Maintaining quality customer relationships is one of the most valuable things you can do for the success of either your business or your clients’. Having a good relationship with customers builds trust, promotes long term success, and fosters strong brand loyalty.
Customers can be fickle though. Depending on how you approach things, you can either make those relationships stronger, or you can to pretty much ruin them entirely. With that said, when it comes to customer relationships, here’s three things you should and shouldn’t do.
Do: Be transparent. If your business messed up on any level, apologize for it. Explain the situation. Outline steps that you’re taking to ensure nothing like this happens again in the future. More often than not, customers will appreciate the honesty. It’s humanizing.
Don’t: Be intentionally misleading. Even if you’re not outright “lying,” it’s very easy to be misleading when you’re trying to appeal to as many customers as possible. Just don’t do it. Being even somewhat misleading can backfire bigtime if you’re not careful.
Do: Be available. In the digital age, being there for your customers has never been easier. Whether it’s through social media or something as simple as an F.A.Q. on your website, getting your customers the information they need is a must.
Don’t: Blatantly cut costs – especially when it comes to your most loyal customers. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to save money or cuts costs where it makes sense. Absolutely not. What I am saying is that customers are savvy. They know when you’re cheaping out on something. Cheaping out on the wrong thing can wind up alienating your best customers.
Do: Apologize effectively. Nobody likes the poor apology. It’s an apology so bad that it ends up doing more harm than good. Weak apologies can include (but are definitely not limited to) the following: Not acknowledging what the problem was, not acknowledging how you intend to fix the problem, providing a poor excuse, not giving enough details, and forcing the customer to go through hoops to resolve the problem themselves (e.g. replacing a defective product).
Don’t: Waste their time. Anytime you ask your customers to do something, consider the amount of time it takes. Want them to sign up for a loyalty program? Don’t make them fill out an extensive form listing every possible detail imaginable. Make your customers’ lives easier.
Build Strong Relationships With CoGoBuzz
CoGoBuzz, our state-of-the-art marketing service, is designed from-the-ground-up to create strong customer relationships for your business. Leveraging advanced WiFi, SMS, and Email solutions, you’ll engage your customers both in-store in out. Through in-store WiFi, we’ll discover your business’s core demographics by producing a full customer profile for every login. Our service comes packed with a fully-featured, text-based loyalty program. Communicate with and reward your best customers.
Check out the rest of our website to learn more about CoGoBuzz!
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What does your business do to maintain its customer relationships? Let us know in the comments!