In this blog we look at why it’s still important to make time to talk to your customers!
In this Digital age where most things can be tracked and we can learn an enormous amount about our customers through their online behaviour, it can be really easy to rely on likes, shares, website visits and form submissions to measure success. These things are all important, i’m not trying to say they aren’t. But in the mix of massive amounts of data it’s really easy to get lost and forget the most important thing – people!
Talking to your customers
Much of our work lives are spent communicating via email, messaging services and text. With e-commerce common-place some companies don’t ever speak to their customers at all, even complaints procedures are often processed through web forms and email. All of these tools allow companies to perform efficiently and help them to continually improve, but are they missing a trick?
What process and automation doesn’t always do, is give you a really good insight into your customers wants and needs outside of the information you collect about them. Having a conversation with someone often un-earth’s a whole host of areas that could help you improve your offering, sometimes these things don’t cost a penny or take any more time, but may make the difference between someone purchasing from you or not.
If you are a large company, i’m not saying you should speak to every customer, but by ensuring you speak to a handful on a regular basis, you will help to keep in touch with what is really important to them. You’ve no doubt heard about Richard Branson and his famous notebook, well this is so that he can record those little nuggets of genius that he picks up from people, including his customers, as he travels the world.
I’m also not talking about sending out surveys, surveys are valuable and have their place, but what i’m suggesting is that you have a real conversation with someone, with open ended questions so that you are able to get a real insight into their needs and wants.
Just try it, it doesn’t take long and you never know, one of your customers might come up with a suggestion that could make a real difference to the success of your business.