Personal connections help a lot in engaging with customers. Even just being seen smiling makes a huge difference in building rapport with clients.

Having a friendly and trusted reputation is critical. Customers wield so much power over digital businesses that negative perceptions can hurt your business. While it can be tough to create those meaningful connections with customers online, it isn’t impossible. Here are some ideas on how you could make your customers happy.

1 – Provide valuable products and services

It starts out with what you provide. Great businesses always provide something unique and valuable to their customers. Ask yourself: Do your products and services have a positive impact on your customers’ lives?

If you start your venture for just money and profit, then your customers would most likely feel that dealing with you is just a transaction and not a meaningful interaction. So work to build or find the best products and superior services to offer; Otherwise people will eventually be able to tell if you’re just a snake oil merchant.

2 – Let the positivity shine

One of the drawbacks of online interactions is that you lose out on non-verbal cues. When handling customer concerns or inquiries, some positive attitude makes a lot of difference. But how do you smile at digital customers? You don’t need to pepper your emails or chat with emoticons to show your positive attitude.

Use positive language while avoiding words such as “don’t” and “can’t.” Use personalised communication instead of generic canned messages. Addressing them by their names also creates as sense of familiarity and friendliness.

3 – Provide great user experience

Sometimes, it’s not you or your product. It might be the experience that needs some fixing. User experience (UX) pertains to how easy and pleasant it is to use your digital product or service. For instance, with an e-commerce platform, can customers find what they’re looking for and do what they need to do easily?

Among the top things customers want from online stores are quick loading website, accurate pricing, and descriptions, and easy checkout processes. Test your site out and get some feedback from your users. If your site suffers from any issues, fix them immediately.

4 – Secure customer data

Another way you can show you care about your customers is by securing their data. 2016 showed us the great risk of cyber attacks such data theft and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. More customers have become aware of risks of cyber attacks that they are now more discerning whether digital businesses actually care about these things.

If you have a digital product like an e-commerce service or a mobile app, you can enhance security by deploying a web application firewall, implementing disaster recovery methods, and subscribing to DDoS protection. This is just a small investment, compared to the potential costs of a security breach or a hack attack.

5 – Listen and act on feedback

Even with great products or services, you’re bound to encounter issues from customers. While some might be eager to dismiss the seemingly trivial or even absurd comments, it pays to listen to feedback.

Keep in mind that these are people who decided to buy what you offer, so that should count for something. Even the crazier issues can teach you that some customers might need to be educated, so do exert effort to satisfy their needs.

For issues that arise from your end, be proactive. Communicate with customers, and offer options on how they would prefer resolving the issue and what you are willing to do. You’d be surprised that many customers can be forgiving enough if they sense that you’re sincere in making things better for them.

6 – Keep your promises

The age-old adage of “under-promise and over-deliver” can be bad advice. Businesses who try hard to over-deliver can find themselves stretched too thinly that they miss out on fulfilling the essentials.

Focus on the customer’s need that you need to address. Just staying true to what you committed is enough for most customers. Listen to what they need to resolve the issues and work towards that.

7 – Give something extra

Still, the previous item doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try and delight customers with something extra. And by extra, this doesn’t mean giving away discounts or price cuts to everyone. Discounts and price cuts can actually devalue your product. Instead, opt for a simple and straightforward loyalty program wherein you can reward customers for

Instead, opt for a simple and straightforward loyalty program wherein you can reward customers for repeat business like earning credit or points which can be used for repeat purchases.

As an alternative, you can always explore providing value-added services such as providing access to a newsletter or blog filled with helpful tips about the use of your products or industry.

Happy customers multiply

Satisfied and delighted customers don’t just guarantee repeat business (which is great for sustainability), they also help your business grow. Happy customers are likely to refer others, who are, in turn, also likely to avail if referred by a friend. This is why building lasting and meaningful connections with your customers are critical for any business.

This is why building lasting and meaningful connections with your customers are critical for any business.