3 Ways to Deliver Personalised Service to Loyal Customers

Even in a digital world, where more shoppers are using devices to make more purchases than ever before, a personal touch is important to today’s consumers. Business consulting firm Infosys found that 59 percent of shoppers who had experienced personalised service believed it had a significant effect on their purchasing decisions.

From delivering targeted offers based on past purchase history to connecting with customers through technology while they’re in your store, tech provides startups and other businesses the ability to inject a human touch into the shopping experience, even when it’s conducted solely online. Here are some ways to give personalised service to new prospects and current customers throughout the Web journey and in stores with the aid of smartphone devices.

Use Beacons in Your Store

If you have a physical storefront, providing personalised offers to visitors in your store and passersby via their smartphones makes them more motivated to purchase. According to ZDNet, a mobile app using basic push notifications without location data has an average open rate of 4 percent to 8 percent, but a geo-fenced message defined by GPS increases the open rate to between 25 percent and 30 percent.

Basic push notifications can also incentivise consumers to walk into your store if they’re nearby or check out a special item in which you’re offering a discount. New smartphone models, like the Apple iPhone 7 Plus, come equipped with a built-in beacon feature, which allows for one-on-one marketing to individual users based on their location.

Open Communication Throughout Your Website

Even when it’s impossible for one of your employees to monitor your website full time to answer queries, installing a live chat feature allows you to outsource customer service after hours and ensures your company is always available to connect with visitors. Digital marketing company Econsultancy reports live chat provides the highest amount of satisfaction among all customer service channels, and 31 percent of online shoppers are more likely to purchase a product or service after participating in a live chat.

Make it easy for online visitors to get in touch with you via social media, too, by prominently displaying links to your social media channels, along with a call to action to contact you there. The Infosys report found 89 percent of shoppers who interacted with a brand on social media said the interaction impacted their purchasing decisions, which gives you a chance to amaze those you interact with through satisfying conversations. Again, outsourcing social media interactions when full-time staff isn’t available, even so someone can say, “We’re listening and will be in touch with a solution as quickly as possible,” allows your brand to improve sentiment and give personalised service.

Customise Website and Email Content

With every digital interaction an online shopper has with your brand, there is an opportunity for personalisation. Inbound marketing and sales software provider Hubspot recommends diversifying a website experience based on:

New versus returning visitors
The specific referral source that brought the visitor to your website
A customer’s purchase history
The specific pain points impacting customer satisfaction, based on demographics

Throughout a customer’s journey throughout your website, content like calls to action, special offers and video messages should be tailored to their unique needs and desires.

Email marketing is another area where personalisation is vital. A study by global information services group Experian found emails with personalised subject lines net a 26 percent higher open rate than those containing generic subjects. Like the importance of personalised marketing and service throughout a website, targeted email campaigns extend to specific customers based on past purchase history and behavior.

While most businesses would relish the opportunity to interact face to face with every one of their prospective and current customers, data capture forms and beacon technology allow startups to learn valuable insights about their customers and give them the solutions they’re looking for. By injecting personalisation into digital communication, your brand can further its relationships with customers to transform them into loyal brand advocates.