Monday 6 February 2012

Are You Speaking The Right Language With Your Customers

Customer Service
I'm delighted to introduce you to a guest post from Sylvia Rosen. Sylvia is a web content writer who uses her journalism background to connect with industry professionals to write articles on the latest trends in health, technology and business industries.

Thank you Sylvia for guest posting on Derek's Home and Business Blog and I'm sure my readers will thoroughly enjoy your post.


Are You Speaking the Right Language with Your Customers

Here's some interesting food for thought: Did you know that in spite of the current state of the downturned economy, customers are actually willing to pay more for great customer service?

According to the 2010 Customer Experience Impact Report by Harris Interactive, customers are willing to pay top dollar to have a great customer experience.

  • 82% of customers stopped doing business with a particular company because they had a bad experience.

  • 55% of customers chose a company because of their good reputation for customer service.

  • 40% of customers purchased from a different brand because of their reputation for great customer service.

The bottom line? 85% of customers are willing to pay more than the average price for a product for a pleasant customer experience.

So where do you begin?

Here are three basic communication channels to consider to improve customer communication and to provide your customers with a memorable experience:


Social Media

Social media is a booming channel for customer service today. More people are plugged into social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn than ever before. When your business has a presence and a voice in social media, you can reach customers exactly where they are at.

You can speak their language. You can listen in on their conversations. You can answer customer questions and deal with problems before they become a bigger issue. On top of that, social media provides the perfect environment to reach out to customers in neutral territory and form long-lasting relationships, proving to them that you are a business they can trust.


Customer Service

Customer service is a basic component of any business, but its value should not be overlooked. When a customer calls you regarding a question or issue, they are looking for genuine support.

Having a well-trained staff that is knowledgeable enough to quickly answer customer questions and deal with customer issues over the phone will make a great impression on behalf of your business. Make no mistake that if a customer has to call again and again or has trouble reaching a representative, they will not likely do business with your company again.


E-mail Marketing

E-mail marketing is the modern approach to direct mail marketing; even better, it is incredibly inexpensive to run an e-mail marketing campaign. Instead of paying to send out flyers, postcards, or brochures to customers that will likely be thrown away as junk mail, you can create a dedicated e-mail campaign with valuable information that your customers are looking for.

In order to see the greatest success with e-mail marketing, pay attention to what your customers are talking about in social media. You can then provide content that answers questions and concerns in an e-mail newsletter and offer special deals and coupons to your subscribers. This is one easy, effective way to keep customers coming back for more and to reward loyal customers for their business.

Speaking the right language to your customers will do wonders to improve their customer experience. And when you're able to improve the experience of your customers, you can guarantee that they will pay more for your products - and choose you over your competitors every time.


About The Author: Sylvia Rosen is an online writer who connects with business professionals to write articles on a variety of industry trends and products. You can connect with Sylvia on Twitter @SylviaRosen.

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Would you like to guest post on the blog? Please use the Contact tab above to get in touch if you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).


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5 comments:

  1. Excellent post, and really relevant too. When I think about the places I've reviewed on Yelp, it's usually negative after having a terrible experience with the staff, or positive after having a great experience with the staff OR the food, products, or shopping experience. I'm more prone to negatively review a place when I'm treated terribly. And writing a review actually makes the experience stick out MORE in my memory - which usually causes me to never visit that place again and trash-talk it when it comes up in conversation. The data in this post shows that other people do the same! Interesting stuff.

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  2. Stephen Williams7 February 2012 at 10:15

    There is nothing more exasperating than poor customer support. Businesses that do not provide adequate support to their customers should not be in business at all.

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  3. I like all your posts, they are all very informative and useful. This one is not the exception! Thank you very much for your work and keep it up!

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  4. Great points. Customer service wins out 99% of the time. It's the best thing a company can do to gain and retain customers.

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  5. What a good article. I feel as though with the big technology push, companies have lost a sense of what true customer service is! I cover a lot of the same things at my blog at www.moneycatapult.com. Keep up the good work!

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