Tag: customer success

Why is Customer Service Even Important?

Posted on by David Dinh

In a world that is so well connected and competition only a click away, customer service is an ever increasingly important aspect to your business. Robert Adams, a serial entrepreneur describes the importance of customer service as, “Anyone who is serious about making considerable headway in business needs to understand why customer service is so important. It’s not just for all the obvious fiscal reasons. It goes far beyond that. It delves into the very existence of who we are and why we do the things that we do. The way we treat our customers is indicative of the way we look at things in life. Are we short-sighted, merely searching for the next pay day, or does our vision give us a deeper understanding of the long-term implications of our actions? Clearly, if you want to make strides today, you really do have to place the customer on a pedestal.

Request a FREE Conversational Software demo and learn effective customer service.

And while there are ample reasons why any person should start a business in the first place, everyone needs to pay homage to the customer so that they can stay in business. The less short-sighted the approach is from any enterprise, the more likely it will be to achieve long term success.”

Here’s a Customer Service template to help you get started with Customer Service Success! Start by identifying where your points of contact with your customers are, how you will manage them, and the standards of service customers can expect from your company and its employees.

5 Important Components of Customer Service

1. Customer Retention is Far Less Expensive Than Customer Acquisition

“On average, it costs approximately five times more to attract a new customer to your business than it costs to retain an existing customer. That logic on its own should highlight the importance of providing excellent customer service. Why risk losing a customer? It’s costly enough to locate new customers in the first place, and every business should do whatever it takes to ensure they stay happy and continue doing business with them.”

2. It will build brand awareness

“If you don’t already know this, then it is time to learn. Word of mouth is the most powerful ally you have on your side. What your customers say to others could make or break your business. When you provide the best in customer service, guess what happens? People will talk about you. They will remember your brand. If they hear someone else talking that they need a specific kind of company, they are much more likely to say, “Oh, go to this place. They are great!”

3. It’s A Great Marketing Angle

customer service marketing channel

“From a purely business standpoint, good customer service is a great marketing angle. It’s something you can tout in your advertisements which is sure to bring you in more customers. People like to hear you have top notch customer service, pure and simple. Anything that can help you with effective marketing is worth the extra effort. This angle works best when other real-life customers are talking about how great your customer service is, so feel free to ask for reviews and testimonials.”

4. It Elongates the Life of Any Business

“Today, only four out of every 100 businesses last through until the 10-year mark. That’s a massive 96 percent failure rate. When you ignore the needs of your customers, and you don’t focus on going out of your way for them, you’re cutting short the potential for longevity in business. With so many obligations and responsibilities, if you’re serious about your business, you have to focus on the core — your customers. Because, without them, you have no business at all.”

5. Great Customer Service Opens Doors for New Partnerships and Other Opportunities

Business Partnerships-importance of customer service-customer service strategy-customer service skills-conversation mangement

“Treating your customers like gold is infectious. It opens the doors for new partnerships, especially when other businesses see just how well you take care of your existing customers. It says a lot about a company and what they value when they care deeply about their customers. It’s something that you rarely find in business these days, but it most certainly paves the way for powerful partnerships, collaborations and other opportunities.”

As you can see, customer service benefits your company in many more ways than simply helping your customers. It creates customer loyalty which saves you money in the long run, can be used as a form of advertisement, elongates your businesses life, and opens doors through partnerships with happy customers. Businesses should constantly be asking themselves how they can improve their customer service, such as embracing new technology like Innovative Uses for VR in Business, or giving out customer and employee surveys to make improvements where pain points exist.  Get started, because it will definitely pay off!

One Company – Multi Customer Channels

Posted on by David Dinh

When someone mentions a retail store, you’ll most probably imagine a building, amidst a crowd of parked cars. A clear picture of aisles and aisles of different products will cross your mind. And then you would also imagine some of the other shoppers you’re likely to meet there. This might ring true for many people but even if you enjoy experiencing the oddity of everyday life, who has the time for such nonsense? After a busy day at work, the last thing you’d want to do is stand in a queue at the retail store, just to buy a 1L of milk. Retail stores identified the ‘need for speed’ and thus, the multi-channel strategies were formed.

Related: How to Turn Your Company into a Multi-Channel Success

Woolworths – The Fresh Food People

customer-channels-woolworths

Woolworths is one such retail store in Australia, who has adopted multi-channel strategies to serve their customers better. They opened their first store in Sydney, in 1924 and soon afterwards, gained the popularity that have made them one of the leading retail stores in Australia. By revenue, they come on the 2nd place, after Wesfarmers.With over 3000 stores across Australia and New Zealand, the team at Woolworths soon realised that the traditional brick-and-mortar store strategy wouldn’t be able to satisfy their customer needs and so in 2011, they took the initiative to become the country’s leading multi-channel retailer. They decided to achieve their goal through a holistic and integrated strategy so as to capitalise on the country’s growing demand for online shopping. Fast forward to 2017 and the business is blooming for the retailer. For their third quarter in 2017, Woolworths revealed that their online sales have increased by 20%. According to a study analysed by Australian Consumer, Retail, and Services (ACRS) Research Unit, just four advertising channels (websites, personalised direct mail, TV ads and catalogues and flyers) are responsible for influencing 92% of a consumer’s purchase decision.

