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HOW SMALL BUSINESSES CAN IMPROVE THEIR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Giving customers the best customer experience is always one of the most important goals of businesses. After all, there is a popular saying, “A happy customer, a happy business”. With digital marketing taking over from the more traditional methods of marketing one would wonder how small businesses can improve their customer experience.
Simply put, Customer experience is the manner in which services are rendered by a business to customers. This can either make a good impression on the customer or a bad one. All of this is determined by how well a business responds and engages with the customer. In a study carried out on consumer intelligence, almost 32% of customers decide not to do business with a brand after a bad experience.
The importance of customer experience for brands cannot be over emphasized. It is a known fact that one of the deciding factors to the success of a brand is how well customers interact with a brand. It has been predicted that by 2020, customer experience would be a deciding factor of the success of a brand. This is quite alarming as 54% of customers claim that the customer experience of most companies needs to improve.
This can seem to be an overwhelming problem but following these tips can help your brand to improve their customer experience.
Research Your Customers
You can conduct research on your target customers by finding out what interests them. Knowing what services, they are currently looking for. Finding out their interests based on their demo graphs (age, location, interests). You can use this information to tailor your marketing campaigns to better satisfy your target customers individual needs. You can get all this information by conducting surveys, following market trends, using AI data, and using Facebook ads manager. You can check out how to use Facebook for this here.
Be Easily Accessible
Always make yourself available and easily accessible. It can be through multiple channels like chats, calls and emails. Making yourself seem like you are available 24/7 would assure customers that you can always be there for them anytime they need you. In cases where you are not available, you can share educational content that are of value to customers. you can also implement AI chatbots that would be able to answer questions and provide solutions to customers whenever they ask.
Utilize Social Media
As you know by now, social media is a powerful tool if used well for generating leads. Incorporating social media in to business should be an option you need to consider. Social media will help you to get a customer’s perception of your brand. Make sure you pay special attention to bad reviews as customers aren’t shy when it comes to rating services rendered to them. Try to resolve this promptly and publicly by making enquiries from customers on how you can make your services better.
You can also try to engage customers in conversations and share the contents that would be of value to them. In addition, you can share updates on new brands, new products and improved services.
Employ the Use of Multiple Channels
Don’t be afraid to use multiple channels to attract customers for your small business. Multiple channels such as having a website and using various social media platforms. According to Harvard Business Review, “54% of customers use multiple channels to complete purchases”. Therefore, as a small business looking to improve your customer experience, you can place your brands on multiple channels. It makes it easier for customers to interact with your brand on any channel they prefer. Just remember to make customer support accessible on all channels and include an option for them to make purchases in-store if you are using social media.
Appreciate Your Loyal Customers
Giving rewards to your customers shows how much you appreciate them. It also builds a lasting relationship with customers and attracts new target customers. you can reward your customers by offering them exclusive and premium service that is not available to everyone. You can also praise them on social media, post their stories and reviews through your posts or stories.
Keep an Eye on Your Insights and Reach
Pay attention to your brand performance to know how your brand is perceived and also, how you can improve on it. You can do this by getting reports on your insights and brand reach from social media. You can catch how to do this here. You can also use AI digital analytics tools to evaluate your overall performance and get an idea on where improvement is necessary.
Improve Your Products and Service
Find ways in which you can improve on your products and services. You can do this by running polls, using surveys or interacting with existing customers on what they don’t like about your products, what they want and how what areas of your services need to improve.
Conclusion
Ensure that you have a plan or strategies on the ways you can improve your customer experience. You always have your customers in mind when trying to create original contents and personalize your brand. Appreciate your customers and keep an eye out for customer reviews. Finally, it is never too late to improve the quality of your products and services and this shows your dedication to the business and your customer value.