Customers don’t want to search around trying to find a way to contact your business. Thanks to big businesses like Amazon, Target and Starbucks, customers have become accustomed to contacting businesses they’ve worked with on multiple platforms, and getting quick responses. And that’s why the customer experience is so important.

Connecting with customers where they are improves the overall customer experience, which makes them more likely to come back and work with your business again. 90% of customers say they are more likely to work with a business after a positive social media interaction. We all know that social media is a great tool for connecting people together. Businesses are no exception to this. The fact that literally billions of people utilize social media tells us that your customers are probably there and they are ready to connect with you through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other online platforms.

Creating positive experiences for your customers each time you interact with them is absolutely essential to business success. In fact, it takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for one negative experience. That’s a lot of pressure! Except, there are things you can do to avoid negative customer interactions.

There are the obvious things that businesses avoid to make sure customers are happy with their service, like being friendly and prompt. There are also less obvious factors that contribute to customer dissatisfaction that businesses should be wary of: 

• Lack of Communication: Customers want you to engage with them. Companies with a strong customer engagement strategy have retention rates of over 80%. Your business should be engaging regularly with its customers with messaging that is valuable to them. 
• Not Requesting Feedback: If your customers don’t feel valued and like you care about their feedback, they likely won’t be coming back. Everyone wants to feel heard. Asking your customers for their feedback: the good, the bad, and the ugly, shows them that you care about their experience and you value them as a customer.
• Response Time: Over 70% of customers say they expect immediate responses when they reach out to a business. Immediate isn’t always achievable, but there are things you can do to try to make it a priority, like offering WeChat and communicating through text messaging. 

Customers are usually more vocal about negative experiences, so your business knows what changes need to be made and you can address the issues quickly. Keep your customers happy by focusing on positive interactions, while also avoiding the less obvious negative experiences. 

For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. If any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add, please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!