Thursday 16th April is Get To Know Your Customers Day, a day where we are reminded of the ultimate value and importance of our customers in the success (and purpose) of our businesses. Whilst our industries, fields, and expertise may vary, we’re all in the same business of selling a certain value to our customers. Which means that, in order to provide the best service possible, we need to know who we’re talking to. Get To Know Your Customers Day is a timely reminder to focus on just that, knowing your audience.

Even when the world is adjusting to a ‘new normal’ as we ride the wave that is the coronavirus pandemic, there are still ways for you to connect with and learn from your customers. In fact, there’s never been a more important time to be acutely aware of what it is your customers need and how you can best serve them.

Every single one of your customers should feel important and valued, whether they’re spending $10 or $10,000 they’re still investing in your work and your business. Each customer or client brings with them an opportunity to learn, get inspired and progress in your work as you’re able to tailor new offers, products or services to fit your audience’s ever evolving needs and challenges. Here are six activities to get you started on Get To Know Your Customers Day. 

1. Make Time For Conversations

Whilst we all interact with our customers and clients on a near daily basis, how often do you make the time for deeper, more personal conversations?

Even when physical stores are closed, there are still opportunities for customer conversations. Connect with your supporters on social media or send out an email of thanks to loyal customers who are still making online orders. Get to know your customers by name, learn more about their lives, their shopping habits and their buying preferences. It’s information like this that will enable you to add the personal touch that encourages your customers to keep on supporting you, even when navigating a more challenging financial landscape.

If you’re working with clients remotely through a service based business, allow time for general chit chat before you begin your calls. Try to find out why your clients chose to work with you over others offering the same service, ask them what other challenges they’re facing and what support they’d like to see. This could be just the inspiration you need to add in a new service offering to solve those new problems. 

2. Run A Giveaway

Say thank you to your clients and customers by running a giveaway on Get To Know Your Customers Day through your most popular social media channel. You can choose to offer up one of your lower-priced products or services, or curate a selection of gifts that you know fit your audience’s interests. But, rather than simply asking your followers to tag a friend to enter, why not ask them to share some knowledge instead?

Ask your audience to comment with the biggest challenge they’re facing in your industry right now, with each comment counting as an entry to the competition. You’re still giving something back to your customers but, at the same time, you’re gaining valuable insights into their problems and needs in a rapidly changing landscape. You can use this information later to plan out a new product or service with an audience that’s ready to sell to!

3. Plan Your Next Launch By Poll

Use social media to ask your followers what they’d like to see from your business or service next, and create a poll for them to vote.

By asking your audience for their input, and acting upon it, you’re showing that you genuinely value their opinion whilst they feel personally invested in your business in return. 

Struggling to decide between potential product colours? Ask your audience to vote on them. Not sure which service to launch first? Ask your customers which one they’d prefer to see. Need to choose a release date? Get your followers to decide. What’s key here is to make the request authentic – you need to be genuinely invested in taking feedback from your audience onboard.

4. Host A Virtual Event

Without your customers or clients, you wouldn’t be where you are today. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that your business wouldn’t exist! Whilst real life connections are, of course, the ideal we’re all adjusting to a new digital focus and learning to use technology to build communities and forge new connections.

Give back to your customers by hosting a virtual event. If you’re launching a new product or service, you can use tools such as Instagram Live or Facebook Live to introduce this new offering to your audience and walk them through the behind the scenes story of its creation. You may well find that, by running this event virtually, you’re able to share more insider secrets than you would’ve been able to with a physical event. And your audience will love you for it!

If a virtual launch event doesn’t fit with your strategy right now, why not run a virtual workshop for your customers? This could be a free mini-offer run via Zoom or another virtual platform, walking your audience through how to use a specific product of yours or sharing some actionable insights that fit with your service offerings. By holding space for your audience to ask questions, whilst sharing your value in return, you’re able to learn from your customers whilst also giving back to your community.

5. Ask For Feedback

For a business to be sustainable, it needs to constantly evolve, learn and adapt. Which means that gathering feedback should be a regular part of your client or sales process.

Collating feedback in the form of reviews or testimonials empowers you to better understand what it is that your customers love about your products and services, what they want to see more of and why they were drawn to buy from you. Use this Get To Know Your Customers Day as a chance to add feedback requests to your client wrap process.

6. Share A Special Thank You

During times of crisis, we can often find ourselves so focussed on survival and keeping our heads above water, that we lose the personal touch which made us so unique in the first place.

Something as simple as adding personal questions into your onboarding process and finding out if your clients are tea or coffee fans, or what their favourite stores are, not only helps you understand your customer preferences better but also gives you the opportunities to add a personal thank you into each project. 

Surprise and delight your customers by sending out a personal gift or thank you card at the end of each project, or at a pivotal moment midway through, and celebrate together. It’s personal touches like this that can make you even more memorable, meaning you’ll have repeat customers and recommendations for years to come.

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How will you be marking Get To Know Your Customers Day this month?

Come and let me know over on Instagram!