What is the customer relationship? All you need to know (2023)

Your relationship with your customers is directly related to the financial health of your business. Building strong customer relationships will unfoldcustomer loyaltyand retain valuable customers in the long term and increase sales through repeat purchases.

You may have heard of customer relationships. Maybe you were even on the other side as a customer.

If you want to improve the customer experience and increase sales, it helps to understand what successful customer relationships look like and how you can build them in your company.

Importance of effective consumer relations

Creating an amazing product is one of the greatest challenges a company can overcome and one of the greatest indicators of success. But strong customer relationships are what really determine a company's success.

Today's consumers have more influence over the industry than ever before, allowing them to focus on more than just the product you're selling them. Now consumers care about what you sell them, how you sell it, and what happens after you sell it to them.

The shift has pressured companies to invest in their customer service teams and meet growing customer demands. In fact, aMicrosoft-Studioshowed that 55% of consumers have higher expectationsCustomer serviceYear for year. Companies are now faced with the challenge of creating something excellentcustomer experiencethat is consistent in every interaction.

To achieve this, many companies are now focusing on how they manage their customer relationships. And that's where the customer relationship comes into play.

Customer relationships are designed to create a mutually beneficial relationship with the customer that goes beyond the initial purchase.

Customer relationships are present in all aspects of a business, but they are most prevalent in the customer service department. customer service teams,Customer service,customer successand product development play an important role in building a healthy customer relationship.

Customer relationships also extend to the marketing and sales teams, as these departments have significant influence over the company's customer interactions.

What functions does the relationship with the customer include?

Customer relationships encompass the reactive and proactive functions performed by your customer support teams.

Reactive capabilities are your team's efforts to resolve issues reported by customers. This includes tasks such as responding to customer complaints and resolving issues with the support team. Being able to solve unexpected customer blockages is crucial for brands looking to build strong customer relationships.

Proactive functions are the actions taken to ensure a long-term relationship with customers. These efforts aim to drive customer success by constantly evolvingconsumer needs. Customer success teams do this by providing product information and updates, as well as promoting discounts and exclusive offers. This type of long-term customer relationship management helps companies make lasting impressions on customers that ultimately become brand loyal.

Customer Service vs. Customer Relationships

You might think they're the same thing, but customer service and customer relationships are two very similar concepts with one distinct difference. Customer service is what your business provides to ensure customer success. It is aincomingFeature that customers now expect at the first point of interaction with your business. Businesses can provide proactive customer service functions, but most customer service functions are provided in response to customer actions.

Customer relationships differ in that they consist of the input and output steps of your business. Consider your organization's ability to respond to current problems and your approach to improving future experiences. Customer relationships focus on the proactive steps you take to retain customers andimprove customer experience.

Customer relationships encompass all of the key functions that customer service performs, but also includes efforts before and after customer interactions. Responding to customers' immediate needs is a great way of deliveryExcellent customer serviceFinding solutions to future obstacles is how your business can build positive customer relationships.

Positive customer relationships involve the consistent quality of what the company offers and how it is delivered to the customer.

Benefits of positive customer relationships

Positive customer relationships can lead to a variety of benefits for your business, including more and more leadscustomer retentionTo narrow it down, here are some of the top benefits positive customer relationships can bring to your business.

Increased customer retention

Businesses that better manage their customer relationships are more likely to see higher customer retention rates. As a matter of fact,studiesshow that 61% of customers will stop buying from a company if they have a poor customer experience.

Customers know when your business is real and are willing to overlook your mistakes as long as you are committed to their success. This kind of transparency is essential whenreduce rotationas well as when you build a positive relationship with the customer. It can also be economically advantageous becausestudiesshow that increasing customer retention rate by just 5% can increase your profits by 25-95%.

Increased customer retention

When you have a good track record with your customers, you make it harder for your competitors to turn people away from your brand. Customer loyalty is invaluable to businesses as returning customers are more likely to buy from you than potential customers who have not yet converted.

Building positive customer relationships drives customer loyalty because it creates an intangible incentive for the customer to return to the same store. While it can cost more for businesses to invest in building positive customer relationships, the rewards in retaining customers can be critical to generating consistent revenue over time.

