Customer connection: A comprehensive guide

In today’s competitive landscape, it’s easy for customers to feel overwhelmed with choices and options when they’re looking for a product. With a seemingly endless list of companies vying for attention, customer connection can play an important role.

Customer connection, put simply, is the relationship a customer feels with a company. This connection can take a variety of forms but almost always requires you to put the customer first.

A 2018 study found that 64% of consumers wanted brands to connect with them. But how does a brand put its customers first and connect with its consumers? Roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults shop online, where human interaction is limited. While online brands can’t use face-to-face conversation to create customer connection, there are still a multitude of channels through which to create a connected customer experience.

We’ve put together a guide on the importance of customer connection. We’ll explore why consumers not only want but expect a connection and how to best achieve this. We’ll take a closer look at how you can achieve a connection and how it can benefit your brand.

What is customer connection?

Customer connection is when customers feel connected to a business. The way they feel connected can change dramatically depending on the nature of a business, but there are similar outcomes. Often a customer connection is fostered outside of the immediate purchasing journey.

Relationships between businesses and consumers begin way before a purchase has been made. Social advertising can create a connection before someone has visited your site or browsed your products—or even heard of your brand. If the consumer then signs up for emails or follows a social media account, you’ve forged a direct connection.

Once a direct connection has been established, you can develop the relationship further. The connection between the customer and the brand is essential for a business to succeed and is something all brands should strive for.

But what is the connected consumer, and what do they look like?

Define connected customers

The average connected customer is an online and digitally savvy consumer. They use digital channels for everything from shopping to entertainment. Because connected consumers are frequently online, they’re quick to adopt new technologies and devices.

Connected consumers have come to expect a regular online presence from brands. This modern expectation can be summed up as “always on,” with users expecting results immediately or as soon as possible. Similarly, connected consumers have come to expect a degree of personalization in communication. Long gone are the days of mass emails addressed to everyone in a database. Customers want to see what’s relevant to them.

Why is customer connection important?

A strong customer connection between consumer and brand creates loyalty. However niche your products or services, you want your customers to think of you when it’s time to make a purchase.

If you’re struggling to attract and retain loyal, connected consumers, it could be a sign that things need to change. On the other hand, if you’re getting repeat traction from loyal customers, this shows that what you’re doing is working.

The statistics are there to back up the theory. 57% of consumers will increase their spending with a brand if they feel connected to it, and 76% will pick a brand they feel close to over a brand they don’t know.

Customer connection can also help you understand your wider customer base and whom you’re attracting. Understanding your audience can play a large role in the decisions you make and future planning. The better you understand your audience, the better you can plan. Understanding who’s interested in your brand can also help you to attract new but similar customers at a lower cost.

What are the 3 components of connected customers?

The three core components of customer connection are discovery, engagement, and delivery. These are the pillars for building a connected customer service.

Discovery

This is how potential customers find you. First impressions matter both on and offline, so it’s important that all your outputs are high-quality. Whether it’s paid advertising, social media posts, or emails offering discount codes, your outputs need to be free of mistakes and instantly recognizable as yours.

Engagement

Once your potential customers know who you are, you need to actively engage them to keep them interested. Today’s customers also need to be well-informed before they make a purchase. 81% of shoppers head online to gather more information before purchasing. Engagement is your chance to demonstrate your brand values, but also to inform customers of the products you offer.

Here, customer connection offers a feedback loop—the more connected a customer is, the more they’ll interact with your content. The more they engage with you, the more connected they’ll feel.

Delivery

This core pillar is all about delivering what you promised. Your brand values will determine what you need to deliver. If your business and your communications all point to the ethics of your brand, connected customers will expect to see proof of this.

It could be that your brand is focused on reducing its environmental impact. For example, you could share information on your CO2 emissions or emphasize the recycled origins of products.

Delivery for you could quite literally be about delivery—maybe at the checkout stage, you highlight your carbon-neutral delivery options or renewable packaging. Regardless of your business, it’s important that you can deliver on everything you’ve communicated through your brand.

How do you create customer connections?

Creating a customer connection isn’t an instant process and is something you’ll need to continually develop if you want to build a successful business. Below, you will find the process of building a customer connection broken down into steps. You may find that not all of these apply to your business model.

