As the new year approaches, thousands of businesses will be considering ways to improve their ventures in 2023. While there are many areas of business where you could potentially make a positive impact. Still, impressing customers should be at the top of your agenda. After all, they have the power to determine whether your products sell.
Knowing that you want to focus on gaining better client responses is one thing, but actively doing it is another. Start planning for next year today, and you will hit the ground running to make it your best year yet.
Revamp Your Online Strategy
Even if your business operates from a brick-and-mortar store, most people will discover it online. Consumers actively search for local products and services. They also interact with hundreds of brands each week. Ensuring that yours stands out from the crowded online marketplace will be essential if you wish to thrive in 2023 and beyond.
A comprehensive digital strategy should cover a variety of issues. Building a more attractive website that looks great on mobile and desktop should be the first item on the agenda. Depending on the nature of your business, developing an app may be useful too. Finding ways to organically boost your SEO will also help build brand awareness.
Social media campaigns are another great way to get your business seen. By using targeted ads, your brand will be seen by the right people. If you know your place in the market, all content should be tailored to their responses. This is a far better approach than using a generic ad that could alienate your core demographic.
Embrace The Power Of Social Proof
A strong digital marketing campaign can give your business the wow factor while also helping the brand extend its reach. However, most consumers will now seek confirmation that your company can be trusted. This is especially true when buying from an online brand, but is also relevant for local businesses.
From their perspective, seeing that other people have had positive dealings with the brand is one of the most influential factors of all. In fact, 80% of consumers have made a purchasing decision following the recommendation of an influencer. As such, forming partnerships with popular personalities with a similar target audience can be vital.
However, you should also know that consumers are equally influenced by their friends and family. With this in mind, it is often worth placing an added emphasis on gaining testimonials. Ask customers to do this, perhaps in return for a prize draw entry, and they often will. You could also use an affiliate scheme to draw new consumers to the brand.
Upgrade Your Commercial Spaces
First impressions count for a lot in modern business. Especially when clients enter your commercial premises. When your company sets the right mood, prospective customers will put more confidence in your brand’s professionalism. In turn, this can encourage them to take a more positive view of your products and services.
A fancy window display can work wonders to get more people inside the door. Meanwhile, business signage and TV displays can show brand promotions can work wonders. They can also show TV shows to improve the customer experience when they are in reception areas or waiting rooms. You could also look to implement VR or AR.
Further steps to improve the commercial settings can include car park upgrades or using luxury staircases. Perhaps most importantly, you should keep all spaces organized and clean. Aside from generating better responses from clients and visitors, it should inspire the employees. As such, the benefits will be doubled.
Invest In Your Team
The customer experience isn’t solely about the products you sell. Their interactions with sales advisors and other employees will also dictate how they feel about the company. As a business owner, you will be responsible for only a small percentage of customer interactions. You must ensure that your team is equipped to deal with all situations.
First and foremost, you will want to recruit employees that have the personalities to match their skills. This should be followed by using staff training courses so that they know how to sell well while maintaining a friendly vibe. Some businesses may extend this to ideas like using sales scripts, particularly for online or telephone sales.
Crucially, you must ensure that your employees provide a consistent approach. After all, clients won’t be impressed if they feel that they are not getting the same services or deals as others. Try to cultivate a positive and united team atmosphere too. When you get it right, their positivity should spread to the customers. Perfect.
Promote Better Customer Care
Consumers may need to contact your business at various stages of the buyer journey. They may be looking for further information at the discovery stage. Help with placing an order. Or even support after making a purchase, either to troubleshoot a problem or return a faulty item. Either way, smooth communications with your business will be hugely beneficial.
You can promote customer care through a range of tools. Adding live chat to your website or social media channels can add a layer of convenience for customers. Meanwhile, VoIP tech allows you to provide efficient telephone support to clients from around the globe. Of course, a dedicated in-store care advisor is highly useful for brick-and-mortar shops.
Accessibility to customer care teams is hugely important. However, you must also establish clear returns policies and use tools like FAQ pages to provide the support that customers need. With the right strategies in place, you can see an increased conversion rate. It also increases loyalty from your existing clients.
Show Your Responsibility
People don’t only judge the merits of a business based on its products. Several additional factors will influence their feelings towards the brand. In today’s society, most people are very concerned about the environment and social responsibility. As such, they will naturally gravitate to companies that showcase those qualities.
Adopting eco-friendly practices like using recyclable packaging can have a very positive impact. If you can make the business completely carbon-neutral, people who are conscious of the environment will see it as an incentive to use your brand. It is certainly something that can become a key feature of your brand ethos.
Social responsibility can extend to other issues like supporting charities or political issues. For the best results, you should look to initiatives that actively encourage clients to get involved. This will subsequently make them feel good, which encourages them to associate your brand with positivity.
Protect Business Data
Sometimes in business, the most effective way to build and maintain a strong brand image is to focus on preventing disasters. Cybercrimes are now rife, and small businesses are often targeted. Sadly, a single bad experience of compromised data could ruin your relationship with a customer or lead.
Investing in the right cybersecurity and information protection strategies will preserve your reputation. It can prevent downtime, the financial repercussions of a breach, and prevent avoidable panic. If nothing else, it delivers the peace of mind needed to complete your daily operations without disruption. This competence will impress clients too.
It is also very important that you take the necessary steps to protect your intellectual property. Otherwise, fraudsters may attempt to sell counterfeit goods that emulate your brand. The inferior quality of those products may harm the reputation of your brand and its legitimate goods by association.
Build A Loyalty Scheme
It is commonly stated that 80% of your sales can come from just 20% of your customer base. Therefore, taking the necessary steps to keep existing clients happy should be deemed a priority. Remarketing is far easier and cost-effective than trying to win over new clients. Besides, happy customers will become your greatest advocates for winning new fans.
Most companies run special promotions to win new clients. However, this can make loyal customers feel underappreciated. Therefore, running a loyalty scheme or membership can be one of the smartest things you do. As well as running promos, it is a chance to give them added value through new insights or content that is just for them.
Something as simple as sending an e-greeting on their birthday can make a big difference. By showing customers that they are valued, you’ll encourage them to spend more money, more frequently. Better still, it is a crucial step that enables you to forecast future sales. And if you can keep existing clients happy, it should be a winning formula for new ones.
Provide Quality & Value
It’s great when consumers love your brand. However, this will only deliver the desired results when you have the products to back it up. You should focus on quality and value for money at all times. When you do, customers who find your brand will be more likely to convert. Even if they don’t complete their purchase right away.
Better still, when they are happy with the products as well as the brand, they will have no reason to take their custom elsewhere. This should enable your company to thrive in 2023 and beyond.
