personalised customer relationshipEven in this day and age, it seems many companies still regard their customers as a captive audience rather than a group of individuals, each with their own preferences and agendas. Despite the advent of pricing comparison websites and a myriad of retail and service options making it much easier for consumers to change suppliers, says Steve Deaville, the reality is that many companies still operate with a pre-privatisation mentality, where the customer is just a ‘dumb’ billing point.
Honesty is always the best policy
What’s perfectly clear is that customers can no longer be treated as a mass demographic - the key to enabling successful customer relationships is honesty, transparency and personalisation. Being transparent and honest might seem like a risky customer retention strategy, but rather than dismissively treating customers as a captive audience, this could be a great way to start developing the trust and respect that’s necessary for any long-term relationship to thrive.
Identify the customer
Ironically, the rush of multi-channel communications and the low cost mass marketing capabilities of email have often caused companies to lose sight of the fact that the most effective customer interactions are conducted one-to-one between individuals. Service provision is no longer about one-off transactions, but about enabling lifetime customer relationships; a long-term, personalised dialogue which is consistent no matter which channels of communication are being used. This type of relationship is only possible through the adoption of meaningful and actionable insight in order to discover what makes each individual customer tick.
Only by gaining this level of understanding can companies answer questions such as:
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Who are we actually talking to and why might they be interested in what we have to offer?
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What should we be talking to them about and when do they make buying decisions?
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Where are they located and which selling channel should we be using to reach them?
Nurture the customer
The information required to build the type of sophisticated profiles that our customer-centric century demands is out there, but despite the best efforts of customer communication management technologies, it hasn’t previously been pulled together in a way that is genuinely adaptive or holistic. However, this is beginning to change with the emergence of customer analytics solutions that seek to uncover important data relationships within organisations’ customer databases and sophisticated predictive capabilities that will pre-determine outcomes.
Customer relationships, like all relationships, must be individually nurtured and developed, rather than taking a one size fits all approach. Through empathy, engagement and thoughtful actions – or simply, intelligent interactions – companies can build customer relationships that endure and deliver compelling rewards.
Steve Deaville
UK managing director and Northern Europe regional director
Pitney Bowes Business Insight
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