Giving Value is Everything: 5 Cutting-Edge Strategies for Converting Your Customers to Die-Hard Fans
by Mashum Mollah Customer Service 04 October 2019
Every business owner wants to attract a loyal following of brand enthusiasts but turning the average customer into a die-hard fan who will devote time and energy to promoting the business through organic reviews and rave recommendations can pose a challenge. Today’s consumers are disillusioned. It takes exceptional service and personalized marketing to reassure them they are valued.
Keep in Touch
Customers need to be able to contact the company any time they have a problem. Some prefer to stay in touch online, while others like to talk to a real human being on the phone. Either way, it’s best to skip the automated phone systems and find commercial phone plans that will support a full team of customer service representatives.
Get Them Involved
While customer complaints and problems need to be addressed one-on-one, the Internet provides a great venue for getting satisfied customers actively involved with the brand. One great way to do this is by featuring customers on their sites. Try showing off customer reviews, responding to their feedback on social media, inviting them to submit guest posts for the company’s blog, or even creating a customer appreciation page on the website.
Creating a customer appreciation page encourages brand loyalty. Write up brief feature paragraphs about customers’ own businesses or hobbies and include a photograph. Everyone loves the recognition of seeing his or her name and photo up on a site celebrating unique accomplishments.
Treat Them Like Friends, Not Numbers
The recent trend toward focusing on marketing data analytics has led some business owners to view their customers as numbers instead of people, and that’s a mistake. Try to foster relationships with loyal customers by sending them thank-you notes with their orders or even wishing them well via email on their birthdays or other special occasions.
Convert Negative Experiences into Positive Ones
Don’t just write off a customer who has left a bad review online as a waste of time. Instead, do everything possible to engage with the customer and resolve his or her problem. Turning a negative experience into a positive one is the best way to create a new die-hard fan out of an otherwise dissatisfied customer.
Go one step further than just resolving the problem. Listen to the customer, take his or her complaint seriously, then offer a discount or a gift with a future purchase. Instead of remembering the problem, the customer will remember how well he or she was treated by the company once it was resolved and that memory will be much more likely to stick.
Show Appreciation
There are a few ways to make customers feel valued and special. Business owners can send them personalized notes or cards with their purchases or include a surprising extra gift, or they can focus on online methods like the customer appreciation page described above. The key is to make sure that customers know they’re valued not just for their money but for who they are as people. That’s why it’s so important to take personalized approaches to market and maintaining customer relationships.
The Bottom Line
Use a combination of modern technology and good old-fashioned kindness to keep customers coming back for more and encourage them to spread the word about the company. No amount of paid advertising can compare to the organic referrals offered by customers with extreme brand loyalty. It’s worth spending the extra time and money to keep them happy.
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