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Whilst acquisition of new customers can seem like a critical part of building a business, most research agrees that retention of existing customers is the most cost-effective way of building revenue. Marketing Metrics found that businesses are up to 14 times more likely to sell to an existing customer than a new one, and existing, happy customers are likely to spend up to 140% more with the company than a first-time client.

Whilst it is important that a business is well put-together and provides a unique and cost-effective service, the most important element for customer retention is customer satisfaction, meaning that great service is the key to increasing revenue. KPMG’s Customer Experience Report finds that companies who work to improve customer experiences can see revenues increase as much as 15%, and a happy customer is likely to advertise your business for you, with research by American Express finding that a satisfied consumer will go out and tell, on average, nine friends about your business. Not only does this offer free publicity for the company, but people tend to trust word of mouth referrals much more than advertising coming directly from the company.

Some of the more efficient ways to improve customer service include:

Make a great first impression

Your first contact with any potential customer should offer a friendly and polite greeting, and information about the service, without being aggressive. Approached too forcefully, a customer will feel uncomfortable and look elsewhere.

Be empathetic

Customers want to feel that they are receiving a compassionate service from a business, with real, human interaction valued very highly. Contact centre staff members should listen carefully to what a customer is saying in order to tailor their responses to suit that person specifically. Companies may also want to shorten the chain of command when dealing with customers so that clients aren’t repeating themselves again and again to multiple representatives when dealing with an issue.

Shorten response times

It is frustrating for anyone to feel that they are being ignored, and a customer whose request or problem has been disregarded for several days is likely to become an ex-customer before the problem is ever addressed. In the age of social media, people expect even faster response times, with 42% of social media users expecting a response within 60 minutes. It is useful for companies to focus on these areas and have dedicated, knowledgeable staff on hand to respond to queries right away.

When it comes to print management, one of the trends revolutionising the market is web-to-print, sometimes also known as remote publishing. A study by InfoTrends [1] found that 46% of businesses had adopted Web2Print services and that investment in the approach is only set to grow.

It’s no surprise that this approach to effective and digitised print management is so popular, as it offers a range of business benefits and a superb customer experience. For example, businesses are already enjoying the following advantages of adopting web-to-print technologies:

Quicker turnaround times

The traditional graphic design, sign off and print ordering process used to be time-consuming and involve many touchpoints. Designers often ended up being forced to liaise with different internal customers for sign-off and a single piece of work could go around the houses waiting to be approved, before it even went to the printer! Today, template solutions and web-to-print digital solutions streamline the entire process, meaning that the artwork can be produced, approved centrally via those with a log-in to the system, and then automatically submitted to the printer with the details of the job.

Cost advantages

Web-to-print portals offer pre-populated pricing options with choices to be made for paper stock, size, finishing and so forth. This cuts down on time and also means that customers can enjoy more competitive pricing through lesser administration and greater standardisation of the most common types of print.

Ease of reordering

Simply save your artwork in your secure online account and resubmit another order when you need a reprint. This ‘point of use’ solution saves the time, cost and depreciation involved with ordering large batches upfront and then being forced to store the extras.

Benefits for all

Web-to-print solutions are easy for all businesses and organisations to use, and require no specialist knowledge thanks to the ease of the online platforms. This means that public sector bodies, as well as private companies, are able to reap the benefits of enhanced efficiency, better quality print outputs, cost savings, time savings and an overall increase in positive customer experience!

Everyone can do it!

With web to print, you no longer need to be a print expert to submit artwork and successfully order a print job – the system helps you through it and the team is at the end of the line for any queries that you do have. It’s easy and enjoyable – are you ready to try it?

Source:

[1] http://www.inplantgraphics.com/article/web-print-adoption-success/

One of the most common – and counterproductive – mistakes in business is making assumptions about your customers.

Having even the most dynamic marketing plan for a superb range of products is whistling in the wind if you haven’t established good two-way communication with your target market.

How can you be sure that your brand and customer service are properly focused, without a constant flow of customer feedback?

Even if you do online and offline surveys and research, that’s still not a substitute for active listening.

What’s active listening?

