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In their efforts to implement an outdated profit-driven strategy, many businesses fail to consider the asset that directly contributes to that goal – their customers. As customer expectations are significantly changing in the online age, businesses that fail to shift their focus in that direction are likely to sink to the bottom of the pool.
With 86% of buyers willing to pay more for a better customer experience, sharpening your customer focus has never been more important. Yet, there is a significant gap between customer expectations and reality, as only 1% of those buyers believe that vendors are consistent in reaching those goals. On the upside, this means that there’s more opportunity than ever to stand out from the competition.
While seemingly straightforward on the surface, understanding how and where to draw the focus on your customers requires a well-defined process that starts and ends with the customer journey. To help illuminate this path, we’ll look at your customer engagement points to determine how your business can refine its customer focus.
Tailor Your Content Based on Your Target Customers
If you’re running a local shop in your town, then your customer pool is fairly well defined, and it doesn’t take much to understand their needs. As your business grows, however, and expands into new territory, it’s important to take customer differences into account.
If, for example, you’re catering to an international community, your customers will browse and shop in different languages and currencies. That is why you should consider implementing technology like a currency API that displays prices in local currencies, translating your page in local languages, and displaying local shipping information to help your customers interact with your business.
Essentially, you should create content that speaks the language of your customers – literally and figuratively. If you know who your target customer is, and what their needs are, you will likely determine what your best content strategy is.
Personalize the Experience
Although online shops eliminate face-to-face interactions, you can learn a lot about your online customers from their digital footprints. The more customers interact with your website, the more relevant information you will have on them – and the more personalized experience you can deliver.
Including deals, one-time offers, and seasonal discounts in your shop is a well-known strategy for attracting and increasing sales – but you can increase your chances of repeating those sales if you offer personalized deals. If you’ve noticed that a customer keeps looking at a specific type of product, send a discount code to encourage the purchase. If you have a large customer pool in a certain country, offer deals for their national holidays. Whatever your angle is, personalizing offers will make your customers feel seen.
Offer a Range of Channels for Customer Support
While metrics like new visitors and your pipeline are important, focusing on understanding and supporting your customers will not only cost you less but help you build a truly loyal customer pool. In fact, as much as 89% of consumers are more likely to buy from you again after a positive customer service experience.
To improve your customer support, you should offer multiple contact points like email, live chat, and social media to ensure that customers can get in touch with you from any of their preferred channels. However, customers should also be able to switch between channels without having to explain their story over and over again to different support staff members. To achieve this, you should consider implementing a centralized database system where your support staff will input and access customer information at all times.
Ask for Customer Feedback
One of the best ways to focus on your customers is to ask for their input. You will not only amplify the voice of your customers but use the feedback to create an altogether better experience.
Asking for reviews is a simple process – all it requires is reaching out. You can send emails about product reviews after purchases, ask about your customers’ experience after dealing with customer support, and offer contact points for any feedback that might improve your shop. Including customer reviews is also one of the best ways to gain the trust of new customers.
Photo from Search Engine Journal
Final Words
With the internet offering unlimited consumer options, companies can no longer sustain differentiation based on product or price alone. To stand out, they need to improve their customer focus and build a brand that’s driven by relationships.
Some of the strategies you can adopt to refine your business’s customer focus include tailoring your content based on your target customer, personalizing the experience, offering multiple channels for customer support, and asking for feedback.
Although it may require effort, an investment in your customers is a long-term investment in your business.
