This is a guest post by Erica Moss, the social media outreach coordinator for the Master of Science in Nursing program at Georgetown University.
In this competitive marketplace, little details can get lost in the big picture. You and your company work hard every day to provide consumers with the best possible product and to position your organization at the front of the pack. One simple way to achieve your goal and to keep your consumers loyal, that is often overlooked, is to make it easy for your customers to contact you.
Good customer service has grown increasingly important in this aggressive business climate. No matter how perfect your product or how well marketed, if customers feel that you don’t care about them, they will look for a company that does. So take some time to reassess how reachable you are and use the following advice to take steps towards becoming more accessible to your customers.
Contact Number
This first piece of advice is, in some ways, also the most obvious one: Provide a contact number on your website, your business cards and (if applicable) on your product packaging. If you signal to your customers that you are able and willing to receive comments and suggestions, they will sense a level of confidence and credibility in you and your products. Inserting a solicitation for feedbackwill make you appear more accessible to your clientele and can, in turn, make them more loyal to your product and company.
Creating a Facebook page for your company or business will not only increase awareness of your product and organization, but will serve as an online space for your customers to reach you. Encourage your customers to post questions on your Facebook page -- but make sure to answer them in timely fashion!
Also, remember that anyone who logs onto your Facebook page will be able to read the queries submitted by your clientele and your answers to those submissions, so make sure you continue to put your best foot forward. That means editing your comments for grammar and spelling mistakes, always using a positive, professional tone and providing helpful responses to your customers’ comments.
Like Facebook, Twitter allows your customers to reach you anytime from anywhere. Those who choose to follow you on Twitter will be able to tweet questions and comments at you about your products, services and company in general. Make sure you answer the tweets speedily and succinctly.
Assign someone at your company the task of managing the Twitter account. All tweets directed at your company will go straight to them on their phone or computer. With proper training, this can be a perfect assignment for an intern, especially if he or she is already on Twitter and accustomed to the platform’s unique shorthand.
Live Chat
If you have the means (i.e. requisite IT support, personnel and budget), providing a live chat feature on your website is a perfect way to make it easier for your customers to contact you. With a live chat, customers are able to interact with customer support over the Internet, in real time, through instant messaging.
Services like live chat instill a level of comfort in your clients, as they will feel that their questions can be answered at any time.
What other things can you do to make it easy for customers to contact you?
Erica Moss is the social media outreach coordinator for the Master of Science in Nursing program at Georgetown University, which has one of the nation’s leading online nurse practitioner programs. Outside of work, Erica is an avid dog lover who loves photography and meeting new people.
