Understanding consumer behaviour is the key to gaining customer loyalty and attracting new business. When you know how to put your customers first and meet their needs, your business becomes a success.
People seek great customer experiences and providing excellent customer service helps your business grow. According to one survey, “45{d1a1694403c5660430dc420b8f142668f13097a51a1c1fc172179b975fdf78b3} of customers are willing to pay more for better customer service” and “83{d1a1694403c5660430dc420b8f142668f13097a51a1c1fc172179b975fdf78b3} of consumers need customer support while making an online purchase.”
Positive psychology leads to customer happiness. However, to offer great service you need agents who are themselves informed, empowered and satisfied with their work. It is an investment worth making and learning more about how positive psychology contributes to your bottom line creates not only a more satisfying working environment, but higher ROI.
1. Offer a personalised service
Personalisation of the customer experience can increase your sales by up to 19{d1a1694403c5660430dc420b8f142668f13097a51a1c1fc172179b975fdf78b3}. In B2B, personalisation is vital to your ongoing success. Data from MarketingCharts found that lack of personalisation is one of the main reasons customers switch providers.
Your customer comes to you for answers, solutions. When your website uses data and analytics to personalise the visitor experience, it creates a bond for your site user. The feeling of connection comes from the feeling that the customer has a unique relationship with your business. It feels like special treatment, and this prompts people to associate you with their positive buying experience, and want to continue doing business with you.
2. Communicate your minimum parameters
“Analysis Paralysis” means bringing confusion or making it difficult for customers to choose exactly what they want. This is caused by poor communication, usually in copy.
To eliminate ambiguity and offer clarity, it is important to understand the power of the words we choose.
Dr Robert Cialdini, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University conducted a consumer study to determine how people reacted to the American Cancer Society’s pitch.
The two phrases used to request a door-to-door donation were:
(1). “Would you be willing to help by donating?”
(2). “Would you be willing to help by donating? Every penny will help.”
Data showed that the second variation elicited more donations because minimum parameters were set, ie. every penny will help.
People want to understand the base level and the tiers that your product or service offers. By eliminating confusion you offer excellent customer service.
Customers like to know what to expect. Communicating gains trust and sets parameters. You can do this in B2B transactions simply by setting times for follow-ups, such as ‘we will respond to your request by 3pm tomorrow.’
3. Use social media
Social media gives potential customers a place to research your business, products and services, values and other aspects of your organisation. It offers people a place to connect with you in real-time.
Social media is also a platform that can be used to organically expand your customer base, promote your brand and drive traffic towards your website. You can also respond immediately to concerns, social or political events and other influences that positively or negatively expose your business.
4. Educate your customers about your product
Educate your customer about how to use your product. Make the training clear, precise and ongoing. If you engage your customer and ensure that they understand how to use your product, and how it benefits their business, they will feel secure using your product.
Your customer will develop a reliance on your product. This means that when another solution is presented, they are less likely to want to change, because they would have to learn new processes, which is difficult and time-consuming.
5. Share your brand story
According to researchers, the ability of humans to share a fiction is a unique function that enables us to connect. This fiction is a story that unites people. The idea of a company is more than just the people or the product, it is the brand.
A brand is not an entity, it is a story, a creation. It is a fiction that is created in our collective consciousness. To develop a shared fiction, you need to share your brand story, whether it is the development of a family business into a multinational empire or the development of a two-person operation into a digital oligarchy, your customers develop a connection with the story and imagine the brand as more than just a name or picture, but an entity with deep roots and branches.
6. Address customers by their names
According to several studies, people will commit to your brand if you always address them by their names.
Further to this, the halo effect, the tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, brand or product in one area to positively influence one’s opinion or feelings in other areas, can be used to build loyalty.
While it is complex psychology, using the right images and brand associations to promote your product or service is common practice. Exclusive offers or luxury goods promoted to high-level clients has a positive effect on their psyche.
7. Encourage customers to sell to themselves
Self-talk is the best way to encourage people to want your product. If people talk about your product it will sell itself to others. While this is difficult to achieve, it can be done.
By building on the Halo effect, you generate discussion. If your existing customers are informed through value-added content, they are likely to raise your brand or product when in discussion with other potential customers. Your brand can expand organically if you offer value, solutions and insights.
Share whitepapers, research, infographics, and other valuable content that gets customers talking. Your goal with the content is not to sell or promote, but to inform and generate conversation about your solution.
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