Online Delivery

woolworths-online-delivery

The ease of online shopping at Woolworths is certainly unmatched by many other retailers operating in the same industry. With reward offers and personalized shopping experience, customers can easily get their shopping delivered to their home or pick it up from the store, all ready for them.
The ‘Track My Order’ option helps customers know when to expect the delivery and even schedule the time of their delivery.

Shopping App

woolworths-app

Want to save even more time? The Woolworths app is available on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. From personalised shopping lists to a store locator, the app offers the ultimate ease for its customers.

Dark Stores

When Woolworths opened its first ‘dark store’ in 2014, it was to reduce the time it took to fulfill online orders faster. The ‘dark store’ looked exactly like the other Woolworths stores, except that it was bigger in size. The aisles were maintained, the products were stocked neatly but it was closed to the general public.
You might wonder why a store wouldn’t allow customers in. That’s because the store isn’t for customers!

In this fast paced world, not many people have the time to waste on grocery shopping. A better alternative is online shopping but there were some issues to ordering online too. Most of the times, deliveries would take too long and Woolworths realised the need for faster deliveries. Hence, the ‘dark store’ was set up. It was Woolworths first dedicated online store and personal shoppers were amazed with the results.

With conventional stores, an ever present flow of customers makes it difficult for the staff to pick up online orders. The only time online orders can be picked is either early morning or at night, when the customer flow is at its lowest. Now, the dark store has solved this problem.

With no slow-moving customers blocking the aisles, the team at Woolworths dark store was able to fulfill orders quickly and at any time of the day. At peak hours, there can be as many as 80 pickers on the floor, at the same time.

Conclusion

Supermarkets are just one niche that Woolworths deal in. With a number of liquor stores, liquor supermarkets, petrol stations and discount department store chains, Woolworths Limited deals in numerous channels.

In order to enhance their digital business capabilities, Woolworths invested in contact center technology-as-a-service and in doing so, experienced a 40% reduction in touch points for email. Woolworths have expanded due to their award winning multi-channel initiatives and with their attention on innovation for increased customer experience, they are changing the face of Australian retail.

5 Proofs That Good Customer Service is the Reason Your Business Flourishes

Posted on by David Dinh

“These days, offering a great product or service, even if it’s at the best price, may not be enough to win and retain customers. The modern customer has come to expect excellence in customer service and it seriously impacts their purchasing decisions. For instance, research shows 55% of consumers are willing to pay more for a guaranteed good experience. And companies are on the hook for providing that good experience, given that it’s six to seven times more expensive for companies to win new customers than keeping existing ones. Good customer service pays.”

Request a FREE Conversational Software demo and learn effective customer service.

Woveon, a software customer service startup, realizes the value that your customer service provides and how important it is to keep a flourishing business. Woveon is an easy-to-use online application providing businesses a centralized location to manage their customer channels, such as social media, emails and phone calls. Using machine learning, social listening, a wide breadth of data, and a clean user interface, Woveon helps prioritize inquiries, identify valuable customers, and suggest personalized content. It simplifies online customer relations and makes businesses more efficient in managing the touchpoints they have with customers. We strive to ensure businesses can scale and respond back to all their customer enquiries.

These 5 Aspects of Customer Service Prove the Importance of Good Customer Service

1. Customer Loyalty

stick with me sayings led lights on the wall

Customer loyalty is one of the key features to successful business. When a customer is loyal, they will keep buying products, turning into more and more revenue. But how does a company identify and keep these customers happy? With Woveon, identifying important customers and helping with their every need is easy! Woveon has created AI (Artificial Intelligence) programs that identify businesses-valued customers in multiple ways. Say someone has shopped at an e-commerce website multiple times and has a great buying history but has now run into some trouble. If they contact the store via multiple channels such as social media or email, a representative from the business can pull up their information and understand they are a valued customer. They can focus on their problems more quickly, and this keeps up customer satisfaction.

2. Knowledgeable Staff

happy male and a female bartender

Nothing is more frustrating than calling customer service and feeling more apt than the “resourceful” representative. This is why it is so important to have knowledgeable staff who don’t just stick to a script and set of instructions. Your employees should be able to problem solve on their own. In order to do this, one should hire people who show interest in their business and understand its products. However, having knowledge on more than just the product is important. For smaller businesses, getting to know your customers and being able to talk with them more on a personal level can be very important. With Woveon’s technology, this is a walk in the park. Woveon’s recorded conversations not only help with consistency, but it can also help a customer service rep get to know the client more by reviewing past conversations. Although this may not apply to all businesses, small to mid-sized companies can really benefit from having personable customer service reps who are extremely knowledgeable about their product and clients. So before hiring any applicant, make sure he/she is enthusiastic about the product or service the company provides. 

