It’s imperative that business owners understand why brand image is so important for customer service. Having a good brand image fosters good first impressions and boosts customer retention. Whether your business looks at improving brand image through the use of tailored corporate wear or through offering great training courses for staff, the financial results speak for themselves. Here, we will take a close look at what your business can do to improve the customer experience.
Customer Retention
Over 70% of the British public rate a good customer experience as the number one element that would drive them to become a repeat customer. Although you should also be prioritising the quality of your products (to reduce returns and negative reviews), you should be constantly reviewing your current customer service methods and continually think of ways that you can improve the overall service.
Good customer service shouldn’t be the only focus though. According to one study, 80% of businesses already believe that they deliver a superior service to their consumers – but only 8% of shoppers actually agree with this statement.
According to data, first impressions really do make a difference; over 50% of consumers were found to be more likely to return to a store if their first experience was positive. Not only that, but if you’re looking to increase your consumer acquisition rates – this is a good avenue to go down. 84% of people make a purchase because of a referral; so if your first impression is worthwhile, it could lead to additional business. But how can you make sure that your customer service stands out from your competitors?
How can your business benefit?
A well-made uniform is often underestimated, but it can make all the difference to the success of your business. You need to ensure that your employees are identifiable to customers and this can only be achieved by designing a uniform that stands out; while catering to each type of individual that works for you (considering religions etc). By having a uniform rather than just a generic dress code, you will spend less time monitoring what employees are wearing on a daily basis which otherwise could become extremely costly. As well as this, uniforms represent your business – so you must design them in the correct way and prioritise employee comfort to ensure you receive the best delivery from them.
In addition, you should invest in employee training courses to ensure that they are offering customers a great service every time. This should cover ways that they interact with consumers of all kind (race, religion, disability) and offer the most efficient service possible to show that you’re a reputable brand. On top of this training, you should also make your staff aware of any new products or services that you begin to offer so that they can give customers all of the information that they require.
Of course, there are other ways that you can improve brand image for your business. Research has suggested that customers will spend up to 13 minutes in a store — so it’s important that you deliver an exceptional service. Queues are notoriously long here in the UK and can be the biggest contributing factor to a customer’s walk-out. To combat this, why not look at queue management software and point of sales service?
Don’t forget that brand image is vital if you want to retain customers and reap the financial benefits, so it needs to be done right.
