Customer
I would hardly discover America if I said that customer connection is a super effective tool for improving your products or services. But not all companies have a well established customer connection process. In addition, many companies simply do not understand what to do with information received from customers.
So how do you build the customer connection and use their feedback to improve your products?
That is what we will talk about today.
Customer categories
In each company, all customers are divided into several groups: neutral, satisfied and dissatisfied.
True, it is important to note that these customers were already buyers. That is, they already had experience interacting with the company and using its products. Therefore, customer connection was invaluable.
Understanding customers’ experiences is key to providing an exemplary product. Gauging the level of satisfaction, uncovering any potential sources of dissatisfaction and analyzing how well recommendations have been followed helps us ensure that our users truly make the most out of our offering. Through this process we drive results for both current and future customers alike.
Once you have received customer connection and found the cause of dissatisfaction, you need to fix it right away. And to make a new launch of the product, taking into account the necessary adjustments, which made it possible to achieve maximum sales.
Statistically, those companies that quickly eliminate shortcomings through customer connection in their products and services always turn a portion of unsatisfied customers into satisfied and loyal ones. One has only to show them that their opinion is very valuable for the company.
You can also divide all clients into promoters, liabilities and ill-wishers, depending on the rating received for the question:
- “Rate from 0 to 10 how likely are you to recommend our company?”.
- And then the same clients were asked only one clarifying question:
- “Please state the reason for your rating.”
Open customer connection always reveals the true reasons for their joy or dissatisfaction in customers. It is with the help of open questions that you can understand how to improve your product.
Be sure to try one of the methods above. You are guaranteed to get a lot of new ideas to improve your product. But just as importantly, you will be able to understand what makes your customers unsatisfied.
Are all clients worthy of attention?
When a customer connection who behaves inappropriately – always criticizes and has never used your products, the reviews of such customers will be useless to you. And their only purpose is just to hook you and make you feel uncomfortable.
There is a good example on this topic.
Despite what is often said by people who have not experienced Apple products firsthand, research shows that those familiar with their use overwhelmingly appreciate the high quality of design and functionality. For many customers, cost is secondary to the overall value and enjoyment offered by these cutting-edge devices.
Do you think this kind of customer connection is good for Apple?
But there is another category of people whose reviews are vital to you – these are the customers of your competitors.
If you and your competitors have very similar products and services, it is very important for you to know why customers do not buy from you. Often you can customer connection and learn from these buyers what your product lacks so they can use it and how your product is inferior to the competitor.
How to turn criticism into quality recommendation?
Your key job is to turn customer communication (including criticism) into a tool to improve your products. To do this, you need not just to receive laudatory or angry reviews, but to understand what specific mistakes you are making.
Let’s look at 2 steps to turn criticism into useful advice.
The first step is to understand and help the customer formulate their criteria for judgment and explain in detail why (in their opinion) your product does not meet those criteria.
You do not agree with the client, you just clarify what he means by his review. The following clarifying questions will help you with this:
- You did not like customer connection ?
- What exactly do you not like?
- Could you give examples?
- Could you point out an element of the product or service that you don’t like?
- What do you think could have been done better?
The second stage is problem questions.
You can check with the customer: if you solve this problem, whether he will continue (or start) using your product. You may be able to find additional issues.
If a person agrees that when you fill in the gaps in your products or services, he will use them, and you will receive an actionable recommendation.
In any case, your goal is to end the conversation with an awareness of the next steps and actions. The client may still be skeptical, but at least you will know exactly what needs to be done to improve your product.
