Increasingly, a customer's buyer journey no longer begins in a physical store but via the internet. This is true for both consumers and professionals. As a result of this shift, customer contact is becoming increasingly important for organisations. It is vital to have a customer contact strategy that aligns with the needs and desires of your customers.
Many organisations therefore regularly ask the question:
How do I differentiate myself within our market?
How do I communicate with my customers?
Do I respond quickly and solution-oriented via Facebook or Twitter?
Do I choose live chat contact, or effective handling of queries and complaints over the phone?
Although many consumers start their buyer journey online, 79% of Dutch consumers indicate that personal customer contact is still preferred.
Make customer contact part of the customer experience
With a customer contact strategy, you as an organisation establish the customer performance and principles that determine how you can communicate continuously, consistently, and customer-focused. Every point of contact is an opportunity to give customers a positive impression of your organisation. It is therefore truly worthwhile to develop a well-thought-out customer contact strategy that your customers can appreciate. Here's what you can do:
Develop a genuine vision for your communication strategy. Create a structured call script for common issues. Choose an appropriate tone of voice. Consider what emotional nuance the customer contact should have (e.g., entirely service-oriented or rather sales-driven).
Ask customers for feedback: the information you gather from loyalty programmes can be used to refine your strategy. With a positive experience with your organisation, customers are usually willing to share their thoughts. With negative experiences, customers can express their frustration (you must of course follow up on this feedback).
Involve staff: this is something organisations often forget. Even departments not directly involved in customer contact need to know what's happening at the front office and what their colleagues need to address. Therefore, regularly organise sessions where departments are inspired by customer contact feedback.
Strategic customer contact ensures that clear frameworks and expectations are established about what your organisation actually does – both for the customer and your own employees. It thereby streamlines your entire organisation.
Curious about how your organisation can improve its customer contact strategy?
Good customer contact is increasingly distinguishing for organisations. But how are your own customer contact efforts? We offer a free, no-obligation consultation to look for the right solution with you. Want more information? Download the brochure below.