Whatever your sector or size, your business hinges on the people who buy your products and services. Your organisation has numerous opportunities to actively listen to them, and get a clear view of their wants, needs and desires.

Every phone call is a great chance to engage customers in conversation. It should be a key part of customer service culture – showing that you are interested and care about their views.

It’s also great business sense as it provides information to help you to continuously improve customer experience.

More benefits of active listening

One of the advantages of creating a culture in which staff actively listen to people, is that customer experience becomes more likely to stimulate repeat business.

If your business callers end up feeling confused or ignored, they will have no hesitation to show their dissatisfaction by hanging up or transferring their custom elsewhere.

As you probably already know, it’s a lot more cost effective to hang on to your existing customers than securing new ones!

Active listening skills

The key to active listening is providing seamless customer service; taking time to engage the caller in a conversation while still getting the job done during this positive two-way exchange.

This can mean showing interest in what the customer has to say and asking carefully worded questions in response. If it’s a complaint call, showing interest and empathy can go a long way to calming the situation. It’s then possible to extract constructive information for service improvements.

Clearly active listening can’t be scripted. Not least as customers can easily spot when a discussion is not authentic. It relies on personnel who are adept at keeping conversation flowing while still providing efficient and effective customer service.

Call us, so we can talk you through how we achieve this vital skill!

When it comes to millennials, there is often a misconception surrounding them, but just like all demographics, they have their own preferences. If we want to ensure we can cater for this demographic, it’s important that our brand strategy is tailored to suit them. Below we consider five essential things that millennials want from brands.

1. Give them something they know

A company’s reputation is extremely important when it comes to millennials selecting brands. This also goes hand-in-hand with familiarity. Heritage breeds loyalty, as reflected in a survey of the best food brand category. Cadbury came out on top, and feedback was focused on it being a “local” brand that people remembered from their childhood days. If another brand wants to gain more market share, they need to disrupt the market with other things that millennials love.

2. Offer experiences

By continuously including promotions in your marketing mix, from winning free items, discounts or winning experiences, you can not only boost your sales throughout the year when they are due to dip, but you can draw in the experience-seeking consumer group. If this is something your competitors aren’t doing, then you should be.

3. Offer loyalty perks

Millennials are opting for retailers and brands that can meet their demands for variety and loyalty perks. Loyalty perks are increasing in importance for this group. In order to attract this market, you can introduce personalised communications and rewards via a loyalty platform. Loyalty perks could be in the form of prizes, free next day delivery, monthly discounts etc.

4. Be human

If you consider any successful brand or business, you will know that the need for a ‘human’ approach towards consumers is blindingly apparent. Consider Airbnb and how it’s transformed the way in which customers enjoy their holidays. It is challenging competitors in what it takes to be a travel brand, by completely transforming the whole experience. Appeal to millennials by offering them the human side of your brand.

5. Customer service

When something goes wrong, millennials feel strongly that the problem is rectified quickly and efficiently and with someone who is kind and considerate. Customer service and a dedicated customer service team are essential to tap into the millennial market. This is something they value over everything else.

Follow these tips on what millennials want and your brand has a far higher chance of success with this demographic. For a unique and effective way to try out loyalty marketing on the millennial demographic, check out SwiftReceipt today!

If you’re looking to reduce lingering inventory levels and mounting costs, then supply chain collaboration, or utilising 3pl, is the way forward. Better yet, it helps to improve customer satisfaction levels, as well as retention rates. Coupled together, this leads to higher overall efficiency and healthier profit margins. As such, here are the six steps you’ll need to follow to achieve successful supply chain collaboration.

1. Choose your partners wisely

Before you select a partner to work with, make sure you do your research. Look at things like their existing infrastructure, reputation and the strategies they use. It’s also worth discussing their values and interests to see if your businesses align. You need to be sure that your chosen logistics partner provides a high-quality customer experience that lives up to your brand.

2. Collaborate by offering your expertise

A truly effective collaboration means all parties involved are actively interested in providing the skills and expertise they can bring to the table. Instead of expecting your partner to give, give, give; it’s time for you to set the trend and be proactive in assisting them.

