Win New Customers, then keep them.
My sim card recently got damaged, and I had no choice but to retrieve it by going to the customer care center of my service provider. The first thing I heard as I entered was “Good Morning Sir, how may I be of help?” this was from a smiling lady at the counter and to be honest it immediately made me feel like I was in good hands.
Great customer service can go a long way to increase your customer lifetime value, and as well increase the chances of that new customer becoming a returning customer or even referring other customers. There is a popular axiom that an impressed customer will tell 3 people, an embittered one will tell 100, so you are better off just keeping your customers happy.
What is customer lifetime value?
CLV is a measurement of how valuable a customer is to your company with an unlimited time span as opposed to just the first purchase. This metric helps you understand a reasonable cost per acquisition.
CLV is the total worth to a business of a customer over the whole period of their relationship. It’s an important metric as it costs less to keep existing customers than it does to acquire new ones, so increasing the value of your existing customers is a great way to drive growth
It costs five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep a current customer, so great customer services can help you reduce the cost of acquiring new customers.
Here are some tips on how to deliver a great customer service experience.
01. Your Customer is always boss.
In Nigeria, this saying may have lost it’s meaning to arrogant and over entitled customers, but think of it this way, the customer is the reason why you have a business in the first place, they are the crucial part that make up your business, so keeping them is not a choice, it is the only option.
It is as this quote by Sam Walton says it; “There is only one boss. The customer. And [he or she] canfire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending [his or her] money somewhere else”.
Your goal should be to delight your customers with a pleasant experience every time they use your service. More than just promo codes and vouchers, a caring SMS or email on their birthday or even a phone call, a customized order tailored to fit their needs, after sales services, make sure they leave with a smile at every touch point for your business.
02. Keep it Professional.
Thoroughly understand your own service, so that by the time your customer complains, you know how the shoe pinches and what to tweak to please that customer. Be attentive, make your customer the centre of your focus. Your choice of words must be to calm and to build trust, demonstrating an understanding of the product or service you offer.
03. Smile, your profits depends on it!
There is the common saying that you never get a second chance at a first impression and this is valid. Whenever you don’t meet a customer’s expectations, that impression is hardly turned around. Your first impression can be a smiling face or a neat and well laid out store or even the tone of your voice on the phone. This can go a long way to make your customers more responsive to what you have to offer and in the long run become a brand advocate for your business.
04. Keep in touch.
Human! that should be the focus of your customer service approach, being human. Genuinely care for your customers, once in a while reach out to them, there are automated services to help you do this seamlessly.
Depending on what your business offers, you can keep a database of your customers that include emails, phone numbers, birthday, address etc so you can keep in touch as often as you can, just make sure to draw the line between caring and creep. Keep it Human.
05. Make it easy to be reached.
Be available everywhere, every time. Prioritize the needs of your customers, sometimes, even above yours. Introduce multiple communication channels so they can easily access you. From your social media handles, to your customer care phone number(s), company email, WhatsApp, everywhere it is convenient for them to reach you, should be made available.
Do not obscure your contact information in tiny text on one corner of your website, do not ignore inquiries to your business, give yourself a maximum time frame to respond to them, this boost trust and helps you not lose customers who are in the discovery phase of their journey.
Have you read our profitability checklist for entrepreneurs?
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