As a business owner, you know how important it is to keep your customers happy at all times. Even though this is the case, we know that this can be particularly difficult sometimes, but it doesn’t always have to be. If you get to know your clients, you will know what it is they want from your business, and then you can deliver this. Other than this, there are some simple things that you can do to keep your customers happy, and in turn, keep them loyal to your business. Let’s look at some of the ways that you can do this below.
Excellent Customer Service
Something that is going to either make or break your company is your level of customer service. If you have bad customer service, your clients aren’t going to bother using your services, when they can go somewhere that offers them the same services you do, but with high levels of customers service. If you are worried about how well your company is performing in the customer service area, you might want to consider some changes.
Of the things that you should think about having in your customer service team is people who speak different languages. Multilingual customer service is a lot easier for your customers, and it makes them feel more comfortable when they are talking to someone from your business. Talking to someone in your first language is far easier than to speak in a language you might not understand as well and this is why people like this option being available. This is also rather rare to find as a lot of companies do not offer this service, so it is definitely going to make your company stand out from the crowd.
You should also be looking at your response times. This is not only relevant for the people who phone your customer service helpline, but it also goes for things such as emails. If your customers are having to wait a week for you to email them back when they have an issue, you will find that you lose customers. The same idea is relevant if you are keeping your customers on hold for over two hours when they ring you to report an issue. So, response time should be something that you look at. You can try to set a target so that people know how long to expect to wait for your company to get back to you. However, you need to make these reasonable, or your customers will go somewhere that will sort their problems faster.
Free Gifts
Sending out free gifts to your customers and clients is always something that is greatly appreciated. These do not have to be expensive gifts, we are not suggesting that you buy every one of your clients a watch for example. These can be simple things such as t-shirts, badges, or lanyards. This is not going to cost your company masses of money but you will just be giving your customers just a token of your appreciation. You can find out more about lanyards and other types of free gifts on many different websites online.
You might find that buying all these items in bulk can cost a pretty penny. However it is going to be worth it when your customers stick with you, and potentially bring you new customers. You should never underestimate how powerful word of mouth marketing can be. By people wearing your free gifts, they are likely to discuss this with their friends and family, which can drive you some more business.
Manage Expectations
You need to make sure that your customers know what to expect from your company. It is very important that they do not expect more than you can offer and it is your job to make sure that this is the case. You are not going to want people calling up your helpline because there has been a miscommunication about what was expected of your company. To do this, you should make sure that anything that goes on your website, or any other marketing platforms is clear and easy to understand. This is the best way that you can ensure that your customer’s expectations of your business stay managed.
Treat Them Like You’re Still Trying To Win Them
You should be aiming to make everyone feel happy before they are even your customers. The best way to keep people is to treat them as if you are still trying to win them. Have you noticed that when you are trying to win customers over to your company, you try harder than for the customers you already have? This is good, but you should make sure that you are also treating your existing customers this way. You want your customers to stay with you, and you need to make sure that they are not being neglected to do this. Your customers aren’t stupid, and they will know if you are not treating them as well as you did when they first joined your company.
So, if you were offering them deals to come to you in the first place, try to make sure that you are offering them the same kind of deals now. Obviously, you aren’t going to want to offer them the same deal that you used to bring them in, but just something that shows they are valued as a customer, and you don’t want them to leave. Even a slightly reduced price could be enough to do this.
Hand Written Notes
This is just something a little more personal to say thank you to your customers for being loyal to your company. These do not have to be long, and you don’t have to send them every day, but just sending your customers small handwritten notes, adds an element of personalization that you wouldn’t get with other companies. You might be thinking ‘well isn’t that going to take me ages,’ but it doesn’t have to. All it has to say is ‘thank you for choosing our company’ and then sign your name. It doesn’t take all day, and it gives your customers some reassurance that they are important to your company.
You don’t even have to send them all at the same time. What you can do is have a list of when your customers joined your company and send them a note every year or so. If you want to do this, it could be like a little anniversary tradition that you could have with your customers. They will enjoy this, and it will make them feel good about the relationship that they have with your business.
Periodical Phone Calls
You can schedule these phone calls with your clients. These are just so that you can make sure that the service they are receiving from your company is outstanding. This will keep your customers happy as they will know that you care enough to take time out of your busy day to call them and see that everything is okay. This will really drive home to your customers how much you value them as clients, and will make them more likely to stick with your business through thick and thin.
This also allows your customers to tell you if they are having any issues. If they know that you have scheduled a phone call, they can let you know personally if they are experiencing any issues with the service that you are providing. As such, they don’t have to call your customer service team and be put on hold for over an hour.
Keep Your Content Relevant
Make sure that any content that is posted by your business is relevant. People are not going to want to see things that have nothing to do with your business while they are trying to find information on your site. As such, you should make sure that the people in your business who are responsible for this, know that nothing should be posted unless it is 100% relevant. Your company should not be posting cute cat videos on any of your social media or your business website. This is just one example of content that is not going to be relevant and while it may be cute to look at, adds nothing of value to your site.
If your clients have come to your page, they are likely looking for information on something to do with your company whether this is operating hours, a customer service number or the services that you offer. If they find that your pages are clogged up with information that isn’t relevant, this is not going to bode well for you. So, to keep your customers happy, you are going to make sure only relevant content makes the cut.
We hope that after reading this article, you feel like you understand more ways that you can keep your customers happy. You need to keep in mind throughout the whole time that you run a business, without your customers, your company does not exist. This is why it is so important to do everything you can to make sure that your customers are happy and satisfied.
