StartupTalky

Tag: customer feedback

  • Customer UX & Feedback: A Key Tool in the Startup Survival Kit

    If the customer is king, then customer feedback equals bags of gold coins for any business. Knowing what your customers are thinking about your product or service is an added weapon in your entrepreneurial arsenal.

    Amazon’s Jeff Bezos once famously said, “We see our customers as guests to a party, and we are hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little better.”

    In this article, StartupTalky looks at why customer feedback is essential for any business and the various online and offline modes of feedback mechanisms employed by companies.

    Importance of Customer Feedback
    Online Channels
    Post Purchase Feedback
    Offline Feedback

    Importance of Customer Feedback

    Any information that customers express about the product or service they are using is customer information or feedback. 

    Every successful endeavor thrives on a conversation—a continuous feedback loop between creator and consumer that fuels growth and progress, said Harkunwar Singh, CEO and co-founder of Novatr. 

    Simply put, a good customer experience bodes well for your business. A statistical report by Bain & Company showed that companies that excelled at customer experience grew revenues by around 4–8%!

    Continuous integration of customer insights allows us to refine features, enhance user experiences, and address pain points swiftly. This dynamic feedback mechanism is ingrained in our deep tech development processes, fostering agility and responsiveness to the evolving needs of our user base, said Swayam Agrawal, founder and CEO of Aarika Innovations.

    Our team on the ground collects feedback from our outlets regularly to understand the trends in terms of consumer taste preferences. Each comment guides us in refining flavors and enhancing overall customer satisfaction, ensuring your products not only taste great but also resonate with our consumers, said Siddharth Saraf, co-founder of Vaum Tonics.

    However, the question arises: what defines a good customer experience?

    Bain & Co. suggests answering five questions that will help companies come up with the best customer experience:

    1. What do we want to stand for in the eyes of our customers?
    2. Which actions will have the greatest effect on our target customers?
    3. How can customer feedback promote learning and behavior change?
    4. What aspects of their experience would our customers want to change?
    5. How can we anticipate and mitigate risks to sustain the changes?

    If you can answer these questions, you might as well have crossed the Laxman-Rekha to connect with your customer!

    Online Channels

    Unlike a few years ago, digitalization and the plethora of tech tools available have made listening to customers a little bit easier. Some companies tell us their pick as far as online customer listening tools are concerned.

    1. Interactive Polls: Instant and ready-made feedback is available to companies through startups, which is made public. Dealing with them appropriately can lead to instant customer redressal and thereby alleviate the company’s brand image as well. Soulweaves, a handmade luxury sari brand, often floats polls through their stories on Instagram for certain decisions. “For example, a poll to choose option A or B bag for packaging. We will finally produce the bags that have more votes,” said Swati Kapoor of Soulweaves.
    2. Surveys: Opinion matters, and there are several platforms where customers can easily chip in with their view of your product or service. However, the key to constructive feedback is to ask the right questions. “We regularly send out surveys via email to gather insights directly from customers about their experiences with our products or services,” said Deepti Sharma, Director of ThinkerPlace.
    3. Social Media Listening Tools: Several social media analytics tools help to understand the thought processes of a potential customer or an existing one. In the digital sphere, we closely monitor KPIs (key performance indicators) such as returning customer rates and retention rates. These analytics serve as quantitative benchmarks, offering insights into the efficacy of our products and customer engagement strategies, said Akanksha Sharma, co-founder and CEO of CITTA.
      A vibrant community helps some other companies touch base with customers. “We make a concerted effort to actively listen to our vibrant community, comprising over 2,500 members, including top-tier company executives, industry experts, learners, and our dedicated research team. This collaborative effort allowed us to pinpoint major improvement areas and craft a course that uniquely equips individuals for the challenges of both today and tomorrow,” said Harkunwar Singh, co-founder, and CEO of Novatr.
      A data survey by Nosto found that 61% of consumers—out of which 65% were Gen Z consumers—were more loyal and more likely to buy from a brand if they were invited to take part in a customer advocate community.
    4. Reviews: Reviews, especially positive ones, definitely help in bulking up a company’s brand image, but some of the reviews also end up giving perspective. “Keep track of reviews on platforms like Google My Business or specific industry-related review sites. Positive reviews indicate satisfaction and loyalty,” said Bhawna Sethi, founder of Let’s Influence.
      A survey carried out by BrightLocal showed that 98% of people read online reviews for local businesses. The survey also showed that 87% of consumers will use Google to evaluate local businesses.
    Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors Based on Their Customer Service Experience Worldwide as of May 2022
    Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors Based on Their Customer Service Experience Worldwide as of May 2022

