In the two years since COVID-19, many companies have adapted to new realities: they organized delivery, mastered online channels for communicating with customers, and organized work processes for remote employees.
Consumer behavior and customer experience have also changed. In this article, we have collected for you the main trends in customer retention and increasing customer loyalty.
Customer Service Delegation
Sometimes it is necessary to increase the level of service simply in order to keep up with industry standards.
Сustomer service outsourcing partner can provide access to specific information, tools, and know-how that will enable you to achieve performance far beyond what you currently have.
The right partner can take customer service to the next level, thereby helping to stand out from the competition.
The modern consumer is “always online” and expects flawless multi-channel customer service. The “Digital Revolution” has brought about technological changes that are forcing brands to find new ways of thinking and interacting with consumers.
The outsourcing partner must foresee and take care of them.
Analytics are needed to gain a deeper understanding of customer behavior, which in turn can improve business performance. An outsourcing partner can manage customer service by combining research and analytics experience with best practices in operational processes.
Remote customer service
If you want to provide in-house customer service, then this option will be optimal for optimizing the performance of your brand. More and more companies are focusing on remote customer service.
And with advances in service software, help desk operators can communicate with customers from anywhere with an internet connection.
When evaluating work, viewing employee activity and call data, as well as listening to conversations, is an invaluable opportunity for managers. All this helps to control the work remotely.
Companies are actively implementing technologies and formats for remote interaction with customers.
For example, video has become an excellent tool for demonstrating and selling goods and services, and this format also plays an important role in customer service. An employee can remotely see the situation in full and solve the client’s problem faster.
The correct response to negative customer experience
Sometimes criticism of your company can be justified and constructive. No one is immune from mistakes, but the worst thing a business can do is to remain silent, deny the problem, or blame the client for all the troubles.
Instead, try to understand the issue and offer a solution, because, in such a situation, feedback is especially important.
And also remember: how you solve the problem of one client, others will pay attention. If you ignored a critical comment from a user or responded rudely, the rest will think that next time you will do the same to them.
And if this happens systematically, customers will simply start to leave you. Restoring shattered trust in the brand and returning to the audience will not be easy.
Personalization
Consumers overwhelmed by technology and information want brands to emphasize their individuality and exclusivity, making them stand out from the crowd.
Database-driven personalization with the help of artificial intelligence is one of the main methods of building brand loyalty. It can be expressed in different formats.
Individual recommendations. For example, Netflix makes personalized lists of new products for each user, as does Amazon. Contextual advertising banners work on the same principle.
Release of unique products. The whole world remembers the Coca-Cola campaign when the logo was replaced on the labels with different male and female names.
At the same time, an application was released in which users could create jars of a drink with the desired name and give them to friends.
Working with influencers
This category includes opinion leaders with a large audience on the Internet – bloggers of top sites and social networks.
They can promote products on their pages and channels, for example by giving reviews, expressing personal opinions, or demonstrating the benefits of using them. To build brand loyalty for a company in this way, consider the following:
- it is important that the product is of really high quality;
- the audience of the blogger and the brand must match according to the main criteria;
- the values that the opinion leader broadcasts must correspond to the values of the target audience.