Customer relationship is a concept that refers to all of a company's interactions with an individual , based on facts and emotions . The goal of customer relationship is to create a bond over the longest possible period: from acquisition to loyalty, including commitment and satisfaction...
If brands are increasingly looking to build a strong and personalized customer bahamas whatsapp number data 5 millionrelationship, it is because consumer expectations have evolved. To differentiate themselves, brands must now provide their customers with experiences that arouse positive emotions in their interlocutors . According to Gartner, 64% of consumers choose a brand based on the quality of the customer relationship that is offered and the experience lived. The customer relationship must therefore be simple, fluid and personalized in order to meet customer expectations.
Why is it important to work on customer relations?
Customer relationship to exist
In the style of a famous line, one could say "No customers, no business!" (get it?). You may have the most beautiful product(s), but if you don't have customers, you can't exist. Therefore, maintaining a good relationship with your customers is of "existential" importance for any business. This relationship must be well thought out and worked on from the beginning because you will never have a second chance to make a good first impression.
Customer relations to stand out
Competition is tough, and even more so today. It is therefore very important to pamper your customers throughout their journey to increase your retention rates, but also so that they can recommend you to new buyers and thus become ambassadors of your brand.
Customer relationship to last
A satisfied customer is a loyal customer! And as we often tell you, a loyal customer costs 5 to 10 times less than a new customer and their average basket is higher and more regular. Therefore, maintaining a good customer relationship with your existing customers is a profitable strategy that allows the brand and the business to last over time.
What are the principles of customer relations?
#1 Know your customers
Having a good level of customer knowledge is the basis of any successful customer relationship ! To know your customers, the first challenge is above all to collect information on their profiles, their needs, their interests and their expectations , in a transparent manner, while respecting the legislative framework. The second challenge, more technological, will be to centralize them, structure/consolidate them, make them accessible and exploit them effectively.
What information do I need to know my customers well:
Profile: First name, age, gender, address, profession, interests, etc.
Behaviors: Purchase history, time of purchase, website visits, interactions in communications, with customer service, etc.
Preferred means of communication: Email, social networks, SMS...
Consent and opt-in by channel
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#2 Listen to your customers
We live in a society today where we are increasingly invited to give our opinion - on a product, a restaurant, or even on the company we work for. Moreover, consulting reviews upstream has become a habit for a majority of consumers, throughout their purchasing journey. According to an IFOP survey, 9 out of 10 consumers consult the opinions of other consumers before deciding to buy a product or service. In order to better understand your customers, it is therefore important to listen to them . You will be able to identify their needs, their expectations, their "pain points" but also detect the obstacles that block them in order to better satisfy them.
Customer listening can be implemented with technical means but above all human. It is important to provide your customers with spaces so that they can express an opinion, leave a comment and even share their dissatisfaction. Your customer service must also be available, responsive and seek above all to encourage dialogue.
Despite all your efforts, you won't be able to please everyone. So be sure to pay close attention to criticism. It will be an opportunity for you to improve your product/service and show that you know how to question yourself.
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#3 Implement a personalized relationship strategy
This is where the stage of data segmentation , personalization and scenario implementation comes in . Your action plans and messages must be personalized as much as possible, according to the customer lifecycle, their product appetite, their preferred channel, their level of engagement or even according to interactions or moments in life.
The key to a personalized relationship strategy lies partly in the finesse of the segmentations and targeting carried out. The abundance of data available, whether behavioral, transactional, offline or online, allows marketers to have a better customer knowledge and therefore to broadcast highly personalized messages, corresponding to consumer expectations.
Segmenting your data will allow you to :
Categorize your profiles into homogeneous groups according to their purchasing habits (RFM segmentation), their behaviors (segmentation on email activity or their browsing habits for example), their preferences (product tastes, promotionalism, etc.)
Trigger scenarios when a profile moves from one segment to another. For example, when your customers move from “bronze” to “premium” status: trigger an informative communication on the new member benefits.
Detect or anticipate behaviors and react with the right offer
Create campaigns with dynamic and personalized content
Refine your campaign reporting
Scripting your communications means ensuring that you keep in touch with your profiles at each stage of their customer journey , at the right time, with the right message. This allows you to maintain a presence and develop your profile's interest in your brand. All this, as always, to take care of your relationships with your customers and allow your brand to last!
