Key to Engagement

3 tips to improve the customer experience

One surefire way to market a product well is to know that product inside and out. Rather than focusing on the "fluff" — the less important aspects of a product — it's essential that a marketer know the substantial details that affect the customer's experience. And the best way to learn about that is to go straight to the customer. When customers have questions about your company, use them as a tool to develop a marketing message that will resonate with your clients. Here are three tips on how to learn about your product through the eyes of your customers:

1. Learn from customer support. Pay attention to phone calls or emails from your customers. If you have a specific department within your company that deals with customer support, sit down with those employees and learn about common customer concerns. Also be sure to talk to your customer support team about how they respond to these concerns — you may discover answers you've never thought about.
2. Ask your customers questions. There are so many ways to contact your customers to ask questions, including phone, email, social media websites, and face-to-face. If you're willing to listen, then you'll be able to find someone to talk to. Customers like knowing that their opinion matters and will be willing to answer your questions if you reach out to them.
3. Create easy feedback channels. Your customers won't know that you're interested in talking to them unless you make the effort to tell them. For example: don't just use your social networking accounts for status updates, but instead engage in conversations with your customers. If you have a blog, write a post asking for feedback from your readers.