How To Develop A Better Relationship With Your Customers

The phrase, ‘the customer is always right’, is sure to make anybody who has ever worked within customer service roll their eyes. However, while this statement may not necessarily be true, you must find ways to develop a strong relationship with your customers if you want to succeed. After all, they will be the people who purchase your products or pay for your services – meaning they are the difference between your business growing or crashing entirely.

Thankfully, there are many different ways in which you can develop a better relationship with your customers. Here are some great ideas to get you started!

Hold yourself accountable for any mistakes you make.

If you see a negative review pop up on your website, instead of removing it or dismissing their claims, try to figure out if you are at fault. If this is the case, then respond honestly and work together to find a resolution to this issue. This makes it more likely for this customer to make a repeat purchase and also shows potential customers that you have their best interest at heart. To put it simply, customers value transparency.

Curate a strong online presence. To build a relationship with your customers, you need to ensure that you have a way to communicate with them on a regular basis. One way in which you can open up communication (aside from the more traditional methods of phone and email) is by developing an online presence on social media. This makes your brand appear more personable and gives your customers plenty of ways to interact with your content or ask any questions they might have. When putting out content onto your socials, ensure that it will captivate your customers while remaining on-brand.

Use direct mail marketing.

There are many benefits to direct mail marketing, but one of the strongest is the fact that it will allow you to start developing your relationship with your customers early on. This is due to the fact that reaching out to the customer directly (as opposed to through targeted ads) makes them feel special or valued. As a result, they may be more likely to check out the website or make a purchase. (Example of this kind of service: Action-mailing.com.)

Listen to your customers.

Relationships – be they professional or personal – develop when we begin to listen to others and take their needs into consideration. Therefore, one way in which you can improve upon your relationship with your customers is by listening to (or asking for) feedback regularly. For example, you could send follow-up emails after they have made a purchase and ask for feedback on the product/service. Alternatively, you could host focus groups with members of your target audience to gain their perspective on a product or service ahead of your launch. This gives you the insight you need to provide services that are specially tailored to your customers – so you know that they will appreciate it from the outset.

This is a contributed post.