Any time you interact with a customer, you’re not just selling them a product. You’re providing them with an experience. And that experience is an important factor in their decision of whether or not to buy from you. With that in mind, if you really want not only to get new customers, but to keep them coming back the next time and the next, you need to focus on more than just the product. You need to focus on ways to find customer needs and meet them in such a way as to make a real, lasting difference in their world. Here are some ideas on how to do that.
1. Do Your Research. In order to find customer needs, first you need to figure out who your ideal customer is. You can discover this by creating a buyer persona. As you build your personas you’ll want to research their needs and what they are searching for. There are a number of tools online that can help you uncover this. Determine the most popular searches related to your product and industry. This will give you an idea of the problems and pain points of your ideal customer. Do they have questions about your product? Do they want to know how to do a particular task? You can create blogs, tutorials, FAQs, and other digital content that’s specifically designed to address these issues and meet the needs of your personas.
2. Engage with Your Customers. Anticipating your customers’ needs in general is only half the battle. You also need to be able to deal with customers one on one and address their pain points personally. This is one way in which social media can be a tremendous asset. When people have a question about a company or a problem with their service, they’ll often seek that brand out on Twitter or Facebook to voice their concerns. By having staff on hand to monitor social media for mentions of your brand, you can ensure that your customers’ issues are dealt with personally and individually. This kind of one on one attention is a great way to make an impression on someone and create a positive image of your brand.
3. Understand the Process. What does interacting with your brand entail? Is your website easy to navigate? Are your customer service representatives helpful and knowledgeable? Perform tests to see what it’s like from the customers’ point of view. Get someone in management to call customer service with a problem and see how they handle it. Have someone else attempt to make a purchase on your site, and see how easy it is to find what they want and check out—as well as perform other tasks, such as finding a brick and mortar location. Continue performing these tests periodically to maintain an accurate picture of what interaction with your brand is like. Use the information you glean to improve interactions with customers in all aspects of your company, and provide them with a better overall experience.
4. Ask Them. This is the simplest way of making a difference in your customers’ world: ask them what it is they want from your company, and give it to them. Follow up on sales and other customer interactions by e-mailing them customer satisfaction surveys a day or two later. Keep them short and easy to fill out, but include a section where they can add their own comments. Look at the areas where you need to improve, as well as any suggestions made in the comments. Use these to improve and offer a better customer engagement experience next time.
The better you can make the customer experience with your company, the more of a difference you’ll be able to make in their world. Even little things like being able to reach a customer service rep when you need one, or receiving a personal reply to a comment made on Twitter, can go a long way toward endearing the customer to your brand. If you can provide them with what they need, when they need it, and really make a difference in their world, your brand will be forever cemented in their minds as one that’s capable, knowledgeable, and worth their time. Then they’ll tell their friends about their experience, and your reputation will spread. All because you took a little extra time to address a customer’s needs properly.