4 Ways To Ensure You’re Always Making Your Customers Happy

In our last blog, we highlighted the fact that treating your best customers like gold is an ideal way to increase your customer base. This is because word spreads fast. When customers are happy, they generally like to tell their friends and family about the companies that made them happy. The same thing applies for when a business makes customers unhappy. The bad reviews spread just as quickly!

So how can you ensure you’re always making your customers happy? Here are four ways:

1. Make changes based on customer feedback. Some business owners take criticism about their companies personally. They shouldn’t. Instead, they should regard feedback of any kind as free learning material. When a customer expresses a grievance, it should be considered an opportunity to improve. If you make changes based on customer feedback, customers will notice. And they will really appreciate it.

Mike Bal certainly approves of this practice and recommends that you survey your customers to know exactly what makes them tick. “One great way to keep your customers loyal to your brand is to constantly improve,” he states in the Kissmetrics Blog, “Instead of just going by the numbers, or your gut, try figuring out what your customers want next. Create a poll with a few of the ideas you’ve been thinking about and send it out via your blog, social media accounts, and email.”

2. Never underestimate the power of freebies. Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t enjoy getting something for free? Remember that when you’re dealing with your customers. Especially when it comes to your loyal supporters, offering up freebies and discounts can go a long way in securing their loyalty for the long haul. Don’t forget the power of word-of-mouth promotion as well. Your freebie will become reason for positive stories about your brand to be shared.

“If some of your customers are actively and openly engaging with your brand on a regular basis, they’re the best possible people to give the full experience,” says Bal, “If you have a product line, send them something they haven’t tried. If you have a premium service, give them the upgrade for free. The actual cost to you is miniscule compared with the impact those customers will have on their friends, family, colleagues, and social followers.”

3. Be accessible. People hate waiting. And when it comes to receiving high-quality customer service, that goes double! In fact, in many cases, the speed of the service is the factor that people use to determine whether it was satisfactory or not. If you’re not there when your customers need you, they’ll notice. And, in a world where people have so many options, they’ll be a lot more likely to leave you for your competition.

Bal points out that customer service can be delivered in more ways than one. Between in-person discussions, phone conversations, emails and even using your social media accounts and blogs to answer questions, being accessible is a key to customer satisfaction. “Your social media channels or your blog may not be your primary channel for customer service, but they are touch points,” he writes, “Make sure the people manning the stations are capable of helping your customers solve common problems.”

4. Offer payment options. It’s 2016. Most businesses don’t force their customers to pay only with cash anymore. And, for the most part, Canadian shoppers prefer to pay with plastic anyways. It’s important that you provide your customers with the option to pay with either credit cards, debit cards or cash. For more information on how you can begin accepting plastic, call Canadian POS Corporation at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.