Increased customer satisfaction

It can often be difficult to know if your customers are truly happy with your business or not. As a matter of fact,58% of dissatisfied customersJust don't go back to a company for another purchase. Strong customer relationships can serve as your insurance policy to keep those unidentified customers from swerving around without warning.

Increased customer feedback

Positive customer relationships give companies a better understanding of their customers' problems because they create an open communication channel to convey themcustomer rating. This leads to better one-to-one interactions with customers, which over time builds trust and influences their purchasing decisions.

In fact, studies have found that consumers believe that a good experience with a company has more impact on their purchasing decision than advertising. While the cute dog commercial might elicit a smile or two from your target audience,customer satisfactionIt is actually the result of your brand creating memorable customer experiences.

Every business should aim to build positive customer relationships, but achieving that goal can be a lot easier said than done. Company-wide efforts are required to build long-term and trusting customer relationships.

In the next section, we break down the key components to building positive customer relationships in your business.

Because customer relationships consider all of your interactions with customers, there are many factors that can affect a customer relationship.

In building positive customer relationships, organizations must take an enterprise-wide approach focused on driving customer success. To achieve this, here are some key factors that every business should consider when cultivating positive customer relationships.

1. Invest in employee training.

A great customer experience is not only created by the product being sold, but also by the employees who interact with the customer. Your representatives must be highly trained in their field and motivated to quickly resolve customer issues.

Customer service training may include the development of some "soft skills" such as: B. Improving active listening, developing a professional communication style and efficiently solving problems in your business environment.

While you can assume that your salespeople will have these skills when you onboard them, ongoing training helps align the entire team to your organization's brand standards, policies, and procedures, resulting in a more consistent experience across the board.

2. Create a fulfilling workplace for your customer service representatives.

Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines famously said, "When you take care of your staff, they take care of your customers." This seems intuitive: if a customer service agent is having a bad day enough for the customer to notice, they can change the tone of the experience.

Studies have also shown thisHappy workers are also 12% more productiveAnd in the service world, productive employees and faster resolution times lead to higher customer satisfaction.

3. Improve first call resolution rate.

86% of customers pay more for a better experience, and great customer experiences are becoming the norm in today's marketplace. One of the metrics to consider when creating a frictionless service model is First Call Resolution (FCR). FCR refers to the percentage of calls that are resolved without requiring follow-up or additional touchpoints.

It's a key metric that improves your team's satisfaction (no one wants to call multiple times with an issue, and more calls means more frustration) and internal efficiency.

The more calls that are fully resolved, the less your system will be burdened with call volume.

Your service and support teams should be equipped and competent to deal with most customer problems.

4. Use software to increase efficiency.

Speaking of empowerment, organizations facing increased service and support case volume should consider adopting it.Customer Service Toolsto manage customer relationships. add acounseling centerSoftware can significantly help customer service, support, and success teams monitor customer interactions over time.

A customer relationship management tool, orCRMyou can help your team expand their range and create satisfying experiences for everyone who interacts with your organization.

5. Create opportunities for self-service.

You may not have the bandwidth to provide 24x7 personalized on-demand support. Make sure you give your customers the tools to get help when they need it, even without the help of a representative.

chat robotIt can help spread information and direct website visitors to the right areas of your website.knowledge basescan answer some of the most common questions customers have.

While some customers prefer to call, these simple steps can address your most self-sufficient customers' issues and increase satisfaction by continuing to resolve issues as needed.

6. Be approachable.

That's not to say you should completely replace salespeople with self-service solutions. To provide a great customer experience, your service and support teams must be available to help you.A Microsoft surveyfound that more than a third of consumers said their biggest complaint with a company is not being able to get help from an agent when needed.

Although it helps to have things likeSelf-Service-Helpdesks, your team still needs to be there when the customer has a problem.

Technology can help take some of the pressure off your customer service team, but it can never replicate the memorable experience that a live agent can provide. This human interaction is critical to building a meaningful relationship between a business and its customers.

