One of the easiest ways to build a closer relationship with customers is to show them that they are valued. There’s a reason they say that having satisfied customers is the best strategy in business.
It’s simple, but extremely few companies allocate the time and resources necessary to truly please their customers.
New and growing online stores have a set of elements that can differentiate them and are worth investing all the necessary resources in, namely: products, brand and customer service.
According to online studies, 68% of companies lose customers because they feel that the company is indifferent to them and that appreciating them as a customer is an indispensable part of having satisfied customers.
That’s why it’s important for your business to present its human side by intentionally and personally thanking your customers. This can help you build connections and customer loyalty.
How to have happy customers?
Sending a perfect thank you doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, most consumers don’t have a very high standard.
A TD Bank survey found that 60% of consumers said brand appreciation should be done directly to each customer, while 44% said the thank you message should be personalized.
Let your customers know that there are real people behind the business, behind the scenes and behind the screen.
Also, to have happy customers, you will need to thank them without expecting anything in return from them.
Simply express your gratitude, personally and directly, for choosing to be your business’s customers and for the trust they have placed in you.
This is enough to create a connection with customers, even to build loyalty.
Who do you thank?
It might seem overwhelming or even unimportant and as your business grows, it will be impossible to manage everything on your own.
That’s why it can be useful to segment customers into groups that you want to prioritize.
For example, offering a gift package with every order is a sure way to blow your budget.
But segmenting high-value customers and delivering orders along with a handwritten note and branded gift can help you strengthen an already positive relationship.
Here are some ways to segment your customers:
- You are all customers.
- Any client with multiple/constant commands.
- Birthday customers.
- High order value customers.
- Random thank-you activities to random customers.
- Customers who are part of the loyalty program.
- Customers who purchase on certain holidays (Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc.)
Budgeting appropriately:
Your business’s satisfaction program needs a budget for the activities you perform.
This will be linked to the number of customers you want to reach during each month.
But even if you want to please all your customers, you should know that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to have happy customers.
In the book The Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuk writes: “It’s not money that makes these efforts shocking and wonderful, it’s thoughtfulness and creativity.”
In this article you’ll find some examples of simple and cost-effective ways you can get happy customers.
Build a repeatable process:
Whether you choose to include a thank you note with every order delivered or simply send something specific occasionally, choose and build a repeatable process to send appreciation of your business consistently to its customers.
It doesn’t have to be automated, but structuring the process will ensure that it gets implemented.
If you have a team, it provides an easy way to nominate customers to whom your business will thank for their purchase.
Also, engaging the entire team in the thank you process will build a culture of gratitude for your business’s customers.
How can you make your customers happy?
At the end of the day you’ll need some simple and creative ideas to implement a customer satisfaction program for your business.
If you need a little inspiration, here are six ways you can implement these extra customer satisfaction efforts.
- Send handwritten thank you notes .
- Includes various inserts in the delivered parcel.
- Offer free gifts or samples.
- Make personal connections with videos.
- Offer discounts for future orders.
- Scoop customers in the spotlight.
Let’s see how you can implement these 6 creative ways to have happy customers.
- Handwritten thank you notes/notes:
A tried and true way to thank your customers. Writing a personalized thank you note shows that there is a person involved behind the scenes and behind the screen.
Handwritten thank you notes are effective because they are considered lost art.
Think about the last time you sent a handwritten letter, instead of quickly sending an email or Facebook message.
This medium of customer communication offers incredible efficiency and creates a tangible and meaningful impact.
Consider these recommendations when writing the perfect thank you note:
- Use unique, quality cards that express your business brand.
- Fill in the customer’s name and personalize the message.
- Say “thank you” and be specific about why you sent the note.
- Sign the thank you message with a warm but professional message (Yours sincerely).
Though, sending a handwritten note with every order might not be scalable, you can always set a monthly goal for yourself and your team.
Your monthly goal can be “send 1,000 thank you notes each year”.
- Includes various inserts in the delivered parcel.
Add a small thing to an order is a great way to thank a customer.
You’ve already paid for the delivery and box, so this is one of the most cost-effective ways to give customers one more reason to be happy they chose to order from your site.
Unboxing orders is an experience in itself, and customers look forward to the moment they get to hold the product they ordered in their hands.
What you choose to include in each order now depends only on the budget you set for your thank you program budget.
You can include some stickers or even a user guide for the product you ordered (where applicable).
These inserts can be targeted according to the customer’s order or even unique and attractive.
- Offer free gifts or samples:
Most customers appreciate it when they receive free samples. These are a great way to have happy customers.
Free samples are not only an amazing way to surprise and delight your customers, they help you introduce customers to other products they can order from your business website.
Some businesses choose to send samples of their best-selling products for larger orders (high order value customers) so that customers can try them out.
- Personal video links:
If you want to go a little further in connecting with your business’s new customers, you can try thanking them with a personalized thank you video.
Whatever approach you take to your thank you program, the key to having happy customers is to be personal and authentic.
These videos can be sent to customers after an order is placed or even as a separate interaction entirely from any order placed by customers.
Video clips can be used especially for special occasions and holidays where you can be creative with the subject matter of the video material.
- Offer discounts for future orders:
Rewarding loyal customers with discounts and coupons or exclusive offers is a great way to keep them coming back and thanking them for their purchases.
Sending an offer or discount to a customer is usually a cost-effective way to generate new orders from former customers and increase CLTV (customer lifetime value).
Copywriting the text for these coupons can be a little tricky, as you don’t want to appear to be just trying to generate a new sale or the message conveyed to be seen as too over the top.
Coupons you can use to promote coupon exclusivity:
- “Just for you…”
- “In gratitude…”
- “To our loyal customers…”
These can be sent either separately, as an insert in the delivered parcel, or in a thank you email.
If you focus on discounts, make sure you use a unique code for each coupon, so you can track how effective this approach is for thanking your customers.
- Select customers in the spotlight:
Selling to current customers is a great way to publicly share that your business values each customer.
How can you do this?
Use User-Generated Content (UGC) because some of your customers rely on exposure to develop their online audience.
In addition, implementing a User-Generated Content (UGC) strategy can help you win new customers and create a strong bond between you and those customers.
That being said, it’s clear that there are many different ways to get happy customers for your business.
Customer satisfaction helps you build meaningful relationships with your customers. When customers trust your business and feel valued, they are more likely to return consistently.
Customer retention is the most effective hack for growing an online store.