3. Online Marketing and Social Media

social media online marketing customer service

Most people don’t associate online marketing with customer service, but with so many online interactions going on between customers today marketing teams and customer service work hand in hand. Woveon has the ability to simplify and better market your customer service. With so many different social media platforms, it can be hard for companies; however, integrating all channels onto a single page makes it extremely easy to keep track of all customers conversations.

Try these 5 Creative Ways You Can Use Customer Service to Amp Up Your Online Marketing!

Companies should see social media as a huge opportunity when it comes to advertising and customer service. People contact companies over Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all the time. Just the other week, I was on a United Airlines flight, and I had tweeted at them. They responded asking me how my flight was going within minutes. This is a great example of how customer service over marketing channels is so important. It shows to their followers how much they are invested in their customers and that they truly care. This also shows that the companies are up to date when it comes to interacting with customers. They are open to change and customers want to see companies that embrace change like they do.a

4. Customer Apologies

adorable dog

Everyone makes mistakes, some you can control, others just happen. It is always better to apologize first and then move forward. When it comes to customer service, the representative is almost never to blame; however, the customer may think differently. A customer service rep should apologize not only for the inconvenience the customer is going through, but also so the customer can sense that the rep personally cares about the problem.

Click here for 5 email templates to get you out of angry customer situations.

If you are nice to your customers, they, in turn, would be more likely to reciprocate. Of course, there will be good and bad customers, but as long as you are willing to be upfront, apologize for any mistakes you could have made, and are ready to solve the problem, most customer interactions will go smoothly. Remember, solving the problem is only half of the interaction; being fast, knowledgeable, and polite completes the customer service process.

5. Happy Staff = Happy Customershappy staff service

Forbes’ Rodd Wagner writes, “The formula is simple: Happy employees equal happy customers, asserted an article last fall in CEO Magazine. Similarly, an unhappy employee can ruin the brand experience for not just one, but numerous customers.” Happy employees = happy customers works. It’s a fantastic sentiment. It’s the right strategy. It is miles ahead of and far more on course than the assertions of the anti-happiness crowd. And if you need to boil down to a few words the connections between employee experience and customer experience, run with it.”

Staff retention is crucial to your company for improving customer service excellence. Research shows clearly that staff stay when they are happy and respect the company in which they work. Their happiness translates into excellent work when dealing with important customers.

Customer Service

Susane Friedmann, a writer on customer service says, “Customer service is an integral part of our job and should not be seen as an external extension of it. A company’s most vital asset is its customers. Without them, we would not and could not exist in business. When you satisfy your customers, they not only help you grow by continuing to do business with you but they will also recommend you to friends and associates.

The practice of customer service should be as present on the showroom floor as it is in any other sales functions and pertinent in the overall company environment.

Get started with a Customer Service Charter! Set the standards of customer service you expect your employees to deliver and your customers can expect to receive.

5 Online Companies With World Class Customer Management

Posted on by David Dinh

Giving world class customer service is at the core of keeping your business afloat. After all it is a satisfied customer that forms the building block of your company. Failing to retain your customers will inevitably result in a systematic slow demise of your business, something that any successful business would all like to avoid. Technology has changed the landscape of customer relationship services by bringing about a unique set of tools, also known as customer relationship management (CRM) software, to streamline the cumbersome process of communicating with numerous clienteles.

Learn how to identify valuable customers in one view. Request a FREE Conversation Software demo today!

By successfully implementing these tools, companies have been able to gain a more thorough understanding of their customer’s needs and if their products are able to match their expectations. Australian companies that are adamant to spearhead their businesses efforts to succeed will have to do more than just understand key internet metrics and viral campaigns. They will have to build a successful CRM strategy. They will need to successfully segment their customer base and schedule bulk emails without spending too much time on them.

What is CRM and Customer Management?

1. By effectively using business analytics to pinpoint a problem with your product which a customer is experiencing, you can easily fine tune them before they spiral out of control and affect all of your customers.

2. A CRM can help you track your customer’s online activities such as the number of times they press the like button on your Facebook posts and their responses to your emails. This will help you gauge their interest, which would allow you to build products that can engage them better.

3. You can also generate an automated response each time your customer submits a complaint. We understand that your customer representative team is not always available to answer any queries, but a CRM can do exactly that! As soon a complaint is submitted to your online forums (or Facebook page), the CRM software will promptly generate a helpful message which will keep the customer engaged to your website and allow more time for the sales team to address their grievances.

4. For most businesses, their emails just stack up on top of each other and are ignored. A CRM ensures that the right emails land in the right category depending on the contact and content. This way your business can ensure that key information about the customer is retained.

Related:
Customer Experience Strategy

Below are 5 Companies that are Killing it with their World Class Customer Management

The following companies have done exactly that and much more – to not only retain older clientele but also increasing the scale of their business to achieve a larger outreach.

