A few days ago, I received a marketing email from a company. It was about a customer who complained about the product, and how the brand addressed the issue.
It wrapped up with a small video from the client, a few screenshots of the interaction, and a few tips from the customer service agent. For most people, this seems like another basic marketing campaign.
However, the brand has used a very good tactic here. They have used customer service for marketing.
By using the client story, the brand has established that:
- The customer is their priority.
- They address issues right away.
- The customers are happy with the service.
If you are a business owner and do not know how to use customer support as a marketing tool, here is a simple guide to help you.
4 Ways Your Brand Can Use Customer Service for Marketing
There are a lot of ways to market a product or service. However, you can also leverage your customer support to market your brand. Here are four ways to do so.
Turning Thumbs Down to Thumbs Up
Reviews are a crucial part of marketing. Most people see an ad and then check reviews before making a purchase. So, if most reviews are negative, customers will start second-guessing everything. Moreover, a bad experience will not just make you lose your current customers, but will also detract new ones.
This is where good customer service will change everything. Xfinity is a great example of this. They have consumer-friendly practices, like offering a 30-day money-back guarantee and an option for no contracts. On top of that, Xfinity customer service is also there to address issues right away and turn bad customer experiences into good ones.
By using the same strategy, you can create a follow-up approach for your brand. Customers writing negative reviews can be contacted and asked to share their stories.
The brand can then launch an instant solution plan and offer an explanation to the customer. Xfinity is not alone here, most businesses like Amazon, Trader Joe’s, Google, Yelp, and Facebook use this strategy for marketing.
Understanding Challenges and Opportunities
As the industry and technology evolves, customer expectations also evolve. In majority of cases, brands research consumer behavior by leveraging advanced stats and data-scrapping tools.
For big brands with dedicated data and research departments, these tools are affordable. However, for small brands with limited budgets, relying on organic research and free sources is the only option. In this case, customer service can be very helpful. Usually, the support team is aware of the frequently reported complaints, issues faced by customers, and the possible solutions customers want from the brand.
When properly used, this data can be very helpful for marketers. While running digital marketing campaigns, the advertising team can highlight the issue and then offer their business as a solution.
Project marketing tools like Jira, Monday.com, and Asana use this strategy to run their marketing campaign. These brands especially address problems and issues reported by their customers in the form of new features. Eventually, these features are highlighted during the campaigns.
Marketing As Per Customers’ Interests
Customers are drawn to products that pique their interest. Similarly, customers at different stages of life, ages, or situations shop for different things. Brands with a good budget and proper tools can extract customer data to create personalized marketing campaigns.
An exceptional example of this process is Amazon. With thousands of products from different categories, Amazon extracts customer data i.e. age, interest, online engagement, and consumer behavior. All this data is eventually used for targeting the relevant audience.
However, keep in mind that Amazon has a custom algorithm that extracts data from Google and sorts it out for the campaign. This process might not be possible for smaller brands with limited budgets. Instead, the customer support team can be helpful as they stay in contact with different clients every day.
Boosting Customer Loyalty
For most brands, going viral or getting a lot of attention might not be an issue. Instead, their biggest problem is to stay consistently relevant, keep people hooked for the long term, and maintain their sales. This is where customer loyalty comes in.
Most big brands launch customer loyalty programs like affiliate codes, network marketing, point cards, exclusive access to products, and referrals. However, for small brands, sticking to word of mouth is the best solution. In this case, customer service is an excellent way to turn things around.
For instance, Apple is one of the biggest tech brands right now all thanks to customer loyalty. They believe in finessing services rather than innovation, and to support that, they have top-notch customer service.
Right from the time you walk into an Apple store, to the time you make a purchase, or come back with a complaint, the company focuses on customer satisfaction at every end.
Leading Brands Using Customer Service for Marketing
Some of the brands mentioned above aren’t the only examples of companies who use their customer service for marketing. Other’s like Southwest Airlines, Ritz-Carlton, Costco and Disney are also some great examples.
Most brands on the list are well known and have already established a good reputation within their niche, so they have a good budget as well. However, as a small brand with limited budget, it is important to seek reviews directly from customers and find ways that are budget friendly.