    Post Purchase Feedback

    Following up with a customer after a purchase forges a long-lasting connection with the latter. 

    Since our customers are parents, a feedback call helps us to build a connection and shows our concern and care towards them. This personalized approach ensures that we not only capture quantitative data but also delve into qualitative insights, said Sharma from CITTA.

    But there is more to following up with customers after a purchase than merely ticking the box of a marketing practice. 

    A statistical chart titled ‘Attitude of Consumers Worldwide Toward Personalization and Customer Experience Provided by a Company‘ reported that 88% of consumers feel that the experience a company provides is as important as its product or service.

    Another survey of 300 customers across different nations by Twilio in March 2023 showed that consumers say they will become repeat buyers after a “personalized experience.”

    At times, it can help you understand the drawbacks and, thereby, go ahead and improve your product or service.

    After an offline purchase, we may follow up with customers via calls or emails to gather feedback about their experience, said Sharma of Thinkerplace. 

    Offline Feedback

    Although online platforms have made it easier for companies to collect feedback, the classic traditional modes of feedback can never go out of fashion.

    We also ask them directly through old-school methods like surveys, face-to-face chats, and group discussions. This mix helps us see the full picture of what customers feel about us in different situations, said Rajan Gupta, Director of 10x Make it Happen.

    Former Managing Director of HDFC Bank Aditya Puri was feared within his company for making surprise visits to his branches so he could get feedback from the customers themselves and check if the bank processes were followed on the ground.

    Another ex-HDFC Bank executive, Ruby Jain, who is now chief executive officer and founder of Vyaparify, resonates with the offline mode of communication. 

    Whatever we have learned is from the market. Sitting in the office, one will never get the idea. Going down to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, talking to the local business owners, and understanding what they feel is one way to earn their trust. They should feel that they are one of us. But at the same time, they should feel that you know slightly better than them, or else why would they listen to you? said Jain of Vyaparify, a one-stop platform that provides digital solutions to local businesses.

    Founder of kids health supplement brand Kiddoze, Nonita Mehta, talks of various offline modes of accumulating feedback. 

    “We regularly gather input from parents, healthcare professionals, and customers through surveys, reviews, and direct communication. This helps us refine formulations, improve flavors, and ensure our vitamin supplement meets the needs and preferences of both kids and parents. Additionally, we stay abreast of nutritional research to enhance the effectiveness of our products.”

    Conclusion

    Customer feedback is what a company not only thrives on but also survives on. However, it is essential to complete the feedback loop and implement it into the product cycle so that you put the user and customer experience before anything else. Like Steve Jobs said, “You’ve got to work with the customer experience first and then backward with the technology. You can’t start with the technology and then try to figure out how you are going to sell it.” Making use of technology and various online channels can strengthen your product development cycle, yet keeping a close eye on ground feedback remains equally important.

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  • Zluri Founder on Developing Develop Your SaaS Product

    Zluri is an enterprise SaaS Management Platform founded in 2020 by Chaithanya Yambari, Ritish Reddy Puttaparthi, and Sethu Meenakshisundaram. The startup is headquartered at San Francisco, United States. StartupTalky took the initiative to get insights around building how to build a SaaS Product.

    Insights shared by Mr.Ritish Reddy, Founder & CEO, Zluri.

