There is an old saying that “Well done is far better than well said”. Your existing customer base will respond better to what you do for them instead of what you are going to do. This is one of the major reasons for integrating outstanding customer service needs as part of your marketing strategy. It is a common notion that customer service and marketing strategy are two distinct facets of a business operation. When you consider their goals, they seem to be on different tracks. While the objecting of marketing endeavors revolves around customer acquisition or attracting new customers, the mission of top-notch customer service emphasizes on customer retention or maintaining the stronghold on existing customer base. Although they are quite different atop they can complement each other like two sides of the same coin that could be utilized for betterment.
How customer service fits into the marketing
One can think of customer relationship and marketing as strategies that mutually benefit each other and exhibits strong inter-relationship. Hence, it may be quite apt to keep the ambition of leveraging customer service as a marketing strategy. The benefits are not merely restricted to customer acquisition and retention. With it, you will have the opportunity to spare some cost intensive marketing efforts that will improve your bottom-line overall. Customer service and marketing need to have a harmonious relationship because you are not only just selling the product or service but the associated customer service as well.
Here are the five common ways to integrate customer service as a marketing strategy:
1 . Using customer reviews and testimonials as promotional material
Management gurus are of the opinion that one of the most effective way of portraying your customer service and improving the USPs of your brand is to exhibit customer reviews and testimonials in your promotional material. Human psychology influences us to trust peer reviews which is at par with trustworthy recommendation from close quarters like friends and family members. Thus, by providing great customer service one can reap the benefits of positive reviews and portray them in onsite and offsite promotional means. This could exemplify your commitment as a responsible commercial entity for ensuring customer satisfaction.
2. Create a stir in the market with excellent customer service
You need to have the ambition of exceeding customer satisfaction and aim for customer delight. Delivering excellent customer service to your most profitable customers is the bottom line. Consider that you have a restaurant and one of your customers had a bad experience due to some unforeseen and unfavorable circumstances. You can call it a misfortune. However, it is your vested responsibility to convert it into your good luck. Invite them back for a celebration with free food for all of their friends. Such a delightful experience is good enough to compensate for any bad blood. You can expect the customer and his/her accompanying friends to create a buzz by sharing their experience in social media that will surely enhance your reach. All you need to is create an awesome experience for the customer.
3. Highlight the instruments of customer service as the benefits for working with your brand
If you have developed innovative ways of delivering customer service or if you are having certain institutions and processes that are capable of rendering a different experience from those of your competitors, then you should not hesitate to highlight them as part of your marketing strategy. For instance, suppose you are offering dedicated accounts representative for new clients then make sure to explain this fact. Further, consider if you are offering round the clock customer service over a live chat. If yes, then do not hesitate to talk about it. Let people understand and comprehend to what lengths you are willing to go for delivering excellent customer service experience. When implemented correctly you are sure to get positive results in the form of higher conversion rates.
4. Associate customer service into your content marketing strategy
The section of your website that focuses on customer service can be utilized as an extension of the content marketing strategy. Generally, content marketing is considered as the means of providing relevant information to people about your industry, or about the needs your company addresses. Customer service content can go a step further and educate people on troubleshooting in the course of using your product and services, or how to use them most effectively. If you are having a business that provides software-as-a-service, then this approach is crucial for rendering greater customer convenience. It is quite feasible for any business to create a helpful FAQ and help section with good content for driving higher search rankings and surplus inbound traffic.
5. Increase functional coordination between marketing and customer service department
You need to encourage better communication between customer service and marketing department and deploy mechanisms of facilitating better internal communication with united messaging throughout. If marketing and the customer service department work as a team, the concerned representatives dealing with customers upfront can emphasize on the special promotional offers that the marketing department has launched. The bottom line is to encourage cross-departmental cooperation. Hence, you will be able to render excellent customer service that will set you apart from the competitors. It can be one of the unique propositions to ensure customer loyalty and future sustainability.
Conclusion
These strategies are not the only ways for using your customer service in a marketing context. The truth is, they are some of the most practical and powerful ways. If you can incorporate even one or two of these strategies into your ongoing customer service model then in quick succession you can see positive results in the form of higher ROI from your marketing efforts. You can attract new customers and retain existing ones with this strategy. Integrating customer service with your marketing efforts will facilitate a better understanding of your buyer’s persona. You will have a deeper understanding of customer’s preferences and get the chance to maneuver your product and service offerings accordingly.
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