Your customers are the heart of your business. You owe them your turnover, your popularity, your success. Without them your business would be meaningless.
We often feel satisfied with the sale of our services or products and we forget about what happens after and in between, to sincerely take care of them , their needs, their needs.
We often overlook the importance of customer care, which goes hand in hand with the customer journey.
Customer Care before purchase
Your potential customer has found you.
He likes you, he likes what you do, he thinks you're the right person or company for him. Perhaps, on the other hand, he's just studying you to understand if you really are the professional or the company that responds to his needs.
At this stage your potential customer can:
- Have entered your store (physical or virtual)
- Leave you a comment on social networks (or a contact request of some other kind)
- Contacting you via email or phone for additional information.
What has to work?
- Your contact form on the website. The more personalized it is, the better.
- The ability to respond to your newsletters in a simple way.
- Your mailbox. Use automatic replies when you're on vacation, but also during busy work periods where responses are slower than usual.
- Your schedules and work tools. Reply only in the time slots in which you are operational and, when you are contacted on social networks, invite people to write you an email.
How can you behave?
- If you don't know, ask for his name and address him using it. It will help you make your communication more empathic.
- Ask him questions . If you're not sure what she needs, but you know what she needs, ask for more details. It will make him feel heard. You can propose a questionnaire to help you understand his needs and if you are really the right person for him.
- Answer his perplexities and dispel all his doubts. Be available to listen.
- Let him find all the information in the right place. Write clear sales pages and highlight your prices. If his questions have not been answered on your website, improve your services pages to make them more effective, perhaps by adding a section dedicated to frequently asked questions.
- Thank him for contacting you.
- Be gentle.
Customer Care during the purchase
During the purchase, everything must flow smoothly and without a hitch.
A complex purchase procedure will make even the most motivated customer give up.
At this stage your customer can:
- Make a purchase transaction
- Ask you for a personalized quote
What has to work?
- Make sure your online payment is fast and without technical problems. I have always used PayPal and I have always found it good.
- In the case of expensive products, provide different payment methods and options.
- Create an FAQ page and purchase and return policies on your website.
- Makes the invoicing phase fast : automatically collect all the necessary tax data.
- A detailed quote, written in a clear and simple way.
- A contract outlining your responsibilities and those of your client. But also what are the activities you will take care of and those, instead, at his expense
How can you behave?
- Don't rush him. If you need to plan your work for the coming months, insert an expiration date in your estimate and then, a week before, kindly solicit your potential client.
- When you reply to your customer – even via email – stay focused on him and his needs , just as if you were talking to him face-to-face.
Customer Care after purchase
Don't leave your customer alone after the purchase. It will certainly be easier for you to be attentive to the aftermath if you sell services or consultancy but, in any case, if there is a physiological waiting time between the moment of payment and the moment of the beginning of the journey together, let him feel that you are there .
In this stage you can:
- Provide post-purchase support
- Handle complaints
- Ask for reviews and testimonials
- Do post-purchase marketing and offers (upsell and cross-sell)
What has to work?
- An evaluation questionnaire of the work done together.
- An offer that allows you to make upsells , i.e. new purchase proposals.
- The Facebook Pixel installed on your website.
- Shipments and your interest in the correct delivery of your product.
- A channel dedicated to managing complaints , for example with a dedicated email address.
How can you behave?
- Submit a guide on how to use the product. If you sell services and consultancy, send a welcome package that collects all the steps of your work together.
- Expect follow-up emails to keep the connection alive with your client.
- If your customer has a problem, fix it. Always be at the forefront of making him feel heard and understood.
- In the event of complaints or refund requests , have an appropriate policy in place, for example choosing a full or partial refund or issuing gift vouchers.
- Invite your customer to join your online community if they haven't already.
- Reserve special offers or dedicated products for your customers .
- Expect a gift that will be a pleasant and unexpected surprise for your customer.
- Take care of the packaging and make it distinctive.
7 tools to improve your Customer Care
Below I thought of collecting 7 tools that can improve your customer care.
- Calendly to book calls and online consultations.
- Meet for video conferencing and your online consultations.
- JotForm or Typeform for your questionnaires.
- A billing and accounting system, such as Danea EasyFatt , Fattura24 or InvoicesInCloud .
- The WooCommerce plugin to implement shopping on your website.
- Digital payment with PayPal (we are PayPal partners and we can help you open and set up your business account, contact us for a free consultation).
- Trello or Asana to manage shared projects, files, and your workflow.
Finally, you just have to exceed expectations with the quality of your work.