Turn an Unhappy Customer into a Raving Fan in these 10 Simple Steps
Happy customer turns into a great conversion!
What if a customer goes online to post something negative about your company, that is a nightmare right? Companies usually worry about these circumstances and do not like when there is a public damage to the goodwill. But it is important to keep in mind that the best feedback comes from loyal customers. These negative comments or remarks are the biggest hinges one can take note of to better success. These chronic complaints can become positive remarks if handled well and the customers with these issues can become fans of your brand’s products or services.
Customers like companies who take action to address concerns. In fact if you resolve customer plaints in their favor, nearly 70 percent of them will do business with you again.
Before the entry of the Internet, if a customer was unhappy, they would tell all their friends about what bad service. This would influence the friends as well to reconsider their decision of business with the store/place. Businesses in that angle would lose business even when they are unsure why they are losing customers. Knowing customer concerns is important to help them solve their problems, retain customers, and acquire new ones.
Now businesses can truly understand what their customers want. Through social media, online reviews, and other testimonials (or maybe even rants), companies can implement strategies to provide great service to customers.
Importance of Customer Feedback and Customer Retention
Acquiring new customers is essential for growth but retaining your customers by giving them the best service will be more beneficial. It is 7 times more costly to acquire a new customer than to retain someone who is already a customer, according to The White House Office of Consumer Affairs. Customer feedback essentially feeds into the system making it necessary for businesses to take cognisance of the fact and improve their performance. When your customer gives you a feedback, you know for sure that they want your betterment or expect a different level of service from you.
Customer retention and feedback work hand in hand for eventual company success.
These are the steps you should take to convert an unhappy customer into a raving fan
Note Meaningful Complaints
Complaints can come from many areas, including email, social media, or a private message. Perhaps on your Facebook page, or a bad review on Google the comment can be anywhere. Make a note of their concern. What is the pain point? Why is the customer unhappy? What troubles them? Is it the product or service? Once the concerns and heat areas are known, it becomes easier to address them. Many times, there are spam messages and irrelated comments, filter them out and create a list of the common ones. If there is an issue majority of the customers are facing or a common thread running through them, sort it out with the right teams.
Listen to Them
Patiently listening to your customers is important. Apologise if there is a mistake and offer quick solutions. There is no need to take offence. Remember, they chose to work with you and are facing a problem. If you listen to them clearly, there is a huge chance of the answers being the key to retaining your customers. If you cannot listen to them, you will not understand their problems correctly. Intently listening will give your customers a feeling of being important and convince them that the company truly cares.
Make Amends
Speak to them and make things right with them. Go the extra mile by answering their queries and solving their concerns. If you have to contact a specific team to get things better, do that. Answer their queries patiently. Suggest other products or services. Impart customer education to them so that they can use the product in the best manner possible. Make it sure to customers that you are keen on correcting the issue and what measures you plan to take. If it is a rude response by an agent, apologise to the customer and also provide proper training to the customer servce agent to improve their process.
Create a vision and pursue it
Successful businesses are built on customer satisfaction and customer retention. To create raving fans, one needs to aggressively follow a vision. The plan or vision needs to be actionable and all-encompassing. Every company team and employee should know about the vision and be able to work for it. A comprehensive vision will drive support for the organisation and ensure that everyone is aware of what they want to drive as goals.
Customer Expectations and Wants
Sometimes what we offer is not what customers want. Understand what they want by gauging their expectations. Make sure your vision works in alignment with customer expectations. Schedule meetings, conduct feedback surveys, follow up, use social media to understand what your customer prefer. Once you get the feedback, you can align your company to it and work as a unit. If your customer expects something different which your product cannot offer under any case, let them know. Listen to them but also know that they are not always right.
Offer something unique
Great brands will have great fans. Companies that offer something unique will attract user attention and cultivate a loyal customer base. Set the brand apart giving a sense of connection for any customer. When a customer is unhappy with the product, to make them a fan one needs to offer a unique perspective. This will make your brand memorable, give it a personal touch, and allow for free marketing. Smart marketing will help your brand make its presence online. Maybe a free bag or something useful can be helpful for customers. These gifting solutions can create something unique for the customers.
Delight customers with the best service
Excellent customer service is everyone’s expectation. If customers are not happy, they will look for someone else. Brands must provide the best service to make a mark on customers. Some amazing and fool-proof ways to delight customers include-
Responding promptly to customers is important. Answer phone calls and respond to each customer personally as quickly as possible. Your customers are your priority.
Being reliable and fulfilling customer orders quickly is necessary. When you deliver, you get marks on customers trust and loyalty. Keep customers updated with the latest offers.
Focus on user experience to navigate customers while they are trying to make a purchase. Poor user experience will make customers move elsewhere.
Engage with them frequently
Social media has made it simple for brands to connect with not only customer but people all over the world. Depending on your product or service, you can use Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook. Respond to tweets and comments to enhance the customer engagement strategy. Express the personality of your brand through media and online interactions. Customer engagement is the most important key to redress a majority of customer complaints and issues. If you are on top of their mind, it is easier to convince them and turn them from unhappy customers into raving fans.
Reward loyal customers
Rewarding loyal customers will be great to keep them as fans. After a customer makes a purchase, a thank you note with a discount for their next purchase. Give customers refunds whenever possible. Correcting an issue can be made memorable by rewarding them well. Problems will stick if they are not solved. Loyal customers can convince others to stay in touch and be involved with the product.
Keep your Promises
Customers will be loyal only when you build trust by keeping your promises. Your keeping of the promises matters the most while considering whether customers will be unhappy or turn into fans. Do not overpromise and undersell. That is a factor any customer cannot handle since their expectations are at a high already. If you promise the impossible, that’s exactly what they will expect. So, keep your promises reasonable. Do not harp on your product for features it does not provide. Be transparent and open to them.
Conclusion: The Right Balancing approach
For any business to survive in this competition, the right approach is necessary. Almost all businesses run on the power of referral marketing. If you redress customer complaints and convince them to stay with you, it will be the best way to retain customers. By creating an army of raving fans who love your business and want to be associated with it, you are creating a stream of people willing to be associated with you and increasing revenue. Doing this will create a long lasting relationship which is highly important for any business.
Instead of overspending on ad budgets, companies can turn to great social media and online presence to capture a customer and feed them with he right info, follow up on their problems, give them solutions and keep them hooked. Remember, every customer looks to churn the minute they encounter any difficulties. Bringing them back to your fold through exceptional customer service will only bring you closer and improve your business.
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