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If there’s one thing that’s going to make your customers feel close to your brand, it’s knowing that you value them, and not just for their money! Everyone’s wary of the money they’re spending, and as a business owner you can’t afford to take your customer’s support and patronage for granted. Regularly communicating the fact that you care about your customer’s experience is an incredibly powerful marketing ploy. Here are some of the best ways to go about it…
Share Knowledge
These days, it’s more important than ever to make your customers feel like they’re privileged. This means letting them in on insider knowledge which you wouldn’t share otherwise. From your email newsletter to your Facebook updates, make sure you’re giving your customer base a healthy dose of information that they’ll find interesting or useful. It doesn’t matter if you’re a rapidly expanding clothing label that’s poised to acquire another business, or a more niched B2B firm that’s just started using a new lab shaker, make sure it gets into your public materials. Even if an individual customer isn’t all that interested in the information, they’ll feel more appreciated in the fact that you bothered to share this information with them.
Ask, Respond, Adapt
In order to make sure your customers feel appreciated, ask them for their opinion on things regularly. This can range from their satisfaction with their most recent experience with your business all the way to their general impressions of your latest marketing materials. To make sure you’re milking this kind of initiative for all it has, you should be inviting feedback on your services through a number of accessible platforms – email, online surveys, social media etc. After that, make sure you’re taking the time to really pick out the patterns in the feedback you receive, and respond promptly, answering any of the questions which pop up again and again. This will create a strong sense of community and dialogue between you and your customer base. Finally, make sure you’re adapting based on what you find. Nothing will turn a modern customer away faster than being asked for their opinion, and then seeing no changes whatsoever.
Reward Them
By buying your product or paying for your service in the first instance, your customers have taken a huge leap of faith. It’s only right that you reward them for the trust they’ve placed in your brand! There are many ways you can choose to reward a loyal customer base. Some of the most straightforward, however, include offering coupons through email and other marketing channels. This will not only give your cash-strapped customers a welcome bit of financial relief, but will also stimulate your business by attracting new customers. Free gifts, provided they’re cost-effective, can be an even more effective method of doing this. Everyone loves a freebie, even if it’s just a branded pen! If you’re in the B2B sector, then it may be more fitting to reward your clients or customers with information instead. Send the CEO a free whitepaper, guide, or a report about something in your industry.
