Cloud Topics

How to Maintain Ongoing Relationships with Your Customers & Clients

By Nicole Lim / April 10, 2020

Many businesses, especially those who operate in SaaS marketplaces, must maintain relationships with their customers for ongoing success and growth. As a business owner, if you focus on building and nourishing your client relationships, you’re likely to benefit from positive customer reviews, referrals, and repeat buyers.

Sales and marketing resources shouldn’t just be deployed for new client acquisitions. In many ways, maintaining relationships with existing clients can be even more important for your business. Review these strategies for nurturing your client relationships and figure out how to implement one or a few so your business can reap the benefits of engaged customers.

Optimize Your Online Store

Your online store is the way you connect with clients and appeal to new customers. If it’s hard to navigate, doesn’t explicitly explain what your business offers, or doesn’t adequately portray your brand, you’re missing out on a big opportunity. To ensure your online store is optimized, you can:

• Update your online storefront: Analyze your storefront’s design and make changes so that it’s easy to understand and pleasing to the eye.
• Provide flexible, integrated solutions in your application marketplace: Many consumers shop or research products directly from their phones or through a mobile app, so make sure your online store is easily accessible, no matter how your customer is browsing.
• Organize your sales system: Don’t let customers, orders, requests, or questions fall through the cracks. Be sure your sales system is structured and uniform so clients know what to expect when interacting with your online store. If you offer subscription services, stay organized so your customers receive the value they were promised.
• Implement digital commerce solutions: Choose software for your online store that allows you to more effectively leverage internal resources and provide streamlined service to clients. Comprehensive software will help you stay organized, ensure customers are moving through the sales process efficiently, and provide updated data on inventory and shipping statuses.
• Migrate your data to the cloud: With the right software integrated into your online storefront, you can track large amounts of data about your customers, including when, how, and where they visited. This data is generally safer and more easily accessible on the cloud.

As your company’s owner or manager, only you can identify the optimization opportunities that lie within your online store. Every business is different and while optimization is important, be sure your online presence still reflects the integrity of your brand and explains your products and services clearly.

Track Customer Data

If you want to keep in touch with customers, capturing their contact information is crucial. Implement a customer relationship management system that works for your specific business. You should collect:

• Names.
• Email addresses.
• Phone numbers.
• Past purchase activity.
• Interests and preferences.

Using a platform to help you keep track of customers, including how much they buy and when they buy it, allows you to see patterns in your clients’ buying habits. You can target these customers and nurture your relationship with the information they need right when you know they’re likely to buy.

Explore All Communication Channels

Not everyone communicates in the same way. There are many different types of channels you can utilize to reach your customers, so don’t assume advertisements, your website, and phone calls are the only way to stay in contact. You may find more success by rounding out your communication strategy to include social media and email campaigns.

Social Media

Social media platforms allow your business to have conversations with current and potential clients. Since it’s free to create business pages on these mediums, your return on investment can be lucrative. You can tell your brand’s story, interact with followers, and answer questions about your products or services to increase engagement with clients.

Email

If you’ve captured client email addresses, you can use your database to strengthen your business’s relationship with these customers. Offer your email subscribers exclusive deals on your products, get them excited about new services you just launched, or provide them with useful industry-specific updates to keep them engaged in your brand.

Personalize Your Approach

When you personalize your message based on the client you’re communicating with, your customer is sure to remember the interaction. In addition to making the means of communication more memorable, a personalized approach also makes it more likely that your client will buy another product or service from your business. When you can identify your client’s individual pain points and show how your product will solve them, it’s easier for customers to justify their purchase.

Personalized communication offers other benefits, including:

• The likelihood of ongoing communication with your clients.
• Making your customers feel special and cared for.
• The ability to suggest individualized products and services.
• Making your brand stand out from the competition.

Collect and Use Feedback

When you keep open lines of communication with your clients, you’re providing a comfortable environment that allows for honest and extensive feedback. You can ask for feedback on your products and services with a phone call or email. Consider creating an online survey that makes it quick and easy for your clients to provide information about their experience with your brand or product.

When you maintain relationships with customers, they should feel more comfortable and obligated to provide you with this valuable feedback. If you receive candid feedback from clients, it’s important not to get defensive. Take this information and analyze your procedure and products to see how you can grow from it.

Think About Your Clients as More Than Just Clients

If you collect a significant amount of data on your clients, it can be easy to get caught up in the numbers. However, if you can look past how many products a customer purchased or how many referrals they provided and see your client as a person, you may find you’re more likely to connect and engage.

Make sure your clients know you see them as more than just dollar signs by being a valuable asset to their lives. Provide important information that may help them, offer interesting stories, or ask questions. Consumers can see through brands that aren’t authentic, so showing you truly care can help you make a connection as you work on nourishing your client relationships.

As a business owner, it’s important to adopt strategies that ensure you can keep healthy ongoing relationships with your clients. When you utilize these strategies, you’ll benefit from extensive feedback, referrals, and happy clients who are likely to become repeat customers.