Question 1: Do you know what kind of products your customers usually buy and what their purchase preferences are?
Question 2: Do you believe that you need to know the answer to the above question if you wish to provide better, more personalized service to your customers?
Question 3: Do you also believe that by knowing your customers and using that knowledge to serve them better, you can assure yourself of a better relationship with them, resulting in greater customer loyalty and repeat business?
If you’ve answered ‘Yes’ to the above questions, congratulations! You have cracked the code of Great Customer Relations. You understand that in the current, hyper-competitive, consumer-driven market, the only thing that separates you from your rivals is how important building closer relationships with customers is. After all, if your customers are loyal to your price, and not to your brand, its only a matter of time before they switch to the next brand that offers them similar products at a reduced price.
The Know Your Customer cycle has three steps – Collect Data, Analyze Data, Implement Insights.
Collect Data – This step can be implemented at the time of purchase. When you customers buy your products, you can incentivize them to scan a QR code printed on the label or hang tag in order to register the product. This will send the details of the product to your database, along with the customers’ basic contact information.
Analyze Data – Once you have a significant amount of data, you can use tools to analyze it and get insights into your customers’ behaviours. You can get individual level data for each customer. For instance, Customer A probably likes buying leather jackets in different colours, while Customer B has a preference for plain cotton shirts
Implement Insights – This is the crucial stage where you impress your customers with your knowledge of their habits. When Customer A walks into one of your stores or is somewhere in the vicinity, you could send a personalized message to him regarding special discounts on leather jackets. Similarly, you can inform Customer B when there’s a new range of plain cotton shirts available in the retail outlets closest to them.
By implementing the Know Your Customer cycle in this way, brands are letting their customers know that they will be well taken care of and that they will regularly get personalized service. While some customers may still not stay loyal to brands, most people will choose brands that have a history of offering great products, along with regular deals and prompt response to queries and problems.
There are a number of tools and avenues for collecting customer data and analyzing it. Some, such as Zeebric’s QlikTag, will offer end-to-end solutions that will help you interact better with your customers and know them better. Smart brands know that such interaction is invaluable. After all, in a crowded marketplace, it’s the friendly and familiar face that consumers will turn to.
