Three Communication Tips To Help Maintain Customer Loyalty
Service Untitled posts about how, as companies grow, they find it more difficult to communicate with their employees. He lists two ideas that have met with success.
That started me thinking about how growing companies can continue to effectively communicate with their customers. Before you start creating a blog or revamping your customer newsletters, perhaps you should take a look at how you approach communications with your customers.
As a customer, heres how I would want a company to communicate with me. First, remember me. Ive had my cars serviced at a local Ford dealership for seven years. Not only have I bought two cars there, but also I choose to go back there for service, even for oil changes. Yet each time I do, the service advisor has no clue of my past history. After paying that dealership tens of thousands of dollars, I am now seriously considering moving my business elsewhere.
Second, when I ask a question or make a suggestion, respond. Nearly every company has a Web site with a Contact Us e-mail mailbox. Ive made suggestions and asked questions and rarely do I get so much as a response. Its a basic rule of business that when you ignore your customers, you lose them or undermine their loyalty. How much does it cost to assign an intern to monitor that email and forward them to the appropriate people? See my post about Cavenders Western Wear for more details.
Third, when I tell you I want to opt-out of your emails, dont continue to spam me. It will not generate additional business; it will only lose me as your customer. Make it easy to unsubscribe. A process that involves multiple clicks is just going to make me angry with you. As Bruce Banner, the alter ego of The Incredible Hulk says, Dont make me angry. You wont like it when I get angry.
When you think about it, the underlying foundation of effective communication is the ability to remember, listen with the intent to understand, and to respond. Common courtesy is extremely important.
In other words, remember the Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.