Ever thought how Starbucks made its way internationally without making even just one television commercial? You might haven’t thought of this before but I bet you it blew your mind realizing they really never cared making TV commercials.
Here’s one quick answer that you might also use for your marketing strategy: leveraging customer service.
Reports show that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Thus, a business that focuses on making customer happy yields better reviews which in turn secures your niche in the field. Knowing how a product’s reputation greatly affect the company, here are a few ways to leverage your customer service:
1. Engage customers on Social Media with customer service
For large businesses: create a social profile for customer service
Having a separated social page for customer service will not only show your consistency in your desire to give them the valued service, but also you can engage them on social media, update them with product news and promotion for higher sales in the future. Thus, try to make official social media pages that cater their questions and concerns to reach out on your customers.
For small and medium businesses: support customers on store as Facebook friends
If you own a small or medium store, creating a whole different social profile solely for customer service might seem redundant. Instead, you can add a Facebook live chat window on your store and chat with them as Facebook friends. This is a great way to not only engage them on your social media page for more sales, but also make your customer service more personal because you can access their Facebook profile and know their persona better. Quick Facebook Chat app is the most simple and effective tool that you can use to add a Facebook live chat window on your store.
2. Avoid losing sales by professionally handling negative reviews
The transparency of on-store reviews and social media help validate your company’s claim and instil trust to your target demographic if the reviews are on the positive light. Negative comments, however, do the other way around and discourage future customers to buy from you.
If you are able to respond to a negative review with all politeness, lenity and professionalism, you give the impression that you value your customers’ concern. Here are a few quick tips to deal with unsatisfied customers, change their mind and hopefully they will update their reviews:
- Send a personal apology : Cool down your irate complainants with sincere personal email, not just a public apology.
- Offer discounts or refund: Be extra careful when you try to offer customers with incentive for an exchange of better review. When customers are too angry, it is suggested to apologize and offer a refund.
- Do not overdo apologies: Consistent apology responses run the risk of showcasing incompetence in the company’s behalf. Hence, before outright apologizing, check whether the complaint is valid enough to merit an admission on your end. A good number of irate feedbacks are better resolved by a polite reminder of your company’s terms and conditions or an information of the steps you are taking to improve customer service.
3. Offer quick surveys to collect marketing insights
Spending money on marketing without customer insights is like shooting darts in the dark — you’re not really sure if you are delivering what they need. So why not ask for their feedback after you have finished supporting? However, there are a few things you should be careful with your feedback surveys:
- Taking some survey sheets can be long and time consuming. Customers might either ignore, abandon survey or randomly answer it.
- Simply asking them to rate their satisfaction on a number scale and ask if they have other concerns will do just well.
4. Up-sell and cross-sell with customer service
Did you know you can even increase sales with up-sell and cross-sell techniques during customer service?
Let’s say, a customer is contacting you to ask about a 18.5 inch computer that you are selling on your online store, you can up-sell by suggesting him to buy a 22 inch computer with extended warranty, which is higher in value for him and in revenue for you.
Or, you can cross-sell by asking if he needs complement products such as computer mouse, keyboard or game controller.
Up-selling and cross-selling techniques work both way: improving customers’ satisfaction with higher value products, and boosting your revenue, so why not try them the next time you have a support inquiry?
5. Asking for reviews after successful customer service
When you make one customer happy, not only are you securing sales from him, but also you can ask for his or review on your store to encourage purchases from future customers as well. Positive customer feedbacks look trustworthy, especially on an online store, and is one of the things that motivate new visitors to buy. In fact, brand advocates are 70% more likely viewed as reliable sources of company information. Also, reviews are perfect for your store’s SEO because Google appreciates user generated content, and will rank your site higher on search results.
Conclusion:
Reviews work as the modern-day word of the mouth marketing. In the early days of marketing, companies pay a great deal on traditional advertising to attract customers. Thankfully, nowadays satisfied customers can help you do the trick on advertisement. Since online reviews work as the modern-day word of the mouth marketing, you can finally start promoting your company with more efficiency and much lesser cost simply by making happy customers return and multiply.
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