There are More to Sales than Just Selling

Excellent customer service is the key to successfully sell products.

Statistics show that more than 50% of shoppers go online these days to check on the information of the products they are going to buy. What does this number tell us? As a marketer, I’m sure you’ll agree when I said the number translates to the behavior of the current digitally-advanced customers and what factor affects their purchasing decision.

The number also reminds me that as marketers, we have to think of the best way to stay connected with customers in order to improve sales.

Customer Experience Initiative

So, we know that the key to sell successful products is to know what your customers want. To do that, you need excellent customer service. Customer experience initiative, another fancy way to say it, is essentially about gathering all the information regarding your customers, what they appreciate, tolerate, like or dislike, and eventually come up with a creative deployment strategy where you, as marketers, focus all your attention and resources in a way that help you win over their loyalty and eventually improve your revenue. In other words, it’s all about getting everybody in the company to think like a customer and to find out the best way to take them on a journey, a unique experience with your product/brand.

Indeed, while this all sounds easy, but today with social media running loose and all the high-tech devices popping out on regular basis, companies at one point, will find themselves standing at the crossroad of fulfilling the customer’s demand and upholding the brand’s reputation. Now, what should marketers do at such situation? My advice? Mobilize your employees like a group of consultants with two basic jobs: to learn everything about what life actually looks like from the eyes of the customers and to think of a systematic strategy to improve their current reality.

Here are some ways to do that.

Accessibility

It’s no secret that business communication plays a big part in shaping customer’s experience. Well, in order to succeed in this area, companies must first determine which channels their customers are most active on. That way, companies can adapt their approach and come up with the most strategic way to reach them.

Whether it is social media, email, live chat, or videos, brands need to put themselves in customers’ shoes and think of a way to make the approach feel more authentic. The key here is to make sure customers can reach you and access any information they need about your business and brands easily at any time. By simply being accessible, brands can easily gain competitive advantage and take customers on a reliable and consistent experience.

Convenience

Today’s customers are more empowered to discover information on their own thanks to internet and social media. With that, naturally, the demand for convenience grows. For brands to maintain good relationship with customers, they must prioritize both service and purchase convenience.

Something as simple as having a polished, up-to-date information on your website, for instance, is one of the examples how to provide customers with the ability to assist themselves without having to reach out for help. Likewise, having accurate pricing, size chart, and packaging information as well as various options of different payment methods can effectively minimize purchasing difficulties. These are just few examples of how brands can invest in improving ‘convenience’ as part of their customer experience strategy.

Personalization

Well, here’s a quick question: how do you give customers the best experience with your brands? The answer: data. As I have always emphasized, it is imperative for brands to collect as much information as they could about their customers throughout initial process to provide relevant suggestions and support in the future. For customers, personalization also serves as a sign of respect for their loyalty. It tells them that your business is interested in establishing deeper relationship with them and above all, values their opinions.

While there are many methods to collect customer data, something as simple as swift responses on customer’s feedback, both negative and positive, serves as a great first step. By creating a transparent, universal space where customers can share their experience with your brands, you’re inevitably laying the foundation for more contextual communication and outreach.

Customer Experience Initiatives Take Time

Granted, companies shouldn’t expect their customer experience strategy to be working right off the bat. After all, building relationship requires trust and in order to earn customer’s trust, companies need to continuously provide better services, suggestions, and support consistently.

At the end of the day, building customer experience is a long-term strategy. By continuously working on defining the best approaches to improve your brands’ accessibility, convenience, and personalization, you will inevitably learn more about your customers and the best way to communicate your brand values to them.