Trust is something that cannot be built quickly. When it’s about the relation between a customer and a business, trust is considered as one of the most important aspects of customer experience. Usually, before making a payment, customers need to be able to trust that particular company or business. They require trusting that:
1. Whatever messages you convey are accurate
2. The products and services that you are selling matches up to what you say they are
3. If something goes incorrect with the transaction, you’ll support them
Customers can control the success of your business. If you are not credible enough, your customers are most likely to leave and turn to your competitors. On the other hand, if you have satisfied customers who are happy to use your products and services, they can make your brand more credible and trustworthy to others who are yet to use your products and services. It is interesting to know that about 83% of customers say that they would happily recommend a brand to others if they trusted it and 82% will continue to use that brand frequently. Additionally, value for new referral customers is 16% higher than non-referrals as they already have a positive opinion about the business.
Trust not only helps to create a positive image of your business, but it also helps to build customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is most essential for the immense growth of a business. Here are some of the key tips to build customer trust, have a look:
1. Create a loyalty Program
Customer trust and loyalty go hand in hand and both are the most significant factors in a business’s or brand’s long-term success. So, what exactly customer loyalty is? Well, it is an act of considering a particular business’s products and services consistently over their competitors. If a brand can consistently meet and exceed their customers’ expectations, as a result, they will get loyal customers who aren’t easily influenced by price or availability. They would rather pay extra and ensure the same quality product and service they expect and receive from your company or business. For today’s businesses, acquiring new customers tend to cost much higher. Moreover, new customers don’t spend as much money as loyal or repeat customers do. Therefore, a business needs to retain their loyal customers. Directing resources towards enhancing customer loyalty is one of the best investments a business can make. A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect on profit as decreasing operating costs by 10%. Therefore, it would be correct to say that customer loyalty means higher profits.
Creating a loyalty program can be of great help for the retention of loyal customers. A customer loyalty program is designed to reward customers who make frequent purchases. Loyalty programs generally include several benefits for their frequent customers such as discounts, cash backs, gifts, coupons, free shipping, special offers, loyalty points for doing certain actions, contests and many more. Though there are several ways to implement loyalty programs, just make sure that your programs are easy to use as frustrating reward programs would be the opposite of building trust and fostering loyalty.
2. Utilize Social Media Platforms
In today’s business world, the best place to connect with customers and prospects is on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. It provides a two-way platform for communication between business and their customers and helps in building brand trust. According to some study, about 91% of people believe in the power of social media to connect communities, 78% of consumers want brands to help people connect through social media and 76% of respondents were more likely to purchase from a brand they felt connected to on social media than a competitor.
To build brand trust on social media, it is important to share high-quality content, Boost interaction, which means engage, respond to queries quickly, encourage interactions and express thanks to customers who are talking about you, support user-generated content by encouraging them to share their photos and video of your products and services on social media, ask customers to review your company, use trustworthy links in your posts, make certain your branding is consistent, etc.
3. Provide Superior Customer Service
How to treat your customers by offering the level of service has a major impact on customer loyalty and retention. The kind of customer service you provide affects both existing customers as well as potential customers. According to a study, about 68% of customers would post and share their negative experiences with their family and friends on a social network. Sharing negative reviews on social media can quickly reach thousands of people and can greatly affect the repute of a company. Therefore, always make sure to keep your customers your top priority.
There are numerous ways to deliver superior customer service and stand out from others, such as: respond to your customer’s query as quickly as possible, provide a touch of personalization by knowing your customers needs and requirements, keep transparency about your company’s policies, products, services, etc., take responsibility of your mistakes, go some extra miles to make your customers happy by accepting their suggestions, providing special offers, coupons, etc. A little effort in offering the best customer service is worth it as it will help your business to establish the kind of relationship you want for your brand.
Conclusion:
For any business, whether big or small, customers are their biggest assets. Without a customer base, a business cannot thrive or succeed in its endeavors. To build a strong and loyal customer base, it is important to gain customer trust in your products, services, and your company. By building trust between you and your customers, you will not only be able to boost your business growth, but also improving your business’s reputation. Therefore, it is advisable to listen to your customers carefully and consider what exactly they want from you.
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