“Personal service is about making the customer feel like they’re doing business with a human, not a company,” – David Weinberger
Modern businesses, brands, and enterprises need to engage with their clients and customers in an open, dignified, but friendly manner. Personalising customer service is one of the techniques that can be used by businesses to attract, retain, and serve customers consistently. This technique can be operated by businesses of every hue because we live in an age of brand multiplicity, competing businesses, and fiercely contested commercial spaces. Consequently, the customer’s mind share has assumed critical importance and has emerged as a crucial battlefield for modern enterprises. That said, we must note that customer demographics have emerged as a primary aspect in modern marketing practices and therefore, businesses must work to personalise customer services in tune with the demands of all customer age groups.
We must bear in mind that businesses must undertake appropriate strategies in their pursuit of personalising customer service. For instance, a cake and confectionary maker should attempt to stay relevant by expanding the concept of customer choice. We note that this business mostly caters to young customers and therefore, may consider allowing customers to design their own cakes and confections. Product quality and consistency should remain a business prerogative, but customers should be allowed to create their own flavours, tastes, and colours. This collaborative approach may win considerable plaudits for the said enterprise and allow it to gain an edge over its commercial rivals. In addition, such a strategy is bound to boost customer curiosity and may trigger intense excitement among the young patrons. Some of the after effects may include vibrant word-of-mouth publicity, an enlarged roster of new customers, business awards, and a fascinating afterglow. We must note that this approach to business innovation remains a top-rate instance of personalising customer service.
In a similar vein, a specialised e-commerce business that deals in fashion apparel can choose to expand its share of the market by personalising customer service. The business should word to study current trends in its market and may choose to boost the creative quotient in its primarily app-driven enterprise. Fashion recommendations may be offered to regular customers based on their personal preferences as reflected in their app browsing histories. An extension of this logic would emerge when the business chooses to offer bespoke discounts to specific customers that qualify for such offers. We must note that since the said business is primarily app-driven, the customer service aspect should be focused on the app users. This would require the business to monitor consumer behaviour extensively when browsing the app, assessing and evaluating information that emanates from such activity, and then ideating to create unique aspects of personalised customer service. Advance previews of fresh merchandise, deep discounts on group sales, custom reminders pertaining to flash sales campaigns, priority shipping offers, and premium packaging can be the other aspects of personalising customer service. We must note that the said business enterprise must minutely examine the shopping habits of individual customers, collate the information, and then design specific stances on personalised customer service.
Businesses must value human interaction as a significant enabler of business outcomes. Offline business models that hinge on brick-and-mortar showrooms and physical business premises may choose to offer a human face to customers in their attempt at personalising customer service. Consider this: a business that sells music compact discs, vinyl records, turntables, and assorted musical equipment may consider deploying trained human staff in its business premises to deal with customers. Music has universal appeal and therefore, the business must work to train its human resources to deal with every segment of customer demographics. Sales staff must be trained in soft skills and intelligent conversation along with deep knowledge of the music industry in order to engage with customers at various levels. This approach to personalise every business interaction should help the said enterprise to gain a devoted customer following and to make a mark in its business domain. The campaign to personalise customer service should also include specialised training to deal with niche customer request for music records that may not be readily available in the market. These customer-facing aspects of the business can help it to strike a rapport with individual customers and command premium prices; this relationship may be counted as an intangible business asset that is likely to enable the business to operate and thrive in the long term.
The pharmaceutical industry should drive a focus on personalising customer service in the interests of gaining strong traction among older customers. For instance, a drugstore or a medical devices business can choose to deliver medicines and medical products to the home addresses of customers. This strategy is not unique to the said industry because the burgeoning food delivery industry operates a similar model. However, the said drugstore may choose to add value to its business proposition by personalising customer service through the home delivery of prescription-based medication and medicinal devices. An interesting aspect of this strategy lies in the fact that a significant segment of medicine consumers is senior citizens; therefore, the prospect of free delivery at the home address adds definite value to the said business enterprise. In addition, the said business can boost its value proposition by offering services of qualified and recommended medical practitioners to its senior customers.
Speaking the language of the customer is an important aspect of campaigns designed to personalise customer service. Businesses that primarily cater to young citizens must discard old school selling processes and mechanisms in favour of methods that create a personal rapport with individual customers. For instance, a skateboard and surfboard business primarily operates to serve young customers and therefore, the sales staff should work on personalising customer service. The linguafranca, the mannerisms, personal value systems, mind sets, etc. of the said business must be in synchronicity with its primary customers. The use of technology and selling techniques must be in tune with young citizens because this essential connection is vital to the success of the overall business enterprise. We must note that individual customers should identify with the skateboard business because such merchandise tends to evoke intense feelings since it is part of the core customer identity. Special training sessions can be offered as part of the selling strategy; this promotes innovation in the selling practices and can be useful in attracting new customers to said business.
In the preceding paragraphs, we have analysed some of the personalisation techniques that can be used into customer service practices. We must note that such techniques can evolve and become refined with constant practice; however, businesses must invest brainpower and company resources in order to wield such techniques credibly, to effective use. The intent and business justification that power personalisation of customer service lies in developing and sustaining an incrementally growing customer base; therefore, businesses should never lose sight of this basic fact. Personalisation should also be practiced within the bounds of the law of the land and must therefore, respect the customer’s privacy at all times. This is important because businesses operate in data-intensive environments and therefore, personal records in all forms must be strictly guarded at all times. The perfect approach to personalising customer service should enable every business to consistently achieve business goals at all times.