Giving Thanks To Keep Customers Coming Back

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Shades of orange, red and brown surround us, the smells of turkey and fall leaves are in the air and people are giving thanks for family and friends. For brands, it’s also a time of year to give thanks – for business successes, dedicated employees and, most importantly, customers. By extending gratitude to the essence of your company’s success, customer loyalty will follow. Here are four ways you can thank your customers and keep them coming back:

  1. Don’t Be Shy About It – You can never say “thank you” enough. From the initial “thank you for reaching out” to the final “thank you for your purchase,” always voice gratitude. Odds are, your customers have 10 other companies they can go to for the same watch or baby stroller or cup of coffee, but they chose your brand. Acknowledge that, and follow up often enough to let them know their service with your brand is always appreciated.
  2. Go Big or Go Home – Before the social and mobile boom, it was enough to just offer customer service via phone, email and chat. With the introduction of smartphones and social media, customer expectations have changed and patience has worn thin. They expect tailored responses to their questions in record-breaking time, and brands must now comply. By taking an omnichannel approach to customer service, brands are giving customers exactly what they want – service across preferred channels and the ability to quickly take a public request to a private forum for resolution. By doing so, we’ve found that brands can see an average of more than $3 million in increased customer lifetime value that can result from proactive handling of social, mobile and traditional channels via an integrated desktop.
  3. Keep Your Customers Happy and Your Customer Service Agents Happier – Our mantra this year has been focused on one equation: Better Agent Experience = Better Customer Experience = Better Customer Lifetime Value. By empowering a new breed of agents known as Super Agents with the tools necessary to do their jobs and make their work more fulfilling, you are indirectly changing the perception customers have on your brand. 92 percent of consumers report that a customer service agent’s perceived “happiness” has an impact on their customer experience with the brand. Thank your customers by putting smiles on the faces of your agents on the front lines. You will eventually see that a happy agent makes a happy customer.
  4. Always Go Back to the Basics – Weaving a message as simple as “We appreciate your business” into automated messaging for customer service agents is always a nice gesture. With 90 percent of consumers valuing the ability to communicate with a live person on any channel, this message is even more impactful when delivered by a live agent.

Take time this holiday season to rethink your approach to customer service. Are you meeting your customers on the channels they prefer? Are you empowering your contact center agents and giving them what they need to do their jobs? Finally, are you thanking your customers enough? If not, it’s time to turn one-off customers into brand advocates for life. All it takes is one little word with a lot of heart – “Thanks.”