    How did you get your first 10 clients for your SaaS Company?

    We got out initial customers through referrals and content marketing.

    Each of the co-founders – Ritish, Sethu, and Chaitanya – had a decade of experience building/selling enterprise software before starting Zluri. They were founding members of Knolskape and made some excellent connections while working there.

    During the ideation phase (of Zluri) itself, we had pitched ideas within our circles. So, when our MVP (minimum viable product) was ready, the first thing we did was to reach out to our network for feedback. Not only did they give helpful feedback, but a few of them were also interested in the product, and a few referred to the right people, who later became our customers.

    What’s 1 pain which you are solving for your customer?

    We help companies solve the challenges of managing SaaS applications.

    Though all companies know the benefits of SaaS, not many are aware of the problems it brings. The high adoption of SaaS in the post-pandemic era has brought new problems for IT teams, like SaaS sprawl.

    When employees themselves start purchasing apps without the purview of IT, it leads to shadow IT and SaaS sprawl. This leads to budget wastage (in the form of unused & underused apps, many apps with similar functionality, unsuitable licenses ) and brings security and compliance issues if not dealt with.

    Traditionally, these apps were managed in spreadsheets but spreadsheets have their own limitations. It is time-consuming to update the app details every time a new one is bought, but they are also prone to errors.

    Further, many tasks are not possible in spreadsheets, like app discovery, visibility into SaaS usage, automation of giving and revoking access to apps while onboarding and offboarding, etc.

    Zluri solves these issues by eliminating SaaS wastage, reducing security and compliance risks, and automating IT tasks, like provisioning and deprovisioning of apps.

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    Finding an Ideal Customer Profile is very important for SaaS startups. How did you go about doing that?

    We knew one thing from the beginning that our product would be most useful for companies using a large number of SaaS apps. So, we reached out to IT and finance directors at many enterprises, where we got many insights on who would need our product the most.

    What we found was that big organisations were still relying on on-premise software. Though they were moving towards the cloud, most software apps were still not consumed as SaaS.

    On the other hand, though recently founded startups were using SaaS apps, the problems were not painful enough to solve for immediately.

    What are your views on the Indian SaaS market?

    Indian SaaS startups are in a position to grow rapidly today. What makes this possible is the demand for software and the availability of talent and capital in the Indian market.

    The software revolution powered by the SaaS delivery model is giving rise to SaaS consumption in the domestic and international markets. Companies have seen the benefits of SaaS in events like a pandemic.

    Then we have very talented people in the Indian market who can build high-quality products quickly. We can make a prototype, iterate at high speed, fail fast, and pivot.

    We have a lot of communities that support Indian startup ecosystems, like SaaS Boomi, TiE, etc.

    Further, Indian startups can launch in multiple markets simultaneously and win big in the international markets like the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

    What are a few things a founder must take care of during SaaS product development?

    A SaaS product needs to be developed based on the industry and customer you will be selling to. If you take SaaS, two kinds of people will be your customer: a buyer and a user.

    Before building the product, it is essential to understand them. Your product must help the end-user deliver value, and the value must be viewable to the buyer. So, before deciding to build a product, the first step is to talk to at least 100 users to understand their problems.

    Of course, you aren’t going to come up with a solution for each of those pain points initially, but you can go after the common ones to build an MVP (minimum viable product).

    Make sure to keep note of the other problems as well and include them in your product roadmap for the next few quarters.

    After completion of the minimum viable product, get the users feedback, validate the problem-solution fit with users, and analyse the scope for improvements.

    In some cases, users might suggest a better solution for some of their problems. In those cases, instead of going blindly with their solution, see how you can use innovative emerging technologies to provide the best solution for their problem.

    Remember, customers are good at telling their problems, but their solutions are mostly not good. It’s your job to think and come up with the best solution.

    Once you get the initial users, take their feedback regularly and keep improving your product.

