5 Ways To Building Stronger Customer Relationships

Building Relationships / April 21, 2023 / Daylite Team

One of the most important aspects of running your own business, especially if you are providing a service for people, rather than an actual product, is managing and building strong customer relationships.

Naturally, people are going to opt to spend their money with a business that was able to provide them with a good customer experience. Even the numbers indicate the same thing since businesses have a 60 to 70% chance of selling to their existing customers as opposed to a 5 to 20% chance of getting to one of their new prospects to do the same.

Regardless of how good customer relationships you have, there is always room for improvement. The best way to do it would be to use specialized CRM for small business software made for nurturing your customer relations, such as Daylite, which is especially useful for small, service-based businesses, while following the best CRM practices. 

In order to find out which practices we are talking about, keep on reading for more details.

5 Ways To Build Strong Customer Relationships

Let’s take a look at 5 ways to build strong customer relationships:

1. Improve Communication with Your Customers

Graphic shows a light blue background. At the top, title reads "Benefits of good communication with customers". In the bottom right corner, an illustration of a person coming out of a computer screen, holding a stack of goods with one hand and the earphone of headset with the other hand.

Communicating and building customer relationships continuously is vital if you are providing a service for your customers. Sure, it’s important if you are selling a product as well, but when you provide a service, things get a little bit more personal, and creating a positive experience may be what sets you apart from your competitors, and builds customer loyalty. 

According to research, by 2020, customer experience will become the main thing that separates your brand, and it will even overtake the price and the product itself in that aspect.

When communicating with your customers, it is really important to reach out to them via those channels which they have used to follow or subscribe to your service. As customer service expectations rise yearly, it’s essential to communicate with them on their preferred platforms.

For instance, if your customers have found you on social media, they would respond better if you were to contact them via your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, as opposed to sending them a text or calling them.

2. Ask Regularly for Feedback

According to Dean Preston, who is in charge of customer relationship management at EssayOnTime, customers prefer making their purchases with brands and businesses which take the time to acknowledge their followers and which respond to their feedback.

An even better way to raise your customer satisfaction would be to ask continuously for customer feedback, and to even use it to improve an existing product or service, or ultimately come up with a better one.

Graphic shows a light blue background with the title "Customer Feedback Loop". At the centre, three arrows form a triangle, representing the three stages of the customer feedback loop.

How should you ask for feedback? As we have pointed out earlier, there are numerous channels through which you can reach your target audience, and since 71% of them never turn off their mobile devices, getting them to leave feedback shouldn’t be too difficult. You can try surveys with something like SurveyMonkey, or even add a web form to your website using a tool like Wufoo to capture client feedback easily.

3. Always Address Complaints and Negative Feedback

Graphic shows a light blue background with the title "Complaints and Negative Feedback". At the bottom left corner, a person touches a five-star bar

Receiving a complaint about your product or service may seem like the worst thing that could happen to your business, since it can tarnish your reputation in no time, considering the speed at which word of mouth, especially its negative, spreads on social media.

By addressing customer requests, you cannot only prevent this, but you can also turn a previously negative customer experience into a positive one. To make sure that each complaint is handled in the best way possible, the way you and your staff handle disputes should be a part of your internal policy. You should also provide appropriate training for each employee regarding this issue.

4. Reward Loyal Customers

We’ve already established that existing customers are more likely to spend more, but what you should also know about returning customers is that they spend 67% more money than new ones. This means that, even if you were to make a sizable investment into a loyalty program that rewards regular customers, your revenue would still improve significantly.

For instance, you could provide your repeat customers with limited-time offers, coupons, or invite them to a loyalty or referral program. As a result, they will not only be enticed to make more purchases and extend their customer journey but will also feel valued.

Graphic shows a light blue background and the title "How to reward loyal customers".

5. Keep in Touch with Your Customers

To grow, customer interactions and relations have to be nurtured constantly.

In other words, you need to keep in touch with your customers, whether it’s by sending them holiday cards, birthday tweets, newsletters with updates about your products and services, or the occasional email to share how much you value their loyalty and trust. 

If you are not in the minds of your customers, they will be more likely to go somewhere else. You can help automate this process with a tool like MailChimp to track your open and click rates as well as easily create professional-looking emails!

If you want to learn how to keep in touch with customers using Daylite, watch our free webinar, Manage Clients & Follow-ups.

Summary

The key to the success of your business is not the quality of your product or service. It is how well you treat your customers. While it takes time, effort, and money to know your target audience’s needs and build customer relationships, it’s the best investment you can make.

Want to exceed customer expectations and delight clients by remembering every little detail about them? Try Daylite, the small business Mac CRM that helps you keep track of communication, details, and follow-ups. Start your free 14-day trial today!

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About the author: Jacob Dillon is a professional writer and distinctive journalist from Sydney. Being passionate about what he does, Jacob likes to discuss stirring events as well as express his opinion about technological advancements and evolution of society. Find Jacob on Twitter and Facebook.

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