How many of your customers do you feel are loyal and committed to stick with your business? Do you have an inkling that some may be seeking to move their business elsewhere?

One size fits all is not always the best approach. Many customers now expect businesses to fully understand their individual needs and to review this regularly.

An ongoing two-way interaction with your customers is essential to ensure you’re performing well and you’re anticipating their needs. 

There are three key things to consider to create long-term customer engagement

1. Asking questions

A good starting point is asking some of the following questions about your customers:

• How well do you know your customers as individuals?
• What do you know about their challenges, priorities, and needs?
• Are your customers committed to you, or could they easily move to one of your competitors?

The answers to these questions come from speaking with your customers. Find out where there may be problem areas, how you can improve and where there may be gaps in your delivery. Dedicating time to call a cross section of customers at an agreed time can work well. Be sure to focus the conversation on what the customer’s strategic needs are. 

2. Knowing your customer

Keep up-to-date with your customers online, visit their website and social media channels to get a fuller picture of your customer and their priorities. If you know what your customer is focusing on you can look out for opportunities to help them achieve this.
 

3. Make customer engagement the heart of your business 

Every member of your team should know the importance of customer engagement and understanding the needs of your customer. A good way to help embed this in your culture is to:

• Create customer experience metrics — what does success for the client look like? Use these metrics as key performance indicators for each client.
• Empower your staff to take action on what they have learned about the customer and make recommendations.
• Continue to talk to customers and use their feedback to tailor the service you offer

Having your customers’ needs at the heart of your business is a good way to ensure they stay loyal and your business remains relevant and competitive.