News: April 2012

Looking after your customers

Looking after your customers is vital to a successful business. Here are some tips to help you to retain customers and build loyalty:

• No matter what type of business you are in, chances are good that your customers spend lots of time online. Your website should be attractive and easy-to-navigate. Customers need to be able to find what they’re looking for, otherwise they’ll go elsewhere.
• Engage with your customers online. Getting to know your customers will offer the greatest opportunities to keep them happy, which is why social media has become so popular. Use it to learn from your customers and engage with them in conversation.
• Once they’ve found what they are looking for, the buying process must be fully functional and easy to use. If you have a retail premises, you need to make sure you have plenty of staff available to deal with any queries your customers may have.
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep. The promises your business makes need to be upheld and seen through to the end, from delivery dates to prices. Customer loyalty comes from trust. Build their trust by following through and delivering what you say you will. If you want to be the best in your market sector then you should create opportunities to “over-deliver”.
• Invest in telephone training for all staff. You don’t want customers on hold for a long time, or reaching an operator who is unhelpful. Many larger businesses get around these common problems by using outsourced call centres. Smaller firms often cannot justify such an expense and should instead invest in appropriate staff training to ensure that their customer experience is second to none.