This value is relationships built on trust and awarness of the company and its procedures, through a transparency and humanization.This is something every business has the capabilities to do and reach beyond any customer expectations ever imagined.
Being in the social marketing industry I am inclined to talk about how social platforms allow us to connect to customers with context and build stronger relationships on trust and awareness of the needs of each other.
In reality, there are many ways in which communication can be broadcast. Amazon as a company has built 90 per cent of its value on the quality of communication and relationships alone.
Amazon for years has forged a value within its industry and created oportunities for other industries to follow in its footsteps, with nothing more than a customer centric core. Amazon’s products more often than not are some of the cheapest on the market, but this is more down to the buying power the company has gained in becoming one of the largest corperations in the world. This, however, has not always been the case and what has brought Amazon to the top is their drive to go above and beyond the expectations of customers within the industry.
What I am talking about is the focus on every point of contact with a customer in how things can be improved to make the customer’s experience a delight. Initially, the break through in how the customers found books online and then recommendations made the experience on Amazon more personal. Then came their “One Click” technology, which allowed customers to input card details once and purchase from the site from then on with one click of the link.
Amazon’s shipping has been regarded as the best in the world over the years, and over time it just keeps improving and pushing the expectations of customers further. To a point now which means if a customer is not happy with a product or needs a different make or model, not only is it acceptable to send the item back, Amazon will also arrange for the item to be picked up free of charge, taking away any hassle customers may have in arranging for the item to be sent back. Everything they do is focused around the customer and their needs, to add a value beyond any price or product they offer.
This added value has an impact on the businesses in a monetary value from more sales being made all the way through to the price of a company if it were to be sold. The value Amazon have created exceeds any businesses within the same market soley on there added value alone.
We have the oportunity in whatever industry we land to impact the market through added value. This means not neccesarially having to be the cheapest or best in the market to accompish the strongest sales and largest profits, but through simply placing your mark on the industry and developing a reputation around it.
Social interaction means that it is at minimal costs to deliever outstanding results to our clients. We as businesses owners and industry expects know exactly what our market struggles with and the areas we can improve. It is up to us to develop the “human” side of our businesses and to build strong relationships from this. Conversations and constant communication are key to building trusted relationships, but more importantly they must have context behind them. Talking blindly to people in any situatuion is transparent, even if not always to you. But taking an interest in a need takes your business to new levels.
Social media, if used correctly, allows us to be pro-active in understanding our market needs. This means, with a real understanding of what we want, we can get hold and develop a plan to measure and improve constantly and with real returns.
James Curran is the founder of a channel by Yuftee.com,?”Simple data to help develop conversations and relationships through social networks.”
