How important is brand transparency when it comes to your consumers? According to a study conducted by Label Insight in 2016, it’s very important to a vast majority of consumers. In fact, almost 94 percent of consumers said they were more likely to be loyal to a brand if that brand practices full transparency and openness with them.
To add even more good news to that statistic, 73% (or 3 in 4) consumers said that they would be willing to pay more for a product that was billed as completely transparent in all attributes.
So, it’s easy to see from the data gathered that transparency is very important to consumers. Are you being as open as you can be with your consumers? Check out our tips for building transparency and trust with you customers.
Be Open About Pricing and Fees
No one likes hidden fees and taxes. Just look at cell phone companies and the consumer backlash against certain companies who insert hidden fees each month in their consumer’s bills. It’s never a good idea to charge your customers hidden fees that they only become aware of when they receive an invoice from you.
T-Mobile is a good example of a company who saw what other cell phone companies were doing to their customers, and decided to take advantage of that consumer frustration in a new marketing campaign. They even came up with a fun social media campaign asking followers to tweet or message them their “fee face,” a.k.a. the look of surprise or disgust when they see hidden fees on their bills from other cell phone companies.
Always be transparent when it comes to what you’re charging customers for, and if you have to include extra fees in your invoice, always make sure you explain what these fees actually pay for. Never leave your customers in the dark when it comes to their money.
Give Them Insight Into Your Business
Do you have one or more social media accounts, a monthly newsletter, a blog, or special membership-only mailers that you send to your customers each month? Any one of these mediums is a great way to disseminate information about your company to your customers.
It’s important to give your customers insight into the daily, weekly, or monthly happenings of your business. You’re not giving away all of your business strategies and secrets, of course; you’re simply letting your customers in on relevant information that they would find interesting. This could be something as simple as a company potluck that you had that week, or as informative as your companies values and beliefs, and what charities you support.
Provide Relevant Information
Aside from coming to you for awesome products and amazing services, customers visit you online to gather relevant information. Not only are they following your social media accounts for that info, they are also looking to see if you have a blog and if it’s updated frequently.
A blog is a great place to provide info to your customers that they can’t get anywhere else. It’s also a fantastic tool for hosting resources and information that customers can come to whenever they need it, such as tutorials on how to use a product or service.
Give your customers the relevant information they need to be happy and stress-free when buying from you. You’ll not only provide a valuable resource for people, you’ll also cut down on the number of customer service calls you have to answer, and emails you might receive.
Always Be Available Through Customer Service
How your customer service operates can make or break your company. If you have excellent customer service, and excellent customer service representatives, your company will flourish through loyal customers. If you have bad customer service, however, your company will suffer, and word of your poor treatment of customers will spread quickly to other potential customers.
But having great customer service means more than just solving your customer’s problems and questions. It also means being honest with them, in the most tactful way possible, and not shying away from answering and solving their tough questions.
For example, what would you do if an upset customer called in about an order that was incorrectly charged to their bank account or credit card? The customer wants to know why they were charged more money for something that they purchased, and the problem was clearly a mistake on your end, not theirs. Do you tell the customer honestly that an error was made, apologize to them for the error, and offer them a discount code on their next purchase, OR do you dance around their question and somehow blame them for the mistake? Hopefully, you would go with the first choice, and not the second, even though the first choice is more difficult to do. It’s never easy to own up to a mistake, but most customers will appreciate your honesty with them and will forgive you for the mistake.
Transparency is difficult, especially when most businesses depend on your reputation and how the public perceives you. But, customers appreciate transparency, and are more likely to reward you for your honesty by staying loyal to your brand and telling other potential paying customers about your amazing company!
Leave a Reply