Do your customers adore you like an old friend? Running a business has never been easy. Years ago it used to be a lot more simple. You provided a good service, and if people liked it, they kept coming back. Offering superior customer service will help customers adore you today and tomorrow.
But in the age of social media, where anyone person can send a tweet or a Facebook post that lets the entire world know how they feel about your business at the speed of a broadband connection, it takes a bit more than that. You can’t just be good, you also have to be likable.
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Making Customers Adore You Like An Old Friend
Fortunately, being likable doesn’t require a multi-million dollar PR campaign or hiring a pricey consultant. You can make more of your customers get warm fuzzies when they think about you.
Just making a few tweaks to how you handle your marketing and customer service can make a difference for customers to adore you. Here are five ways you can help customers adore you like an old friend and be happy doing business with you.
1) Engage On Social Media To Make Customers Adore You
Companies still try to treat social media platforms like a broadcaster, sending out advertisements and blasting content. But really, it’s a two-way conversation. You will need to engage with your customers on their choice of social media.
If someone addresses your company directly on social media, respond back, even if the comment is negative. If someone is merely talking about you, that’s another opportunity to respond.
People like companies who talk with them, rather than simply talk at them. Your customers will adore you for engaging with them.
2) Respond Quickly To Customers
Customers today are more impatient than ever before. With instant gratification being the norm, they expect quick and efficient service, especially when they are experiencing problems or have questions. If you do not respond to them quickly, they will take their business elsewhere.
In addition, responding quickly shows that you value your customers and their time. It shows that you are willing to go the extra mile to resolve their issue as quickly as possible. This type of exceptional customer service will keep them coming back, even if they have a problem or question that needs to be addressed.
How to Respond Quickly to Customers
There are a few ways that you can make sure you are responding quickly to your customers:
- Monitor all channels of communication. This includes social media, email, phone calls, and text messages. You should have someone monitoring these channels at all times so that no customer goes unnoticed.
- Set up an auto-response system for when you are unavailable. This way, customers know that you have received their message and that someone will be getting back to them as soon as possible.
- Train your employees on excellent customer service. They should know how important it is to respond quickly to customers and how to properly handle customer inquiries and complaints.
By following these tips, you can be sure that you are providing the best customer service possible by responding quickly to your customer’s questions and concerns.
3) Make Canceling/Returning Simple
Some companies, in an attempt to cut down on the number of cancellations and returns, force customers to cut through a lot of red tapes. This will NOT help make customers adore you.
The hope is that some customers will simply choose to keep the product rather than go through the extra obstacles.
While that might be a short-term revenue bump, it will create more long-term problems. Since the loudest customers are usually the least satisfied, frustrating customers who are already unhappy with your company will only spread bad word of mouth.
For example, the people search engine site, Instant Checkmate, created an entire website for members who want to cancel their service. They sometimes even cancel for customers who privately message them on Facebook.
Giving extra attention to customers, even the ones who don’t want to be customers anymore shows that you’re an honest and transparent company. This will make customers adore you.
4) Solicit Ideas and Actually Use Them
Everybody loves someone who listens to them. And an easy way to show that you actually value your customers’ voices is by asking them for ideas on how to improve your business. Hold an idea contest. You can then offer a small prize, like a gift card, to the winner.
Take the best (and easiest to execute) one. Then brag about how much Customer X’s idea has improved your operations.
All of a sudden you’re not just a business that serves customers, you’re also a business created by customers – customers adore you for that one.
5) Surprise Them
If you give people more than what they were expecting, even if the added value is small, they will sing your praises to anyone within earshot. Simple things like unexpected gifts, free upgrades, and other goodies show them you actually care about making people happy.
Sadly, people are accustomed to being handed the bare minimum. Sometimes customers will even expect to fight to get what they paid for.
Even tiny upgrades to your product or service will feel huge to them and set you apart from your competitors. Your customers will adore you for it!
Finally, you could offer a freebie for your long-term customers. Something in value of time or money. So many businesses seem to do that for new customers but not for their loyal, longtime customers.
Your Turn: Do Customers Adore You
How do you find companies that are likable? Do your customers adore you? I’d love to hear about how you provide superior customer service in your online business.