by Haris Quintana

Building a strong customer database is crucial for your business because the better your relationship, the more loyal they’ll be. There are plenty of ways that you can work at improving the relationship, so here's five to get you started.

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Do Your Research

Knowing who your customers are is the best way of improving your relationship because by knowing this data, you can create more content, products, and services that are tailored specifically for them. So implementing data analytics like Google Analytics as an example can be hugely beneficial to capturing this information. Once the code is within the coding of your website, you can track how long someone is on the site, what pages they go on and which ones they engage with the most. You’ve also got access to more personal information like their gender, age group and any hobbies or interests they have. The more data you have, the better the image you can create of your target audience and then you can work on providing what they need as your consumers.

Try Geo-Targeting

If your business is at a stage where you've got customers all over the world, then you want to tailor the content you are sending out via your email marketing and messaging. One way of doing this is with location based messaging as it species what content or information the customer receives based on where they are located. There's nothing more frustrating than receiving marketing through your phone or email with an offer that can only be redeemed in another country. It shows bad marketing and that you've not thought about the secondary audience groups that are based outside your main geographical area.

Connect Through Social Media

When it comes to customers connecting with a business, a lot now are flocking to social media in order to have communication with a brand. It's always a more personable way of connecting, and if your business isn't already online with social media, then it's certainly an area of marketing and promoting your company that you're missing out on. From a customer point of view, you're stopping them from communicating with you in a more direct manner. This can create a certain negative impression from a customer viewpoint.

If you’ve not got yourself on social media, start by researching the different types of platforms that are available. They are all different and unique in their own way, and one platform may work better for you than another. Most social media platforms also have analytical options if you’ve got a business profile which can come in handy for collecting data and performance reports for your content.  

Ask For Feedback

Feedback is definitely something all companies can benefit from. You never truly realize what might be lacking in the products or services you are selling and the best opinions that you can get are going to be the mainly unbiased ones from customers who spend their money on you. So openly welcome feedback whether you are sending surveys through your email marketing or requesting reviews via your website. With feedback, you can build customer relationship because they’ll feel valued for you listening and taking on board any suggestions that are made. There will be some negative feedback of course, but most of it will be constructive criticism that you can build on.

Make Your Content Meaningful

Content is king, especially if you’ve got popular social media platforms or heavy traffic on your website. Your content wants to be meaningful and so think about your audience and what they want to receive. It’s pointless creating content that’s not related to what they’re interests are but it also has to tie into what your business is selling. It’s an opportunity to become an expert within your industry, so aim to be consistent with your content and try to post onto your website or social media on a regular basis to keep customers engaged and waiting for the next thing you post up.

Customer relationships are certainly a work in progress for many businesses, and as a business that’s still growing, it’s imperative that you do all you can to build the relationship. So do your research to learn more about your target audience. This will make your content more engaging and most importantly, more meaningful. Experiment with geo-targeting to hone in on specific regions or locations and take advantage of what social media can offer you as a communication tool. And finally, always ask for feedback so that you are able to constantly be improving.