Have you seen the movie “Minority Report” starring Tom Cruise? It’s a great movie in a futuristic world – where advertisements aren’t like what we see today. You had stores in a shopping mall retina scanning customer and offering a personalized advertisement feed. In a way, the advertisements communicate with customers on a personal level.
Now, what if we had it in the real world? What would it look like? The billboard placed at the front of Walmart could say:
“Hello John, how are you doing? We hope the laptop you bought last month is working great! We have some cool discounts on external hard drives. Would you like to come in and check them out?”
Sounds futuristic, right? The concept of personalization has been changing, more so since the internet became popular.
For businesses, personalization helps to serve many goals. It makes customers feel wanted and special, and you don’t have to wait for the era of Minority Report.
For your business, it makes for better conversion – a win-win for all.
So, how do you personalize your business for more engagement? Here are a few other tips.
Focus on Resolving Customer ComplaintsEvery business will have customers who are not satisfied. It does not matter if it is a startup or been in operation for years, whether it is just local or a multinational corporation, disgruntled customers always exist. It is just a simple calculation and does not signify the quality of service or products.
Remember, not everything goes as planned when you are dealing with many customers. While mistakes can happen, you can often make it right by addressing issues promptly.
For example, Julia buys some products from the supermarket but gets overcharged on certain items while billing. She leaves the shop without realizing it and comes back later when she discovers the anomaly. However, the store representative declines to address her problem, stating all disputes should be taken up at the time of billing. Julia feels cheated, and she opts for another competitor in the future. As a business, you don’t want that to happen.
Often, it’s easier than you think to address issues. Let’s talk about Bill. He orders a watch for his father on his 50th birthday from an online shopping website. The courier, though, delivers a wedding gown to his dad. Bill writes his complaint on the Facebook page of the website, expressing his dissatisfaction.
The company can resolve the issue quickly here. All they need to do is take the order number and arrange a call shortly. If the company made the error, they can even issue discount vouchers for Bill’s next purchase.
The important thing is to acknowledge the problem and address the customer’s concern. The first case could have been easily sorted with a small apology from the store clerk and thanking Julia.
Targeting was difficult before social media happened. Companies could only promote their services to a broad category of audience. Today, analytics have made it possible to access a vast range of data about your customers.
You can get to know about their preferences, spending habits and other behavior patterns directly from your workstation. You can use this to develop a specific profile for each individual customer that will open up the channels of direct interaction.
As a result, you can be more aggressive in your approach using the data. For one, you are in a better position to understand the customer’s needs.
When interacting with customers, ask them for feedback, or what they like more about your service and brand. If customers feel better connected with your brand, you can expect higher customer loyalty.
It’s easier to interact directly with your consumers thank you think.
It’s a great way to inform consumers about an upcoming sale. You can send a text message reminding your customer about Father’s Day.
Post on social media and directly respond to customer queries and posts.
Are users abandoning their carts on your ecommerce store? Send surveys to those users to know the issue. You can also use the feedback to improve the service and stand out from competitors.
When someone visits your webpage, you can have a chat pop-up offering purchasing assistance.
What lies after you have successfully acquired a loyal customer? Do you jump to the next promising customer and try to woo him? The answer lies in the negative.
Loyalty has to be maintained. While wooing customers, companies will go all out, sending many messages, reminders and offers – until the sale.
Most companies don’t know how to hold on to customers after that. Do you treat customers the same way whether they have shopped with you once or shop with you every month? Don’t.
If customers are loyal to you, reward them.
Never take your customers for granted. A sale is just one part of the story – you need to ensure there is repeat engagement. Offer something extra for their loyalty. It can be anything, ranging from a complimentary breakfast on the next hotel booking to an extra few minutes of free talk time for the next billing cycle.
You don’t want customers to feel left out. Customers are bound to form a strong bond and stay as long as you keep the cycle going on your part.
Customer loyalty is something you earn. Sure, it takes time. But then Rome wasn’t built in a day.