Impressing Your Customers Is Easy With 3 Guaranteed Tactics
Whether you're an entrepreneur or just someone who would like to have more control and influence over your customers - this blog post will show you how!
In this blog, we'll talk about 3 ways to get more out of your customers. We'll discuss the benefits of customer feedback, how customer complaints can bring you closer to them and finally, some personal insights on the history of customer service. So no matter what business or industry you're in, this article will help with everything from relationship building to customer retention.
Quick note: A lot of marketing books and blogs like to throw around the word "customer" a lot. But what does a customer really mean? Well, according to Wikipedia: "Consumer buying is the act of purchasing goods or services for personal use, most often with money. It may be carried out to enhance one's quality of life or provide pleasure, convenience, and/or value."
If you sell products or services directly to the consumer, then your customers are those consumers. However, if you sell products or services indirectly to the consumer (e.g., shopping centers) then your customers are really your tenants (the people who rent your space).
So, if you can't directly influence your customers, the next best thing is to influence the people who rent your space. This is where customer complaints come in...
Customer Complaints: The Art of 'Getting' Your Customer
If you're like most small business owners or entrepreneurs, you probably have some customers who are unhappy with the service or product they've received. Maybe they're just having a bad day or maybe it's because they were expecting a certain level of quality that didn't quite match their expectations/needs. Either way, even though they're not happy and they want a refund, chances are they're not going to complain.
But if you become a customer's favorite store or service, you'll probably get called back by them the next time they want or need the same thing. And that can be beneficial for your business.
Customer complaints are essentially opportunities for you to get even closer to your customers. You can use customer complaints to develop relationships, gain more sales and get better feedback as you improve and grow. Here's an example of one of my own customers complaining about what we did last time he needed a new footrest for his sled:
So far, I haven't written back because I was busy and didn't really feel like it. I'll write back when I have more time and if we didn't get him a replacement, he might even end up writing a bad review.
This is how many customers think: "I'm really angry and upset, but I'm not going to waste my time writing to them or calling them. I just want my money back. If that doesn't work, then I'll complain publicly."
Here's the problem with this mindset though: It doesn't get you what you really want (more sales). What you really want is for this customer to come back again and again and spend his money with your business. And that's not going to happen if you completely ignore complaints and don't even write back.
So, what should you do instead?
Real customer service: Get the customers to talk about what went wrong (and maybe even recommend your business) for free!
If you have a customer service team already in place, then maybe it's time to give customer complaints some major attention. Here are the three strategies I follow with my own customer complaints (and how you can do the same).
1. For All Customer Complaints: Reply to Every Email ("Time Machine" Response)
This is perhaps the easiest way to reply to customer complaints and it may just be your most valuable opportunity when dealing with unreasonable/unhelpful customers.
As the most experienced customer service representative, you can use your position to ask a couple of questions and provide some much needed feedback:
"Hey Marc, Thanks for emailing me about your recent experience with our products. Unfortunately, I'm not able to respond right away as I'm busy and we're really swamped with orders as you can imagine, but it sounds like you're unhappy with the quality of our service. I thought we met all of your expectations last time because you even bought more. I'm hoping we'll be able to rectify this situation by giving you what you need so you can have that sled fixed before it gets cold outside. I'll reply to you within 24 hours and will definitely have it done with in 1-2 days. I appreciate your patience and understanding and don't hesitate to call me in case you have any other questions."
Note how I just changed the wording for each sentence to make it sound a little nicer (e.g., "Please don't hesitate to call me..."). But also note how I kept the tone light so that it doesn't come off as too aggressive or a huge "time waster."
I believe that this email response is more direct than many others, but is also more business friendly, respectful and professional in demeanor.
2. For All Customer Complaints: Reply to Every Email ("Slightly Aggressive" Response)"
This is the exact same response as above, except that I switch out a few words and letters so it comes off as more aggressive and less friendly. This can be useful if you want to push an unreasonable or unhelpful customer into doing what you want (and it has worked for me in the past).
"Hey Marc, Thanks for emailing me about your recent experience with our products. Unfortunately, I'm not able to respond right away as I'm busy and we're really swamped with orders as you can imagine, but it sounds like you're unhappy with the quality of our service. You didn't even thank us for your last order and you already want a replacement? We gave you much more than what you paid for last time and this is how you show your gratitude? We've been selling sled footrests for over 100 years and have never had a complaint about them. If a customer wants something different, then we try to accommodate that request. But we really don't have time for this and the staff is very busy. I thought we met all of your expectations last time because you even bought more. I'm hoping we'll be able to rectify this situation by giving you what you need so you can have that sled fixed before it gets cold outside. I'll reply to you within 24 hours and will definitely have it done with in 1-2 days. I appreciate your patience and understanding and don't hesitate to call me in case you have any other questions."
Here's how the customer replies if he's not happy with my response:
As you can see, this customer was pushed into doing what he wanted by using a few words that seemed more aggressive than friendly (e.
Conclusion
In summary, I think a lot of businesses could benefit by following the 3 strategies that I've outlined above (especially #1). Customers want to be heard and they want to get what they paid for. So, start replying to ALL complaints immediately, regardless of how busy your team is. And try to do it in a more friendly, respectful and professional tone rather than an angry and hostile one.
And if you still don't have the time or energy for customer complaints, then you might consider outsourcing your entire customer service department (and maybe even product support) so that you can spend your time and energy on growing your business instead!
3.