How to Woo Your Customers

By Stephanie Levy | HappyOrNot
3 MIN READ

Happy Valentine’s Day! To celebrate, we’ve written a special poem just for you:

What is happiness?

Of course, happiness is subjective to the individual, but research in the field of positive psychology, the study of happiness and how ordinary people can become happier and more fulfilled, often defines a happy person as someone who experiences frequent positive emotions, and infrequent (though not absent) negative emotions.

In business, it’s essential to understand how your customers perceive your service performance and your brand to know how to offer them positive (happy) customer experiences.

What is a happy customer?

In terms of customer satisfaction or happiness, it’s generally similar to the way in which a person’s individual experiences and perception of their experiences impact their mood – but towards the business itself – with the trigger being a successfully positive service experience.

A happy customer is one that not only leaves your business feeling satisfied with the service received, but one that will return to you in the future and promote your brand to friends and family.

3 Simple ways to woo your customers (and make them happy)

1. Get to know them

Long gone are the days where a/s/l was enough info about an individual. Now, we must learn about the customer’s preferences in order to personalize and enhance their experience with you.

What are their likes, dislikes, interests? What to they typically buy from you, or browse while on your website? Segment’s 2017 report speaks to this, indicating that personalization promotes impulse buys, and with fewer returns, increases revenue, and creates loyalty.  

You can learn more about your customers in a non-intrusive way by offering short personalization surveys when signing up for the first time, or more thoroughly by following their purchases and browsing trends. When you learn what they’re into (and what they’re not), you can tailor your marketing activities in ways that will speak more closely to their needs, and draw them in more effectively.

2. Form a connection

Customers expecting that you remember them, regardless of how they interact with your brand. Forming connections with your customers is an important part of customer loyalty customer happiness. An easy way to start connecting with your customers is to ‘HUG’ them. By this, we mean be:

Human.
Unique.
Genuine.

Human refers to being relatable to your customers, where they will see you as a person behind the brand, not the business itself. Tell a story. Get personal. Speak to them, not at them. Being human with your customers creates an emotional connection and supports the formation of long-term customer relationships.   

Unique, for your customers, means translating the information you’ve learned about your customer’s unique preferences, and tailoring your messaging to suit them. They will feel special and as if you’ve remembered them – which is exactly what they want.

Genuine is arguably the most important part. A brand that is honest, authentic, and delivers on its promises, builds trust. A customer’s trust in a brand is an essential part of establishing customer loyalty and retention. When trust has been secured as the foundation, marketing and sales strategies are more efficient and effective.

3. Surprise them

Who doesn’t like a nice surprise?! An extra gift in that online purchase you made, a birthday discount code from your favorite shop, a free sample when perusing in-store, or a customer service rep who makes your day.

Giving customers something they hadn’t been expecting is a great way to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty, because receiving unexpected surprises trigger pleasure centers in the brain that can promote positive experiences with a business.

Why? Science. Researchers from Emory University found that the brain finds unexpected pleasures more rewarding than expected ones, and react more strongly to those that are unexpected. So, if you really want to give your customers a pleasurable experience that will make them remember you, surprise them!