You don’t need a big budget to stay connected to customers
Did you know that you don’t need a big budget to stay connected to your customers? In fact, there are many budget-friendly avenues leaders of small-to-midsize manufacturing companies can take to ensure that the connection isn’t lost throughout the journey.
We see it happen often. Once a product ships, the connection is lost; connection to customers, connection to tools, and visibility into performance. All of this results in missed opportunities.
Staying connected to your customers allows you to address needs before they show up, reduce costs, and turn first-time customers into lifetime partners. But when budgets and resources are limited, leaning into new technology can feel like an uphill battle. Enterprise solutions often come with a huge price tag for only a handful of features you’ll actually use. So what are affordable, easy ways to set your business up for growth and keep customers coming back time and again?
Why customer connection matters more than ever
A direct link to your customers and their businesses will put you in a stronger position to work on new business and programs. Leveraging digital touch points and collecting the right intel provides you with:
- Guaranteed visibility. Regular touch points through marketing, promotions, and thought leadership keep you top-of-mind.
- Opportunity identification. Consistent engagement means you’ve got valuable insight into your customers’ evolving needs, allowing you to proactively recommend upgrades, new services, and more.
- Brand advocacy. Clients who feel valued and informed are the ones who turn into brand advocates. They refer new business — your most affordable and reliable form of growth.
Provide open communication channels
Give your customers effortless, anytime access to reach you. Rather than waiting for a call or traditional email response, meet your customers where they are by using tools and platforms they are already comfortable with.
This means moving beyond office hours and providing support through tools like live chat, dedicated knowledge bases, and social media messaging. Here are some low-budget things you can do to provide more frictionless communication for your customers:
- Use social media to establish your profiles as more than marketing. Activate direct messaging as a support channel and set clear expectations for response times.
- Integrate chatbots or AI agents into your communication channels. Chatbots and virtual agents can provide instant, around-the-clock support.
Consistent communication is your best insurance
When you stop communicating, you risk being forgotten. Silence creates a vacuum that competitors would happily fill. But consistent, timely communication keeps your relationships warm and opportunities open.
Consider, for example, how support and preventative maintenance can earn you repeat business.
Need a compelling reason? Consider that 80% of manufacturing plants cite aging equipment or machine breakdowns as the leading cause of operational inefficiency, according to Advanced Technology Services’ 2022 industry report. And the global inspection, repair, and maintenance market is projected to grow to $72 billion by 2029, according to a Fortune Business Insights report.
If you lack clear insight into operations and customer needs, you can’t effectively know “what’s going on.” But if you give your customer a direct channel to troubleshoot or request service, you’ve significantly increased the likelihood that you will be able to identify and capitalize on those opportunities for business growth.
Support services give you the advantage over your competition
Being proactive, rather than reactive, sets you apart. Here are some additional items to consider implementing for your customers along their buying journeys:
- QR Code: Tag your product or tool and allow your customer to scan it to create a direct connection as a gateway to information. It’s a simple and familiar solution that allows you to link your customers to troubleshooting support and maintenance resources.
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. RFID technology is used everywhere from inventory tracking to supply chain management, and it can be used to share critical product information with your customers — automatically. Technologies like this can save your customers hours, weeks, and even months hunting down information.
Save money and elevate your customer experience
The single biggest advantage of automated communication is efficiency, both for your business and your customers. When you move away from manual work and move to digital processes, every interaction is tracked, logged, and organized. And each interaction allows you to do more than save time; you can actively improve the customer experience.
- Personalized marketing. AI’s ability to analyze large amounts of data allows you to move beyond generic communication and campaigns and deliver personalized messages and interventions.
- Automate routine communication. Smart technology can automate re-engagement emails, texts, and messaging, increasing the likelihood of customer retention and freeing up human resources for more complex tasks.
- Automated ticketing and routing. Leverage AI to automatically categorize and route tickets to the correct department.
Ample opportunity exists beyond the purchase point. Increasing customer retention alone by as little as 5% can lead to a 25-95% increase in profits, according to Bain & Company research. And the power of personalization is exponential; 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that recognize, remember, and provide relevant recommendations and offers, according to an Accenture report.
It’s clear that technology can expand the rich connections you’re already building with customers. By focusing on building trust, understanding what customers need, and delivering valuable experiences, any business can forge deep connections that turn single sales into long-term partnerships.