Social media, online resources or platforms have risen in significance, importance and patronization. This has directly translated to a new business operation paradigm among firms and corporations all over the world, regardless of size as well as administrative framework. Instead of putting the majority of marketing efforts on touch points, businesses are beginning to use technological means to form lasting and beneficial relationships with their clients, with different processes that rely on constant social interaction being implemented into marketing strategies. It should go without saying that these processes are usually carried out on social media platforms or online channels.
This shift in marketing strategy at the very least has been highly advantageous. Companies that actively engage their customers on social media have recorded a drastic increase in the number of loyal and committed customers that they have (the term ‘loyal customers’ meaning people who have continued to call back or who have continually done business with these firms). Also, it has been discovered that a customer who spends more time interacting with a brand on social media ends up spending up to 40% more money on that brand or on any other product made by the brand’s parent company and manufacturer.
So the question on everyone’s lips is how they can also record such numbers and see their clients get boosted in such a manner.
The first step in achieving this is feat is to make adjustments to customer service relations. Customer service is a highly important aspect of a firm’s overall operation and it could just as well determine a firm’s perception from customers’ point of view. A customer service department that isn’t performing up to how they should is a problem that in the long run will have adverse effects on the forms clients list and subsequently, their profitability. The customer service aspect should no longer be an isolated and lonely part of the business. Rather, it should be integrated as part of a firm’s customer interaction and retention strategy. The main reason for this is that a lot of responsibilities and tasks that were handled by a firm’s marketing department are now being transferred to the customer service arm of the firm.As a customer service agent, you need to understand the laws and defining principles that guide the operations of customer service in order to effectively engage your customers and make the, stay
A major rule is managing your time with respect to your interaction with customers. For this you can follow these awesome time management tips. You don’t want a section of customers to feel that you value others before them. A divided customer base is the beginning of your losing most of them and that means that the entire work done so far by the marketing and product department will be in vain. You might have VIP customers (that’s totally acceptable) but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your regular customers won’t have attention to your customer services and won’t be able to reach you when they need to.
Create relevant content
Whenever you’ll be putting content out for the viewing and digestion of your customers, it is highly important to make sure that this content is relevant to them. You could try to make the content customer-specific -it makes them feel special and valued, and that in itself could make the stay. You could do general stuff also. Whatever path you decide to go down, relevance is highly important. Make sure that the content answers some of their burning questions (you could check some of their comments and FAQs to understand the questions to address) and at the same time, it still touches your product or service and how it answers these questions. That way, they’ll see your product or service as a solution, instead of something they don’t even have the first clue about.
Hold a customer engagement event
This step acts basically as a substitute for step 2. If you’re a firm with some deep pockets, you can organize an event where your customers will be able to gather and ask some of your top officials their main questions. This step is particularly advantageous as some customers might not even remember some questions and seeing others like themselves could help them recollect some issues they might be having and eventually, answers will be provided to them.Customer networking benefits everybody and you could try it too.
Use automated techniques
Automated devices (answering machines, Email response techniques, etc.) serve dual purposes; they ensure that your customer service staff members don’t crack under the pressure of work and also give them time to address some of the most serious issues. They are time-saving, stress reducing and also help with majority of the work.
Do the most for your customers
Occasionally, you could go the extra mile for your customers. Take care of a few things that they didn’t even ask you for (filings, refunds, etc.). They will definitely feel encouraged and will be incentivized to call back again.
