28 Mar How do you make your customers feel special?
I subscribed to AWeber (email marketing software) recently for my new website. I’m no techy geek so installing this and then adding it to my new website was filling me with a little dread. But, I know when I need to eat a frog not to look it too long (so to speak), so I got on with it and guess what? It was really straightforward!
Yes, even for me, I managed to get it all done and add the form to my new website. Well, there was just one thing with the layout that was niggling me and I couldn’t figure it out. Pleased that I’d got so far I thought I’d leave sorting that out to another day.
And then, guess what? The next morning as I was sitting down to work I got a call from AWeber customer services. A lovely American guy wanting to check that I was finding everything okay and did I have any questions? Well yes as a matter of fact I did have one – how do I get rid of that pesky white space in the form? The lovely American guy then promptly took me through how to do it and stayed on the phone until I finished it.
How’s that for customer service! He didn’t try to sell me anything new or upgrade me to anything – just checking in with how I was getting on and resolving my problem.
It’s that type of service that gets people talking (or writing blog posts!). It’s also that type of service that will make me much more likely to not only recommend a company but to want to buy from them again. I may even actively seek out something I can buy that I don’t really need because I’m so pleased with their service.
Now then – what are you doing for your customers to put them in this frame of mind?
Are you following up with them after they buy something to see how they got on? Are you keeping in touch with them to let them know things they may be interested in?
Do you know how your customers currently rate your service or areas they would like to see improved? If not, getting customers to fill in a quick survey should be something you are doing as a matter of course will all of your customers. This information is invaluable to you to grow your business and yet it’s relatively easy for you to get of hold of.
If you’re already doing this then great – but what are you actually doing with this information? Is it going to a pretty folder to be looked at ‘later’ or can you say (hand on heart now) that this is being used to improve the service you are offering?
What examples can you think of where you’ve had excellent customer service? Are there any lessons there that you can apply to your own business?
Good old-fashioned customer service has a lot to answer for in retaining your existing customers and getting recommendations and referrals for new ones.
Make sure you have a plan to serve your customers well and go beyond the expected. You’ll be amazed how people want to buy from you and get others to buy from you on this basis alone.
Take some time to consider how you’re doing this now and how you’re going to improve it to smash people’s expectations of the service they get from you and your business.
Alison Bradford
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