Customer loyalty and maintaining relationships with customers have become a focus for equipment finance companies with the coronavirus crisis. Companies want to continue to provide value to their customers and aim to return to growth as soon as they can after the pandemic is contained. Companies should consider the improved and innovative offerings they can launch that will serve customers’ current and future needs. By keeping customers’ goals at the forefront, equipment finance companies can retain customer loyalty and trust. Today, we will discuss four ways companies can improve customer loyalty in the COVID-19 economy.
1. Be True to Your Brand and Purpose
Brand identity is the first interaction your customers will have with your company. Even before they interact with a sales representative, the content, graphics, and overall presentation are sending conscious and subconscious messages that may impact their opinion of your brand. When it comes down to it – customers are loyal to the brands they know and trust. Brand identity is the message a customer receives in building a customer’s awareness. Brand personality is creating an identity for your customers to interact with. Furthermore, it gives your customers a way to relate to the services and products that you are providing. If you have a strong, consistent brand identity and personality, customers are more likely to remember your products and services next time they are in the market.
2. Offer Your Services Virtually
Although COVID-19 has forced people to “shelter-in-place,” businesses simply cannot wait for the pandemic to be over. For instance, Zoom rose to the top, thanks to social distancing measures. According to Bernstein Research and Apptopia, daily downloads of the Zoom app have increased 30x year-over-year. Zoom said daily users spiked to 200 million last March, up from 10 million in December 2019. Video conferencing software has made it easy for businesses to connect with their existing customers. Some ways to connect with your customers include:
- Providing virtual trainings to continue engaging your customers with your product
- Offer virtual consultations
- Offer free “how-to” videos as support for your customers. For example, LTi’s HUB offers customers new features and how-to videos to better adapt to the challenges they continue to face during the coronavirus
3. Deliver Consistent Omni-Channel Customer Service
When it comes to customer service, the main complaints customers have involved waiting and repetition. According to HubSpot Research, two-thirds of customers are most frustrated by waiting on hold and annoyed by having to repeat themselves to multiple support reps. Omni-channel marketing is the process of using multiple platforms (such as social media, apps, or blog content) to give your audience a multi-channel experience. The answer to omnichannel marketing is simple – information overload is very real. For instance, in a single day, you are competing for your audience’s attention with 500 million tweets, 576K hours of YouTube video content, and 4 million blog posts. To execute an omnichannel approach, you must connect your sales, marketing, and customer service departments together. Companies need to centralize all their customer touchpoints. This will enable your employees to act on the information and provide the best experience for customers while retaining customer loyalty.
4. Practice Active Listening and Focus on the Customer
For customer loyalty, first impressions are everything. As reported, 51 percent of customers will never do business with a company after just one negative experience. On the other hand, 77 percent of customers would recommend your brand after having a single positive experience with your customer service. Listening to your customers is more than just picking up the phone and answering their questions. Listening to your customers is about connecting with them. It involves paying close attention to their business needs and understanding how your products and services can help them achieve their goals. Listening to your customers’ feedback is the best way to keep pace with customer demand and achieve their short- and long-term expectations.
Customer-Centric Approach to Equipment Finance Solutions
Lastly, choosing a good technology partner is a tough process. The reality is that a beneficial partnership must be interconnected. We spend our time developing key relationships with our customers. As the industry’s leading cloud-based platform, we differentiate ourselves in the marketplace by taking the time to understand our customers. As a true cloud technology partner, we take time to understand your business and implement the functionality for our customers that fit their best practices. To learn more about our customer-centric approach, contact us today on how ASPIRE in the LTiCloud can expand your organization’s growth and improve your bottom line and profitability.