1. Dollar Shave Club: Know Your Customer:

crm-know-your-customer-dollar-shave-club


By using an in-house CRM solution, Dollar Shave Club has been able to provide some of the best customer services, which most companies can only look at with envy. Their policy of “We don’t respond to situations, we respond to people,” has helped them grow into having millions of subscribers and satisfied, returning customers. This strategy was so successful that Unilever has acquired them for over $1 billion!

2. YouTube: Suggesting Similar Content to Users

crm-suggest-similar-content-youtube

When you watch a particular genre of video on YouTube, say a gaming video, YouTube quickly picks that up and feeds that into their algorithm. So the next time you log on to their channel, you only see content related to video games. This way you won’t be spammed by boring content that might serve to push you away from their website. Because of this strategy, users who might waste 15 minutes on YouTube searching for their favourite content, can now find all relevant content on the front page.

3. Uber: Sharing Assets

crm-sharing-assets-uber

Customer relationships are at the very heart for companies such as Uber, Airbnb and Lyft. Their entire business is built around satisfying their customers. Uber specifically makes use of Salesforce CRM software to gain insights about their customers and keep track of every single transaction, interaction, ride rating and customer complaint. Uber is a massive corporation with a stupendously large customer base, so how does Uber immaculately address the grievances of their giant clientele? By implementation of a reliable and scalable CRM solution. https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2016/10/how-to-uberize-your-business.html

4. Amazon

crm-amazon

Amazon has hit the nail on the head when it comes to CRM implementation. Amazon makes it a point of strategy to ask their customers to create accounts. This is done so they’re able to collect as much data about their customer as possible. They use this data to segment their customer base, store account information, address details and suggest relevant products for them to buy. Their recommended products are able to keep users browsing through their website for hours on end; which drives up sales.

5. Target in Australia

crm-target-australia

Large scale retailers like Target can never even fathom collecting their customer’s data without a proper CRM strategy in place. They can now collect this treasure trove of data from websites and call centres to help accelerate the flow of customer information and keep them abreast of offers that suit their particular shopping habits.

customer service charter template download cta woveon

4 ways of Delighting Your Customer Using Technology

Posted on by David Dinh

Today’s customer service landscape is changing faster than the blink of an eye and businesses which continue to stay out of the loop – perhaps out of ignorance, arrogance or a combination of them both – are doomed to get phased out of existence by other competitors that manage to keep up with the pace. A study carried out by SalesForce in 2016 showed that 57% of consumers expect the companies, which they purchase their products from, to innovate. This is an obvious consequence of the rapid adoption of technology and as the average Australian becomes increasingly tech savvy, so do their demands. A 2014 PwC study reported that 91% of Australian CEOs believe that technology will significantly change business trends. Here are just some means of winning over your customer with the use of technology

How to Use Technology to Satisfy Customers

1. Provide a mobile platform to users

delight-your-customers-mobile-platform

Mobile phones are now the preferred means of communication by customers. You could argue that mobile phones have somehow replaced plastic money; the use of credit cards is now seen as a cumbersome process compared to mobile phones! In fact, Australians have spent $755 million in the past five years alone to replace their smartphones, which were broken or lost. Companies which still require their customers to access their services by sitting in front of a computer will more than likely die out in the near future. It will be slow – and painful.

2. Effective use of social media

While no one is asking you to rack up hundreds of thousands of likes on Facebook and followers on Twitter, customers expect you to provide them with a responsive customer representative team, which could help solve out their grievances. As of January 2017, Australia has around 16 million users on Facebook and there are numerous choices and places for these young millennials to get their products from. If your customer representative team shuns them, the customer will ignore you back! Businesses which interact with their customers over social media, quickly climb up the leader board and can easily oust their immediate competition. Another smart idea is to use fancy Twitter hashtags. A perfect example of creative hashtags is by Lorna Jane, a popular retailer for women’s active wear; their marketing campaigns have gone viral because every time they post on Instagram, they make sure to attach a catchy punch line such as #thisisactiveliving.

3. Use of Virtual Reality

While Virtual Reality still has ways to go before the rest of the world could adopt it in large droves, Australia is already seen leading the pack, when it comes to proper implementation of this cutting edge technology. VR is more than just a toy that kids use to play horror games; it has tremendous potential in the tourism industry. If you owned a business providing recreational air based activities, such as hand gliding and paragliding? What are your traditional means of advertising the business? Using high definition pictures and high quality videos? That’s a thing of the past now; customers want to experience your services before actually paying for them. Get it? By using virtual reality footages, you can easily showcase the thrills of all adrenaline filled activities to your customer. They only have to use their VR headsets and compatible smartphones to gain an insightful experience. Competitors that fail to offer a similar service will often see their customers switching elsewhere and might lose out on their business. Tourism Australia uses virtual reality as part of their viral marketing campaigns – and it is working!

