Here’s Why Consistent Customer Correspondence Is so Important for Your Company
MHC Team
February 6th, 2020
One negative experience is the reason 86 percent of consumers stop doing business with a company.
While facilitating an excellent customer experience is a goal of any business, one good experience won’t necessarily translate to a loyal customer. Establishing customer loyalty and trust in your brand requires consistent customer correspondence.
Your company should strive to deliver consistent experiences across multiple platforms and interactions. In a world where most customer engagement takes place online, businesses need to correspond with customers across multiple channels.
While one good experience isn’t enough, one bad experience can permanently damage your relationship with a customer.
Keep reading to learn more about why consistency is so important when it comes to customer retention and acquisition.
The Changing Customer Landscape
To understand the importance of consistent customer correspondence you must first understand the massive changes in the buying landscape that have influenced the way people shop for products and services.
The way that customers shop has dramatically changed over the past few decades. In the past, customers didn’t have the options they have today when it comes to researching and discovering other brands.
Once a customer was happy with a brand, they were loyal to it. Mostly because they didn’t have much of a choice.
Technology has given consumers access to more information than ever before. Research shows that over 65% of buyers search for products and services online before they ever step foot in a store.
Buyers have the opportunity to develop relationships with brands that they didn’t have before email and social media. They have access to everything they need to know about a company including reviews from hundreds of other customers.
The overall effect is that customers are less loyal to particular brands.
How Are Companies Adapting?
Technology has changed the game when it comes to customer correspondence. Businesses need to change the way they interact with customers to account for the changing landscape.
Companies can adapt by ensuring that customers have consistent experiences across all of the channels – both in-person and online. Technology should be used to personalize communication efforts so that customers have an overall positive experience with the brand.
Consistent communication has never been more important because customers have never had more options. Businesses have to make changes to continue to earn customer loyalty. This means ensuring a comprehensive experience that takes into account the multifaced buying processes of today.
The Importance of Consistent Customer Correspondence
Consistency is closely associated with trust when it comes to brand loyalty. The goal of customer correspondence should be to build and foster trust in your brand. If your business correspondence is consistent, it works even harder for you.
When you’re consistent in your communication and your message, customers are more likely to trust your brand. When they trust your brand, not only are they more likely to purchase from you but a couple of things happen.
For one, loyal customers are more likely to believe positive things about your company. They are also likely to share positive reviews about your brand, bringing you more customers.
The addition of digital channels to marketing strategies has given companies a lot of power. But as they say, with great power comes great responsibility.
Companies use various channels to communicate their marketing messages and deliver promises about their brand. While this is a great way to foster relationships with customers, it’s imperative that customer communication is consistent.
If promises being made to customers aren’t being kept through customer interactions, brand loyalty will be severely damaged. On the other hand, customers will perceive your brand well if you are consistent in your word and interactions.
The Bottom Line
The importance of consistent customer correspondence can’t be understated. While maintaining the desired level of consistency in customer interactions might require some shifts in strategy and even operational changes, your bottom line will thank you.
Your efforts will be rewarded with a loyal customer base. Gains in your loyal customer base can drive increases in revenue.
What’s possibly even more important to note is that failing to focus on delivering consistently positive customer experiences can cost you. You risk losing customers and, consequently, revenue by failing to deliver consistent customer correspondence.
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Delivering a Consistent Customer Experience
Consistently delivering a positive customer experience requires three fundamental elements. It’s not always easy for companies to handle this on their own.
That’s why many businesses turn to technology and put software to work for them. Let’s take a look at what companies need to ensure consistent communications.
- Unified Communications – It’s imperative that companies are consistent in the way they interact with customers in all communication channels.
- A Comprehensive View of Past Interactions – The customer service agent needs to be able to view all of the interactions a customer has had. This includes communication over all supported channels. The agent can then assist the customer armed with the knowledge of what has already been communicated to the customer.
- Unified Knowledge – All customer service agents should have access to the same knowledge and data. This includes all communication channels and ensures they can communicate the same information to all customers.
Customer Correspondence Software Solutions
The way businesses earn and maintain customer loyalty has changed with the times. To keep your business relevant and keep the customers coming you have to adapt as well.
Your marketing efforts should include various traditional and digital media channels. Your focus should be on creating a positive comprehensive experience with your brand by using consistent customer correspondence.
Technology has improved the way businesses operate and customer correspondence is no exception. We offer custom software solutions to help you correspond consistently with your customers.
Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for your business.