“I want to speak to a manager.” We all know that one customer who’s quick to get angry or complain, but who would’ve thought that this same person could be the unsung hero for your agency?
Customer experience should always be on your list of top priorities. After all, a satisfied client could set off a domino effect that could positively impact you and your agency. Pleased clients could lead to earned trust, loyalty, more referrals and (hopefully) new business—I think it’s safe to say your clients could be one of your greatest allies.
How can you make sure your clients are truly happy? The answer is simple—just ask.
Asking a client for feedback not only lets them know that you truly care about them and the service you’re providing, but it opens up a window of opportunity to collect valuable nuggets of information to keep them satisfied and loyal.
The impact of satisfied, loyal clients can’t be stressed enough, but I’ll let the cold, hard facts do the talking:
Are you ready to dive deep into the minds of your clients? We thought so. Let’s go over a few ways to effectively gather their thoughts.
Yes, we know conducting surveys is nothing new, but let me ask you this: are your surveys effectively gathering useful, honest information from your clients? See, there’s more to surveys than just creating one, throwing it in an email and hitting send. You have to ask yourself a few questions first.
What’s the overall goal of your survey? How long is it? How many closed-ended questions are you asking compared to open-ended ones? These are just 3 aspects to pay attention to amongst others, but it’s a good starting point. Consider these basics:
Are you familiar with social listening? Well, considering how much people love to praise and scrutinize brands online, you should be. Social listening is the monitoring of your social channels for feedback, direct mentions and discussions of relevant trends to gain insight and keep your customer experience strategies on the right path.
Monitoring direct mentions can keep you aware of what clients are saying about you and your agency (both positively and negatively), and can give you the opportunity to directly contact clients to gain more insight on how to improve your operations.
Let’s not forget about the competition. Take a look at what others are saying about your competitors and ask yourself: what’s driving customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction? How can you ultimately stand out in a sea of options? The answers could be a search away.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Many social platforms allow you to engage with your clients through surveys and polls, and Facebook Live gives you the opportunity to host Q&A sessions to gain more insight on preferences and areas to improve.
In the digital world we live in today, our phones are always in reach. Why not take advantage of this by collecting feedback through text message? Texting can be far less formal compared to sending an email or making a phone call, and this isn’t a bad thing. See it as an opportunity to connect with clients on a more personal level.
Still not sold on the strength of SMS? Well, you should probably know that 90 percent of all text messages are read within three minutes of being received and the average open rate of a text message is 98 percent, compared to just 22 percent for email.
The advice of a client is fundamental to a business’ success and if you aren’t gathering this feedback, now is the time to start. Already doing some digging? Let us know what initiatives are working for you in the comments!