customer service

Guest Post: 5 Ways to Build a Loyal Customer Following

No matter how big or small your business is, it won’t survive without customer loyalty. One study shows that the average repeat customer spends 67% more than the average new customer. Moreover, the cost of acquiring new clients is way higher than retaining cold ones.

By investing your time, money, and efforts into customer loyalty strategies, you will make sure that your business achieves steady, cost-effective growth. Here are a couple of tried and true ways that can help you achieve that. (more…)

Guest Post: Avoid Customer Friction Using These Slick Techniques

Regardless of what type of business you run, when it comes to generating conversions on your website, it’s important to make the process as simple as possible. A user may not take a desired action if doing so involves too many steps.

While you may not have a slick digital agency auditing your customer journey, there are some things you can do on your own to reduce “friction” for the user. To do so, keep the following tips in mind:

Improve Site Speed

The number of steps required to take a particular action isn’t the only factor that prevents users from converting. If your pages load too slowly, users will leave the site. In fact, Google research has confirmed that most mobile users leave pages that take more than three seconds to load.

Review your site’s code with your developer. They may identify areas where it can be cleaned up to improve page speed.

tablet showing graphsMake Recommendations

Artificial intelligence has made it easier than ever to provide users with personalized options when they visit your site. This can help you guard against the effects of decision fatigue.

Maybe you run an ecommerce shop. If your shop offers many different products, guests might feel overwhelmed. They won’t make a single purchase because they won’t know how to decide which product is worth their money. With AI, that’s not a problem. You can simply provide recommendations tailored to their specific preferences. With that being said, boosting some of your top performing products through an Amazon marketing campaign can capture the attention of a potential customer at the very moment they are considering and searching for related products. This helps remove decision fatigue from the equation.

Offer Multiple Payment Options

Don’t limit your payment options to one or two methods. Quite simply, the more options you provide, the more users you can appeal to.

Reduce Fields

With any sort of website conversion, whether it’s signing up for an email list or making a purchase, users will often be required to provide some information to complete the process.

Make sure you’re not requiring users to provide too much information. Again, the longer it takes to complete a task, the greater the odds a user will abandon it. Review all your website’s forms and look for ways you can simplify them to prevent this.

Offer Guest Checkout Options

You shouldn’t require users to create an account before making a purchase or taking a similar action on your site. While you may want to recommend creating an account, as this can boost the chances of a user becoming a repeat customer, you don’t want to prohibit users from taking action without an account. Make sure there is a “guest checkout” option for all conversions you wish to generate.

Of course, it’s also important to monitor your progress after making these changes. You need to confirm the steps you’ve taken are actually delivering results. Luckily, if you follow these tips, you’re very likely to generate many more conversions than you currently are.

 

Rae is a graduate of Tufts University with a combined International Relations and Chinese degree. After spending time living and working abroad in China, she returned to NYC to pursue her career and continue curating quality content. Rae is passionate about travel, food, and writing (of course).

Guest Post: Up Your Marketing Game: 4 Ways to Make Your Business Stand out from the Rest

As a business owner, you have probably come across the disheartening statistics around the high business failure rates. There are plenty of reasons why businesses fail with the lack of ideas to beat the competition, topping the list. Standing out from the rest in the same industry is vital to your firm’s success. Unfortunately, even though most people understand that concept, far too many business owners fail to put it into practice. So, here are four hacks that will make your firm stand out.

Provide Unique and Extraordinary Services and Products

“What makes your business different?” You will need to back up your answer with tangible evidence either through how you provide your services or the uniqueness of your product. Clients have to mark you from the rest of the market, and it’s only possible when you offer something unique. For instance, custom fit jogging shoes has become a norm today. But how do you deliver the service? Perhaps include activities such as watching the client walk or run, advise them professionally and get down to business.

laptop with graphs on the screenAddress Customer Complains and Suggestions

If you want to bring more customers in and retain initial clients, you have to alleviate their pain and give them what they deserve. But you can’t do this if you do not listen to what your clients want. Consider asking them for feedback after purchases and services. Address sensible pain points that they might have brought forward and also apply suggestions that could work for your business. You might also try explaining to them why their tips cannot work at the moment for your business. Engage them to create that business-clientele relationship.

Narrow Your Niche

You cannot specialize in everything. This is a straightforward rule that most businesses ignore. Pick your strongholds and focus on delivering the best. Adapt a unique model that other companies don’t offer, recruit the best experts in the industry, and your target market will get your attention. You could bring in a marketing agency to help you reach your specific target market. Always remember, when your business tries to serve everyone, you end up serving no one.

Build an Excellent and Attractive Company Culture

An attractive company culture not only helps you attract and retain top talent, but it’s also proven to be a powerful marketing tool. You want to build a firm that potential employees are fighting to be part of or perhaps one that people are excited to go on Monday mornings.

These four great ways are an excellent place to start. They should give you more inspiration to stand out rather than fitting it.

Emma Sturgis

Emma is a freelance writer based out of Boston, MA. She writes most often on health and education. When not writing, she enjoys reading and watching film noir. Say hi on Twitter @EmmaSturgis2

Guest Post: Business Location: 5 Tips to Making Your Clients Comfortable and Content

Having a business where clients come in to interact, purchase goods and explore options provides you with the opportunity to build rapport. Establishing a strong relationship does involve interpersonal skills, but it also means that you must create an environment in which your clients are comfortable and relaxed.

Offer Comfortable Seating

Whether clients will spend time in a waiting area or sit in your office, you must ensure that the chairs are pleasing. For example, Fit Small Business notes the importance of having chairs that both provide support and comfort. Keep in mind that a mix of armchairs and arm-less chairs is best. Some people need the arms for support, and others cannot fit into chairs with arms.

Control the Temperature

Ongaro And Sons suggests the importance of having an appropriate temperature in your office. Clients should not feel as though they have to stack on layers because the environment is freezing, nor should they be covered in sweat by the time of their appointments. If your clients seem uncomfortable, take a look at the number on the thermostat. Adjust it as needed.

Provide Proper Parking

When clients have to embark upon a prodigious journey from their car, they may soon start to seek other business options. While a stroll is enjoyable when the weather is pleasant, those benefits are negated by a rainstorm, a rushed schedule or an uncomfortable pair of shoes. If your business currently does not offer parking, scout out areas for lots. You could also consider offering complimentary valet parking.

Remember Safety

If your company is located in an area that has high crime rates, clients may worry about sitting in an unlocked office or walking through the parking lot. You could require clients to ring a bell to be let in so that they know others will have to do the same. Security cameras in parking lots can’t necessarily prevent crime from happening, but they can offer some level of security.

Fill the Waiting Time

Chances are that your clients may have a waiting period at least some of the times. While you want to make sure that you are seeing clients at the time of their appointment, you should also offer them ways to occupy themselves. Depending upon the nature of your business, you could put a television in the waiting room or spread out some magazines.

Comfortable and content clients are important. When your clients feel good, the transactions are likely to prove more successful.

Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She loves being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan finds happiness in researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.