NOTA AICEX: quale è il rapporto tra azienda e clienti? Secondo una ricerca è importante per i clienti che le aziende comunichino con loro. Il modo in cui un brand comunica con i propri clienti è alla base della costruzione di una buona relazione e di una forte personalizzazione del servizio.

How many best friends do you have among your customers? Do your customers consider your company to be among their best friends? If the answer to these questions is no, then it might be time to make some changes.

According to recent research from Silverpop, you don’t have to invite your customers out for dinner or send them holiday cards, although this might help. All you have to do is communicate with them. The research found that how a brand corresponds with its customers is at the heart of relationship building — and personalization is a business’ best tool

Get it Right

Five, it seems, is the magic number in customer experience. The report, entitled “Are You a Best Friend Brand,” indicates that consumers only have five “best friend” brand companies from which they will repeatedly open e-mails and buy products. Everything else they will ignore.

The findings, which are the result of a survey of nearly 4,000 consumers across the UK, US and Germany, looked at online shopping habits and opinions on brands. It also includes commentary from Silverpop’s Product Strategist Dave Walters on what the results mean.

Globally, it shows that when it comes to the content that businesses and brands are sending out to potential customers every day, they really need to get it right. If the content is not designed for that customer, or group of customers, it will be ignored.

It also shows that at a certain point in the relationship, not too far down the road from initial contact, those same potential customers won’t even open emails from the business and will send it directly to the trashcan if the content does not speak to them directly.

The Emergence of Best Friend Brands

The flip side of this is what the study terms “best friend” brands. These are brands that have repeatedly lived up the customer’s expectations and from which they will consistently open emails or marketing content.

Think about the number of companies that send flyers or advertisements to your mail box and the number of them that you actually open. Now you the gist of what Silverpop is talking about here.

From the survey, Silverpop concluded that the number of trusted brands is quite small, averaging out at around 4.5 brands. If your company has made it into the list, the rewards are potentially huge in terms of loyalty and, ultimately, sales.

Asked to identify how many brands they had actually bought something from in the past three months online it showed that, even with the list of five “best friends,” shoppers only purchased from three, indicating that even making onto to the “best friend” list is no guarantee of success. According to Walters:

The fact that consumers have such a small number of best friend brands makes a really powerful statement for marketers. The relationships consumers form with brands is, in many ways, very similar to those they form personally. Once a bond is made, a loyalty is in place which means brands can expect repeat purchases, but only as long as that trust isn’t broken.”

He also points out that while the circle of trust is limited and very small, brands can ensure that they enter the circle by taking care with their customer communications and responding to their customers in a timely fashion.

Personalizing Experiences

We have seen on many occasions that a personalized customer experience is key to a successful online business. The findings of this research back this up again. It showed that 71 percent of potential customers will buy something if the first contact email from retailer or brand has been designed and built to the specific needs of the customer. This was particularly true in Germany, where 81 percent of respondents said customization was a vital factor in deciding whether or not to buy.

Source: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/your-customers-or-your-best-friends-025900.php

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