If you as an affiliate should know one thing, it's that the importance of customer interaction cannot be overstated. With the right approach, you can make friends with your audience and convince them that spending money on your products and services can be beneficial to them.
The right approach to all of this also ensures that your audience doesn't look at you as just a faceless corporation or business but as a person just like them. This more personal approach is the holy grail of affiliate marketing and if you manage to bring yourself down to the level of your audience and interact with them properly, you will make it big for sure!
When we talk to customers, it's like making friends. We learn about their likes, dislikes, and how we can help them. In this article, we will tell you how we can approach your audience, keep them engaged, and interact with them properly!
Understanding Customer Interaction
Customer interaction, especially from a personal perspective, is about creating a connection that goes beyond business. It involves understanding the customer's unique needs, emotions, and preferences.
This all sounds like the classic mambo jumbo that you can read in those tacky business tip books, but to keep it simple, it all boils down to this. You need to know what your audience is interested in, and what their main problems are, and you need to find a way to solve them with your products, or at least give your audience the feeling that you are interested in helping them.
Nowadays customers are way more demanding than they were before. They dislike corporations and big companies and prefer smaller businesses. This means that they expect a different way of interaction as well. Empathy and understanding are now at the forefront, paving the way for more personal interactions.
The Main Parts of Talking to Customers
There are four important things to remember if you want to have an effective personal customer interaction:
-
Empathy
Understanding and sharing the feelings of another is crucial in customer service and it's especially important if you want to convey to your audience that you are their friend and not just some company trying to nickel and dime them. It’s about seeing the world from the customer's perspective and acknowledging their needs and emotions.
This is usually done by interacting with your audience and responding to their feedback, whether it be positive or negative. If it's negative, even if you disagree, you should try putting yourself in their shoes and realize why that issue might bother them.
Try working with them to find a solution to their problem and they will likely be more enticed to interact with your page, products, and services in the future!
-
Personalization
Each customer is unique, and their interactions should reflect this. Personalized communication shows customers that they are valued and understood.
This is easiest done in non-live forms of communication, like, let's say email. Since you can gather data from your customers and create customized messages, with maybe specific deals and discounts for things they might be interested in or a birthday present in the form of a big coupon or discount.
This has a dual effect. First of all, people will feel like you know something about them and pay attention to their needs. This will likely lead to them liking you a bit more. Also, this will engage your users to interact with the brand and its products more, hence, getting you more conversions all in all!
-
Responsiveness
Quick and effective responses to inquiries or complaints show customers they are a priority. It’s not just about speed but also about providing meaningful solutions.
Nowadays you can make custom responses to the most common questions that will be delivered to your customers as soon as they ask them. You can even get AI bots to help you respond and help with any needs that they might have.
This usually is well received by most people as the answers they get are quick, straight to the point, and actionable. In case the AI can't solve the issue, there is always the option to get in touch with a real human!
How to Improve Customer Relations
Building personal or professional connections with customers is not easy and a lot of thought and care needs to go into it if you want to make it. But there are ways of improving your chances and making the most out of your interactions with your audience!
- Respond to comments and questions on your blog/social media. Provide helpful information to potential buyers. Take into consideration what they ask and why so you can help them better. You should try and answer all the questions they have, and if possible make it public somewhere, so that other people with the same questions don’t need to wait for a response in the future.
- Create an email list and send periodic promotional emails with your affiliate links. Engage your subscribers by asking questions in emails. You can personalize these emails with special deals and offers that specific people might appreciate. Find your audience's birthday, and send them something for it!
- Host live video Q&As on your website or social platforms to interact with customers in real time. Streaming is incredibly popular for a reason, people tend to form parasocial relationships with streamers. You can use this to your advantage to spread your message a bit further and interact with your community more! It's a win-win situation!
- Provide helpful product reviews, comparisons, and how-to guides on your site. Interact through comments under these posts. When doing this, make sure you are doing those reviews and writing them with your actual opinion on the product or service.
People tend to sniff out fake reviews, and once that happens, your reputation will quickly go down the drain. This can affect other parts of your business as well, so it's not worth the trouble! Be honest from the start!
- Conduct customer surveys to understand what kind of content/products they want. Gather feedback to improve. You can create surveys with any of the online tools available. Just make sure to keep it short and include the data points you are interested in. Most people dislike taking surveys if it takes them more than a few minutes so keep it short, but long enough to learn something from them!
- Link to trusted review sites of the products. Point customers to forums where they can ask questions. You won't always have the answers to all of their questions, but if they see that you are trying to get the info they need from various sources, then they will trust you more and think you are more likely to help them with future issues as well!
- Share success stories of real customers. Engage by asking your audience for their testimonials too. This will boost your credibility and ensure that your audience gets to see the positive impact that you are making.
Make sure the stories are real, as faking things will only get you that far. If your product does not have any incredible stories to be told, then you can also just show positive (and a few negative) reviews, so that people can get a better feel for the things others like and dislike about them.
Tools and Technologies
While personal touch is key, technology can play a supportive role:
1. CRM Tools
Customer Relationship Management tools help in managing customer data and managing your interactions with customers. You can keep track of customer information, helping them with their ‘unique” problems more easily, solve their problems faster, and even send follow-up emails after a while!
2. Social Media
Social media platforms offer a space for casual, yet meaningful interactions. They are very approachable and inviting, making them the perfect place to interact with your customers when needed!
The thing with social media is so many of them, that you can interact with your audiences in so many. Anything from video, phone, audio, or other form of content are all viable methods of spreading the word about your brand and business and interacting with your customers and leads!
3. AI Bots
Most people don't know this but almost all support chats with big companies have been completely run by AI for the last 2-3 years! Way before the mainstream audience got their fingers on chatbots, big companies used them to streamline everything and respond to their customers quickly.
Now that the tech is available to everyone, make sure you use it as much as you can! One bot can replace a lot of support staff, though you should always have someone human on board, in case the bot can't handle specific requests.
Conclusion
The shift towards more personal interactions is not just a trend but a response to evolving customer expectations. With all of the AI bots and constant forcing of various celebrities and influencers left and right, building a real and healthy relationship with your audience is heavier than ever!
How have you mastered your customer interaction? What are the things that helped you the most in your interactions? Share your experience with us in the comments below!
Please log in to Facebook to access the comments section