According to a 2016 State of Small Business Report, companies across a variety of industries plan to use customer retention to grow revenue in 2017. How will they retain more customers? Their flagship strategy involves improving the customer experience.
The reasoning behind this strategy is simple. Happy customers are often loyal customers. A positive customer experience leads to reductions in churn, increases in customer advocacy, and can even create a competitive advantage over those lacking great customer satisfaction.
Here are 5 ways to improve the customer experience and grow your revenue in 2017.
Make Customers Core to Your Strategy
A positive customer experience is one designed with the customer in mind. Everything from the frequency of your customer communications to the messaging you use matters. By making customers core to your service delivery strategy, you’re improving your odds of successful customer engagements.
If you need guidance, try administering a quarterly customer feedback survey. There are a few points to consider with this tactic. Keep it short, offer a reward for customer participation, and deliver on as much of the feedback as you can.
Send Regular Customer Communications
Speaking of sending quarterly surveys, sending regular customer communication is great for the customer experience. It keeps your brand top of mind, provides information to customers when they need it most, and promotes a healthy relationship by diversifying the types of engagement you have with your customers.
Revenue growth is not always about the sale. The best customer experience is one based on open communication. This means sending updates regarding purchases and returns, remembering to send post-sale communications, company updates, and occasional promotional emails.
Prioritize Integration for a More Seamless Experience
The more integrated your customer service processes are, the better your customer experience. Offering an online customer portal through your website, for example, allows customers to help themselves. This empowerment is great for quick requests and improves customer satisfaction.
Integrating shipping into your purchase and returns processes is another best practice. Companies that issue automated shipment updates and pre-paid return labels have historically delivered better customer experiences than those without these capabilities.
Track Inventory for Better Planning
Did you know that 48% of small businesses either do not track their inventory or use a manual process to do so? This is a productivity-killer and can result in inventory-related errors very easily. Tracking your inventory using a product support system helps you plan better and deliver more accurate information to your customers. This translates into a better customer experience, which means more money in your pocket.
Improve Your Returns Process
Returns are not the worst part of running a business, as much as you may think so. In fact, they are tremendous sales opportunities. If handled appropriately, returns can lead to higher lifetime customer values and a better overall customer experience.
Product return management software is designed to optimize the customer experience through a seamless customer returns process. It does it all – from RMA processing to replacement shipping, product testing, inventory management, and customer service.
Try it free for 30 days or watch a demo to see how it works.
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