SiteSpect Synopsis: Building Better Customer Relationships

We all know that customer experience plays a huge role in your online conversions. While optimizing the customer experience is essential in today’s digital-first world, brands should be taking these experiences a step further and building authentic relationships with their customers. 

According to Gallup, companies that provide an emotional connection with their customers outperform the sales growth of their competitors by 85%. Adding a human connection to your digital experiences not only drives sales but will also keep your customers coming back. Here are three industry articles with tips to build better customer relationships and improve loyalty.  

Entrepreneur: Why Alignment Between CX, Marketing and Insights Is Critical to Creating Ongoing Customer Relationships

Over the past year, there has been a large shift in the way consumers interact with brands. As shoppers opted for digital-first experiences, they also started trying new brands and products, leaving loyalties up for grabs. In order for brands to effectively engage with customers and build long-lasting relationships, it’s crucial to break down organizational silos and align customer support, marketing, and analytics teams.

Author Andrew Reid says this alignment allows for a better understanding of the customer journey as well as ongoing engagement. Reid says, “Customer engagement ultimately is not about how good your product is — or how well you respond to complaints when it’s not — but how well you anticipate consumer needs.”

CMSWire: Empathy at Scale: The Secret to Building Real Connections with Customers

Although consumers have increasingly turned to digital experiences, they still want a human connection when interacting with a brand. Whether customers are speaking with a real person or a chatbot, these interactions need to demonstrate empathy. But, as author Lynne Capozzi says, it’s not just about showing empathy – brands also need to scale empathy through personalization.

Like with any personalization campaign, you first need to have strong data and analyze it to truly understand your customers. This allows you to create compelling, personalized content so your customers will “feel like they’re being spoken to in a direct and real way.” 

Forbes: Why Belonging is the New Customer Loyalty and Three Ways to Cultivate It

It’s no secret that people are feeling disconnected after the Covid-19 pandemic. As we begin to move into a new normal, brands have a unique opportunity to build deeper relationships with their customers and create a sense of belonging and community. While rewards programs and retargeting ads have certainly been known to help build customer connections, they don’t necessarily foster feelings of trust or belonging.

Author Andrew Bateman says the key to creating a sense of belonging is connecting with customers at the community level. “By being community-minded and humble about a brand’s role as a participant and not an owner of groups and culture-shifts, businesses can build a lasting bond,” Bateman says.

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