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The Ultimate Guide to Customer Reviews and Testimonials

Category: Customer Experience

PayTabs
Mohab Customer Experience 0

customer reviews

The Ultimate Guide to Customer Reviews and Testimonials

As the Internet emerged, customer reviews and testimonials have appeared as an indirect method of  promoting goods and services. The usefulness of customer reviews has increased with the rise  in e-commerce and online shopping. Shopping websites invariably carry a large number of testimonials and customer reviews for most of their products. Such reviews are not only helpful for the business but also for the customers as they get unbiased information and get to make an informed choice about the products prior to purchasing them. Here are some of the reasons why a business should actively manage its reviews and testimonials and how they should do it.

What is a Customer Review?

A customer review is a written statement and provides an opinion about a product or an entity. This statement reflects the customer’s opinion as well as their experience. It is estimated that over 90% of online shoppers read customer reviews before making a purchase. These reviews have now largely replaced personal referrals as people find these reviews to be more relevant and objective. A business can use reviews received to expand its market share and broaden its customer base. Further, these reviews may also help a business to get better search engine rankings.

Top Customer Review Strategies

In order to utilize the benefits of customer reviews and testimonials, it is important to take stock of your objectives and draw up a relevant strategy. These strategies will ensure that you get better bang for your buck.

  1. Ask Your Existing Customers: You can harness the power of your existing customer base to create new markets. Request them to provide reviews and testimonials in return for a shoutout or corporate giveaway for example. In order to induce them to write a meaningful review, you can also provide them with benefits such as discount coupons or exclusive deals and pricing. Additionally, you can also provide them with information about specific details to be included in the review. This step will ensure that you do not have to carry out extensive editing of the reviews and the reviews are relevant to your potential customers.
  2. Find the Promoters: While reviews are expected to be unbiased, you can still boost your positions by focusing on people who are more likely to provide positive reviews about your business. Promoters are the people who are very pleased with your services and therefore are more prone to recommend your business to their family and friends. You can also automate the process of approaching such promoters and asking them to leave a review. There are many tools available for this purpose and you can more than recover your cost by boosting your topline.
  3. Guide Your Customers: While your customers may have very high view of your products, they may not be accustomed to the nuances of online reviews. Such inexperience may render reviews ineffective and unable to garner proper results. It is imperative that you guide your customers to help them write powerful yet unbiased reviews. You may also guide them towards proper places where they should post their reviews. While many businesses post review on their own websites, they may also rely upon third party review websites. In such situations, it is important to steer customers in the right direction.
  4. Manage User Generated Reviews: With the increase in the popularity of aggregating sites and review sites such as Yelp and Twitter, it has become a little more difficult for businesses to properly manage their reviews. However, the businesses are still required to monitor such sites carefully so as to present a truthful picture of their operations and offerings. You can encourage your customers to leave their reviews on such websites by incentivizing them. One of the ways to do this is to add link to such websites in your web content. You can also start your own fan page on Facebook and other social media websites and gather reviews there.

In the e-commerce era, customer reviews are more than just a statement. It is a comprehensive marketing strategy which combines written testimonials with the wise use of social media influencers and promoters. With a customized approach, you can transform customer reviews into a viable and efficient marketing and PR tool.

4 years ago
PayTabs
Mohab Customer Experience 0

Top Ways to Deal With Unpleasant Customers

During your daily operations, you are bound to come across angry and upset customers. Many times, such anger is justified while other times the real reason behind their irritation is not related to your business. However, in both cases, you need to find ways to calm such clients and win their trust back again. Here are some top tips to deal with such clients and ensure that they not only stick with your business but also bring more revenue to you.

Keep Calm: no matter how worked up or rude your customer is, the foremost rule is that you retain your cool. If a person is verbally abusive then take a deep breath and listen to their problem. This approach will allow you to analyze the problem in a rational manner. If you immediately jump the gun and respond to the client in a reciprocating manner, then the issue is bound to get out of hand. If you are interacting with the person in an electronic manner, then re-read your response multiple times before hitting the send button. This stance will let you re-assess and remain calm. However, keep in mind that you are also responsible for your own safety, so if there is any threat of physical harm then report to the appropriate authorities as per your organizational policies.

Listen & Apologize: even if the customer is angry and rude, they still deserve your proper attention. Listen to them carefully when they state their problem. If you have any doubts or concerns then ask appropriate questions. It is also important that you let the customer vent out. Do not interrupt while they are speaking and let them finish before you offer a solution. This approach builds trust and confidence. It also lets the client know that you are genuinely interested in solving their problem. Whether the problem was on your end or the customer’s issue was not genuine, even then offer a sincere apology. However, in the latter case, you may explain the situation to ensure that the client gets the true picture.

Act Fast: once you are done listening to your irate customers, it is important that you take immediate steps to resolve the issue. If the issue lies within your jurisdiction then resolve the issue as soon as possible. In other cases, escalate it to appropriate persons. You should also ensure that you properly communicate all the steps taken to resolve the issue to your client. This will make your client feel valued. During the process, keep the communication channels open with the client so that they are aware of latest developments. It will also satisfy your customer that their grievances are being addressed in a proper manner.

