Capturing the heart of customers

17 Feb 2014

Customer service is about getting individuals to love one's brand. At the heart of customer service lie two charming qualities, the ability to anticipate customers' wants and needs and the ability to satisfy those needs. Achieve this and one has a match made in heaven.

Andrew Cook

However, like any relationship, needs and wants change over time, respond to new ways of thinking and grow with the individual. So, how can one anticipate what one's customers want if one does not know what they really think of one?

Become tech-enabled and customer-centric - this means being able to apply the right technology with the right methodology to make it easy for the voice of one's customer to be heard. There are four steps that companies can take to get into the heart of their customers - and stay there.

Four steps to love

Make it easy to get in touch - nobody knows the customer requirements better than the customer does. By enabling customers through technology, they should be able to fulfil their own needs quickly. It allows them to find answers to their questions without hassle and process any transaction, all with a couple of clicks, swipes or keys. The solution is to remove any possible points of friction or frustration for a potential customer.
Companies must show customers that they understand - by listening to the voice of the customer, one will not only having a happier customer, but one will also be able to develop a history of traceable transactions and behaviours and gather real intelligence around customer preferences. This is invaluable information that can be translated into tailoring one's product or service offering.
Take customer care to the next level - one may not be able to get inside the head of one's customer but, by using programmable survey software to record the voice of the customer and collate data into trends, one will be able to better predict gaps and needs before clients even know that they are missing something. This is good customer service- perhaps it could be done in the boardroom and one might guess right but, by using stats based on real customer feedback, one's business will be equipped to reduce the risk of missing the mark as one makes the next move.
Make the commitment - one's customers know who one is because the company has created a brand experience and spent millions on marketing to get the brand out there. With voice-of-the customer solutions, companies are able to know their customers and enable customer loyalty in ways that they have never achieved before. The advent of social media and smart phones allows businesses to interact and grow the relationship with customers at every touch point. This means they can gain insights into their customer's perceptions in real time.