Even though consumers are more willing than ever to switch brands when they have a poor experience, they don’t necessarily want to. In fact, 64% of customers will actually spend more with a business if their issues get resolved there, according to Zendesk’s CX Trends Report 2023.
Of course your first goal is to retain an unhappy customer’s business, especially since it’s widely known that acquiring a new customer is way more costly than keeping one. But it’s also important to look beyond that one single interaction, because with the right customer engagement approach, those once-unhappy customers can become some of your loyal — and most profitable.
Offering a reward to help appease the customer is an obvious first step, but then what? How can you maximize that opportunity?
To turn at-risk business into more customer engagement, it certainly takes a little effort and time. Here are three steps to get you started.
READ MORE: How to Use a Digital Prepaid Card or Gift Card for Customer Appeasement
It’s been widely reported that today’s consumers want and even expect their purchase experiences to be personalized. But those expectations also apply to other communications they have with the business. According to a survey by Gartner, 71% of B2C customers and 86% of B2B customers believe companies should be well-informed about their personal information during a service interaction. That means you need to be reading record notes and keeping track of every touchpoint — including any appeasement rewards sent and claimed — in your CRM. Personalize not only the reward email, but also the reward selection, if possible. Anything you may have learned about the customer in your interactions can help you choose rewards they’ll definitely love. Don’t forget to add names and personalization to any follow-up communication, too, such as a survey invitation or promotion.
Appeasing a customer is one thing, but rebuilding trust is a whole different challenge. Start that process by sending a survey about their experience after the reward. Ongoing feedback surveys are a key part of any customer engagement initiative, so you can even offer another small incentive for them to fill it out. This shows that not only did you want to keep their business, you’re also committed to understanding where you can improve so their bad experience doesn’t happen again.
Rebuilding trust takes time, but at the end of the day, everyone loves a story of redemption. Put a recently appeased customer on the shortlist to get some preferential treatment. Particularly in a B2B environment, have the account manager or client success rep reach out personally a few weeks later to check in and offer another customer engagement opportunity, like an upcoming training workshop or webinar. With just a little human touch, you’ll not only regain customers’ loyalty, you can also turn them into advocates. At that point, it becomes possible to ask for referrals or reviews to help you find and earn even more business.
Make sure your customer engagement strategy is as effective as possible with these do’s and don’ts!
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
