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Do you want to win your customers and improve your brand loyalty? Here's how you can do it!
Can you remember the last time your service wowed your customers? If not, you need to understand that excellent customer service is the lifeline of your business.
You won’t survive for long if your business doesn't serve the customers well. To be the best in the industry, it is important to have impeccable customer support/service.
It goes beyond the product purchase. Therefore, as a business owner, you need to take steps that keep your customers satisfied.
Customer service is a way to directly connect with your audience and build a healthy relationship with them; however, not all brands leverage it properly. Thus, we have prepared a list of dos and don’ts that you need to consider in customer service for your small business.
3 Dos and Don’ts in Customer Service
The Dos
1. Create a personalized and relevant messaging
One of the significant reasons why a small business fails with customer service is because of unclear messaging.
Whether you send out an SMS campaign or simply a reminder message, make sure to do it correctly. One unclear communication can make your customers switch to competitors in seconds. Thus, it is essential to establish unified and customized communication.
SMS marketing is one of the effective ways to improve your customer service. You can:
- Provide individual attention to your customers
- Send timely messages
- Communicate only with the customers who want to receive SMS from you (This tells that the customer is interested in your business)
- Ask them for feedback
- Remind them to redeem their rewards and loyalty points (if they have registered for your loyalty program). Customer loyalty programs for a small business can be challenging to design. Therefore, we at Reelo, simplify the entire process and help you create a customized loyalty program.
Studies on clickatell say that most text messages are opened within 3 minutes of being sent. So, there is definitely no reason for you to avoid it.
2. Be honest with your customers
Do you know why customers keep switching until they find their favourite brand? They don’t trust any business easily.
Well, according to aytm, 85% of consumers say that they want to support brands that are honest with them; and that’s a pretty big number.
Establishing trust and loyalty is the major factor in retaining customers. Your business needs to stay faithful to its promises and policies.
Learn from big brands like Kellogg’s!
In 2010, Kellogg’s claimed that their Rice Krispies cereal boosted a child’s immunity by providing a 25% daily value of antioxidants and nutrients; it was a false claim.
Result - The brand had to pay $2.5 million to all the affected consumers. Furthermore, Kellogg’s even had to fight the bad PR as they didn't only break the promise but even lost their customers’ trust and loyalty.
As the old saying goes, ‘’Honesty is the best policy.’’ Be clear about your business policies and don't turn your back on your customers.
3. Know your customers inside and out
Understanding customers is key to providing better customer service to your customers.
Gaining detailed customer insights can help segment your customers and make smart decisions. It is an effective way to work on your business and appropriately understand customers’ needs and preferences.
When you build a deeper customer understanding, you automatically find a way to retain your customers; the higher the customer retention, the higher the sales. As it leads to your business providing excellent customer service, it even helps build strong relationships with them.
A meaningful and honest customer relationship will affect your sales positively and increase recommendations.
Here’s how Bloom & Wild increased their Valentine’s Day sales by 4x with the help of customer insights!
After clearly understanding their customers’ needs, they found that 79% of consumers preferred getting a thoughtful gift over the old red roses.
Based on these customer insights, the brand improvised its offerings; which is not surprising. Bloom & Wild didn’t only see a 4x increase in their sales but even improved their customer satisfaction.
At Reelo, we have a well-designed dashboard, created especially for you. You can understand your customers and get an idea of their purchasing behavior through our customer insights tool. It will help you build focused marketing campaigns and increase your loyalty.
ALSO READ: What is Customer Retention? Why is it Important for Small Businesses?
The Don’ts of Customer Service
1. Don’t ignore customer feedback
Customer feedback tells them that you value their opinions. It’s important to listen to your customers and take steps to perform better.
Your customers are always enthusiastic about offering your suggestions and compliments. They take out their precious time to do the same. Make sure you always ask them for feedback politely and make your business’ feedback form fun and engaging.
However, there are multiple ways to ask for feedback from your customers.
a. Send them a feedback form link via SMS or email. It is the fastest and easiest way to get their feedback as it can happen with just one click. Moreover, people tend to see text messages quickly. So, there are higher chances that they won’t miss your SMS; however, make sure you tell them in advance that they will receive a text message for the same.
b. Integrate feedback while building a social media marketing strategy for your small business. You can post positive feedback about your business from your customers on your profile and encourage others to do the same. It will help improve your brand’s online reputation and increase customer feedback. Social media marketing for small businesses can be challenging; execute your strategies well.
You can now design a customized and engaging feedback form on our platform and improve your customer service. We provide you with a delightful and fun interface that can make the feedback process interesting for your customers.
2. Don’t force your opinions on your customers
Sometimes, pushing your personal opinions can do more harm than good.
Remember, there are two types of customers — One will try to understand your point of view, while the other will instantly switch your competitors the second you voice your opinions. Believe us; the latter can ruin your brand’s overall reputation.
It is always important to understand your customers and deal with them accordingly. Force-fitting your opinions can hamper your relationship with them, negatively impacting your brand loyalty and sales.
Also, it applies not only to in-person communication but also to social media. While you leverage social media marketing strategy for your small business, keep this factor in mind.
Raising your opinions on social media can be overwhelming and may break your business. Because your customers won’t like it; however, if you still want to go ahead with it, be clever in your communication.
3. Don’t underestimate your customers
One mistake that small businesses often make is underestimating their customers.
Here’s a fact — Today’s customers are more knowledgeable, experienced, and sophisticated. Sometimes, they understand things much better than you.
For example, make sure you ease the conversation whenever you call them as a part of your customer service. Don’t try to come out as an expert in the initial conversation. It will only complicate things and make them leave you quickly.
Be polite and try to understand their point of view as well. It will help take things forward smoothly and maintain a healthy relationship with them.
Final Thoughts – What Counts as an Excellent Customer Service Experience?
Excellent customer service means always having a pleasant attitude towards your customers, offering them timely rewards, valuing their opinions, and much more.
It’s not only about selling products but a memorable experience as well. Take extra effort to deliver beyond your customers’ expectations. Make sure to do every possible thing to satisfy them.
However, in between the process, don’t break your promises. Be honest and authentic in your approach.
At Reelo, we value your time and aim to uplift small businesses by helping with great customer service. You can sign up on our platform, easily understand customer insights, design your loyalty program, send feedback forms, and much more in just a click.
