A Harvard Business School study indicates that increasing customer retention rates by 5 percent increases profits by 25 percent to 95 percent.
Many a times, many customers need to ask questions before making a purchase. If a customer is happy with the support they receive, they are most likely to buy and also do a repeat purchase.
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One must remember that whatever type of business one has, Customer Support can make or break one’s business. One cannot expect to create a clan of loyal customers without an exceptional customer service experience that makes them keep coming back.
1. Customer is Your Friend
Identifying oneself and giving the customer the feeling of talking to a real person rather than a machine works great wonders according to Forbes. A little personal information on who customer service personnel is and where they are located can build the trust of the caller and make him feel more safe and you more accessible. It rewards to listen to the customer like one is listening to an old friend who is upset.
2. The Knowledge Deal
A customer builds strong relation if he knows that he is dealing with knowledgeable business. It lets him know the seriousness with which one is operating their business. It would pay to offer knowledge to your customer in order to draw them in. It is also important to make use of pertinent information when deciding one’s next course of action. This also gives an opportunity to do something out of ordinary for the customer and thus creating customer loyalty.
One can go a step ahead by creating a FAQ page for one’s frequent customer queries.
Apple describes their knowledge base that is created to help their customer support in the following way:-
“Apple’s official technical support database contains over 15,000 articles related to product specifications, reference documentation, and Apple and third-party…”
3. Timely Action
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), believes that if one has one customer or a million customers, excellent customer service must be the top priority. FBA offers 24/7 customer support, where in anything that pops up can be handled at any time of the day in any language by them. For companies that aim at growing internationally, this lets the customer know that you care to communicate with them about their issues and care enough to try and resolve them.
If a customer cannot reach you when they need to, you could lose them forever.
4. Grow Community
Creating a community for your customers can help them know that they are not alone and the organization caters to interests of their customers. With the help of popular community platforms you can easily create your exclusive community very quickly. Forbes organizes face-to-face interactions, special services and knowledge exchanges for its customers. An open house at the physical organization location is arranged for the customers to attend.
An interactive website to communicate with customers at all times, weekly or monthly webinars are other community initiatives. They go a step ahead in setting up trade fairs, events, street fair or conventions with similar or local business.
5. Surprise Service
An act of kindness leaves a greater impact when it is unexpected. Psychologist Norbert Schwartz believes that as little as a dime could make a difference, as it is just the thought that really counts.
It always pays to look for opportunities to delight customers out the usual way in terms of a freebie or a special treat.
Special treatment to customers makes customers feel taken care of for which they would be willing to pay more too. Promotions and offers for new customers can go a long way in hooking them on to your organization. Rewarding customers that have been with the organization for long can build everlasting relationships.
