Customer Engagement has been present longer than paid advertising for TV, radio and print. But for some reason it has taken the backseat and is slowly making a comeback in the recent years.
One may wonder, why just now if it’s been present for a long time? The answer is because businesses have focused on branding their business and disseminating it to the public thinking that it would be enough to connect their businesses to people. But it wasn’t enough and recently, studies have shown that the gap between businesses and customers can be closed by ‘Customer Engagement.’
Customer Engagement is the act of repeating various methods of interaction between a business and its customers. A business is making itself visible not only in face-value but also by appealing to their customers emotions. They have finally learned that valuing their customers and treating them like a friend is better than treating them as people who patronize their products.
But how does a business know how to engage? How can they know what every customer is thinking and be able to know how to deal with them at exactly the same manner that they want. There are a lot of people out there and everyone has a unique personality. If you want to know the psychology of engaging with your customers read on and this article will explain to you how you can understand your customers better.
There are five simple things that customers need and want in order to be satisfied and they are often ignored by businesses. What they don’t know is that when they fulfil these needs and wants, they will be able to serve their customers better. Below is a list of factors that customers consider when purchasing:
- Knowledgeable Staff. When you go inside a restaurant and you ask a waiter what are their best sellers and what they can recommend for you to eat and they give you a blank stare and just hand you down the menu, will you be happy? How about if you go grocery shopping and you asked an employee on where the dairy products are and then they seem to fumble and look like they don’t have any idea where it is, again, will you be happy? Customers, no matter what age and gender will always get irritated by employees that don’t seem to know what their business’ expertise or products are. If a customer finds out that your employees don’t seem to be confident and knowledgeable about your business, don’t wonder why they transferred to your competition.
- Friendly and Approachable People. Your employees may know every single product in your store and where to find it but he or she never smiles. Customers who feel uncomfortable in a store usually just leave and find another store that can accommodate them in a light and friendly manner. A smile can assure you two things: 1.) an assured sale everyday and, 2.) a lot of repeat and loyal customers. People in general like to feel like they are being treated nicely. Make your customers feel like they are talking to a friend instead of talking to a business employee and be assured of great things to happen.
- Quality of Products and Services. You may have cheap merchandise but can you assure their quality? In a study made by researchers in America, customers who find quality in a business’ products and services go back and purchase another when even if the price is higher than the usual. The key term here is this: quality over quantity. Customers want their money’s worth and that’s what they expect. So what should a business do? Give it to them just how they like it.
- Be Humble and Accept Mistakes. If a customer returns an item a day after purchasing it, don’t go nasty and tell them that they can’t do that. A lot of employees get irritated with return items because they think that it takes up their time without making a sale for that day. What they don’t know is being humble and being able to accept mistakes can help them realize that you are a business who will do everything to satisfy them. If this happens, train your employees to always be nice and accommodate the customer’s needs no matter what they are doing.
- Don’t Take Up a Lot of Their Time. There are over friendly employees who still talk and chat around even if the customer has decided on what to purchase. This could cause a backlash because it eats up unnecessary time of the customer. Make sure to know when to finish a purchase and let the customer finish a transaction when it seems obvious that they already know what they want.
