At the very least once a month.
In a fast-paced world where we’re inundated by endless scrolls on social media, a 24 hour news cycle, and increasing responsibilities at the office and at home, it’s hard to engage with customers regularly and effectively. And because there are so many statistics pointing to customers disengaging after poor customer service experiences, it pays to be on top of attentiveness and to approach this customer care with a hospitality-minded strategy.
With that said, we’ve put together some thoughts on why and how you should keep in touch with your customers.
Talk to every customer at least once a month.
Now, let’s not be too literal here. We’re not suggesting you sit down with a list of numbers and dial each and every one every second Tuesday of the month. But it’s important to at least have one network-wide communication at least once a month. Thankfully, it’s not too much effort as we often interact with customers about their account or service issues much more frequently than that. The point is though: anything less than once a month for a message will result in a lack of retention. Customers will simply think they don’t matter and move on to your competitors.
Reply to all questions and comments in less than a business day.
This should go without saying, but because of the instantaneous nature of call and response with social media, customers are more apt to reach out on social channels. Because this engagement can be so frequent and immediate, these channels should be closely monitored. Though many questions are easy fixes, there will be occasional queries that are real head-scratchers requiring more time. Either way, make contact and assure the customer you’re working towards a happy conclusion.
It’s good to remind your clients what their money is getting them.
Occasionally there will be hiccups in the purchasing process or down the line with customer service and people are left wondering what they’re paying for. That’s why you should keep that very reason on the top of their minds often. Whether you’re a phone service or offer marketing services, or install windows, it’s best to showcase your features in regular emails or value-based statistics, customer success stories and more to both engage and keep your base. This transparency, which is also folded into marketing, is a great and easy way to remind your customers what exactly you offer or how many hours goes into each client’s needs, and so on.
Know that some clients need more communication than others.
When your customer base is small, it’s easier to predict their inklings and proclivities. Unfortunately, that’s not the case when you grow rapidly. The reality sinks in that some customers require a whole lot more effort than others. Generally speaking, the customers who spend more are likely the ones who need more contact. And that’s good news! This shouldn’t be question of a situation requiring more labor per se, but think of it as more of an attention to detail and understanding just who these clients are and what they require.
Frequency of communication often decreases the longer your customers are with you.
The more you know your customers and the longer they’ve been around for, it’s likely the less you’ll need to contact them. For companies selling customizable, billable services, the most amount of questions and contact will likely occur in the beginning of the relationship. As time goes on, trust and loyalty goes up. That doesn’t mean you should slack, of course, but meaning you should have a strategy of how you talk and how often to loyal customers as opposed to new ones.