To help you build strong relationships with your customers, we asked customer service managers and business leaders this question for their best insights. From being transparent and ethical to responding promptly to customer queries and reviews, there are several things you need to put into practice to help you build a strong and enduring relationship with your customers.
The best strategy for building solid customer relationships is leading your business with ethical and transparent practices. Consumers want to shop at brands they feel personally aligned with more than ever. Retail therapy feels even better when proceeds benefit a charitable cause or social movement. Supporting corporations or luxury brands for namesake is growing more passé as consumers wise up about how their dollars shape economic inequality in the world.
Being realistic with your customers is a welcome breath of fresh air to traditional advertising. There is enough in the world to be skeptical of, and consumers want to feel they can trust where they shop.
Kevin Miller, kevinmiller.com
Strong customer relationships are all about connecting. Not always through formal discovery calls, however. Sometimes, it’s just for a casual chat. If you only get in touch when you have something to sell, the relationship will feel transactional and inauthentic. If this is your approach, customers won’t be in a rush to respond and engage with your offer.
To build rapport, be sure to avoid scripts or templates. There’s no hope of building an authentic relationship if you’re cutting corners. Instead, keep interactions as organic and free-flowing as possible. If the customer had to cut a call short to watch a baseball game, ask them what the score was next time you chat. If they had to pick their kids up from school, ask about what they’re studying. Through prompt, tailor-made communication, you’ll fortify far stronger customer relationships and provide a genuine white-glove experience. Because when you take the time to truly learn about the people you serve, their loyalty soon follows.
Patrick Casey, Felix
As leaders, we strategize to build a business that gets things right. Though the most successful companies might succeed 99% of the time, how they react to the other 1% can make or break customer loyalty and brand relationships. When an issue happens, you must respond swiftly and publicly, apologizing if your business is at fault. Even if you’re not at fault, apologizing can still be a great move when worded carefully, expressing your compassion for the situation and their feelings.
Beyond the apology, you need to come up with thoughtful solutions to right the situation, follow through with action, and work to prevent the same issue from arising again in the future. When consumers see a brand approach missteps with humility and work to correct their mistakes, many will become more bonded to your brand. We’ve all made mistakes, and we know how difficult it is to admit fault and fix them – consumers love to see big brands willing to be vulnerable.
Anthony Martin, Choice Mutual
One of the best ways to build a strong customer relationship is by personalizing the experience and improving the customer journey. By collecting data on the customer’s behavior and improving their journey accordingly, it really helps lead to customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. This can be by showing recommendations based on their browsing history or search, by giving them a discount on the items in their shopping cart or emailing them when an item they were interested in comes back in stock. By showing the consumer that you understand what they’re interested in, it makes them feel special and provides a strong connection to your brand.
Jordan Fabel, ApprovedCourse
Establishing strong relationships with your customers takes making engaging with your company as seamless a process as possible. Every customer prefers seeking support in different ways, from emails, phone calls, chatbots, social media, etc. Sometimes they prefer switching from one medium to another. It’s your role when providing support to give them these options and the ability to transition between them to their discretion.
David Ring, MCT – Trading
Customer feedback is crucial for building a stronger relationship with your customer and gaining their loyalty. Providing them a platform for giving their feedback prevents them from giving it on other social media that might harm your reputation. It makes the customers feel that their experience is valued. You can even update your customers if you consider and work on their recommendations. This makes customers feel that their feedback did not go to waste and was important. This makes them trust your company and want to come back to it. It is an excellent strategy for customer retention.
Samantha Odo, Precondo
There is no better strategy to build a strong, long-lasting Customer Relationship than Promising and Delivering. In a world full of innovation and new trends at any moment, it seems that the old and good action of saying what you do and doing what you say is still effective.
Authenticating value proposition has always built trust and will always do it. You create a strong bond when you tell your customer that you will solve a problem and stay close to them to uncover issues they cannot solve. Such kinds of connections certainly build a strong, long-lasting Customer Relationship.
Ricardo von Groll, Talentify
Outstanding customer service builds and retains customer relationships. Do you ship products for free or offer a discount? Do your employees go above and beyond to exceed the needs of customers? Maybe you follow up on purchases or acknowledge them in newsletters. Making customers feel special and good about their purchase keeps them coming back for more.
Amy Keller, Climate Candy
Rewarding long-time customers with a loyalty discount program is one of the most successful strategies for building a strong customer relationship. The most significant benefit of customer loyalty programs is that they can stop you from needing to compete on price alone. Connecting with your customers’ emotions gives you a way to set your store and brand apart – offering a much more personal customer experience.
Ben Richardson, Acuity Training
As a company that offers financial aid information to low-income earners and people struggling financially, we get hundreds and sometimes even thousands of inquiries from individuals looking for guidance on specific financial problems. We have a dedicated team that is in charge of responding to emails, comments, and messages we receive to offer guidance and support to each customer and making sure they get the help they need. As we respond in a timely manner and dedicate a lot of means to ensure that each person gets the support they need, we build strong relationships with our customers as we can literally help turn their lives around when we respond to their messages.
Nicole Thelin, Low Income Relief
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