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#4 Adopt a multi-channel approach
Good customer knowledge involves knowing your customers' preferred channels in order to be able to communicate with them at the right time via the right channel. It is therefore necessary to understand customer relations through all available channels for several reasons:
To not miss any marketing and sales opportunities
To show your customer that you know them, that you listen to them
To show him that he is important and that you want to please him more than anything
In a multichannel strategy, you must allow the customer to choose their contact preferences by message type and associated channels (email, SMS, phone, print, push notifications, etc.). This way, your customer is able to shape their own customer experience.
If you use multiple solutions to activate the different channels, you will need to ensure that customer data is reconciled to avoid malfunctions (duplicates, inconsistent responses, etc.). If, on the other hand, you use a solution that includes multiple channels, they will be connected and all data synchronized.
Don’t worry. The multichannel approach is easy to adopt. You just need to follow these steps to establish a successful multichannel strategy :
Start by identifying your “buyer” persona. When you define it correctly, it helps you better understand your customers.
Next, choose target channels. Being present everywhere is expensive. It is better to choose the best channels to target your audience.
Prepare a consistent message to use across all channels.
Take advantage of the specificities of each channel.
Use a multi-channel activation platform, such as Actito.
Track and measure the performance of each channel.
Want to learn more about activating the multichannel customer journey? Check out our article on the subject .
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#5 Develop customer engagement
The number of customer experience managers in B2B and B2C companies over the last 5 years has increased exponentially by 1000% (Accenture Study, Comarketing, L'ADN February 2020). This increase reflects the desire of companies to invest in better quality customer experiences, and illustrates the growing weight of customer engagement marketing strategies.
Indeed, creating value for your business depends on the satisfaction of your customers , their loyalty and therefore the quality of the relationship you create with them. To this end, adopting an engagement marketing strategy makes perfect sense: it directly links customer knowledge and consumer satisfaction. To better understand your customers and always satisfy them, you must encourage them to give their opinions, their suggestions for improving service and encourage them to communicate with you. Your satisfied customers are ambassadors for your brand... who will encourage new prospects to convert.
The different levers of customer engagement
To engage your customers you need to build a solid and lasting relationship with them. Different levers are at your disposal:
Content as a lever of knowledge
The blog is typically an often under-exploited channel, which nevertheless brings together different articles/success stories/videos/advice likely to help your customers get to know you better while informing themselves and learning interesting things. The particularity of this lever is that it constitutes an entry point that belongs to you. As a result, you remain the owner of the content that you publish. We therefore recommend that you first identify your readers, detect their preferences in order to best meet their expectations.
Community as a lever for engagement
Social media presence is essential these days. Especially when you consider the average time spent by Internet users on these platforms (check out our article on micro-moments to learn more). Thus, community marketing is the ultimate engaging marketing: it allows you to create and animate a community of consumers that gives them a sense of belonging.
Events as a lever for exchange
Events have the advantage of making you known to your target audience through physical proximity and seamless exchanges, which is very favorable to establishing a privileged contact. You can of course participate in trade fairs for example, but even better, you can organize events especially for your customers/prospects.
To learn more about customer engagement, don't hesitate to read our ebook on the subject !
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#6 Measure and improve customer satisfaction
Customer engagement is important, but customer satisfaction is even more important because it plays a crucial role in customer loyalty. It is therefore essential to measure it and implement actions to improve it.
The different indicators of customer satisfaction
The CSAT or Customer Satisfaction Score
Historically, CSAT is the benchmark satisfaction indicator, which still remains the most popular today.
“Are you satisfied with...?”
The answer can take different forms: yes/no, rating on a semantic scale or rating on a numerical scale. This indicator, very easy to set up, allows you to measure customer satisfaction "on the spot" or in "real time", just after an interaction between your customer and your company. It is most often expressed as a percentage. As a general rule, a very good CSAT is above 80%.
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The NPS or Net Promoter Score
Beyond being a good lever for collecting feedback, the NPS is also a recommendation indicator that will allow you to identify the promoters and detractors of your brand.
“On a scale of 0 to 10, would you recommend our brand/products/services to those around you?”
From 0 to 6, these are the Detractors. These are dissatisfied or very moderately satisfied customers. This category is potentially dangerous for your brand because detractors will not fail to share their dissatisfaction.
From 7 to 8, these are the Passives. These are customers who are generally satisfied but not satisfied enough to promote your brand. They are even more likely to go to the competition.