  • WishCare – A D2C Personal Care Brand Treading on the Path of Success With Innovative Strategies

    The article is contributed by Ms. Stuti Kothari and Mr Ankit Kothari, Co- founders, WishCare.

    In this digital age, one of the most important aspects of growing your business is your eCommerce and D2C strategy. As much as choosing the right business approach is important; crafting the appropriate marketing strategies is equally essential. Successful marketing is a constantly moving, shifting, and changing machine. It should evolve with the changing dynamics of the industry and ecosystem.

    The personal care market occupies a fair share in the booming D2C segment in India. One of the notable names in the sector is WishCare, an environmental-friendly and vegan brand built on the core principle of a sustainable tomorrow. Conceptualized in 2018, the brand has grown exponentially ever since then. Successfully completing and dispatching over 2000 products every day, they have a customer base of over a million now. Behind this successful D2C personal care brand lies the strong and effective marketing strategy based on community building and creating a customer feedback loop.

    Co-Creating with Community

    Co-creating with the community is the first step of launching any new product for WishCare which is based on extensive market research and community feedback, while ensuring that it is a hit amongst its existing consumers.

    Although collecting customer feedback is standard practice, WishCare has stepped it up by innovating its product based on the collected feedback. Based on community suggestions, WishCare identifies the gaps and needs in the market, then their internal research team develops the product. The community also helps with sampling which allows the brand to leverage its feedback loop for research and development purposes. In fact, WishCare developed its Vitamin C+ Pure Glow Serum in complete collaboration with its community.

    3C Sustainable Approach

    The brand’s 3C approach – Clean (using products that are safe and natural and not harmful either to the humans or to the environment), Conscious (the brand undertakes conscious packaging. It uses packaging material that has either been recycled or can be recycled) and Caring (the brand academically adopts and educates underprivileged girl children) is its core philosophy based on the sustainability vision and this model resonates well with its customer base as well. Hence, every strategy that the brand devises, whether business-oriented or marketing focused centers around this 3C practice.

    The brand has banned a list of 100 + ingredients which are chemicals and toxic substances from using it in the production of their products. Furthermore, the brand also identifies itself as a vegan and cruelty-free brand due to its clean approach that promotes using natural ingredients. This is what the brand promises to its customers and it is this ideology that has helped WishCare earn the trust of its customers.

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    Customer First & Loyalty

    WishCare even boasts of a strong customer care team. Contrary to what anyone would believe, this customer service team is not restricted to customer care executives. In fact, skincare and haircare experts are present to connect with the customers and have one-on-one conversations. Every time, the brand launches a new product, these experts are right there to resolve the customers’ queries. This has helped the brand to create a feedback loop wherein they have been able to persuade the customers to continue their loyalty towards the brand by using the products.

    Product development based on community feedback – This team also helps us in identifying gaps in the current market and then the brand transforms it into the next product that could be launched in the market. This approach has helped the brand foster well-knit connections with the customers and also build long-lasting relationships with them.

    Conclusion

    These three strategies of creating the community feedback loop, adopting the 3C approach, and building a customer-first team have been the brand’s main pillar of success over the past 3 years since it has forayed into the personal care market that is highly fragmented and largely unorganized!

  • Things to Consider for Creating a Good Survey Form

    While surveys can be a very effective tool to obtain data and analyse them, it can be challenging to get people to complete your service, especially on an online platform. There is always a risk of the respondent leaving the survey midway.

    Although the probability of such an incident cannot be nullified, it can be significantly reduced by making the survey forms more attractive. Today, there are lot of software and tools to make your service precise and attractive. Here are a few nuances that you should keep in your mind while making a survey form.

    Things to Consider While Making a Survey Form

    Conceptual Clarity

    While you may be sure about the overall requirements of your company and its various wings, it is vital to have a proper plan with regard to the surveys as well. Brainstorm on the things that you should ask the respondents and in what ways they should reply. Keep in mind the possible feedback that you would receive and how you would take action on it.

