How to Maintain a Good Relationship With Customers

Are you struggling to balance marketing, sales, and event efforts while maintaining a good relationship with customers? You’re not alone. According to Forbes, 80% of customers want personalized experiences across all touch points. This is where it gets interesting.

There is an essential piece that most brands are getting wrong when it comes to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in today’s competitive market. When CRM is done right, it fosters loyalty and repeat business, allowing brands to grow 2.5 times faster than those who don’t focus efforts on nurturing relationships!

Read our six tips on how to maintain good relationships with your customers – nurture them and watch them grow exponentially.

Table of Contents

1. Personalize the Customer Experience With Corporate Gifting
2. Emphasize Shared Values
3. Communicate Clearly and Consistently
4. Gather Feedback To Understand Customer Expectations
5. Implement and Maintain a Loyalty Program
6. Prioritize Training and Development for Staff
7. Improve Your Customer Relationships With Imprint Engine

6 Key Tips for Building Customer Relationships

1. Personalize the Customer Experience With Corporate Gifting

When customers have great in-person experiences with your brand, they become loyal and often advocate for it through word-of-mouth marketing, reaching up to six of their closest friends. Winning over your customers for a lifetime can take some work — but will be so worth it. 

So how can you reach your customers in a personalized way (without pouring more of your limited time into the task)? A digital message is nice, but it’s not tangible. Known as ‘The Gifting Effect’ — a term coined by social scientists Michela Balconi and Giulia Fronda — receiving presents fires signals to our brain that create trust, pleasure, and social connection. The less heard of benefits of gifting are:

• Memory and attention
• Problem Solving capabilities
• Emotional health 

When you need to focus all your attention on logistics, meeting quotas and marketing campaigns, a corporate gifting strategy can be a streamlined way to make sure your customers feel seen. Do you really have time to deal with  multiple suppliers or access to high-quality products such as Therabody mini massagers, high-quality branded clothing (hello loungewear?) Where do you even start to look? Curated and tailored to fit your audience, having a gifting strategy that works for your business can take the task off your plate.

An effective brand experience makes people feel known and valued, which Imprint Engine is hard-wired to do, as a one-stop-shop from designing or picking the right items for your audience to getting those gifts into your customer’s hands.

2. Emphasize Shared Values

With every chance you get, you should capital “E” emphasize your shared value with your customers. Everyone has experiences that have shaped their world view and brands are an extension of that identity. 

To build trust and loyalty, lean into your role as a friend or guide through marketing materials like social posts, company policies, and everyday customer interactions. For instance, what merchandise are you giving out at tradeshows or client prospects? Are they ethically sourced? Sustainable practices (recycled or up-cycled packaging, fair trade and pay in the places they are put together, or donating surplus of product) show deep commitments and is something many millennials resonate with.

3. Communicate Clearly and Consistently

Similar to building a new habit, it’s your everyday actions that build up a strong customer relationship. That’s why it’s important to be clear, consistent and positive in your communication whether in-person or online. People need to “get it quick” and should have a useful or positive takeaway. Here are a few actionable tips:

• Avoid jargon, wordiness, and grammatical errors. 
• Regularly update with newsletters, email, or socials on industry news or ‘feel good’ content.
• Sign up for email lists that offer industry news to share with your network. 
• Actively listen and actively solve problems. You are the doctor and prescriber.

4. Gather Feedback To Understand Customer Expectations

How can you maintain good relationships with customers? Listen to feedback. This can come in the form of unbiased-posed/open-ended questions in surveys, feedback forms, or social media interactions. For example, an airline might send a post-flight survey to passengers for assessing their travel experience, including factors like check-in process, in-flight service, and baggage handling. 

While most of you aren’t flying planes 10,000 feet in the air, you should be asking about client onboarding, problem resolution, check-ins, and improvements regularly. The more you know and are able to track, the more your next steps will be well-thought-out and aligned with customer needs. This ongoing process not only improves service but also reduces the uncertainty of what to do next, guiding a successful path forward in client relationships.

5. Implement and Maintain a Loyalty Program

Asking for a customer’s email can grant them access to deals like free drinks or size upgrades at coffee shops such as Caribou. This thrill of being “in the know” — according to McKinsey & Company research — makes customers 59% more likely to choose you over a competitor and 62% more likely to spend money with you.

Companies can roll out all types of loyalty programs, including points-based rewards, punch cards, and limited edition merchandise for a marketing campaign launch. How about subtly branded noise canceling headphones for your jet-setting clients? With our expertise, you can offer desirable rewards that drive engagement and loyalty. Our IEX Platform takes this a step further by simplifying the management of your loyalty program  — tracking ROI and the usage of store credits, offering valuable insights into the most popular rewards and what motivates repeat visits. A streamlined loyalty system like this can help you get that boost in sales and engagement without losing money.

6. Prioritize Training and Development for Staff

As one of the top businessmen in America, Mark Cuban told GQ Magazine, “You’re not trying to convince them, you’re trying to help them.”

80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important or service. Preparing your staff with regular training on customer service skills such as active listening, empathy, effective communication, problem-solving, and patience, ensures a consistent and positive customer experience. Having a team of staff focused on supporting the customer to  the ultimate solution is what will enhance customer interactions and satisfaction.“I always tell our salespeople, ‘Put your customers in a position to succeed and you will be successful,’” Cuban said. 

Improve Your Customer Relationships With Imprint Engine

Branding is psychology. We help our clients in events, sales, and marketing in how to maintain good relationships with customers through understanding their target audience and creating ultra-personalized merchandise. Our IEX platform also allows you to track the performance of these efforts. We ensure memorable brand experiences that drive engagement and foster loyalty so you can boost satisfaction and create those lifetime customers.