'Net Features : customers

Building the Best Brand Advocate

Michael Garrity — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 20:00:00 GMT

As Web workers, we all strive to provide experiences for our customers that ultimately transform them into loyal and lifelong brand advocates.

But the truth is that the majority of customers don’t think much about the companies from which they purchase product, outside of the transaction cycle. In fact, for smaller and medium-sized businesses, finding meaningful support from customers can be a difficult task.

There are, however, some best practices that brands can follow to turn certain website visitors into their most valued customers.

Here are four that you should know:

Market, market, market
Success starts with getting your brand recognized – so market it. The best way to reel in those potentially permanent customers is to keep getting the word out about your business, casting a net wide enough to pull in as many people as possible.

This also means giving them a reason to notice you in the first place. Create promotions that incentivize their patronage, which can mean discounts, deals for a quantity of items purchased or additional accessories/items when customers buy a complementary product.

Evaluate interest
You may have many customers that stand out based on the number of orders they place, but there is always more to it than meets the eye. If these customers have a habit of buying only through promotions, or are only purchasing outlet items, they are probably not in line to become your top revenue generators.

That isn’t to say they don’t have value, nor that you shouldn’t continue to try to cultivate relationships with them. But they may never grow to become your most profitable customers, so instead focus on users who are always coming to your site to shop – not just when you are offering incentives.

Build relationships
The cornerstone of a good business is good customer service. If you want to create the perfect customer, it has to be a two-way street. This requires addressing any issues that your customers may have in a timely and efficient manner, always offering useful information and always being available as a resource whenever the customer may need you.

Brands are expected to take a more active role in giving customers personalized experiences that are relevant to their wants and needs. A little analysis goes a long way, and simply paying close attention to a user’s purchasing behavior should provide great baseline insights.

If you’re really interested in optimizing your connections and generally streamlining the process, try using a customer relationship management (CRM) solution. There are a number of worthwhile options out there, including Salesforce.com, Fiitfu and NetSuite CRM+, plus many others.

Show your appreciation
When it’s all said and done, the trick to creating a true brand advocate is to remember that people like to feel appreciated. This is especially true of your premier customers, as they’ve invested a lot in your business.

Once you’ve defined this top-tier segment of your audience, establish loyalty programs with them specifically in mind. Not only will they feel as if they are getting rewarded for being such dependable customers, but it will likely also increase repeat purchases.

Mzinga, ISM Deliver a Joint Customer Relations Solution

Michael Garrity — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:30:00 GMT

Customers can be hard to please. This is, of course, true in any industry, but it can be especially difficult on the Web, where face-to-face communication between companies and their patrons is virtually non-existent.

Various customer experience and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions have popped up in recent years, but even these technologies can come with their fair share of problems. Often, companies that use a variety of these solutions find that they have trouble providing a consistent customer experience across different channels.

Mzinga, a provider of social intelligence solutions, services and analytics for businesses, and ISM, a company that helps organizations plan and implement CRM and Social CRM initiatives, have joined forces to deliver a suite of social customer experience solutions intended to correct this problem. Mzinga will be combining its OmniSocial platform with ISM’s Social CRM solutions to offer a platform for users looking to implement customer-centric business strategies.

These joint solutions are designed to give organizations the ability to deploy cost-effective, user-friendly online communities to listen to market and client feedback, engage in the mutual sharing and communication of information and analyze customer satisfaction. Moreover, ISM clients will be able to utilize the OmniSocial platform to gather customer feedback and fuel customer relationships, real-time support and loyalty.

“Our mission is to help clients capture and sustain lifetime customers through proven, time-tested business strategies,” says ISM President Barton Goldenberg. “We are focused on providing our clients with customer intelligence, including experiences gathered from expressing views, preferences and recommendations in social media environments.”

Velaro Live Help Webinar

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:57:00 GMT

Mark your calendars - live help service provider Velaro is hosting a free webinar, "Take Back Your Customers this Holiday Season" on September 23. As consumers shift their spending online, it's increasingly important for merchants to be proactive and interact with customers during critical conversion points.

The Webinar will provide tips on increasing cross-sell and up-sell rates by enabling sales teams to push relevant, timely and personalized offers to the right customer at the right time.

"Our webinar will show online retailers how to interact with customers at critical times in the sales process," Alex Bloom, President of Velaro, continues, "From initiating a chat session with idle customers, to enabling rules based coupon offers for high-value visitors at critical purchase points. Online retailers must have well thought out engagement processes to compete in today's marketplace."