1.  Understand your customer: Knowing how your customer thinks can help you communicate with them better.

2. Build a culture around the customer: When things go wrong, a customer-centric culture will help solve problems easily.

3. Use empathy maps: Empathy maps can help you to understand your customers and see how they feel about the purchasing journey on a personal level.

4. Respond to problems quickly: Today’s customers expect a fast response to any issues they experience and to feel supported throughout their journey.

5. Stay human: Adding a personal connection shows you think of your customers as people and not numbers—even something as simple as using the customer’s name can help.

6. Make things convenient: Whether it’s returning a product, hiring a service, or navigating a website, make your customer experience as user-friendly as possible.

7. Stay in touch and ask for feedback: Checking in after a purchase can show you care about your customer’s overall experience and encourage repeat purchases.

8. Use social media to your advantage: Social media can be used to not only promote your brand but to answer questions people may have and show customers you are available.

What is the definition of a connected customer experience?

A connected customer experience is defined as a purchasing experience that includes multiple elements to the purchasing journey. Traditionally the shopping experience might involve entering a store and browsing products. Today, however, users can browse online, see if products are in store, and read product reviews all within several minutes. 

The connected customer experience has gone from simply browsing and purchasing to a multifaceted experience. Users expect a consistent positive experience across all channels without losing accessibility or ease of use.

What is a connected customer journey?

A connected journey refers to the consumer’s experience before, during, and after the purchase. The individual journeys will differ depending on what the customer wants to do but also on what each business does. 

Regardless of the product or the service offered, almost all connected customer journeys have the same core stages. 

It starts with customers being advertised new products, services, or brands. This can be direct—for example, through paid marketing—or indirect, through broader media channels such as print media. Effective cross-promoting can be used here to reinforce the early steps of the customer journey. From there, the process involves removing barriers between the user and the end journey. Remember that clear, simple, and direct information works better for customer engagement than obscure, convoluted, or indirect communication.

Post-purchase, connected customer journeys involve reaching out to customers in personalized ways. Targeted ads and personalized emails will reinforce how you see the customer as an individual and care about their experience, reinforcing brand loyalty.

Steps to building a connected customer experience

If you want to create a connected customer experience, the following steps can serve as a guideline:

1. Integrate data across all technologies 

The cookies and data a customer shares can be used to follow up and understand them better. Utilize their online behavior, the products they browse, and even how they choose to pay. Personalized experiences rely on relevant, up-to-date data, so if this information remains isolated from other channels, it reduces its effectiveness.

2. Continually innovate

Connected customers are often the first to adopt new technologies and standards. As attitudes to customer experiences constantly evolve, a continuously innovative approach to the customer experience management can help you stay relevant. Today’s companies take information from all touchpoints to improve the services they offer. This drive to continuously improve the customer experience can result in a high-quality, connected experience.

3. Understand your customer’s point of view

Empathy can be a huge tool when it comes to building the connected customer experience. Seeing the system through the eyes of your customer can show you the pain points. It can also show which parts work well and where customer expectations lie. Used in conjunction with data-based evidence, it can be easier to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of your customer journey using customer feedback.

4. Use technology to your advantage

Connected customers are perpetually online, making it difficult for businesses to respond at all hours. With smart technology, however, you can remain connected to your customers whatever the time. Use chatbots and virtual assistants to provide instant answers and provide proactive solutions to common issues.

Effective ways to connect with your customers

Connecting with your customers is more important than ever when consumers are always on and competition is fierce. We’ve put together our top tips to help you develop a strong relationship with your customers and increase customer satisfaction.

Know your customers

Knowing your customers is key. When you know who you’re selling and speaking to, it becomes much easier to promote products and services. Leverage tools like AI-driven insights to optimize your service for the contemporary customer and develop strong customer relationships.  

Keep your customers informed

Whether it’s the delivery status of a parcel or the launch of a new service, let your customers know what’s happening. When you keep customers informed, they can develop a greater understanding of your brand and your products, and you will be better able to meet your customer needs.

Use customer support

Customer support can prevent small problems from developing into large-scale customer journey issues. Going above and beyond can set you apart from the competition and create customer loyalty and connected customers. Tools like automated self-service and custom widgets can mitigate issues and optimize your operation.