In business, virtually everything you do needs to revolve around the security, interests, and well-being of your customers. From a customer’s perspective, the business that gives them the best value will get the most attention and loyalty. Thus, aside from spending prodigious amounts of marketing capital attempting to reach new prospects, it’s equally important to understand the dynamic of your relationship with existing customers.

There are numerous things that click together when someone decides to make a purchase. With data, you will be able to unlock this treasure-trove of information, with which you can analyze, on a grand scale, the behaviors and attitudes that will help you build a loyal customer base and refresh the rapport you have with those already within your customer list.

With the multitude of online and mobile commerce options, it can sometimes be difficult to retain customers, despite the advantage that being open to a global market presents. To make it easier to sift through mountains of data on existing and prospective customers, you can turn to big data, professional experts, and social analytics. Basically, anywhere customers can be reached and any technology that can be used to analyze their behaviors plays a role in solidifying the relationships businesses and independent professionals have with them.

Let’s have a look at some of the ways in which technology could be applied in the manner we have described.

Big data makes businesses clean up their catering

The concept of big data analysis has been around for many years, but only recently have we begun to understand the impact it can have on improving the way that enterprises are run. One potential application of big data is analyzing and optimizing one’s own operations with relation to customers. These platforms can let individual professionals and even multi-million-dollar large enterprises have a bird’s-eye view of all transactions, allowing them to spot inefficiencies in their business models that could turn off prospects and which can push away those who are loyal to them.

In the long run, having access to data on internal operations can provide an understanding of the way clients react to variables in the business. As a result, managers can make adjustments along the way, in the aim of optimizing marketing, sales or customer-service activities to ensure customer satisfaction. Through big data, businesses need not simply follow the status quo of imitating or one-upping the competition (although it’s not always a bad idea). Analytics empowers entrepreneurs and business managers to quickly improve the way they cater to customers with better precision and care.

Marketing oneself as an expert is made easy with the right platforms

For professional individuals independently providing services, the playing field seems a bit skewed, favoring large trusted corporations. Having a rating attached to one’s name helps eliminate this, giving freelancers the ability to market one’s abilities and compete on the same arena as more established counterparts. Expert marketing platforms Like PrestoExperts provide such services, connecting experts with potential customers through a review-based system that fosters trust-based relationships between customer and service-provider.

Using these platforms need not be restricted merely to individual users, however. Larger consultancy and expertise-based businesses can encourage their employees to leverage the power of social media and word of mouth in order to likewise compete against more agile individual professional services outfits.

Social media can be a gold mine for customer engagement

The rise of social media has created an immense opportunity for businesses to connect directly with customers and prospects. While the platform provides a multitude of opportunities, it’s not necessarily just minimal effort required. Businesses are increasingly engaging customers through platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and witty and harder-hitting replies have been known to go viral.

Using these platforms on a standalone basis may not be enough, however, especially given the millions of conversations happening at any given time. Businesses can leverage B2B social media management platforms in order to better monitor conversations, engage customers and increase brand equity through a social presence. Good public interaction with customers can be used to capture customers’ hearts and minds.

Conclusion

No business can achieve sustainable growth without keeping customers happy. The customer experience will always change, and customers will continue to expect more out of businesses as they get accustomed to being pampered. Thus, businesses will need an adequate set of tools, skill sets and technologies in use, in order to ensure a stellar customer experience everytime.

The post How Start-ups can use Technology to Win Hearts and Minds appeared first on Small Business Can.