In today's rapidly changing digital market, offering products or services alone isn't enough to attract and keep customers.
Brands have always been in the business of selling. But with consumers craving more transparency than ever before, it’s vital that businesses find new ways to reconnect with their audiences and work to build meaningful long-term customer relationships.
But, what does that really look like?
How can businesses show up for their customers in a way that’s authentic and human?
How can businesses continue growing their bottom line without sacrificing quality — or worse, customer loyalty?
In today’s article, we’re clearing the air with five best practices every modern business needs to bridge the gap between their organization and their customers.
Are you ready to discover how you can form long-term, happy, engaged customer relationships?
Let’s get started!
Be authentic, transparent, and honest in customer interactions
From taking care of a support ticket to crafting an email campaign to answering a question on Instagram, it’s crucial to create an authentic online presence so your audience can connect with you on a deeper level.
One way you can show authenticity in customer interactions is by making them personalized and creative. For instance, you can use video and photo editing tools to create explainer videos, infographics, ads, posters, and email newsletters tailored to your audience.
Pay special attention to the language you use when you communicate, too.
Whether you run a small brand or operate a large business with endless customer support tickets, you can create refined processes without sacrificing thoughtful communication.
How? Recreate the scripts and talking points you use across your communication and marketing channels. (This applies to chatbots and auto-responders, too!)
For instance, train your team to respond with empathy, respect, and a solution if a customer runs into a payment issue at checkout. Be sure to coach them on using the new scripts and talking points you created.
Here are some examples of scripts you might train your team to use in this situation:
Instead of: “We’ve received your customer support ticket and will be sure to respond within 24 hours”.
Try: “So sorry we missed you! We strive to answer all customer concerns within the same business day. Please be on the lookout for a resolution email from our team today. We appreciate you! Talk soon”.
Instead of: “Hello Rachel, I’m Sara from customer support. How can I help you today?”
Try: “Hi Rachel! Thanks so much for waiting. I’m Sara and I’m here to answer all of your questions. How can I make your day better today?”
Instead of: “I understand you’re having a payment processing issue. Please wait a moment while I locate your order”.
Try: “I’m sorry to hear your payment isn’t going through! Do you mind if I step away briefly so I can take a quick look at your order? I’ll be right back with a solution!”
So, think about it.
What are some ways you can show up for your audience authentically, transparently, and honestly?
What shortcuts can you create to make the process smoother for your team and your customers?
How can you better personalize your communication to your audience’s preferences and needs?
Get to know your customers
Explore your customers' innermost thoughts and feelings about your business, including what they like and don't like and the patterns they follow when they engage with your brand.
An easy way to get to the bottom of what they really think about you?
Send over polls, questionnaires, and surveys, asking them detailed questions about what they think about your brand and any specific needs they have.
You can also ask fun questions to get to know more unique, personal qualities about them — and use these later to further personalize your communication.
Next, be sure to implement new systems to cater to their needs, preferences, and personalities.
For instance, do you run an onsite pharmacy that sells medication your customers would prefer to purchase privately?
When revamping your site, make it easy for customers to purchase online by setting up quick checkout flows and easy-to-scan product pages.
You can also offer to save their shopping history or set up auto-pay so they can quickly and easily get the products they need when they need them.
Use customer data to build trust
And speaking of getting to know your customers, don’t forget about the importance of leveraging customer data to create personalized experiences.
You should always be transparent about how you're using the data. For instance, to improve your products or services.
When collecting data from opt-ins and cookies, pay close attention to your customers’:
- Buying patterns
- Payment preferences
- Most purchased items and services
- Communication preferences
- Social media activity
- Brand interactions
- Marketing preferences
- Demographic data
Then, brainstorm ways to use this data to build trust and connections with your customers.
For example, if you discover that most of your customers live in Canada, you might consider highlighting Canadian holidays, traditions, and milestones in your marketing material.
Or, if you learn that most of your customers prefer shopping with pay later apps or alternative payment methods, then you might consider offering a wider selection of payment options at checkout.
If you’re a service-based business, be sure to also keep track of your interactions with your clients and any unique information you find out about them using a customer relationship management platform (CRM).