Remain Firm: as important as it is to be courteous to your client, it is equally important to hold your ground too. Being polite does not imply that you have to concede to each and every whim of your customer. If there are any issues which are either the clients’ fault or some other party’s responsibility then explain this situation in a calm manner to the customer. If the customer is making any unreasonable demand then explain organizational policies to them. However, in all the cases, it is important that your business does not suffer on account of client side problems.

Solve the Problem: it is important that you follow up appropriately that the problem is being resolved in a time-bound manner. Also keep the client updated about the steps taken and listen to their feedback. If a client has some specific concerns then ensure that such issues are explicitly dealt with during the resolution process. However, if the clients’ demands are unjustified that clearly communicate such issues to your customer. In such cases, mutual negotiations may be undertaken to reach a solution which is acceptable to all the parties. Once the issue has been resolved, ask your client for feedback to ensure that the things are settled in a complete manner.

Businesses are now required to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction. In many cases, this may become an odious task. However, with above guidelines you can ensure that your clients are always happy and satisfied.

4 years ago
PayTabs
Mohab Customer Experience 0

How to Improve Customer Retention and What Are the Benefits

Customer retention is highly important for any business as relying solely on new clientele for growth may prove to be a myopic approach. There are several approaches which may be undertaken to ensure that the firm is able to generate repeat business from its set client base. The main benefit of customer retention is that it takes considerably lower expenditure to generate revenue from established customers than from new clients. Higher Revenue: when a business is able to retain its client, it helps in achieving higher revenue as well. As your clients already trust your business practices and products, you are not required to plan any expensive marketing plan. This feature ensures that your profit margin is more robust than ever. Here are some of the benefits of a loyal customer base.

  • Improved Business Image: apart from offering pecuniary benefits, customer retention also helps a firm in generating goodwill in the market. Having a loyal customer base gives a stamp of approval to your products and services. It sends a message to the market and to the prospective clients that your business is trustworthy.
  • Lower Marketing Costs: acquiring new clients is an expensive affair as you need to spend a lot of money on collecting data about them, designing appropriate policies and executing them. However, in the case of existing clients, these expenses are reduced considerably. Lower costs mean that you are either able to provide your goods and services at cheaper rate to your clients or able to add to your profit margin. Both the situations are conducive to solid business growth.
  • Data Collection: in today’s world, data is king as it is used for making analysis and creating policies. When a business has large customer base, they are able to generate big data sets which are required for proper analysis. It is also a lot easier and less expensive to collect data from existing clients than looking for new people for this purpose. In case of loyal customer base, the frequency of collecting data and analysis may also be kept lower, which further helps in rationalizing the associated costs.

Creating customer following need not be a daunting task. Here are some of the main ways you can ensure that your customers keep coming back for more.

  • Know Your Client Base: it is important that you understand the requirements and features of your clients. It will help you in customizing your offerings, motivating clients to keep coming back. Providing customized products to best meet your clients’ requirements is the key to build a loyal customer base.
  • Take Extra Care: for generating repeat business, it is imperative that you provide robust customer care. This step ensures that as and when there is any grievance, it is properly handled. The speedy resolution of the issues is also important as any delay may lead the customers to look for alternatives, eroding your client base.
  • Offer Incentives: it is always helpful to start loyalty program, where you offer incentives to your clients for making repeat purchases. Such incentives may be in the cash form or non-cash form. The monetary incentives may be introduced through discounts and cash backs while the main examples of non monetary incentives are freebies, early access to new products and free shipping among other features. However, it is ideal to offer a judicious mix of cash and non cash incentives to ensure that the requirements of your client base are adequately met.
  • Remain in Touch: it is important that you maintain constant touch with your clients, even when they are not making purchase. This is especially important in the areas where the demand is seasonal. During the lean season, you can remain acquainted with your clients by sending them newsletters about latest developments in your business. However, you should ensure that such communiqué is appropriately customized and is able to pique customers’ interest.

It needs to be noted that offering high quality goods and services is of paramount importance for creating a loyal customer base. However, you also need to undertake the above given strategies to ensure that you are able to generate repeat business from your clients.

4 years ago
The Complete Guide for Managing Customer Support Escalations
Mohab Customer Experience 0

The Complete Guide for Managing Customer Support Escalations

Offering the highest level of customer satisfaction is one of the main motives of any business. However, despite the best efforts, businesses are likely to face customer service-related issues. In order to manage these problems, it is important that customer support escalation procedures are put in place and are adhered to. Here are the pointers which can ensure that your business addresses the customer service related issues in a prompt and efficient manner.

Structure it Well: A large number of client complaints may be resolved at the first or second level of customer support system. So, it is important to design your customer care system in such a way that the volume at the top level is kept to the minimal. An ideal tier structure may provide answers to frequently asked questions at the first level while the second higher level may service issues such as basic troubleshooting and other complex problems. These hierarchical levels may be equipped with different tools to provide efficient services. The basic level may employ only customer portal while the second level may use phone and live chat tools. On the yet higher levels, you may need to use customer relationship management software for providing solutions to client issues.

