Trust is a mission-critical aspect of any business. Especially when research shows that 83% of customers would gladly recommend using your company to other customers if they trust you.
Not only can trust help you gain first-time clients, but also boost brand loyalty. Happy clients return to purchase new services more often than usual.
To serve your customers in the best way possible and boost your bottom line, let’s look at five simple ways you can improve upon customer trust and loyalty within your brand:
1. Communicate How You Protect Their Data
There has been no shortage of highly publicized cyberattacks in recent years. Therefore, your customers are more sensitive than ever before to the vulnerability of their data.
If their personal or financial data gets out onto the black market, it can have dire consequences for their life for years to come. So you need to demonstrate that you take their data security seriously.
This is especially true if you accept online payments via credit cards and other means. Include quality content that discusses how you protect their privacy. This can come in the form of a specific section on your website, either in text, infographic, or video form.
Be as specific as possible when describing your data security. The worst-case scenario is that you provide too much detail about the technology for some customers.
However, they will see that know what you are talking about and have more trust for you, especially if your customers are technically savvy.
2. Improve Customer Support
Many modern brands seem to have forgotten the value of providing great customer service, which leads to a big problem. Most customers will simply abandon a brand that doesn’t solve their problems in a friendly, professional, and timely manner.
It might not be scalable to provide live agents on call for each and every customer. But for your premier clients, you should always have a higher tier option that provides instant communication with a real person.
Chatbots can be used to filter inquiries to the right personnel, but consider if your profit margins allow for a team of representatives.
This demonstrates that you truly care about their wellbeing. At a minimum, provide an in-depth FAQ section to address common issues that your customers face.
If you aren’t sure what to include, conduct an email survey to understand and empathize with your market on a deeper level first.
3. Answer Questions and Concerns In-Depth
Your clients need to know that you take their data seriously. This is not only for their peace of mind but often to comply with industry-specific and government regulations like GDPR.
Because of this, sending vendors a written security questionnaire to be filled out has become much more common. These questionnaires often include one or more of the following topics:
- A list of your cybersecurity policies
- Physical security
- Social (Organizational) Security
- Incident response and management
- Access control
As you can see, this can encapsulate a wide array of security topics. It may be necessary to hire additional team members to create custom responses for your clients. However, you shouldn’t view this as an expense but rather an investment in future customer loyalty.
Even customers with little technical knowledge are beginning to understand the importance of having all their bases covered. And there are myriad ways in which data can be breached.
From a social engineering aspect, an employee might click on a malicious link from a spoofed email claiming to be an official vendor or financial partner.
And of course, there is the purely technical side to consider. What programs, networks, and infrastructure designs are you using to ensure their data is safe?
These are all things your customers will want to know. If you don’t provide them the answers they’re looking for on the questionnaire, they might go to your competitors.
4. Embrace Mobile Apps
The importance of having mobile apps in today’s world is multifold.
It allows your customers to engage more readily with your brand. They can have a personalized experience catered to their specific needs. And that will always be more effective in generating customer loyalty than a generic approach.
Whether you build a team in-house or outsource your mobile app development, be sure that it undergoes proper testing. Things like cross-site scripting, malware, and authentication are all potential security risks that need to be ironed out before launching your app live.
The last thing you want is to be famous for having your mobile app hacked.
5. Penetration Testing
Technology is always evolving. Once you build a “secure” system, you still need to verify that it’s doing what it was designed for. Therefore, penetration testing is a valuable investment.
Penetration testing involves putting your information systems to the test from multiple angles. This can include misconfigured credentials, firewall exploits, website technology vulnerabilities, and even social engineering.
When you hire a security firm to conduct penetration testing on your systems, they will assume the role of a cyber attacker. It’s much better to have the “good guys” discover data breaches before the criminals do.
Not only does it protect your company’s information, but of course that of your customers. And when they see that you have certifiably secure data systems in place, they are much more likely to trust your company with their vital information.
In Conclusion
Earning your customers’ trust and minimizing all possible risks should be a top priority for your business. Not only does the data prove this to be true, but your business instincts should tell you it’s just the right thing to do.
The tips above are something that any business can implement with the right focus, dedication, and commitment to growth. The reward will be greater revenue, fewer customer complaints, and a reputation for excellence within your industry.
Heather Redding is a part-time assistant manager and writer based in Aurora, Illinois. She is also an avid reader and a tech enthusiast. When Heather is not working or writing, she enjoys her Kindle library with a hot cup of coffee. Reach out to her on Twitter.