“Brands who show they are dedicated to their customers’ needs will be rewarded with engaged, loyal customers.”
Gilad Rom, founder of Huan

Engaging customers is an ongoing process that continues long after a prospective client becomes a customer.  Following are tips for creating lasting customer relationships, critical for driving repeat business and maintaining a strong brand reputation.

1) Communicate with customers.

Communication drives trust and satisfaction:

  • Address customers’ issues directly.
  • Always reply to customer queries promptly.

 2) Maintain the customer life cycle.

Make the customer’s life cycle long and prosperous by continuously improving the journey:

  • Acquire customers and employ retention strategies to keep them interested.
  • Extend the relationship beyond a single purchase.

 3) Think like a big business.

Analyze and act on data using available tools:

  • Send individual emails, make one-on-one calls, etc., to target your customer.
  • React to market trends, and experiment to discover what impacts your audience.

4) See what’s right in front of you.

Obtain a detailed customer profile with easily accessible information:

  • Gather information with customer loyalty programs, social media interactions, surveys, etc.
  • Ask customers directly: most will readily offer information in exchange for something of value.

5) Identify and act on customer triggers.

Go to your customers; don’t wait for them to come to you:

  • An engaged customer is most likely to spend or keep spending.
  • Identify your customers and the most valuable time to reach them within their purchase cycles.

6) Build a brand voice.

Your brand’s voice is essentially your business’s personality:

  • Build a voice with a distinct personality that resonates with your customers, allowing them to trust you and the products/services you offer.*
  • Maintain your voice in each interaction you have, article you share, blog post you write, etc.

 7) Invest in content marketing.

Develop a content strategy with unique, quality materials that customers can access:

  • Cater your content to your audience while injecting your brand voice.
  • Your content should be valuable and include information they can’t get elsewhere.

Create a plan to keep customers engaged.  Build a loyal base of return customers who want to share your brand with others and differentiate your business.

Source:  Businessnewsdaily.com, reported by Sammi Caramela; contributing writers Ross Mudrick, Nicole Fallon; *Gilad Rom, founder of Huan