How To Establish A Solid Relationship With Customers And Bring Them Closer To Your Brand

One of the principles of modern marketing, which revolutionized marketing strategies, is that the relationship with customers is as or more important than closing sales.

Digital Marketing methodologies, such as Inbound Marketing, have shown how effective it is to promote a solid connection with consumers and users, truly putting them at the center of the strategy, to grow and obtain sustainable results that last for a long time.

During the COVID-19 crisis, more than ever, we must keep this philosophy in mind, as it is not a secret that the demand for goods and services has decreased substantially in most lines, both in the B2B industry (Business to Business) as in B2C (Business to Consumer).

At the same time that it has put health systems in a tight spot, the pandemic has reduced commercial activity and the world economy has once again encountered the dreaded “ghost” of the recession.

According to the World Bank, 2020 will close with a 5.2 % shrink in the global economy, something unprecedented since the Second World War.

But don’t worry, it’s not all bad news!

Even in its most discouraging projections, the World Bank, like other official agencies, estimates that the economy will begin to recover in 2021.

The current outlook, both statistically and in what we perceive day to day as business people, shows us that now is the right time to invest in customer relations and not so much in closing sales, so that our commercial alternatives are consolidated once the market opens and users invest again.

In this article, we will give you some tips to build and strengthen these relationships, both with customers and with potential buyers.

But first, we will delve a little deeper into the importance of investing in connecting with users in general terms, beyond the current context.

Why Is It Worth Investing In Customer Relationships?

First of all, we must understand that the user has changed. Today, he leans towards companies that offer him a good experience, that provides value, closeness, and personalization.

In addition, the client wants to interact with companies that understand their problems and needs and provide concrete and effective solutions.

Given this reality, we can say that investing in customer relationships is important due to the following factors:

Extends the customer life cycle

Logically, a good relationship with a customer is synonymous with retention and loyalty and, therefore, increases the expectation of the life cycle duration of the business relationship.

In turn, this has a direct impact on the Lifetime Value (LTV), a metric that refers to the number of earnings a user generates during the time of relationship with the company.

Also, the average ticket increases, that is, the amounts that users usually invest in purchases in a certain company increase, since they feel more and more identified with their products or services, values, innovations, and other characteristics.

Increases the possibility of Upsell and Cross-sell

Dedicating time, effort, and investment to the customer relationship paves the way for Upsell and Cross-sell.

This shows that focusing on this important factor does not mean giving up on closing sales or generating new business transactions. On the contrary, it is a way of guaranteeing greater effectiveness.

It can be valued as a strategic management process of the user or client, which makes it more likely to give a positive commercial response once a specific proposal is made.

In addition, they are dynamic resources, which accompany the evolution of the client during his career with the company.

For example, if you initially purchase software in its most basic version, while checking the advantages of the product you can:

• Get an upsell, offering its advanced version,
• or a cross-sell, acquiring a complementary product that will increase its performance.

It turns your customers into your brand ambassadors

The brand ambassadors will make your company much more humane and also project confidence to other consumers and the market in general.

To generate ambassadors in an organic way, you need to strengthen customer engagement, and for that, you need to invest in improving your relationship with them.

Thus, you put yourself in a position to attract new customers in the future and with a much broader purchase potential, because they will come with the quality recommendation of someone they trust.

Ultimately, brand ambassadors end up lowering the Cost of Customer Acquisition, which becomes a great resource for the brand to continue growing in a sustainable and permanent way.

Reduces the sales cycle

By raising the level of commitment and reducing those frictions that make the customer uncomfortable and interrupt the commercial flow, as dictated by the principles of the flywheel, you will make the sales cycle shorter, and this brings a necessary advantage at all times, especially in those to come: liquidity.

The shorter the time between one sale and the other, the better the flow of income in your company and the availability of resources to manage expenses and costs, and even growth projects.

So Why Is A Good Customer Relationship Better Than Obsessing Over Closing Sales?

Now that you know the importance of investing in customer relationships, let’s see why it is even more important than closing sales.

Higher probability of future sales

Building a good relationship is something sustainable, which is why it leads to future commercial benefits, such as a greater probability of new sales.

On the other hand, if you focus directly on closing sales, without first educating, captivating and motivating the user, you may be able to generate a purchase through persuasion and insistence, but it could be the last deal you would have with that customer.one

And if you do not consolidate the relationship and engagement, offering a pleasant user experience, your company will be valued as one of the bunch, that simply provides products or services and, consequently, can be replaced by another alternative at any time.

Fewer objections in closing sales

As mentioned above, investing in customer relationships is not giving up on closing sales, but preparing better for it.

When this factor is taken into account, much fewer objections arise when making a formal business proposal and the acceptance rate is much higher.

Generation of customer value

Following this philosophy means educating, helping, and supporting the consumer. On the other hand, if your single approach is just all about closing sales, the consumer will not maintain a long relationship with your business.

To generate this differentiated value, it is convenient to combine the close contact that you can establish with the client in various communication channels with the analysis of data about their interactions and the engagement they have with your company, in systems such as CRM.

In the end, if you have an app and your users spend many days without entering the platform to accompany what you are contributing, it is a clear sign that they are feeling some pain that you are not healing.

Obtaining valuable information

When companies engage with their customers and have a strong connection, they can receive consistent and valuable feedback, providing them with valuable data and insights for the business process.

On the other hand, aiming directly at the closing of sales will make you skip all those previous interactions that allow you to get to know the customer better.

6 Actions To Improve Your Relationship With Current Customers

We are at the moment of truth! Since you understand the importance of cultivating customer relationships, let’s see how to do it successfully.

Specifically, below we will give you a list of actions and tips that you must follow to establish a solid bond with your current clients, which will give you profitability in the near future and possibilities for sustainable growth.

