Customer satisfaction should be a primary concern for all small business owners. As you should understand, one unhappy person will tell many of their friends. Pretty soon, your company will have built a bad reputation after making only a couple of small mistakes. With that in mind, you need to take extra precautions to ensure everyone who deals with your brand gets the best service possible. Believe it or not, you don’t need to invest a fortune to turn things around. In most instances, you just need to alter your approach while considering the wellbeing of your customers. Today, we’re going to draw your attention towards some winning techniques that have been tried and tested. Follow the advice on this page, and you can’t go wrong.
[tweet_box inject=”@nextmashup” design=”box_08″]If a customer can bring you on the top, he can also push you down. [/tweet_box]
Over-deliver on everything
Under-promising and over-delivering can make customers feel like they’re getting a good deal. That would be the case, even if they were going to get the same service regardless. There are lots of different techniques you could use to make that happen. For instance, you could tell customers that delivery times are three to five days. You could then ship everything using a next day service. Luckily, services like those at Ups are not as expensive as you might think. The customer will feel happy when their items arrive much sooner than expected. That will make them believe that you’ve gone above and beyond to keep them happy. In reality, you were always going to deliver the products at the same time. However, your customers don’t know that, and so that little trick will work in your favor.
Offer various methods of communication
As a business owner, it’s vital that you provide many different methods of communication. Some customers will want to speak with your team directly. For that reason, you should always list a telephone number on your website. However, others might prefer to send emails because they have to deal with any issues while they’re at work. So, again, you’ll need to provide contact forms and similar tools. It’s also sensible to add a live chat feature to your domain that enables people to reach you in real time. You could even provide an encrypted Whatsapp number if you think it would help. Research shows chat software can contribute towards increased turnover, and boosted customer satisfaction levels. People who want to go the extra mile should also consider offering a Skype address.
Ask for feedback
Most companies fail to keep their customers happy because they never ask for feedback. So, the damage is often done by the time they discover why people are looking elsewhere. With that in mind, you should always give your customers the chance to offer their opinions or advice. Just add a small feedback form to the bottom of all emails sent from your account. Most people won’t bother to use it, but some might. That would allow you to gain a better insight into the feelings and attitudes of those spending money with your firm. You don’t have to implement changes based on the feedback you receive. However, discovering what people like and dislike about your brand is the best way to improve.
Offer free gifts with substantial purchases
If someone spends more than $100 on products or services, you should send them something for free. You don’t need to invest in anything expensive, but people always love getting extras. Maybe you could buy some cuddly toys personalized with your brand’s logo? Perhaps your customers would benefit from a mug customized in the same manner? Placing your graphics on products you give away for free is an excellent marketing trick. Most people will keep the items in their cupboards and encounter your brand every time open the doors. Thankfully, there are hundreds of websites you can use to create the designs and order the products. You also get some fantastic discounts if you buy in bulk.
Don’t overlook the benefits of snail mail
Nearly all business owners send emails instead of physical letters these days. That helps to protect the planet, but it decreases the number of times someone might have your branding information in their home. With that in mind, you should consider sending some letters or information packs from time to time. People are much more likely to respond to physical mail than anything you send to their Gmail account. Indeed, most folks will never even bother to open any emails they consider to be promotional. Experts over at Packaging supplies claim well-presented letters in durable envelopes will increase customer satisfaction. We happen to agree with them, and that’s why many retailers are returning to snail mail.
Offer the best training to staff members
Giving customers many different methods of communication is all well and good. However, that’s not going to benefit your company if your team doesn’t know how to handle their complaints. As the old saying goes, the customer is always right. You need to make sure the people working for your brand know how you expect them to deal with correspondence. You could arrange some in-house training if you have time, but most bosses will pay for external courses. In some instances, training providers will come to your place of business to learn about your operation. They will then develop a session based on the individual requirements of your brand. That concept usually produces the best results. However, it can become a little more costly, and so you need to assess your budget.
Those ideas should be enough to make sure you increase customer satisfaction levels this year. Just remember that your research shouldn’t stop here. There is always more to learn, and you can always find alternative techniques. You need to try everything before deciding which actions benefit your company most. When all’s said and done, nobody wants to see your operation fail. So, you need to place extra emphasis on keeping your customers happy. Failure to do that could mean your winning streak runs out pretty soon. Large corporations can afford to upset a few clients and still succeed. The same is not true for small businesses that rely on every dime they make.
Use this article for reference, and things are guaranteed to improve in 2016.
