A Guide to Building Customer Relationships and Increasing Retention

Did you know that 93% of customers are likely to return to a company if the company offered excellent customer service?

Customer service plays a large role in building customer relationships, and it should be an integral part of any company. However, it’s not the only way customer relationships are formed.

The relationships businesses build with their clients are critical—they lead to repeats in purchases and free word of mouth promotion. So, how can you develop these relationships and increase your customer retention rate?

We’re here to help you out! Check out the guide below to learn how you can build longterm relationships with your own customers!

The Importance of Building Customer Relationships

Before the digital era and the rise of global corporations, it was easy to build relationships with customers. As long as you provided quality services and a smiling face, a customer would return to your establishment.

However, it’s not always possible to have face-to-face relationships with customers in the modern era. That’s why it’s important to utilize different methods to create customer relationships, regardless of what industry you’re in.

1. Understand Your Demographic

The first step towards building solid relationships with your customers is knowing who you are selling to.

It’s important to know the demographics of your clients because it makes it easier to tailor your content and services towards them. For example, younger demographics are more responsive to building relationships via social media.

2. Expand How You Deliver Information

Depending on your business, you may be appealing to several different demographics. It’s wise to have several means of communication, depending on which is most applicable to each demographic.

Many businesses use email to build relationships with their customers by sending out newsletters. In addition to a weekly email blast, you could also send out similar information in paper catalogs or through a social media post.

3. Ask for Feedback

All too often, companies ignore customer feedback when they develop new services. This creates the impression that a business isn’t interested in their customer’s opinions. That, in turn, crushes any trust that could build between the business and its consumers.

A simple way to build customer relationships is by requesting feedback. You can request feedback on little things, such as the quality of content in an email newsletter. However, you can also gather feedback on bigger things, such as new products.

Requesting feedback shows you value their feedback. Plus, you will be able to tweak things within your business to fit your customer’s desires. By becoming more customer-friendly, you’re further strengthening your relationship with them.

4. Be Personable

Even if your products are better than those of your competitors, you may lose out on business if you can’t connect with your customers.

One way to be more personable is to film behind-the-scenes clips and posting them on your company’s social media stories. It’s a great way to show customers that there are real faces behind your brand.

If you’re preparing a new launch, hold a live stream to answer questions. Customers will get to know your employees better. Plus, it’s a good opportunity to address your customers one-on-one through the comments.

5. Make Yourself Accessible

If a customer is accessing your website or social media pages, it should be easy for them to find your contact info. Ideally, you should have multiple ways customers can get in touch with you.

If you have social media pages, such as Facebook or Twitter, make sure your messages are open to the public. This way, customers can reach out with any issues or comments.

Chatbots have become commonplace on business websites, but it’s good to pair them with a traditional customer service phone number.

Chatbots are great to answer commonly asked questions, however more specific questions are best answered by customer service representatives. Customer service lines aren’t difficult to set up—you can learn more information in order to learn the basics when it comes to toll-free 1-800 numbers.

Having employees trained in customer service is important because it shows your clients that there are actual people behind your business. Customer service agents are prepared to answer questions and provide customers with support in order to create a relationship with them.

6. Create Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are a great way to get customers involved with your business.

Everyone is always searching for sales and promotions, and a loyalty program is a smooth way to incorporate those perks into your business while building strong customer relationships.

Additionally, loyalty programs usually require an email, so as to inform users when deals are running. A unique loyalty member newsletter is the perfect place to introduce new products and never-before-seen information to your returning customers.

7. Develop Engaging Content

Building customer relationships is only possible if both you and the customer are actively participating in the relationship. Sending out information isn’t enough to maintain customer relationships.

There are many platforms available that allow you to provide engaging content to your customers. For example, if you have a Facebook business page, you can hold a Facebook Live to promote new products.

Instagram is another great platform to engage with customers on. The Instagram Story feature gives you tons of engagement options.

One simple Instagram Story engagement possibility is the poll feature. If you want to get opinions on possible services, hold a poll for your customers to vote on. It shows you value their perspective as a consumer!

Creating Your Personal Strategy

Building customer relationships isn’t much different from building relationships in your personal life. It requires effort, understanding, and trust. The tips above will help you create healthy and loyal customer relationships of your own!

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