    Choosing the Right Software

    SurveyMonkey Survey forms for different requirement
    SurveyMonkey Survey forms for different requirement

    The overall look and structure of the survey play a very important role in getting more respondents. Depending on the kind of questions that you plan to ask, have a clear idea about the platform you will use to formulate the whole survey form.

    There are many websites like the Type Form available for the same purpose. Another alternative of type form websites is Survey Monkey, WordPress, Paper Form, etc.

    While each of them has its own pros and cons, it is clearly up to the curator of the survey form to decide the platform through which the entire thing should be made.

    Here is a brief insight into making survey forms in WordPress.

    Making Surveys Through Word Press

    Finding the right tool for a survey is the basic tenet of making a survey form in WordPress. While many third-party surveys allow you to create survey forms, they also store a lot of your data. At this juncture, WPForms becomes one of the best options available in the world. It is very safe and user-friendly. These forms only need to be dropped into the WordPress form builder, enabling you to create any forms. There is also a survey forms addon which makes the entire process easier and gives you beautiful Survey reports. To make use of this, you need to have WPForms pro. These WP forms have redesigned survey templates that significantly reduce the initiation time of curating a survey. All you need to do is to drag and drop the required template to kickstart your process.

    They also help you adopt different innovative survey feels like multiple-choice, Likert scale etc. You can also have survey reports inclusive of charts, tables and graphs. These survey results can also be curated beautifully in the WP forms and can be exported in PDF, print or JPEG format. There is no doubt that WordPress forms are a single-stop solution to all types of survey forms or any other forms that one will ever meet. The diversity that they provide saves you from the trouble of using multiple plug-ins.

    The steps involved are as follows

    1. Creating a survey form with the installation and activation of the WPForms plug-in on the WordPress site
    2. Customising their survey form depending upon your requirements
    3. Configuration of the survey form settings to edit various variables like name, form description et cetera
    4. Addition of the survey form to the concerned website using facilities like embed, add a form, or by using WB forms widget
    5. You can start viewing the survey form reports after people fill the survey by visiting WP forms.

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    Brevity and Simplicity

    There is absolutely no doubt that the beauty of a survey form lies in its brevity and simplicity. The more brief your survey is, the more attempted it becomes. People will not make an effort to attend a survey form that is elaborate and complex.

    Customisation For Target Audience

    Depending upon your target audience, you can make changes to the entire structure of the survey form. For example, you can add visual illustrations when necessary if the surveys or for children. The same technique can be applied to the surveys meant for the adults if you think such visual representations will make the questions more straightforward and more engaging.

    Conclusion

    Survey forms are meant to be informative and not entertaining. One needs to ensure that all the questions are right to the point and elicit independent answers. The questions have to be carefully framed to prevent any personal bias from entering into the form. While using the available websites, make sure you go through their privacy policies and be aware of the data that might be in their hand. Amidst the chaos, WordPress is a safer option. There are other websites to which can be used after careful observation. However, there is no tool that is perfect. The most important thing is to get around the drawbacks and find a solution for them as ideally as possible. Surveys being a very important component that determines the future endeavours of a company should be considered seriously, and every nuance of the survey forms should be carefully addressed.

    FAQs

    What is a survey form?

    A survey form is a set of questions designed to gather information about customers’ feedback, preferences, and requirements.

    What are different types of Surveys?

    Different Types of surveys are:

    • Online surveys
    • Paper surveys
    • Telephonic Surveys
    • One-to-One interviews

    Survey Monkey is the most popular online survey tool.

    What are the free online survey tools?

    Free online survey tools are:

    • Google Forms.
    • SurveyMonkey
    • SoGoSurvey
    • SurveyPlanet
    • Zoho Survey
    • Crowdsignal
    • Typeform
    • Jotform

    What are the features of a good Survey form?

    Features of a good survey form are:

    • It should be clear and Concise
    • It should be simple
    • It should be relevant to the requirement

  • What Is Engagement Optimisation? | How to Do Engagement Optimisation for Your Brand?