4. Using big data to gain some insights into your customer

It is more important than ever today to learn the customer’s behaviour, experience and response to your products and services. The key thing is to collect useful key metrics and discard those your company doesn’t benefit from. You will be able to design your business more creatively around your customer once you know what they like and dislike. An example of a company doing precisely that is Netflix, an entertainment company, which steams episodes of all popular TV shows to your handheld device based purely on demand.Their most popular TV show, House of Cards was designed based on the insight gathered by studying helpful customer data. Big data helped Netflix so much that their executives knew beforehand, that House of Cards would be one big hit. They generated Venn diagrams to pin point how Kevin Spacey was the perfect actor to star in the show. And he was!Similarly, another large company that relies on big data is Uber. Matching you with the driver closest to you relies on complex algorithms which feed on the analytics generated by data. The key to your success probably lies here.

3 Essential Tools To Help Predict Customer Needs

Posted on by David Dinh

Among the many things that a business needs to keep an eye on, predicting customer needs is one of the most important. Smarter customers have higher expectations and a business that wants to grow has to be able to not only meet these expectations but also predict them. Having predictive customer services might appear tricky but with the help of data analysing tools, you can monitor your customer’s buying patterns, demographics and other behaviours.

Predict Customer Needs. Request a FREE Conversation Technology demo today.

Through enhancing your customer services, you can also offer your clients a better shopping or buying experience as compared to your competitors. In this day and age where even a single bad review can make a difference, providing good quality, predictive customer services can make a major impact particularly in your marketing strategy.

Customer Prediction Tools You Need

Data Gathering

When you’re growing your marketing campaigns, you need to gather proper data on your customers and the following are some of the best resources that let you do so.

Google Analytics

google-analytics

An old one but a gold one, Google Analytics has helped many businesses monitor the different facets of their customers behaviour. From monitoring the visibility of your website to keeping an eye on how much time the visitors are spending on the site, you can get a lot of data regarding your sites usage. The best part is that you can easily isolate the areas which are underperforming and figure out how to optimise them. Moreover, the data sheds more light on showing you visitor ‘habits’ on the site and how you can incorporate those to offer predictive customer services to them. Another good thing about Google Analytics is that it also allows you to test out any new feature and see how well the changes are being received. UpWork created a great article how to understand the customers coming to your website https://www.upwork.com/hiring/for-clients/google-analytics-to-better-understand-your-visitors/

Kissmetrics

kissmetrics

Another tool that lets you observe the habits of your visitors, Kissmetrics provides invaluable data that can be used to optimise your website and services. Individual monitoring ensures that you find in-depth information that tracks key growth in various segments as well as shows which features are wanted and not-wanted by the average visitor or customer. If you’re tapping into a new target market, Kissmetrics is the perfect tool for you as it allows you to monitor the response and provide more tailored predictive customer services that hit the mark properly. With a multitude of other features as well that are meant to help optimise your business with ease, Kissmetrics makes it easier to analyse and view all the changes being made. Kissmetrics wrote up a great article here about understanding customer data.

Inspectlet

If you find it hard to review the data you have received, you’re going to love using Inspectlet. With the aim of helping everyone, Inspectlet focuses on monitoring customer behaviour to provide credible data regarding site visitation time, areas of interest and more regarding the consumer. Inspectlet also takes monitoring to a whole other level by providing video recordings or playbacks of every visitor to the site. This in turn ensures a deeper level to monitoring. The best part is that Inspectlet is frequently used by sites such as eBay, Cisco and WordPress who are prime examples of great predictive customer services. Have a look at how to apply the Pareto principle to some of your customer analytics.

Applying learnings to use

Once you’ve got all your data in hand, you have to start using it. Anticipation of customer expectations begins here. For this reason, you need to use tools that help you create an engagement plan for future customers. The following are some of the best ones.

Rapid Miner

Rapid Miner offers an open source platform for data scientists to use with ease. With its comprehensive products that are specifically developed according to a particular industry and its requirements, Rapid Miner makes data application into credible models and their deployment easier.The best part is that it’s all open source; the team can collaborate and access the data with ease, regardless of their locality. Big businesses such as Siemens, Cisco, Samsung, Hitachiand more also rely on Rapid Miner for their predictive customer services plans. For an introduction to advanced analytics.

Angoss

Based solely on providing predictive analytics that aid in improving customer services, Angoss has services that are based not only on the industry but also on the nature of the analytics you want. From improving marketing performance to minimising any risks faced, Angoss is the complete solution for any business.Angoss is utilised by PayPal, Walmart, and eBay, TMobile, Cisco, Microsoft and MasterCard. The success of these businesses stands to testament to Angoss’s services. Moreover, with services available on a global level, Angoss is accessible for all, regardless of where they function in.

3 Creative Ways You Can Ensure Your Clients Always Succeed!

Posted on by David Dinh

The one key area that you need to look at when you want to run a successful business is ensuring that you can keep your clients happy. How can you manage such a thing? Well, by making sure that your clients are successful, and that isn’t always possible. There are many businesses that struggle to provide their clients with meaningful services that result in them being successful.

Learn how to manage your customer conversations easily. Request a FREE Conversation Software demo today!

