So you want to build a high-converting landing page? Maybe you want to think about how you can make your Facebook page more engaging?
Regardless of what you want to achieve, it all comes back to giving customers exactly what they want. This is the fundamental principle of doing business in this generation and in every generation that has come before. The difference is that by using things like predictive sales analytics businesses know what their customers want.
This article is going to go into the basic ideas of what your customers want from your business so you can survive your first year of entrepreneurship.
A Great Product and Service
The ultimate mark of a good business is producing a product or service that actually does something useful. Too often there’s a big problem with companies producing products that don’t exactly meet expectations. This is the easiest way to permanently damage consumer confidence.
There are so many customers that have been lost forever simply because they upset their target audience once. In the case of some startups, this can be fatal, so you need a product-focused business.
Your priority should be to constantly update what you sell so you can continue to give customers the best possible offering. That doesn’t mean you have to become a perfectionist, but what it does mean is that you need to take feedback seriously and follow through on your promises.
Full Transparency
If the Gawker sex tape scandal has taught us anything, it’s that transparency is integral for your online reputation. Despite the company failing to avoid bankruptcy, its reputation as a champion of free speech has given it a name value that it had previously never enjoyed.
On the other hand, the Hillary Clinton email scandal has made it difficult for her presidential campaign to really take flight. She may have won the nomination, but she has far from dominated the race, and that’s because people don’t trust her. The lack of transparency has hurt her.
It works the same way for business. If you are not transparent about what you’re doing, customers are simply not going to trust you.
Good Customer Service
Good customer service takes many forms. To begin with, you have the customer-facing part of customer service. This is the most basic form of customer service. All you need to do is approach customers in a friendly manner without keeping them waiting. Make sure there are no automated responses. Allow them to speak to a real person.
But customer service comes in a, arguably, more important form. You will receive feedback on your products and services constantly. You are sure to see this in reviews and direct feedback. Many companies don’t realize that this is an important source of customer feedback.
Good customer service is about actually changing your company based on what the majority of people are telling you. 55% of customers will pay more for this sort of service.
If you are running a hotel and you regularly receive complaints that the room is dirty, what do you do? A smart businessperson immediately makes changes to ensure this never happens again. They will soon discover that their customers are far happier.
Something Special
For most companies, they are concerned mainly with their day-to-day business operations. The idea that they need to give out something special doesn’t dawn upon them.
So what is offering something special all about?
It boils down to offering something that keeps customers coming back for more. It’s about showing how much you appreciate them. For example, you may decide to run a competition where someone gets a free version of your new product. It could even be as something as simple as a discount card.
Whatever you decide to offer, the goal is to make customers feel like you care about them.
What You are Doing with Your Profits
Believe it or not, customers do care about what you do with your profits. Corporate philanthropy has become a big trend in the business world. Millennials make up the biggest part of the workforce and they are actively choosing brands that care about the planet.
This is something the businesses of yesterday didn’t have to take into account. Nobody cared what they did with their money, but all that has changed.
Support a charity and give back to the society you are benefitting from. It will help you to both retain and attract new customers.
Conclusion
These are the things that customers really care about. Mix all these together and you will have the ultimate combination that will keep customers coming back to you.
How will you attract more customers to your company?