    Many companies feel that once they’ve captured the attention of their audience, they can sit back and relax. While it’s true that a company’s brand should reach a stage where it is in the front mind of its audience to be effectively called a brand, capturing interest is only half of what needs to be done for this.

    Reaching such a stage requires a lot of work and a well-worked-out strategy to keep the captured interest engaged. When done right, engagement optimisation not only increases visibility by keeping your brand at the top of the minds of people but also generates leads that can thereafter lead to conversion.

    What is Engagement Optimisation?
    How to Do Engagement Optimisation For Your Brand?

    What is Engagement Optimisation?

    Engagement Optimisation is the process of optimising your website’s user experience thereby increasing the time spent on the site and the number of pages viewed by the users per visit. This optimisation can occur only when you can understand the specific features on your website which give the users more reasons to stay on your site and return in the future.

    Engagement optimisation also includes measures that can drive your audience to share your content via social media or other online sharing platforms. All in all the goal of engagement optimisation is to increase traffic and reach by making content more capitulating, agreeable, and shareable, which in turn increases the number of impressions for your website in general and that piece of content in particular. This in turn will increase the number of opportunities you may have to grab the attention of your potential customers.

    WIDGET: leadform | CAMPAIGN: undefined

    How to Do Engagement Optimisation For Your Brand?

    Leading Digital Consumer Engagement Tactics According to Marketers Worldwide (as of 2021)
    Leading Digital Consumer Engagement Tactics According to Marketers Worldwide (as of 2021)

    You can do engagement optimization for your brand by focusing on the following:

    Focus on Different Types of Content

    Types of content are going to play a large role in content marketing success. While many marketers will tell you that all types of content are important, it is no secret that some are more effective than others depending on your target audience. You must identify what will click well with your audience and design a content framework that works to fit the need and demands of your audience as well as your brand. This way you will be able to attract your target customers to your brand and therefore, better engagement optimisation.

    Focus on Your Social Media Outreach Strategy

    With the growing trend of reels, stories, and posts on various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, a prominent online presence of any brand for their products and services has become a necessary task. It helps to build a successful engagement optimisation where brands can reach the target audience through posts that resonate with their unique interests.

    However, customer or community engagement is essential if you want to make a profit from social media. Furthermore, this trick can hike up the engagement strategy as well. All you have to do is engage with the potential clients as consistent communication between the brand and customers can boost engagement smoothly.

    Average Instagram Follower Engagement With Selected Post Types Worldwide (2022)
    Average Instagram Follower Engagement With Selected Post Types Worldwide (2022)

    Here we will discuss a few top-notch strategies that can enhance your social media outreach strategy:

    Build Meaningful Connections

    Engagement optimisation is all about building a more meaningful connection with your target audience, which in turn can lead to increased brand loyalty. In today’s time, you are not alone if you are looking for an engagement optimisation strategy that can help increase your brand awareness.

    Everyone from small business owners to national companies is turning their attention toward social media marketing because it allows them to build relationships with potential customers at no cost. When done right, engagement optimisation is free advertising that helps your business grow by fostering trust and creating online communities around your products or services. Things to consider while building meaningful connections:

    • Use catchy but simple and clear language while promoting your products.
    • Post content that is humorous yet relatable to the products or services your company is offering.
    • Adding videos can also help you to reach the audience. It helps to determine an in-depth clarity of the audience’s understanding of the product.
    • While you are organizing any marketing campaign for your brand, keep a track of your audience’s reactions. You can create polls to understand the desirability of your service or product. You can get new ideas and also get to know about the improvements required from the public reactions.