If your clients aren’t successful, then you will not have many repeat customers, because people like working with successful businesses. This concern is bigger for small businesses, because they aren’t always able to deliver top-notch services to their customers. 

Here are 3 Creative Ways you Can Ensure your Clients Always
Succeed:

The quality of services delivered to customers is always important for a business, but along with that, the business must also ensure that they are helping achieve customer success in the long run.

1. The Customer Success Factor

successful client business

So, why is success for clients so important? It is because every major business needs to realize the value of helping their partners achieve success as well. The fundamentals of business haven’t changed over time, but the only thing that has changed is that now businesses must ensure that their clients are successful as well. This can be tricky sometimes because you must do business with a company that wants to work with yours to ensure complete success in their industry.

Related:
10 Customer Service Strategies that Create Loyal Customers

This means that every business strategy that you come up with, must also include how it affects the success of the client. This is done to ensure that all aspects are covered, and there are no disappointments after business is concluded. There are multiple strategies that you can employ with the right vision and commitment at the forefront to ensure that your business partners and clients are happy and satisfied. It is important to take the success factor into account, because you need to create love between your business and your customers.

2. The Customer is Always King

Any business that places the interests of its customers above their own is going to be a successful business, because they are going to go out of their way to make sure that the customer is content. Most businesses that fail, do so because they stop caring about their customers. It is important that you always treat the customer properly, and remember that they are always the king.

If your business is failing to win over more customers, you should probably look at what kind of customer experience you are offering to your clients. There is enough data around that points to the importance of great customer experience in helping businesses retain and attract new clients.

  • There are numerous studies that have shown 40% of brands that didn’t receive good services, refused to work with that business again.
  • It also states that 90% of businesses will go to a direct competitor if they are given poor customer experience.
  • Nearly 60% of clients are willing to pay more to receive better customer experience.

Businesses that fail to value their clients, and don’t care about their success are likely to lose out, and not get ahead in their industry. Therefore, it is imperative that you find out creative ways to ensure that you give priority to customer success.

We also want our clients to succeed, which is why we are going to provide you with 3 creative ways you can ensure that your clients always succeed.

3. Genuine Interaction – Treat them right

Make sure that you have genuine interactions with your customers, because it is the only way that you are going to help them feel at home. There is no secret about the fact that happy clients are much more willing to work with you and provide you with better word of mouth regarding your business. By treating your customers properly, you will ensure that you build a genuine interaction with them, and they will feel better in doing business with you.

4. Don’t come across as too strong

You need to always respect your clients if you want to keep them happy and satisfied with your services. There are lots of customers who don’t want to scare off your clients or disappoint them. That is the main reason why you should always treat your clients with respect, because if they are upset with you, then your business is the one that is going to suffer. Disgruntled customers are not good for business, and that is where you need to be patient.

You should do everything in your power to get your client in a better mood and try to resolve their issues. There aren’t going to be many clients lining up to work for your business if you don’t work with your clients in a respectful manner.

5. Hear their problems

You should always be listening to your customer’s problems so that you can help them in times of trouble. There are not many businesses that would work with a company that doesn’t take their feedback on board. You should have good communication with your client and always take everything they say into account, because that is the only way you are going to improve your situation and guarantee customer success.

5 Ways Companies Have Used VR for Marketing

Posted on by David Dinh

In today’s ever-changing tech world, companies from around the world and from all different industries have started to incorporate VR into their marketing campaigns. VR gives them the opportunity to give their users experiences like never before.

But wait a minute. What is VR?

VR stands for Virtual Reality, and a brief introduction for Virtual Reality can be found in our Innovated Uses of VR for Businesses.

If you are already aware of the basics of VR and are more interested in incorporating this new impressive technology into your marketing strategy, stick around to see what 5 innovative companies have already done!

How VR has been used for Marketing

1. Volvo

Volvo, a worldwide car manufacturer, began the virtual vehicle tour. As shown above, their new car, the XC90, has the ability to be accessed by anyone in the world with a computer. They designed a virtual tour of the car where one can interact and see all the features without ever having to leave his/her home. The idea itself may be simple yet nobody had done it before. Shortly after Volvo premiered this new feature, other companies followed. Mercedes-Benz now does the same as Volvo, allowing customers from anywhere in the world to tour its cars virtually. This marketing strategy has also spread to other transportation companies such as KLM and other airlines. As the VR industry becomes bigger, companies such as Volvo will continue to provide excellent and detailed displays of their products to improve consumer experience.

2. Coca-Cola Sleigh Ride in Winter

Coca-Cola, a massive and well-known international company, has always been at the forefront of innovation, from their products to their marketing teams. Within the last few years, Coca-Cola has started to implement VR into their marketing strategy. This past winter, Coke put together a sleigh ride VR experience that gave customers, and more importantly children, an opportunity they will never forget, Santa’s sleigh ride. They have also started a creative project to turn recycled Coke boxes into DIY VR glasses. Coke’s marketing team truly moves with innovation, coming up with impressive ways to maintain such high customer satisfaction through the services they provide outside their products.

