With the increasingly competitive world we live in, companies must do more to keep customers. With more factors than ever before influencing buying decisions, customer loyalty is generally on a downward slope. Brands must now invest heavily in ways to get more people visiting sites and stores.
However, getting customers to visit your website or walk into your store does not necessarily mean they will purchase. Conversion is a key part of customer interactions, and companies must stay ahead of issues that get in the way of converting interested customers into buyers.
Here are three tactics you can use to increase conversions:
Understand Why People Aren’t Buying
Before you can resolve issues, you must first understand the root causes. By understanding these causes, companies can find better ways to improve conversion rates (whether through customer service, marketing, website development, etc.). Among the top reasons for customers not purchasing are:
- 78% bail on a transaction due to poor customer service.
- 56% are presented with unexpected costs.
- 37% were just browsing.
- 36% found a better price elsewhere.
- 25% found the website to be too complicated.
In any case, your mission is to get rid of any hesitation in their buying cycle. The better you understand the reasons why they might reconsider, the easier it will be to develop strategies and processes to eliminate them.
Customer Service Is Vital
While customer service is a root cause of poor conversion, it is important enough to further review how customer service impacts it. You might not realize it, but:
- 78% of customers will bail on a transaction for poor customer service, while 7 in 10 customers say they are willing to spend more with companies who provide excellent customer service.
- 91% of unhappy customers will not willingly do business with you again, while companies that resolve a complaint to the satisfaction of the customer will willingly come back 70% of the time.
- 86% of customers will quit doing business with a company entirely because of bad customer service.
Customer service truly is the new marketing. Even if the interaction is more negative in nature (I.e. a return or refund), a great customer experience can completely save that relationship and turn a regular customer into a brand advocate.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Reviews
Customer reviews directly impact the public perception of a company, its’ products, and its’ customer service. Especially in the digital world where it is increasingly easy to leave feedback for millions to see.
- It takes 12 good reviews to make up for one bad review.
- News of bad customer service will reach twice as many people as a good review.
- Over one million people view tweets concerning customer service, with around 80% of them being negative.
- 95% of customers say they share bad service experiences to friends, family, or online.
Not only do these reviews reach millions, but they provide direct insight into the minds of your consumers. What are you doing wrong? What are you doing right? It is absolutely critical to monitor these feeds and to act upon them, whether through direct contact or increasing customer service availability. If you are unable to prevent bad reviews, learn from them and improve company processes.
Drive conversions with incredible customer experiences. Get started today.
