Today’s marketing landscape is no longer brand-centric, rather is customer-centric. It’s all about what the customer wants and needs, as well as the customer’s overall brand experience.
Often, this experience can make or break your brand reputation. A recent study discovered that 59% of consumers switched brands because of a negative customer experience.
One of the fundamental principles of marketing is delighting the customer to get them to choose your brand over your competitors. But, what gets them to stay? It’s the continuously positive brand interactions and customer service.
It’s more expensive to gain new customers than to keep existing ones. More importantly, brands can gain more profit from loyal customers than new customers. In the US alone, 7 out of 10 consumers claimed that they’d spend more money on brands that offer excellent customer service.
Before you outsource customer service, consider the holistic client experience—from marketing to customer support first. We’ve outlined the top reasons why great marketing results in excellent customer service.
1. Brand experience encompasses all customer interactions.
Customer experience doesn’t start after they purchase your product or service. As mentioned, great marketing and customer service centers around the customer’s holistic brand experience. And this customer experience starts the moment they first see or hear about your brand.
With the very first ad or marketing campaign they encounter, customers are already making up their minds about you. So, make sure that customers or potential clients gain a positive experience from that very first interaction.
2. Educational and informative content addresses common customer issues.
The main goal of content marketing is to demonstrate your brand’s credibility in your specific niche with informative and engaging content. Constant publication of valuable content can help you establish your brand as an industry leader, and gain your customer’s trust.
When you post how-to and instructional articles, you’re already addressing customer concerns. Customers don’t need to disrupt their daily schedule and spend too much time trying to reach your customer service hotline. They can immediately get answers to their problems through the helpful content you post.
3. Marketing data can help you understand your customers better.
Marketers nowadays rely on big data to get to know their audience and determine the relevant marketing messages that work. Through the data you gather in the marketing process, you can gain insight into your customer’s interests, challenges, and pain points. You know what they’re searching and what web pages they’ve visited.
When customers initiate contact with your marketing or customer service agent, you can use this information to provide a more personalized customer experience.
Some customers initiate contact through multiple platforms such as social media, the contact form on your website, email, or phone. So, strive to offer an omnichannel experience, and use the collated data to determine their concerns. Listen to your customers through marketing data.
4. Effective marketing strengthens customer relationships.
Since you allocated a significant amount of resources to your marketing campaign, don’t let it go to waste!
Statistics show that brands get 60% to 70% more revenue from repeat customers than new customers. So, make sure that your marketing campaign will delight your customers enough to gain their trust and loyalty. Strengthen customer relationships through every customer touch point—from marketing to customer service.
5. Increased customer loyalty and engagement.
Ultimately, happy customers stay loyal to a brand such that the next time they need something, they’ll go straight to your store or your website instead of browsing for other providers.
Delighted customers also engage more with brands. Excellent marketing and customer service encourage customers to talk about their positive experience on social media and other relevant channels. The best thing about satisfied and delighted customers is that they’re the best brand promoters.
Your marketing efforts have paid off, and you’ve gained new clients, but it doesn’t stop there. The whole customer experience starts from the initial marketing experience and continues through the customer support experience.
You need to give clients an excellent brand experience through personalized customer service and continue doing this to have a loyal customer for life.
Excellent customer service starts with great marketing. Whether you’re outsourcing companies for your marketing or customer support function, let customer satisfaction the end-goal.