3. How Patron is Made

Patron, unlike the rest of the other companies we looked at, has more of a challenge when it comes to marketing. Really, what can you say? Drink this for a good time? It took a very creative turn to make its VR experience one that their customers were sure to enjoy. It looked past its product and looked at more of the process behind the company. It was able to capture the process from start to finish, highlighting things that made its company look good, such as recycling its used products, and showing that its finished product ends up in places where most people are having a great time. Patron really thought outside the box, taking the drinking experience to another level.

4. Marriott Teleporter

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Marriott Hotels, much like the others we have talked about, provided a new and innovative way for customers to view its brand. It created sites where individuals have the opportunity to travel the world from essentially inside a phone booth. These experiences brought them from NY to Hong Kong, and along the way they were always reminded that there was a Marriott location in each city. This showed the customers Marriott’s vast reach and that they could always find a place to call home no matter what corner of the world they wished to travel.

5. Discovery VR for Environmental Education

Discovery, my personal favorite, has further advanced the way we educate our world citizens through virtual reality. It has created a learning environment like no other. Discovery found the value in virtual reality in that it is so versatile. It took 360-degree cameras from the depths of the ocean to the vastness of space. It put these incredible experiences online where customers could interact by actually moving the camera in the direction they pleased, giving the user the best experience possible. A brand that is willing to spend so much time and innovation on its customers, like Discovery, creates valuable customer retention through these marketing strategies. It also provides a service to the public that is so innovative and captivating.

Marketing With VR

While these companies are the early adopters, other big companies are soon to follow. The future of VR is here, in the now. Companies from around the globe are transforming the way virtual reality is used to provide the best customer services and experiences through marketing strategies.

From startups to international corporations, VR is changing customer experience and service. It is taking a new form, allowing individuals to travel the world from the convenience of their home or simply letting their imagination run wild. VR is the paving the way for businesses to once again focus on the customer bringing to life experiences that were once thought of a thing of the future.

5 Customer Analytics You Should Be Measuring

Posted on by David Dinh

Living in a time where we are so surrounded by technology, we would think that it makes sense that companies would start to take online information and use it to their advantage. Businesses around the world are using customer analytics to drive up profits and keep customers happy.

But what is customer analytics?

Customer analytics is the process by which data from customer behavior are used to make business decisions. In more simple terms, it’s businesses tracking your every move online, compiling profiles on each customer so they can improve the shopping experience. The information they take ranges from four main categories. These include personal, quantitative, qualitative and descriptive data. Now that we have the basics, read on to find out more about the top 5 Customer Analytics You Should Be Measuring to increase your businesses profits and better adapt to customers.

For a better customer conversation management data analytics, use conversational technology. Request a demo now!

See also: Prioritize Customer Conversations

Best Customer Analytics to Boost Business

1. Demographics

demographics infographic

Demographics are the basics of customer analytics. It is essentially a personal profile on each one of your customers. These consist of categories such as age, gender, race, geography and income. This information is important to marketers especially. For example, if a company is trying to target teens and young adults through their marketing campaign, they would be able to see if their advertisements are getting to the correct people. If they see that for some reason only people 40+ are visiting their site, it is easy to conclude that they need to find a new way to reach their intended customers. Demographics, although seemingly basic, are one of the most important customer analytics to track.

2. Sources of Incoming Traffic

traffic source analysis

Being able to track where your customers came from is also an extremely important factor when it comes to customer analytics. If your company has been trying to market on different platforms such as email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, you can see what campaigns are working. This is essentially the same as the demographics analytic except the difference is in the application they are coming from and not personal qualities.

3. Returning Customer Conversion

repeat customer pie chart

Gaining new customers is 6.5 times more expensive for a company than keeping an existing customer, so why not prioritize your existing customers? This is why using the metric of returning customers can save companies vast amounts of money. If a customer has already been on your site, you can once again track the way they got to the page. Noticing that most of your returning customers are coming from social media, you could possible scale back outside marketing or TV ads. This would most likely cut costs and allow you to focus more on keeping your old customers as well as increasing advertising in places that tend to have returning customers.

4. Page Views

website pageviews infographic

Page views, one of the more simple topics in analytics, are simply the number of visitors your website or individual page gets. It is important to get the most page views you can to bring in as many customers as you can. This function can also monitor specific blogs or PDFs that your company posts. This will allow your company to post more blogs or PDF that are on similar topics. It is important to know what part of your website interests your users the most so you can develop more of that material.

5. Average Session Duration

average session duration

When it comes to making big business decisions, such as spending large sums of money on advertising, a company will want to know who to target and why. All of this information can be found using Google analytics. It is important to know who spends more time on your website so you can gear your advertising toward them. For example, the average Facebook link stays open for only 10 seconds where average direct URL is open for closer to 53 seconds. The people who spend more time are obviously more interested in your product, but you also have to look at where the traffic is coming from to understand the true data. You can even see what pages on your website are visited the most. For example, say that a company has a blog page that attracts more views than any other page. You can have your employees focus on outputting more blogs on topics that have been getting the most clicks and highest average session duration.

