Strong customer relationships are built on thoughtful, ongoing communication. As easy as that sounds, companies with even a modest-sized customer base can risk irritating or alienating their customers if they lack the processes and technologies to carefully manage customer communications. Brands that interact appropriately and usefully with their customers can expect a higher level of retention and satisfaction than companies who do not. Here we look at three tips that can help you build better relationships with their customers.
Automate Outbound Communication
Automating outbound communication isn't impersonal - it's efficient, and tailors messages in a fraction of the time it takes to do it manually. It's efficient in a number of ways. One size no longer fits all and software for instance can automatically add personalized marketing messages be they information, competitions or advertisements. This enables your brand to communicate directly with customers en masse, making them feel more valued hence creating more engagement. Secondly, automating communication saves time and reduces manual labour freeing staff to concentrate on tasks of higher importance.
Uphold integrity of data
If customer data is bad, bad results are more likely. If names, addresses, phone numbers or email addresses are wrong - your message won't reach the person you want to hear it. Tracking customer's preferences and updating information is critical. Ensuring accuracy and staying on top of administration seriously reduces your chances of sending the wrong person a wrong or irrelevant item. On top of that, sending communication to incorrect or out of date addresses comes at a cost which is easily avoided.
Centralise Multi-Channel Mailing
Brands like to reach out to their customers on as many platforms as possible using both email and printed letter - and why wouldn't they? Using different channels adds a flexibility but also risk. One risk being if the email is sent by one team and the letter send by another there is a very real chance of conflicting messages being sent to a customer, or the exact same message could be sent to the customer on both platforms. This can create annoyance among your customer base. By centralising your outgoing mail management you can achieve better control and flexibility.
It doesn't happen overnight, it takes time and patience to develop strong customer relationships. It takes much less time to hurt these relationships as all the work can be undone if processes and systems lead to poorly executed communication campaigns. Does your business have the right processes and tools in place to allow you control communications effectively? Does it have the sophistication to ensure that only the right message is going to the right customer at the right time?