Customize the Support System: While the basic structure of customer care hierarchy may remain same across different organizations, it is imperative to tweak the system to suit the requirements of the target customer segment. Some of the important variables in this regard are the turnaround time and the mode of communication. In B2B organizations, time may be a crucial factor and therefore it should be ensured that customer complaints are escalated and addressed in a timebound manner. The communication must be done in a clear and precise manner.

Team Effort: Customer complaint management requires employees at different levels to coordinate their activities. The system requires input from various departments such as IT, sales and billing to provide adequate solutions to customers. For each case, the system should clearly define the role and obligations of each department involved. Team cohesion tends to be stronger when all the members know their roles and duties. Customers will also receive the best possible solutions to their issues when different constituents pool together their expertise and resources.

Maintain Proper Record: As important as it is to have solid redressing system in place, it is equally important to keep a proper record of the issues and their respective solutions. Ideally, the organizations should have a real time monitoring system in place for efficient control. With the help of proper records, the management is in the position to analyze the system and its performance. If there are any lacunae, then the management may take appropriate steps to fill the void.  The analysis of the records is also important to see if the proper procedures are being followed as intended by the management. Thorough documentation will allow the set up of metrics to evaluate the performance in an unbiased and objective manner. These records may also be helpful for future reference purpose, which may help in speedier redressing of similar issues, should they arise in future.

Be Proactive: Customer issue escalation process should be pro active so that the customers are assured of a positive experience. The process should be flexible enough to incorporate frequent and quick changes. This type of performance requires the active support of all the departments to minimize the occurrence of customer issues in the first place. Some types of customer issues management may require face to face interaction. However, you should endeavor to keep this to minimum. The standard procedures should be designed in such a way that there should not be any need to escalate the issues to such level. The communication methods and styles used for resolution should be tailored as per the requirements of the customers.

Customer support escalation management is highly important to ensure a rewarding experience for your clients. It should be organized in a clear and simple manner to facilitate the provision of quick administration of the right type of expertise. You should also evaluate your escalation management system periodically so that appropriate changes may be incorporated.

4 years ago
Top Tips to keep your Customers Engaged
Mohab Customer Experience 0

Top Tips to keep your Customers Engaged

Customer engagement is a critical function for any enterprise and is required for taking the business to a new level. It defines the relationship between your clients and your company. With increasing consumer awareness, the businesses are now required to be more proactive in engaging their customers. A successful business needs to anticipate its customers’ requirement and provide them with an appropriate experience. However, it is important to not only engage customers once, but also to keep them engaged for long, so as to build a loyal client base. Here are the top tips to help you achieve this target.

  • Know your Market: In order to create a memorable experience for your clients, it is vital that you know your target market inside out. You need to identify the defining features of your clients, so as to design customer oriented engagement strategy. You can use analytics for this purpose as the thorough analysis of traffic to your website may provide deep insights. The key is to know the factors which motivate your target market to make a purchase decision. Once you have identified your desired client segment and their features, you can modify your existing strategies or design new ones to attract these clients. It also helps to personalize the experience for clients so as to give them a sense of exclusivity.

 

  • Use Social Media: The advent of social media has been both a blessing and a challenge for businesses. But with just a little attention and careful administration, you can use social media to create meaningful experience for your clients. Social media is one of the best channels to share your story with your target market. This strategy comes with an added human touch and thus is able to have a deeper impact. Make sure you are using relevant images and videos to further reinforce your message. Social media websites and apps may also act as a platform for your clients to interact with each other. As word of mouth is one of the best kinds of promotional strategies, do not overlook this opportunity.

 

  • Personalize the Experience: Personalized interactions help businesses build more a sustainable relationship with their clients. While it is vital to understand the entire market, it is equally important to strive and provide a unique experience to individual customers as well. You can do this by adding more dynamic content to your messages. For example, the messages may be coded in such a way that they are addressed to individual clients by their names. Businesses may also approach their clients at a more personal level by sending them auto generated birthday or other relevant anniversary mails. Such interactions may also provide you with valuable data which may be mined for providing better products and services to your clients.

 

  • Make the Entire Team Work: Customer engagement is not a task that can be solely entrusted to your marketing team. In fact, for providing a holistic experience to your customers, it is advisable to engage your entire team. The team may include people from diverse departments including customer care section. The strategy for engaging customers should move beyond mere selling or marketing of goods and services. The businesses need to adopt customer centric approach so that they are in tune with ever changing customer preferences. Once you have your finger on your customers’ pulse, you can design an immersive experience for them.

 

  • Use Analytics: While businesses should aim to create a human bond with their customers, the use of new technologies may also enhance the overall performance of strategies. Analytics will help you mine the data in a more structured manner and may provide you with information which may otherwise not be collected. There is a wide range of analytics tools available these days, which can meet all your budget constraints. These tools can help you in building dashboards and generating reports. You should also note that analytic tools are not only quantitative in nature but may also be qualitative.

Customer engagement is all about creating new ways to remain in touch with your client base. This may require creative thinking and substantial investment in resources. However, properly designed customer engagement strategies can provide a substantial boost to your top line growth.

5 years ago