3. Agree on a joint performance management process

Essentially, you want a set of performance metrics that you and your partner both accept and agree to. This will help you to both monitor effectiveness and ensure the highest levels of efficiency.

4. Get the right tools for the job
What this step means is that both you and your partner have the right equipment, infrastructure and manpower to help you do your jobs. If not, then you need to invest in that now, rather than face problems further down the line.

5. Think long-term

You need to appreciate early on that effective partnerships are for the long-term, not the short term. This will help you to ensure you have effective processes in place well into the future that can support your business as it grows. Also, long-term collaborative supply chain relationships often foster innovation, leading to new opportunities and product ideas.

6. Focus on communication

No effective team is able to function without solid communication practices. You should both put systems in place in order to allow you to communicate effectively over time to seize opportunities and overcome challenges.

By taking the time now to implement these six steps, you can help ensure you have a truly effective and worthwhile supply chain collaboration not just for now, but also the long run. This is crucial if you are to grow and flourish together. By following each step carefully, you can help avoid any major issues that could arise and ruin your business further down the line.

When it comes to shoppers psychology, there are many things to consider. Even very little details such as the smell of a store or the color of the signage can have a large part to play in whether the customer makes a purchase.

The retailer should also consider who the target market is, as for example, female shoppers tend to be influenced by very different things than male shoppers. In addition to just male and female differences, there are many different types of shoppers that should be considered.

The Bargain Shopper – This type of shopper is very price conscious, therefore may be drawn to sale signs or the red color, which is often related to clearance offers. This type of shopper is likely to use coupons and discount codes and buy items at the best price she can find. 

The Researcher – This type of shopper will conduct a lot of research on every item she wants to buy before she purchases it. Much of this research will be done online, so ecommerce stores should be sure to provide a lot of detail about products on their website.

The Impulse Buyer – 84% of all shoppers have made impulse purchases, so stores should always be prepared for this type of shopper. Emotions play a big part in purchasing, therefore things that appeal to the customer’s emotions can have a large role to play. As surprising as it may seem, smells have the power to play with an individual’s emotions, so this could be something to consider here.

The Loyalist – 62% of millennials feel that online content drives brand loyalty, therefore they will buy everything from the brand they love, rather than one they have never heard of before. Many shoppers belong to brand loyalty programmes, so this could be something to consider.

Shoppers Psychology Online and Offline

URL: https://www.16best.net/blog/shoppers-psychology-online-offline/

eCommerce is continuing to evolve at a rapid pace. In order to stay ahead of the competition and keep up with the latest online shopping trends to boost your potential sales, you need to be up-to-date on the latest trends in eCommerce. Below we discuss five trends that are expected to dominate 2018 and beyond.

1. The rebirth of bricks and mortar

It’s expected that a new breed of in-person experiences and retail stores which are rooted in digital, will begin to replace outgoing retailers. Both physical and on-site interactions are more important than ever. Businesses need to master the unique combination of webrooming, events, in-store experiences, demo and much more. Those businesses who are predominately online will grow their physical footprint by exploring options for buying online, but returning locally etc.

2. The disruption of B2B eCommerce

There is a change in the air for B2B eCommerce. The expectations of B2B buyers are changing which, therefore, pushes the need for B2C-like functions a time where investments from B2B marketing in commerce capability is a priority for a large number of CEOs of B2B companies. B2B buyers will discover a B2C-like ordering and purchase system in 2018 as they continue to transition their product discovery and buying behaviours to mobile and online.

Everything from sales calls and print catalogues is to be replaced by a digital-first discovery process and a simplified ordering process. It’s therefore predicted that by 2019, B2B companies will spend more money on technology for eCommerce than online retailers.

3. Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is taking 2018 by storm. Brands are beginning to roll out features that allow consumers to use their mobile devices to visualise an item in their space before they commit to buying it. This is a breakthrough for larger items such as couches, fridges, TV’s etc where people are more hesitant to buy without seeing a physical product. This means it could increase orders for these items, and reduce the number of returns, which is currently a $260 billion dollar problem for eCommerce. Big websites such as Amazon and IKEA have already begun adapting AR into their systems.