Analysis of The Analytics

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As you can see, all of these chosen analytics work together, but a company has to find the patterns and solutions to the problems they are seeing. While it may seem that monitoring just demographics or page views will not boost a business too much, the long tail effect comes into play by monitoring more and more analytics. As the world keeps embracing the technological changes in our society, more businesses will move to using customer analytics to improve business strategy and efficiency. Google analytics makes tracking your customers habits and desires that much easier too. These analytics are the best option for a company to get a well-rounded look at who, what, and where website traffic is coming from. They lay the platform for more analytics to be built on.

Top 5 Secrets to Excellent Customer Service

Posted on by David Dinh

A company’s most important feature, without a doubt, is its product. If there is no desire for the product, a business will not succeed. But what else makes companies stand out from others?

The secret lies in customer service.

Read on to find out about some secrets of customer service and one business, Woveon, that is truly a forerunner in this not-so-new industry.

Ways to Excellent Customer Service

1. Customer Loyalty

customer-service-loyalty

To start off on our adventure to world-class customer service, it seems fitting to talk about customer loyalty. When a customer is loyal, they will keep buying products, turning into more and more revenue. But how does a company identify and keep these customers happy? At Woveon, identifying important customers and helping with their every need is easy! Woveon has created AI (Artificial Intelligence) programs that identify businesses-valued customers in multiple ways. Say someone has shopped at an e-commerce website multiple times and has a great buying history but has now run into some trouble. If they contact the store via multiple channels such as social media or email, a representative from the business can pull up their information and understand they are a valued customer. They can focus on their problems more quickly, and this keeps up customer satisfaction.

2. Consistency

Much like loyalty, consistency is another key factor when it comes to customer service. Woveon makes it easy for a customer service representative to be consistent throughout their interactions with customers. The software records past interactions that allows the business to recall past services it offered to the particular customer and the means by which the problem was resolved. With all of this data, the company can provide consistent help to valued customers. This, in turn, can create word-of-mouth interactions, generating new customers.

3. Knowledgeable Staff

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Nothing is more frustrating than calling customer service and feeling more apt than the “resourceful” representative. This is why it is so important to have knowledgeable staff who don’t just stick to a script and set of instructions. Your employees should be able to problem solve on their own. In order to do this, one should hire people who show interest in their business and understand its products. However, having knowledge on more than just the product is important. For smaller businesses, getting to know your customers and being able to talk with them more on a personal level can be very important. With Woveon’s technology, this is a walk in the park. Woveon’s recorded conversations not only help with consistency, but it can also help a customer service rep get to know the client more by reviewing past conversations. Although this may not apply to all businesses, small to mid-sized companies can really benefit from having personable customer service reps who are extremely knowledgeable about their product and clients. So before hiring any applicant, make sure he/she is enthusiastic about the product or service the company provides.

4. Response Time

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“Thank you for calling. Your call is very important to us today. Please hold while we transfer you to our next available representative.”

We’ve all heard this dreadful message. Five minutes later, you are still listening to the same terrible background music and just waiting for your questions to be answered. This is why it is so important to have urgency when conducting customer service. If you make a customer wait for five or more minutes, their frustration is almost sure to be rising as well. To help this problem, Woveon’s interface has a simple search bar that any customer service rep can pull up and see what the customer’s history is. It includes common problems the customer has had along with small subcategories, illustrated in a 3D model that is quick and easy to use. Woveon’s incredibly accessible database and easy-to-use software cut down time that the customer is forced to listen to background music and become frustrated. Having dealt with many customer service departments, I can say that the best way to keep a customer happy is to be fast and knowledgeable about all potential problems. But even if you can’t identify the problem right away, act with urgency and get the process started as soon as possible in order to retain strong customer loyalty.

5. Apologize and Move On

apology

Everyone makes mistakes–some you can control, others just happen. It is always better to apologize first and then move forward. When it comes to customer service, the representative is almost never to blame; however, the customer may think differently. A customer service rep should apologize not only for the inconvenience the customer is going through, but also so the customer can sense that the rep personally cares about the problem. If you are nice to your customers, they, in turn, would be more likely to reciprocate. Of course, there will be good and bad customers, but as long as you are willing to be upfront, apologize for any mistakes you could have made, and are ready to solve the problem, most customer interactions will go smoothly. Remember, solving the problem is only half of the interaction; being fast, knowledgeable, and polite completes the customer service process.

To help you out, here are 5 templates to get you out of sticky customer situations.

If you want to retain and build a bigger customer base, a company has to have great customer service. Word of mouth “advertisement” is 5x more powerful than any media ad. Because of this, a company’s customer service has to be efficient, knowledgeable, and polite. Luckily, with Woveon, customer service comes easy. Using Woveon’s software is a hack in itself when running a business, and if you are ready to bring your business to the next level, start with your customer service using Woveon.