From 9 to 10, these are the Promoters . These are the most loyal and satisfied customers. They are the company ambassadors who will recommend your brand to other potential buyers like their friends or family.
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The CES or Customer Effort Score
It is the latest addition to the family of customer satisfaction indicators.
“How much effort did you have to put in to...?”
The answer to this question takes the form of a score ranging from 1 (minimal effort) to 5 (maximum effort). It is calculated very simply by averaging all the scores collected. It is mainly used to measure the level of customer effort at specific touchpoints in their journey.
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#7 Ensure your brand is consistent
Brand consistency is important to stand out from the competition. Plus, it’s the best way for you to communicate with your customers and provide them with a unique experience .
Therefore, it is essential to clearly define your company identity . The colors, associated graphics and wording of the messages used must clearly reflect your identity. For example, if you sell a luxury car rental service, the words “luxury cars” and “exclusive brands” must appear in your speech, accompanied by elegant design and graphics that reflect the high-end identity of your brand in this case.
Ensuring consistency is a key principle of relationship marketing. It is essential to establish an image associated with your identity in the minds of customers to make you easily recognizable and memorable.
#8 Find a balance between the customer journey and your objectives
Finding a balance in the customer relationship is necessary to maintain a mutually beneficial exchange. High customer satisfaction can lead to unfavorable cost increases and thus cause significant financial losses, even determining for the retention of your customer. The same consequences can occur in the opposite case, when the customer relationship is not strong enough or poorly maintained.
So, as in any relationship, finding balance is necessary in your relationship with your clients.
#9 Adopt a coherent vision
Your internal employees are the true vectors of your brand value. Typically, the customer is the most valued in terms of the business value delivered by the customer relationship. However, the focus must also be on the values transmitted by your employees, which remain the concrete expression of what you have announced as your strategic vision. Hence the importance of ensuring that your vision is consistent with what is conveyed by your employees.
#10 Use good customer relationship management (CRM) software
Good customer relationship management allows your business to maintain control over every interaction. Thus, using a good CRM becomes a necessity.
However, choosing a good CRM is not easy. Here are some criteria to consider:
Identify your needs : A good CRM should solve your problems and make your work easier. Start by identifying the problems you face and the type of solution you need.
Check the features of the available software: There are several software available in the market. However, if you know your needs well, identifying the right CRM will be easier.
Request a demo: Before you begin, request a demo . During this session, a member of the company will answer your questions and introduce you to the CRM features.
#11 Facilitate communication
Communication is at the heart of customer relationships . The smoother the communication, the closer the relationship and the more your customers will trust you.
Each point of contact with customers must therefore be clearly identified .
For example, when a potential customer creates an account on your site. An email should be sent to welcome them and explain how your service works. Then, when they perform an action on your website, a chatbot will offer to help them, and so on. The goal is to always ensure a constant flow of communication with the lead or customer without falling into the vicious circle of commercial pressure.
3 customer relationship strategies
A good customer relationship strategy is the key to the success of any business. Whether you are looking to gain new customers or retain old ones, you need a well-developed strategy.
Here are some examples of customer relationship strategies you can implement:
Have an omnichannel presence
Being present on multiple social networks is equivalent to having multiple communication channels. It has become important to have an omnichannel presence to satisfy customers. Whether you choose an after-sales service by email or a messaging application, the main thing is to be there for your customers and ensure the possibility of interacting through multiple communication channels for a better customer experience.
Personalize your targeted marketing
One of the principles of customer relationship that should not be forgotten is to implement a personalized relationship strategy. While it is necessary to know your customers, it is also important to apply your knowledge. Here are some steps to personalize your targeted marketing.
Personalize your emails
Recent studies have shown that emails with a personalized subject line have a 50-58% higher open rate. So there are many elements of your communication that, if personalized, can make each of your customers feel unique.
Segment your customers
To successfully personalize your communications, it is essential to segment your customers in order to target them more effectively. Whether targeting by behavior, preference or profile, the key is to clearly define the segmentation criteria so that they are functional and useful for your various targeted actions.
There are several software that you can use, such as Actito . You can choose the segmentation method and start your campaigns on the right foot for ever more impactful marketing!
Be Specific
Get to the point! No one wants to read a long message or a never-ending email. Two or three short paragraphs are more than enough to grab your customer's attention.
