How to Create Connection with Customers

Customer Engagement – whose job is it anyway?

In many organizations, #customer engagement is a new concept. With #global competition at the customers’ fingertips, it is increasingly more important for #companies to ensure that their customers are satisfied with their experience and will return time and again. According to a Gallup poll, companies that actively engage with their customers experience a higher retention rate and therefore, higher revenue for the company.

As every #business owner is aware, simply acquiring the customer is difficult enough. Maintaining their loyalty and in turn, retaining their money is where companies are focusing. But whose #job is it to engage customers so that they not only return as a customer again but also become the company’s best advocate?

Customer service has always been a focus for businesses. Land's End and LL Bean provided a lifetime return policy, while Ritz-Carlton customers received personal services to ensure the finest holiday experience possible. Brand loyalty and recognition are generated by how customers are made to feel in each of these instances. Customers at Land's End feel that the firm is really concerned with their happiness with the goods and is prepared to go above and beyond to ensure it. Customers of the Ritz-Carlton and The Ritz-Carlton are treated as unique individuals who are deserving of personalized care and attention. Both businesses have established their brands on meeting clients' demands and stirring emotions.

Whether it is through great marketing, the ordering and returns process, or customer service, customer engagement begins with creating an emotional connection with the customer. It is how the product or service makes a customer “feel” that determines if they will be drawn to make a purchase and/or return in the future. It is about the relationship that is created along the way. Customer engagement is the one area in which a company can differentiate itself from the others.

Customer engagement is a time-consuming, complex process in today's digital world. It's more important than ever for any business to have a team that can handle customer conversations carefully and strategically. Customer experience, in many organizations across the world, is commonly referred to as marketing, customer service, or product design. Customer engagement is the deliberate coordination of all of these departments. Although each function has its own responsibilities, each is working together toward the common goal of delivering the best product, the right service, and support, fostering a sense of community, and meeting the customers’ expectations.

So, how do you create a connection with customers?

Through the marketing process, customer engagement begins with branding. What message do you want your customers to hear and more importantly, how do you want them to feel? What emotion will draw them to initially become your customers? The way that a brand is marketed and promoted will tell customers what it stands for, how it respects its customers, and what it offers.

The customer service experience can make or break a connection with customers. How easy is it for a customer to reach a live person or to feel that their needs are met? Do they believe that the company cares about their feelings, is mindful of their time, and is eager to help? The customer service process, whether at the beginning of a sale or after the fact, can create loyalty and commitment based on how the customer “feels” throughout the experience.

It is certainly more expensive to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones. Customer engagement teams now exist at many organizations to guarantee that consumers continue to feel the same emotions and sentiments that drew them to the business in the first place. Some tools to enhance customer experience and to encourage customer retention include:

●????? Customer loyalty programs

●????? Personalized communications

●????? High-quality content and information

●????? Social media connections

●????? Direct and personal contact

At its core, the goal of customer engagement is to create long-term relationships with customers. Engagement increases brand and product loyalty, creates trust, and hopefully, encourages the customer to advocate for and share the value that they see with others who will likely become customers as well.

Ultimately, it is the role and responsibility of all employees and members of an organization to encourage and facilitate customer engagement. For employees to provide an excellent customer experience and engage customers where they are, it is important that the employees themselves believe in the product or service and more importantly, in the company itself. In this way, employee engagement and customer engagement go hand in hand.

Case Study:

The Ritz Carlton ( 丽思卡尔顿 ) name, recognized around the world for its luxury hotels and five-star resorts, has established the “Gold Standard” when it comes to customer engagement and exceptional service. The philosophy behind its incredible success stems from management’s strict adherence to the motto “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” This value proliferates throughout all departments of the company rather than solely those whose responsibility is to engage with customers. Leaders have empowered all members of the organization as brand ambassadors through the highly interactive and social employee engagement strategy. The business strategy that The Ritz Carlton has implemented has helped to position the brand as one of the most luxurious, sophisticated, and customer-centric in the hotel industry globally.

Conclusion:

Customer engagement is important to every company. Retaining customers and making sure that they are grateful with the service you provide should always be the focus of every business. Connecting to every customer by means of emotional and personal contact should always be exercised by your employees to provide excellent service for the company's success.

To know more about customer engagement, contact me for consultation.

?