Customers can be fickle. You can treat them well, but they might never come back. Or a loyal customer might stop using your business, losing you a fair amount in profits. It can be difficult to work out the best ways to encourage your customers to keep on using your business.
This is especially important because it’s so much easier and cheaper to keep a core business of loyal customers and clients rather than to be constantly trying to win over more customers and first time buyers. Marketing campaigns aren’t cheap and they’re less effective when people don’t already know about your business.
So, here are a few ways to keep your customers happy so they’re more likely to return to your business and, ideally, spread the word to others.
Prevent Disappointment
Most people tend to focus on negative experiences more than positive ones. This means that, even if you’ve provided good customer service for a long time, if a customer feels mistreated at one visit, they’re much less likely to return. So, think about how your company might be turning off customers and sort them out.
For example, how do your employees speak to your customers? Are they curt or rude? Do they seem distracted and unwilling to help? Or do they push things too far the other way and constantly pressure customers who enter the store? This might result in a sale, but that customer might not return if they felt uncomfortable.
Employee training means that you end up with more sales and happier customers overall. Make sure that employees know how to determine what customers want, often by asking first and pressuring later.
Another thing to consider is security. If you have poor cybersecurity, then your customers personal and financial data might be at risk. This can make your business seem less professional and result in a very unhappy customer.
Reliable Service
One thing that keeps people coming back is if you provide a reliable service every time. People like companies that they can trust. While problems might happen, transparency and open communication can be your best friends. Is a product delayed? Tell your customer and provide an explanation, as well as compensation if need be.
Look for ways to improve your customer service. For example, Fulfillment centre is a service designed to improve your logistics and make sure that your customers don’t get disappointed. Even if demand for a product is high, you can ensure that your customers are satisfied and their needs are met.
On a related note, make sure that your products are packaged well so they are protected in transit. This means that your customers don’t end up with a nasty surprise, especially if they ordered something expensive.
Reward Loyalty
People like rewards. This isn’t exactly a secret, but it’s a great way to get people to keep on coming back for more.
If someone has made an online purchase, see if you can get their contact information. This allows you to provide focused marketing where you offer exclusive discounts on products. People don’t like to miss out, so offer limited discounts after each purchase, as this encourages them to keep on buying more products.
You can also reward people for leaving reviews and testimonials with further discounts or even a cashback voucher. Offer loyalty schemes where they get a free product or a hefty discount for repeated purchases, and consider offering discounts for friend and family referrals as well.
This all encourages people who like a good deal to keep on coming back for more.
Customer Service and Communication
Another aspect of customer service is good communication. Allow customers to get in touch if they have any questions, issues, or complaints. This is especially important in online businesses where people can’t just walk into your store and ask questions.
Offer an FAQ page as well as a chat bot that can help people with minor questions and concerns, but you also need to give people the option to speak to a human being. You can outsource your customer services to a specialized business, which means that you don’t need to hire new employees or train your existing employees to answer these questions.
In short, this means that everyone is happy. Your customers are happy because they are getting the help they need from trained professionals, while your employees aren’t stretched to do a difficult job that isn’t in their job description.
You should also be willing to own up to issues and mistakes if they happen and offer compensation or refunds when appropriate. This means that people might be willing to return even if something goes wrong.