Many mom-and-pop shops and locally-owned stores have gone out-of-business due to big businesses moving into small towns. Gone are the days of store owners knowing your name and needs. One thing, however, has not changed. Without customers, there is no business. On National Getting to Know Your Customers Day, here are a few ways to do just that.
A great way to engage with customers is by holding an event which stimulates employees to interact directly with the consumers of the product. This gives employees an opportunity to personalize and solidify relationships with customers. An event gives employees an easy platform to sell and a convenient way to gather testimonials and product reviews. Some ways to encourage customer feedback is through surveys, a suggestion box or an interview. It is important to give customers a voice and let them feel that their concerns are heard and appreciated. When developing a survey, make sure to create open-ended questions to encourage the consumer to voice their opinion in a concrete manner rather than simply answering yes or no.
Another way to get to know your customer is by leveraging social media data. It goes without saying that every company and product should be on social media. However, brand awareness and product visibility are not the only perks of an active social media account. Since business metrics have been introduced to social media platforms, it is easier than ever to collect consumer data such as specific likes, dislikes and accounts they follow. Incentivizing customers to leave reviews on Yelp or Facebook will add value to your data. This data is saved and developed into a specific customer purchasing decision profile. The profile will contain a customer’s purchase history, what pages they spend the most time on and what they spend time searching for. Social media allows for real-time interaction and customer support directly with customers which all helps in getting to know your customers.
All customers are different, which makes it important to ask questions when dealing with new ones. Customers are culturally diverse and perceive things in different ways, so it is important to be aware of these perceptions and address customers accordingly.
