trouble.

Make the issues easy to solve, and they’re much less likely to leave an angry review and harm your reputation. The online age makes convenience central to any client-centered business.

6. A Loyalty Boost

There are countless companies in every industry imaginable, making brand loyalty an essential but challenging goal to achieve. Repeat shoppers are more profitable and provide free marketing for your business.

However, customers will stay loyal only if you give them a good reason to do so. After all, there are plenty of options, so why should they stick to one that doesn’t provide value?

Proactively dealing with clients is pivotal for achieving loyalty. The company also seems much more human and trustworthy if it has friendly, genuine people ready to respond to feedback at the forefront.

Clients know that their purchase is your profit, but showing them that you see them as more than a number in a statistic through genuine desire to help incentivizes them to stay true to you.

The Bottom Line

Overall, as long as you’re aware that customer service stands as the backbone of any business involving communication, you’re on the right path. This aspect of your business operations makes the brand thrive in the long-run, and the costs effectively pay for themselves.

So, make that foundation robust. You’ll soon see new shoppers come in, positive testimonials pop up, and feedback improve your company structure. It’s worth the effort.

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Anna likes writing from her university years. When she graduated from the Interpreters Department, she realized that translation was not so interesting, as writing was. She trains her skills now working as a freelance writer on different topics. Always she does her best in the posts and articles.

Each generation has unique experiences, lifestyles, and demographics that influence their buying behaviors, financial experts say. And studies show these distinguishing factors often lead to different spending habits between generations.

As a result, many companies are reaching out to consumers and trying to understand — and gain the attention of — these diverse buyers, says Gui Costin (www.guicostin.com), an entrepreneur, consultant and author of Millennials Are Not Aliens.

“This type of multi-generational marketing is the practice of appealing to the unique needs and behaviors of individuals within different generational groups,” says Costin. “In terms of finding and retaining buyers, companies cannot underestimate those generational differences.”

Costin discusses how the buying habits of different generations are influenced by environmental factors and how businesses must focus their marketing efforts accordingly:

Millennials. Now comprising the highest percentage of the workforce, this generation (born roughly from 1981 to 1995) receives considerable marketing attention. Many millennials grew up immersed in the digital world — a big difference from previous generations — and they think globally. “Attract this group early and earn its loyalty by appealing to their belief that they can make the future better,” Costin says. “Traditional mass marketing approaches do not work well with younger consumers. Be sure they know that your organization’s mission speaks to a purpose greater than the bottom line, e.g., globalization and climate change. Give them systematic feedback because they value positive reinforcement at accelerated rates and want more input.”

Generation X. Following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials, their tastes are different from previous generations. “Because they have greater financial restraints, they often shop at value-oriented retailers,” Costin says. “On the other hand, they have a reputation of being incredibly disloyal to brands and companies. Generation Xers like initiatives that will make things more useful and practical. They demand trust to the extent that if your organization does not follow through once, then you are likely to lose them.”

Baby Boomers. This demographic group, with many now in retirement or nearing it, includes those born from 1946 to 1964. Health is a major concern, and change is not something they embrace. “They appreciate options and want quick fixes that require little change and instant improvement,” Costin says. “They do not like bureaucracy — but give them a cause to fight for and they will give their all. Focus on building value and they will be less price-sensitive. While this group may be aging, they’re focused on breaking the mold of what 60 and beyond looks like.”

The Silent Generation. Born between 1925 and 1945, this group represents the oldest Americans and, Costin says, typically is labeled with traditional values such as discipline, self-denial, hard work, conformity, and financial conservatism. “It’s important to earn their trust,” says Costin, “as they believe that a person’s word is his or her bond. Patriotism, team-building, and sacrifice for the common good are appealing to this generation. As a group, they aren’t particularly interested in the information age; however, the younger members of this generation are one of the fastest-growing groups of internet users.”

“Communicating with customers in different generations can be challenging,” Costin says. “However, all generations appreciate honesty and authenticity. As environmental factors change, transparency and genuine interactions remain important to everyone.”

Gui Costin (www.guicostin.com), author of the No. 1 Bestseller Millennials Are Not Aliens, is an entrepreneur, and founder of Dakota, a company that sells and markets institutional investment strategies. Dakota is also the creator of two software products: Draft, a database that contains a highly curated group of qualified institutional investors; and Stage, a content platform built for institutional due diligence analysts where they can learn an in-depth amount about a variety of investment strategies without having to initially talk to someone. Dakota’s mission is to level the playing field for boutique investment managers so they can compete with bigger, more well-resourced investment firms.

6 Reasons Why Customer Service is Important in Business