4. Mobile overtakes desktop

Thanks to the advancement of simplified payment technology on mobiles, including facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, the percentage of transactions that are completed on mobile devices has boosted significantly. Samsung, Google and Apple have already paved the way with this technology and eventually mobile checkouts should become the preferred method of payment at retail with mobile reaching over 70% of eCommerce traffic by the end of this year.

5. Photo Shopping

Rather than typing words to search for an item, consumers will begin to use image-based searches for the first time this year. It’s even expected that voice and image activated search could make up 50% of all searches by 2020. Image analysis automation is becoming standard in mobile devices, which means consumers can take a picture of an item then search for that exact product online.

If you’re interested in boosting your customer experience by improving your eCommerce store, then get in touch with us today to see how we can help.

When you are sending anything to print, whether it’s a catalogue, brochure or set of business cards, reducing your carbon footprint through the use of sustainable paper will have a positive impact on your business. Sustainable paper is different from recycled. Sustainable paper means that for every tree felled to produce paper another will be planted, whereas recycled paper reuses old paper by breaking it down, bleaching it, and returning it to paper form. Thanks to sustainable products, forest growth of thirty percent has been reported since 1950.

For your business, the use of a print manager who uses sustainable products could mean a reduction in cost, an increase in the use of your company by eco-conscious customers, and the added benefit of knowing your own company is environmentally friendly.

So before choosing your next print management company, check if they adhere to the following environmental and quality standards:

The Forests Stewardship Council/FSC

Companies who use materials from well-managed forests and/or recycled materials can apply to use the FSC logo. According to the Council, 55% of people in the UK recognise their logo. If you are using a printing manager with permission to use the FSC logo, you are guaranteed a responsibly sourced product that both you and your customers can be proud of.

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification/PEFC

The PEFC is a globally recognised organisation promoting the use of sustainable forest management. If your print company uses paper with this certification you can rest assured you will receive an environmentally friendly product.

ISO 14001

This family of standards gives guidance to companies to help them create businesses that promote environmental sustainability. Making sure anything you print is supplied by a company following these standards will ensure any promotional products you use are environmentally sound.

Eco Management and Audit Scheme/EMAS

This scheme supports companies to evaluate, report and, from this, positively improve the impact they are having on the environment.

So, whether you are managing a large-scale company, or you are just starting out on your own, make sure your printing supplier is eco-friendly by asking about these four organisations/schemes.

In an age where customer loyalty can be a hard thing to keep, most consumers have learnt to chase bargains rather than stick to a certain brand, thanks to the majority of FMCG retailers putting immediate profits as a priority over repeat custom. But when you look at the bigger picture, it’s plain to see: loyal customers might stick to a certain brand, but when it comes to stores, they’ll head for the closest one available.

If you’re looking to improve your customer’s experience, and ensure your customers keep on coming back, here are some of the things you can do:

Promote strategically

It might be tempting to go for the quick way out when it comes to the promotion of products – but if you take a moment to sit back and think about what will benefit your customers, you’ll soon find that your first instinct when it comes to promotions isn’t the right one. If you have a product you know your competitors don’t stock – or one that is particularly appropriate – choose promotions that foster customer loyalty, rather than an immediate discount that your competitors will soon aim to undercut.

Who are you marketing to?

A huge part of shopper marketing is knowing who is actually shopping in your stores, and by extension what is working for them, and what isn’t. Understanding the behaviour, and needs, of the consumers in your store goes a long way towards knowing what will make them be more loyal to your business. Once you have that understanding, you can plan promotions, POS and value-adds accordingly, rather than doing the same as everyone else.

Reward technology

Consider utilising rewards technology, such as SwiftReceipt, as an extension of what you can provide in-store. Not only does this give you an additional opportunity to connect with your customers, it also gives you a greater idea of what makes your customer tick – and what promotions and marketing will really work for them. Digital receipt validations are more than just a fad; they can provide a great deal of valuable information that only takes a second of your customer’s time.

Looking for a new way to connect with your customers? SwiftReceipt can give you that insight. Find out more.