Customer service has never been so important. These days, sales are not the ultimate motive of brands, it is about building meaningful relationships with each customer. This, in turn, helps the brand gain brand reputation which can eventually lead to more conversions.

This means each brand has to cultivate positive relationships with each customer. The brand has to address any query that the customer has quickly so that they have a positive experience.

In an increasingly crowded market, brands (especially service brands) cannot afford to lose even a single customer due to any unaddressed query or time latency.

Why are customer relationships everything?

Customers these days have many platforms to voice their grievances. Social media and complaint forums have become a strong weapon against bad service by brands. In fact, before a purchasing decision is made, most people check the online reviews of the brand and product they intend to buy.

Even one unaddressed review can harm the reputation of a brand for a really long time.              

That is why businesses these days put a strong emphasis on customer relationships. Great service earns the business customer loyalty and trust. It is rightly said, retaining an existing customer is cheaper than acquiring a new one.

Even when times are difficult, loyal customers will not leave your side. Whether you have to increase prices due to inflation, call back some goods or take any decision that isn’t in the customer’s interest, a loyal customer will always be at your side.

If you do not engage with your customers, they could leave you at the first instance of bad service or a price hike. Add to this the bad reviews the customer gives you, and it becomes very difficult to regain the customer’s trust.

How to strengthen customer relationships with influencer marketing

This is something that can’t be done overnight. It is a long-term strategy that brands invest a lot in.

Here is where brands can use the power of influencer marketing. A well-thought-out long-term influencer marketing strategy can help brands reap rich dividends in the long run. This can help brands not only increase sales and market share but also build deep relationships with customers.

For brands, influencer marketing can be an arrow that can hit two targets.

This is easily said than done, as brands first need to find the right influencer that fits with the brand’s identity. The ideal way to find one is through an influencer marketing platform. Choose one that helps you to not only find the right influencer but also assists you to implement the influencer marketing campaign.

Anyways, let us see some of the ways influencer marketing can help you with managing customer services-

Boost brand reach and customer engagement

There is an oversaturation of advertisements wherever you look. Traditional advertising mediums like TV, radio, or print media do not work anymore. People trust their friends more than they trust paid adverts.

Here is where influencers come into the picture. These people post unbiased genuine reviews, recommendations, and thoughts about your product. People trust the recommendations of their influencers and make purchasing decisions based on this.

Influencers are accessible to their followers in the form of comments or other interactions. People ask their influencers for suggestions and get unbiased answers for this too.

Brands leverage this engaged target audience to host giveaways and contests in collaboration with the influencers. This helps them to boost customer engagement and gives them valuable feedback for the product.

Understand what the customer needs

Brands can leverage the influencer’s heft with their target audience to know what their customers want in the product. There are cases when FMCG brands have used influencer marketing to run a poll on which flavors they should launch in the market. Some brands urge their influencers to get feedback from their customers to know what they should do right according to the customer’s wishes.

Provide the customers a personalized experience

Customers generally have a short attention span online. They may just skim through content that interests them. Influencers help brands by posting unique content that people admire. They know what will work when. In fact, many influencers demonstrate the use of the product to help customers know how exactly to use it. This is true, especially in the cosmetics and software niches.

Improve Retention rate and nurture customers

Brands can use social media influencers to retain and interact with customers. This could be a follow-up to a customer complaint or an answer to a question put forth by someone. Customers like it when their issues are heard directly by the brand via the influencer’s post. This helps brands retain customers.

Wrap Up

Brands have no option but to engage with a third party to gain their customers’ trust and loyalty. Influencers act as an intermediate between the brand and its customers. This is a win-win situation for everyone involved. A well-thought-out and implemented influencer marketing strategy can work wonders for any brand in any specific niche.