5 Simple Ways to Treat Your Customers Better

Happy customers are the key to success for any business. Customers who are satisfied will recommend the products and services of a company to other people. By providing them with remarkable service, a company can build customer loyalty and encourage clients to come back. You need to ask yourself how your business can treat customers better and make them happier. Here are five simple ways to do that!

Use the Right Words

It is important to choose the right words when interacting with clients because they convey your attitude and perception towards them. Always say ‘please’ if your business is requesting them to do something. For example, saying “could you share with me your order number, please?” is a more polite expression than “I would like you to provide me with your order number”.

Saying ‘thank you’ shows your appreciation to clients and it can be communicated in many meaningful ways. Smile when saying “thank you, please come again” to customers who have visited your store. Or, send them a short and simple thank you message via e-mail or text. Be courteous by saying “glad to have been of service” after following up with clients and address them with respect. Say “I am sorry, I understand where you are coming from” and “I would feel the same if that happened to me” to unhappy or angry consumers. Knowing what to say to customers especially in different situations makes a remarkable difference in how customers feel that they are being treated by your business.

Show Customers That They Are Valued

Nowadays, simply showing customers that they will get their money’s worth from buying your products and services is not enough. Does your business monitor every customer touch point? Listen to what they need and expect. For instance, you run a printer company and a customer calls you to ask for tips on improving his/her printer’s usability. You connect him/her with one of your repair team representatives who gives advice and offers to take a look at the customer’s product. By examining the printer, you automatically do more than expected for the client who, in turn, becomes your lifelong customer because of the additional value you delivered to them.

Let us examine another situation. A customer walks into a toy store with her daughter and realizes that she forgot her purse at home. The child sees a toy she likes and she demands that her mother buy it for her. Seeing that the customer is in an uncomfortable situation, the manager offers the toy as a gift to the child. The next day, the customer revisits the shop with her friends who all want to buy toys for their children. It is because they all heard about how the store made her very happy with its exceptional customer service.

Make sure you request customers for feedback about your products and services. Ask them if there is anything that has dissatisfied them and welcome their views on any changes they would like to see in your business. Show them that your company values their response because it allows you to identify those areas which you could work on to enhance your customer service for them. Promise that you will bring about continuous improvement which is exclusively customer-oriented and always deliver what you say.

Be Accessible

According to a 2014 e-mail response time poll conducted by Toister Performance Solutions, it was revealed that businesses are expected to reply to customer emails within four hour. The survey also revealed that 4% of people wanted companies to respond in 15 minutes.

Customers would like to believe that your organization is concerned about their needs and they expect you to be able to interact with them through multiple communication channels. Hence, having a strong presence on these channels is important for your business and for customers to reach you more easily. Make the best use of phone, e-mail and social networking sites so that you can connect with them in an efficient manner. You can also integrate 24/7 live chat support in your company’s website so that your online chat experts can deal with customers’ queries and concerns in a timely and proactive way.

Make Things Easy for Clients

Does your company show clients that it cares about them? Does it put in extra effort to make things easier for customers? Examine your everyday business activities. Is it easy for your customers to redeem the coupons which you offer in your loyalty program? Does your sales team put them through a lot of hassle when they want to return something they bought from your store? Do your store representatives pass them around from one department to another if they have any queries or issues to be resolved? Remember that customers have many options these days and they will simply leave you for your competitors if your company makes things difficult for them. Your business needs to ensure ease and convenience for customers which will keep them coming back to you.

Reward Your Customers

Happy customers are loyal clients who expect your business to give them a little something extra. Develop a loyalty program which enables them to win points for every product or service they buy from you. They can then redeem these points for some of your company’s items. Make exclusive discount offers by giving customers a certain percentage off the next time they purchase something from you. Offer free items and gift cards to clients who frequently do business with you.

These gestures remind clients that your business cares about building and maintaining long-term relationships with them and you will always have happier customers returning to you.