Customers make the world go around, and – as you’ve heard – are always right (sometimes). Clearly, from these two widely used clichés, the customer is the most important part of a business. Studies have shown that it can be six or seven times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to keep an old one. The message is plainly clear, you should bend over backwards to keep the customers you have happy.
What is Customer Relations and Why do I Need it?
Even as a business owner, you are still someone’s customer. Studies show people are more likely to remember bad service than they are to remember the outstanding service. A strong commitment to outstanding customer service can lead to new and returning clients as well as positive brand recognition.
Building Client Loyalty Through Responsiveness
Great customer service is the bedrock for building customer loyalty and will come back to haunt you if not taken seriously. One way to build client loyalty is through fast response times. A large percentage of customers would give you their thoughts on a product or service if they believed it would be seriously considered and answered quickly.
Maintaining Customer Relations
The gold standard of an advertising strategy is a word of mouth recommendation. Mainly, because it penetrates the customer’s guard and has a high level of trust built into it since it is generally spread from friend to friend. Word-of-mouth advertising penetrates an existing positive relationship with established trust giving it the highest conversion rate and the highest customer satisfaction.
No one enjoys having their messages ignored, so take the time to respond to every customer to ensure they are aware of the steps you are taking to resolve any issue. Every minute that passes without a response increases the likelihood that they will take their loyalty to your competitor. Effective communication is essential to handling customer feedback and building brand loyalty and trust.