7. Show appreciation.

Part of creating a great customer experience is providing small moments of joy where you exceed their expectations. This is especially important as our culture moves away from brand loyalty towards loyalty to brands that offer the best experience. Consider rewarding your best customers with aloyalty programor another small token of your appreciation.

8. Measure and improve customer satisfaction.

Making your customers happy doesn't have to be an intangible endeavor. Get feedback from your customers and develop a system to measure that feedback. This could take the form of customer satisfaction surveys andNPS-Scores.

If you do this, also make sure that you are committed to acting on the feedback you receive. When results and feedback improve, you'll know you're on the right track.

9. Create an online community for customers.

There is no better way to improve customer relationships than to give your customers the opportunity to connect with each other and with the specialists in your staff. By creating an online community, whether it's through a forum on your website or a Facebook group, you ensure that your customers continue to interact with your brand and products. You will also feel supported by other users of your products.

When you create an online community, make sure someone manages it and answers questions that require their expertise. That way, customers don't feel like they're posting on a board or forum they don't see. The aspect of building customer relationships also comes into play when you are active.

10. Offer educational programs that help your customers grow better.

Educating your customers so they can grow their business is one of the best ways to improve customer relationships. For example, if your product has a steep learning curve, you can create a YouTube series that walks new users through the platform or installation process.

Alternatively, you can create educational programs that aren't about your product but help your customers with the issues and problems they face in your business. For example, if you sell flowers for events, you could offer clients a course on working with wedding clients.

While this topic isn't immediately related to the flowers you're selling, you're helping your client win a client. Your customer will have a much more positive relationship with you as a result.

11. Be nice.

Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to be personable in all of your interactions with your customers. This means that every email, chat or interaction with your company must be signed by a real representative. The exception is of courseautomated service email campaigns, but even these must have an alias of someone who works at your company.

Giving your business a name and a human face is one of the best ways for customers to engage with you and keep buying from you.

12. Create a customer-centric culture.

Businesses that want to build positive customer relationships must: acustomer orientedculture in the organization. This culture must be focused on customer success and create long-term solutions for each customer.

Businesses can do this by creating aCustomer-Journey-Kartethat describes the buyer's journey for a target consumer. Employees will be more motivated to help customers because they can see exactly what their role is in customer success. It also helps to hire a Customer Relationship Executive who can lead the development of customer relationships.

Customer relationship executives motivate employees to deliver products and services that improve customer interactions with the brand. If they also lead the entire customer relationship team, they can be referred to as customer relationship managers.

Customer Relationship Manager

A customer relationship manager oversees the entire customer relationship team, including executives who interact with customers on a daily basis. Customer relationship managers provide strategic direction and generate new ideas to improve customer relationships. In an entrepreneurial company, a customer relationship manager may also oversee the company's relationships with its most valued customers.

Customer Relationship Manager Skills

A successful customer relationship manager or executive possesses a wide range of skills that help them lead a team and improve the company's relationship with external parties. When interviewing candidates, make sure they have:

• Problem Solving Skills: If the customer relationship program isn't working or brand sentiment is deteriorating, a customer relationship manager should be able to troubleshoot and find a solution. You also have to solve problems for customers.
• social competence: Client advisors work with people all the time. You either manage them or interact with customers online. Your candidate must have soft skills to be successful in a customer relationship role.
• Data analysis skills.: The relationship manager must continually seek feedback from the company's client base. You must be able to analyze survey data and generate actionable insights.
• creativity: Customer relationships are an ever-evolving process that will require new ideas, new initiatives and new programs over time. Therefore, a customer relationship manager must be creative enough to develop initiatives that retain more customers and increase loyalty.

Hiring a customer advisor is important if you want to improve your company's relationship with its customers. With this in mind, you can immediately start improving those relationships by always putting your customers first.

Customer relationships are the key to your business success

Start listening to what your customers have to say and eliminate the friction points that lead to dissatisfaction. A great customer relationship and loyalty program doesn't happen on its own. Creating a thoughtful customer experience starts with always putting customer needs first and exceeding their expectations. If you do that, your customer relationships will improve exponentially.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for completeness.