3 Things To Tell Every Customer

Your customer's or prospect's attention is extremely important to your business.  Let's look at three statements you should be making and backing up to your customers.

Must Have Customer Communication

1. We Want Your Feedback

At the end of any purchase, project or service with your customer, let them know you want to understand how the customer experience was for them. While it's great to use many different methods to get your customer's thoughts post-sale, you will get more feedback by personally letting them know you care about it and want it.

My bank let's me know they want my feedback with signage, for example. (See the image above.)

This mention of desiring their feedback also takes your feedback process from surprise to an expectation. When your customer survey call, email or mailer arrives to request their feedback they aren't surprised one bit.  You also have increased the responsibility of the customers to respond since you made a personal request of it.

Best of all is your extra touch of mentioning. This speaks to your business's culture of caring about your customer's experience and that's valuable in itself.

2. Here's What You Get And How Often

I see endless requests on websites, in store signage and everywhere a business can place an icon to ask people to sign-up for their email marketing, follow or like them on social media or opt-in to their mobile/SMS marketing. You absolutely should be making every attempt to gain more channels to communicate with your customer, but you can do it better.

“Sign up for our email list and get just a once per month email containing our specials, tips and clearance items.”

You just set an expectation and a value of your communication with them and they clearly understand what they are opting into.

I find endless “Join Our Email List” fields on websites without a single mention of how often you'll be emailing them or what with. Do you know what your customer likely thinks of this? That you'll email them daily or more with every sales pitch you have. How many customers want to sign up when they think that?

This email newsletter sign up lacks any detail on the content or frequency of this communication.

If you are asking for mobile numbers, which I think are marketing gold, make sure you clearly state when you'll use it and how valuable it will be. Customers guard their mobile number and rightfully so. Make sure your mobile campaign delivers great savings, insight or enables your process to be perfect (like reminders).

You'll find more customers subscribing and following if you state your offering, timing and value.

3. This Is Our Number One Differentiator

In our world of competition, access and pricing, it can be very hard for a customer to understand who is best for their needs. They combine what you say about yourself with what others say about you to make a decision.

Are you clearly communicating what your biggest difference is with your service or product? You need to be. If you don't control this messaging and clarity you rely on your customer figuring this out themselves from online reviews, referrals and other sources. Make it easy for prospects to decide. Give them your biggest difference right up front.

The best version of this is to be specific as well. While you can state it's your staff, you'll be better off stating why your staff is great. “Our technicians set us apart from other Windshield installers with over 40 years experience and multiple Master Level certifications.”

Telling this to your customers is just as important because this is messaging they are likely to repeat to others when referring your business.

Great Communication Wins

All of these examples and tips center on clear and valuable communication with your customers. Showing customers you care, you respect their time and where you are unique will help win more first time and repeat customers.

Customers Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "3 Things To Tell Every Customer" was first published on Small Business Trends