1. Produce exclusive content for clients

Content Marketing stands out as an effective strategy to attract buyers and build audiences, but the reality is that it also helps retain customers and improve relationships with them.

Through this strategy, materials and messages can be shared that add value to the relationship and put valuable information in the client’s hands, helping them to make better use of the product and solve certain problems.

Especially, the content-oriented to retain customers must be close, personalized, and highly functional.

An example of these are Webinars and Whitepapers, as they are highly educational, explanatory, and detailed.

2. Develop loyalty programs

Classics don’t go out of style, and customer loyalty programs are a classic. Although we have focused on modern Marketing principles, this traditional strategy is still effective, and also stands out for impacting both the customer relationship and the closing of sales.

A loyalty program includes, for example, the typical rewards for new purchases, such as discounts or “you get two for the price of one.”

Another classic tactic of these programs is the accumulation of points for purchases, which can be exchanged for prizes and free items or services.

So, while you promote new purchases, you also tell the customer that you care and that you are looking for ways to benefit them, which is why it is convenient for them to maintain a lasting relationship with your brand.

3. Show your clients that you understand their pain

The way in which your company communicates and interacts impacts the possibility of customer loyalty and establishing sustainable relationships.

For that reason, it is important to always show, immediately, that you understand the concerns and pains of consumers and, of course, convey that you really want to help and that you will take action.

4. Help your clients with structural problems

This is especially important if you operate in the context of B2B.

If you provide a service to another company, in order to optimize certain areas, do not hesitate to go beyond your essential responsibilities and offer advice and consultancies that help your clients solve structural problems.

In the end, it matters to you that the other company does well in general, as it will have the financial capacity to renew contracts and make new purchases.

An example of this action is that of an e-commerce software company that identifies in one of its clients a difficulty in defining product prices.

In this case, you can offer important tips to analyze the data of user interactions in the virtual store to find product pages that have a high abandonment rate, indicating that prices can be very high.

5. Centralize information about customers and analyze it

Of course, the better you get to know your customers, the better chances you have of improving your relationship with them.

Having a centralized database, to store customer information and analyze it continuously, is essential in these times.

6. Optimize service and customer service

Decades ago big companies understood the importance of having these departments or services.

But, if you want it to translate into building good relationships, you must go one step further and optimize these aspects of customer service, guaranteeing continuous monitoring and support for your customers, as well as personalization and effectiveness.

7 Actions To Improve Your Relationship With Potential Customers

To finish this article, we will tell you what you must do to improve the relationship with those users who, although they have not yet made purchases, have the ideal profile and projection to become customers.

1. Produce and spread interactive content

In addition to being very educational and explanatory, these contents improve the User Experience ( UX ).

If a user feels comfortable in those first interactions with your brand and it even manages to captivate him, the chances of converting him and building a solid relationship are very high.

In addition, interactive content has the following benefits in communication with visitors to your web pages:

• Generate valuable data on the needs and preferences of potential customers;
• They increase the time of permanence in the page, due to its novel character, which also positively impacts SEO positioning;
• Provides mentions to the brand and backlinks, for their high viral power and the interest of users to share them on their social networks;
• They transmit information in an original and surprising way, providing a value that the competition will not offer the user in their content strategies.

There are many types of interactive content, such as:

• Calculators;
• Infographics ;
• Quizzes;
• Ebooks ;
• Landing Pages;
• Videos ;
• and many more.

2. Expand the functions of your products

This point is key to improve relationships, have a greater capacity for attraction, and, above all, be a feasible commercial alternative in different contexts, even in crisis situations.

For example, health insurance that expanded and included video consultations had a great competitive advantage over those that maintained a traditional approach.

Thus, they aroused the interest of new users and made them understand that adjusting to the needs of people is part of their values.

3. Offer free demos

This is key to start a relationship with the user without the need to make a purchase.

At the same time, a free demo is a perfect strategy to pave the way for an effective closing of sales.

There are many companies that already do it from the freemium business model, which allows them to monitor user behavior on their platform while experiencing it.

Then, with the guidelines of the Product-led Growth methodology, they can qualify the user according to their maturity and purchase potential to offer them a paid version in a timely manner.

4. Position yourself on topics of the moment and of interest to your target audience

A user will only feel comfortable establishing a relationship with your brand if it really has authority on certain issues, both in their field of expertise and those that are local and global trends.

Do not hesitate to deploy the best SEO and Content Marketing practices to position yourself as a benchmark and connoisseur of these areas of interest, which will also help you build a significant audience.

So you can attract users to your website who at some point will leave their contacts in your forms to receive the newsletter, in which you can feed them with relevant information while they prepare their purchase decision.

5. Develop quality content that is not intended to sell

In addition to addressing topics of interest, spread interesting and useful content for your Buyer Persona, which are not directly related to offering your products and services.

Simply share valuable information for your potential clients, to help them improve, enjoy wellness, and solve problems.

6. Partner with influential market figures

This is another way to gain confidence and give your brand a human face.

Also, Influencer Marketing is known for its virality and fast results in terms of generating business opportunities.

7. Hold webinars on topics you master

Beyond gaining popularity and showing authority, this will allow you to immediately engage with potential customers, showing them what you know and how much you care about helping and educating them.

You already know why customer relationships are so important and the best ways and practices to promote it.

Although it is an element that takes on special relevance in contexts such as the current one, in which the demand for goods and services has decreased and the insecurity to make purchases has increased, it must always be taken into account and be one of the main approaches to marketing.

Don’t forget that a strong customer relationship translates into fewer objections in closing sales, increased Upsell and Cross-sell opportunities, brand ambassador training, and many other great benefits.