Deutsch
Based on current studies, you have around seven seconds to make a good impression. It is irrelevant here whether it is a personal encounter or you want to win the person as a new customer for your product.
First impressions are important because they are remembered, both to your friends and to your customers.
In fact, customers are much more likely to form an opinion about your product or service based on their first impression than on the actions you take at a later date. This is why it is very important that you get things right the first time.
Convince potential new customers with a good first impression. Done correctly, you secure the cooperation not only in the short term, but for many successful years.
If you disappoint a customer, no matter how, there is a very high probability that he will decide on another partner in a timely manner, or that there will be no cooperation at all.
A few small factors determine whether or not you win a customer. The same goes for making a good first impression.
Below we've listed techniques you can use to attract customers and make a great first impression right from the start.
Introduce yourself and make it as easy as possible for the customer to get support from you.
Have you already thought about how easy it is for your customers to get in touch with you?
71% of consumers ended their relationship with a business because of poor service. This is why it is important that you and your employees are easy for customers to reach and speak to.
When a prospect signs up for your free trial or a customer buys your software, how easy is it for them to find your contact or support information?
It is often enough to introduce yourself to your new customers and let them know that you are available to convince them of you. Customers are so used to minimal support that they only need to be there and available to stand out from the crowd.
If you offer great service, you will create many long-term customer relationships. As simple as it may seem, an action as small as providing your phone number in an onboarding email is often enough to show customers that you are there for them and let them help you with anything.
Reading recommendation: Social media has not only become more relevant in the area of customer support. In our blog article "NPS and Social Media - a closer look" we take a closer look at the areas of application of a satisfaction survey.
Make sure you are there before customers need your help.
The mass of customers will use your product in very different ways, or interact with it.
Some of them will feel adept at using it, while other customers will encounter difficulties as soon as they take the first steps. You should always be there to help.
As soon as a customer is confused or even frustrated with the problem, your Customer Success Team should take immediate action and offer help to overcome any obstacle.
Monitoring your customers' behavior by reading heat maps or watching recorded sessions is a great source of indirect feedback that gives you invaluable insights into how you can improve your product to make it more attractive and valuable to your customers .
Send personalized, human onboarding emails
Many SaaS companies drop the ball once they land a new customer (or test user) by sending a generic, non-personalized onboarding email.
The more personal your communication with customers, the more important they will feel. Sending automated, non-personalized emails - especially from an info or similar email address - delivers a very specific message to the customer.
When a customer opens their inbox and finds a general message from an info or worse, Noreply address, they may be assuming that it is not worth it for you to contact them personally and directly.
In return, a personalized email from a real person sends two important messages:
- You want to communicate directly with your customer
- The customer can simply contact you by email if they have any difficulties or questions
Therefore, if possible, avoid sending messages from a generic email address, especially without personalization. Not only do they make customers feel more welcome, but they also achieve higher open and click rates.
Tell your customers exactly what to expect next
This approach is crucial for your customer acquisition and onboarding processes. If you let your customers know exactly what will happen next, you will remove a huge amount of confusion that all too often leads users to give up on new applications.
You have 2 options here to implement this:
- The first is to tell users what to do. Add a gentle call-to-action to each of your onboarding messages that guides your customers.
With this you draw a clear path that your customers can follow. - The second is to let users know what will happen next. In each email, inform how the next step should be carried out.
Since you keep all of your customers informed of the process step by step, they always know exactly what happens next. As a result, there is much less confusion or frustration.
Understand your audience's needs and priorities
The better you understand your audience, the easier it will be for you to give them a great experience.
Find out what your target audience is interested in. If you find out in the course of your surveys that your customers are interested in a certain payment method, then involve them in order to increase customer satisfaction.
You have certainly been in the situation where you have discovered a great product or service, but you have not been able to use it, simply because certain functions that you urgently need were not available.
From payment options to integrations, a large number of users often reject products due to a lack of functionality.
On the other hand, when customers find your product and find that you offer something that is hugely valuable to them, their first impression is fantastic. You are then immediately interested in your product or service and are motivated to try it out.
The better you understand your audience, the easier it is for you to offer the features you need and prioritize development towards them.
Do you know the key features or integrations that are used to make an amazing first impression on each of your customers?
Always keep your promises
It's easy to get customers with big promises, but you'll have a hard time keeping those customers if you can't deliver.
If you market your product or service based on certain features, make sure that they are available as soon as customers want to buy your product. Better yet, build your onboarding process, explore the features that play the biggest role in marketing your product, and then focus on them.
That way, customers will feel comfortable with your application's key selling points as soon as they start using it.
The easier you can make your application to use and access to its full value, the better your first impression will be. Keep your promises right from the start with a great customer experience and win customers quickly and in the long term.
Find out what your customers think of you
The better you understand your customers, the easier it will be for you to retain them. With Callexa, you can collect, analyze and respond to customer feedback using a simple, highly effective one-question survey.
Learn more about how Net Promoter Score works and start using Callexa today to measure and increase customer satisfaction.
Recommended reading: If this article helped you and you would like to learn more about the possibilities of using NPS in customer acquisition, continue reading here: "The role of NPS in customer acquisition"