Engage, not enrage

13th January 2011, by Jacqui Lennon

Communicating with customers is an exciting opportunity to make them feel valued and remind them that they are the single most important thing to your business.

It sounds simple, but there is a huge difference between a communication that receives a positive response and one that provokes a negative reaction.

The objective is always to engage the customer, improve the experience they have with your brand and encourage them to do more business with you.

Think about what you want from a company whose product or service you regularly use or do business with.

What comes to mind? Often, being appreciated and acknowledged as well as having questions answered can be the critical elements a customer feels are needed in order to do repeat business

At the other end of the scale, communications that are detached from the customer will - at best – provoke a shrug and get binned or deleted.

At worst it could seriously backfire and make the customer feel neglected, or even angry at their continued expenditure and lack of insight you’ve shown towards them.

Imagine a keen gardener who is a loyal customer at the local branch of a national garden centre chain. He’s sent a two page letter telling him about the company’s corporate restructuring, new customer-centric approach and exciting changes being made at a national level.

“So what?”, he thinks, as he tosses it in the compost. “I just like plants.”

Now imagine that same gardener has been sent a letter thanking him for his custom and containing rewards, timely details about new products and promotions (perhaps tailored to his purchasing habits). He will come away with a warm feeling about the company, feel his custom is valued and be much more likely to make a visit or purchase.

A direct mail campaign or e-shot can cost tens of thousands of pounds, as well as time, manpower and other resources.

The cost of developing it is nothing compared to the cost of getting it wrong.

The last thing it should do is disengage your customer – or even annoy them.

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