Customer service and relations—it’s something on people’s mind when a company is doing well, doing wrong, or trying to improve. It can define a company’s brand in positive or negative ways. That’s why it’s incredibly important to prioritize customer relations at every step of the consumer journey.
Take B2C pet company Chewy, for example. They’ve gone so above and beyond with their customer service that they receive earned media for it:
I contacted @Chewy last week to see if I could return an unopened bag of my dog’s food after he died. They 1) gave me a full refund, 2) told me to donate the food to the shelter, and 3) had flowers delivered today with the gift note signed by the person I talked to?? 😭🥹
— Anna Brose, MSc (@alcesanna) June 15, 2022
This level of customer service should be the goal of every business, whether you’re B2C or B2B. In this article, we’ll outline 3 steps you can take to reach Chewy-level customer service.
Know Where You Stand
An important part of knowing where you stand with your customers is sending out customer surveys.
Customer surveys should ask questions such as:
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about working with our company?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company to a colleague?
- How can we improve?
Once you’ve received feedback from your customers, it’s time to thank them for taking the survey and, if you received negative feedback, make it right! Tip: A great way to keep clients coming back for more of your product is client gifting.
Make Gifting Your Company’s Love Language
Nurturing client relationships is the best way to ensure future business, and sending thoughtful (and useful) gifts is a great way to get a conversation started about contract renewals or future needs. Additionally, sending a gift after a client makes a large purchase will leave a lasting impression—the client will know that the purchase meant something to you, and your gift will remind them why they chose you as a client in the first place.
When assembling a client gift box, consider the following:
- A handwritten note thanking the client for their business. If you know the client on a personal level, including those touches is essential.
- Small gifts relevant to your business or your clients business that can be customized to include your logo. This article by Sendoso outlines some options depending on your client’s industry.
- A box with a printed message that utilizes your branding
Consider the customer gifts we assembled for our client, SUN Automation Group®, for example. SUN needed a way to thank clients for their service throughout the year and encourage them to buy from them again in the new year. The box theme centered around SUN, consistent with and building upon marketing messaging used throughout the year, and featured a custom box design and thank you card.
Once your clients have received their gifts, keep track of all client relations moving forward with a Customer Relationship Management platform or CRM.
Open Communications and the Path to Transparency
What is a CRM? CRMs allow you to manage customer relationships easily by keeping all sales and contact management in one place. It’s a great way to prioritize customers based on needs and feedback, and can help your entire team see the whole picture of where your company stands. CRMs collect all customer information, like names, emails and phone numbers, and sometimes collect communication preferences so that you know exactly how and where to contact them. The path to transparency doesn’t end at CRMs, though.
Open communications encompass all aspects of the customer journey, and this includes email updates. Any emails sent to a large mass of customers should always include personalization—this will increase your open rate and let customers know they’re important to your business. This can go beyond addressed names within an email, too. Consider the following personalizations:
- Customer anniversaries – Thank them for being a client for a specific amount of time
- Browsing history – If a client has hovered on a product page for a while, remind them what they were looking at.
- Emails written from a first-person perspective – When there’s an important company update, writing a newsletter from the perspective of a C-Suite member is a great way to ensure that clients will read what you have to say.
The final mile of the path to open communication and transparency is part of what makes Chewy’s customer experience so sought-after; using earned media listening to improve client relationships. You should be monitoring all mentions of your brand on all social media platforms, blogs, and a like. Make sure to respond when appropriate and use a tone that makes sense for the context.
If you need help managing your customer relations, don’t wait, contact the A team today!