For instance, managing a CRM is crucial for real estate businesses. Without a CRM, real estate agents struggle to keep in contact with leads and qualified buyers — a recipe for sales and relationship-building disasters.
Listen to your customers and be proactive
As we touched on previously, don't just talk about issues. Take the lead by being proactive about solving issues important to your brand and your customers.
An easy way to do that?
Take inventory of any problem areas, pain points, and challenges your brand and customers are currently facing. Then, get serious about solving them.
Again, surveys, polls, and questionnaires can be game changers here.
We also recommend sending these to your employees and managers, too, to uncover any areas for improvement within your organization. Pro tip: Don’t forget to answer these questions yourself, too!
Here are some questions you might ask your customers to improve your business externally:
- How satisfied are you with our current products and services? Offer a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10.
- How can we improve our current products and services? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What new products, services, or features would you like to see from us? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What do you think about our current communication channels, and how can we improve them? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What do you think about our current marketing approach, and how can we improve it? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What pain points, problems, or challenges are you currently facing regarding (enter brand-related theme here, i.e., “buying your first home” ), and how can we help solve them? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What else do you want us to know? How else can we better serve you? Leave room for an open-ended reply.
Here are some questions you might ask your employees to improve your business internally:
- How satisfied are you with our current processes, workflows, and procedures? Offer a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10.
- How can we improve our current processes, workflows, and procedures? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What new products, services, or features would you like to see us create and why? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What do you think about our current communication channels, and how can we improve them? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What do you think about our current marketing operations, and how can we improve them? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What pain points, problems, or challenges are you currently facing regarding your role, and how can we help solve them? Provide multiple-choice answer options and leave room for an open-ended reply.
- What else do you want us to know? How else can we better serve you? Leave room for an open-ended reply.
Help people understand how your brand fits into their lives through storytelling
Build relatability and heartfelt connections with your customers by crafting a story that describes how your brand came to be and what your core values are.
Show why your customers should choose you over your competitors and brainstorm authentic ways to express this through your products, services, website, ads, and communication channels.
An easy way to share an epic brand story? Shoot a professional brand story video!
Hire a professional videographer to shoot a documentary-style video showcasing:
- How your brand operates behind the scenes.
- An interview with you or someone on your leadership team sharing how, when, and why you started the company.
- Members of your team, each sharing one core value your company embodies and why it's important to them.
- Clips of happy customers raving about how your product or service has added tremendous value to their lives.
- How your product or service works, step-by-step — and who it’s best for.
- Your most popular product or service features and why your loyal customers can’t get enough of them.
- Your mission and vision for the future and how they align with your customer’s needs and values.
After you’ve put together an incredible brand story video, ask the videographer to give you the complete video along with shorter, edited clips. This way, you can embed short video clips in relevant marketing materials and share the full-length video on more permanent marketing channels.
For instance, you might share the full-length video on your website, landing pages, and email newsletter.
And you might share:
- A behind-the-scenes clip in your Stories on social media.
- A core values clip in an ad about why consumers should choose your brand over a competitor’s.
- A clip of your most popular product or service features at the top of your product or service page.
- Clips of happy customers as Reels or posts on Instagram, TikTok, and other social media channels.
- How your product or service works as an explainer video on YouTube and/or in paid ads.
- A video of your mission and vision for the future as a thank you video sent to customers after making their first purchase.
Conclusion
The more people understand your purpose and how your brand can serve them, the more inclined they'll be to support you.
But, if you're spending your money producing an amazing product or service, and little to no time showing people why it matters, it’s time to rethink your strategy.
In the end, bridging the gap between your business and your customers is all about inspiring loyalty, building customer relationships, and listening to what your audience has to say.
It's about aligning your business goals with a common purpose and realizing that businesses are here to serve people, not themselves.
In other words, it requires understanding your customers in a deeper capacity.
Are you ready to build meaningful relationships with your audience? We hope today’s article has inspired you to do just that.
For good measure, here’s a quick recap of the tips we shared today:
- Be authentic, transparent, and honest in customer interactions
- Get to know your customers
- Use customer data to build trust
- Listen to your customers and be proactive
- Help people understand how your brand fits into their lives through storytelling
And that’s it for today.
To your success!
