Building Relationships
A website provides an ongoing point of contact with your customers and can be a useful way of collecting information about them for e-marketing purposes and for building successful relationships with them.
Answering common queries
Answering the common queries customers ask on your website - perhaps in the form of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) - demonstrates you're ready to help. It may also save you time and money by reducing the number of basic phone queries.
Provide an email facility for queries and customer feedback - but ensure someone checks them regularly. Respond to queries promptly and let people know their comments are appreciated. This process can be automated. Provide full contact details, particularly phone numbers, for people in need of an immediate answer or they may look elsewhere.
Asking visitors to register
Many businesses ask first-time visitors to their site to register. This can be useful for gathering statistics and email addresses for direct mailings.
But asking people to register straight away may put them off. Make sure they've got far enough into your site to want to find out more. Tell them how they can benefit from registering, such as by accessing special content. And ask for the minimum details possible.
If you intend to collect personal data, there are a number of legal requirements. Please read the topic in this guide on the legal considerations in e-marketing.
Customer relationship management
Many businesses invest in a customer relationship management (CRM) system to improve their customer services. The CRM system brings information like customer data, sales patterns, marketing data and future trends together with the aim of identifying new sales opportunities, delivering improved customer service, or offering personalised services and deals.
In addition to improving sales and profitability, the CRM system is very effective in handling customer complaints and can have a tremendous effect on your reputation.