    Track Your Social Media Metrics

    • The number of followers increases in your social media account reflecting the popularity of your brand. If customers are happy and engaged with your posts then the insights, as well as the number of your followers, will increase. So, it is important to keep a track of your followers on different social media platforms.
    • Reactions of your audience to the posts and stories on your social media are the second most important thing to track. It allows you to gain a piece of thorough knowledge about the interests of the users in your account related to what products they like the most.
    • For EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), you should have clear visibility online. Therefore, you should check the reach of your post to the target audience. Hence, the more reactions or comments on your posts, the more is the visibility of your brand.
    • The concept of click-through rate is another element for direct quotations or conversions. Again, while calculating the CTR there is no accurate number that is defined as a good CTR value. In general, it is counted as any number above 2-3% is better than the average.
    • Conduct competitive analysis to boost customer engagement for your brand.

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    Focus on Increasing Your Brand’s Engagement on Social Media

    Engagement optimisation is a concept that has grown more prominent in recent years as brands realize how much reach they can achieve when they leverage social media to boost their presence. Not all social media strategies result in engagement, so how can you make sure yours do? Below are some of the tips on how you can optimise your brand’s engagement on social media platforms:

    Video Content

    These days people spend more hours watching video content on social media that any other form of content. Therefore utilizing the video content for your brand can build a strong audience engagement. It is observed in surveys that video content is more beneficial than text or audio content. Posting fewer images and more videos can channel the marketing of your brand in a better way.

    Transitory Content

    Similar to the video content there can be small temporary videos that are posted on stories on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc are known as transitory content. These small videos can either last for 2 seconds like a boomerang or 15 seconds in the form of stories.

    Customer Feedback

    Gaining customers’ trust and building a relationship with loyal customers for the long term is an essential factor for all companies. Therefore, whatever you post should be customer opinion-oriented. In this way, you can expect a considerable amount of engagement on your social media platforms.

    Here, you can also create polls, small videos, or reels regarding customers’ opinions about your brand.

    Collaboration With Influencers

    On social media platforms, influencers and bloggers have already established their fame through huge fan following. You can promote your product or services by collaborating with the. This strategy will help you to reach a huge audience in less time. Things to know while collaborating with influencers:

    • Select your brand’s niche.
    • Select the bloggers or influencers already working in the same niche of your brand. For instance, if your brand deals with food items then collaborating with food bloggers can be helpful. Similarly, if your business is related to clothing or jewelry then lifestyle influencers can do the job.
    • While selecting the influencers, do check if they have the organic follower list and have not purchased any. Otherwise, the brand collaboration will not reach the target audience.
    How do marketers determine which influencer to partner with on social media?
    How do marketers determine which influencer to partner with on social media?

    Focus On Messaging Platforms

    Messaging is a great way to understand your customers’ requirements and it also helps to create new leads. According to Userlike, 68% of the customers prefer chatbot services as it provides quicker responses irrespective of the time of the day. Since social media channels have a huge user base, focusing on platforms like Facebook messenger chatbot, Instagram messenger chatbot, and WhatsApp is a great way to enhance one’s brand engagement.

    You cannot control everything, sometimes, the users will leave your site no matter what. But how they feel about their experience on your site can make a big difference in whether they come back or not. So, giving importance to the customers by listening to their requests or issues increases engagement and thus, better chances of customer retention and acquisition.

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    Focus On Features That Are Working On Your Website

    It is a good idea to look at your bounce rate to determine which features on your website are keeping users engaged and which are not. If you notice that a large percentage of your visitors are leaving without going through any other page (other than your home page), then you may want to tweak or re-evaluate the content you are offering. You can also check how long people stay on each page using Google Analytics. By looking at these numbers, you can see where the customer engagement is high and where it is low. After analyzing, you can make the alterations accordingly.

    Conclusion

    To conclude Engagement Optimisation is the key to success in Digital Marketing especially since there is so much noise out there to snatch the attention of the audience. This means that your content and presentation need to be unique and must appeal to the audience and thereafter, they need to feel the connection with it to remain engaged. Finally, they have to be convinced to stay loyal to your brand and at the same time suggest your brand to their community. Thus, focusing on the above-mentioned essential aspects will help you to increase engagement for your brand.

    FAQs

    What is an engagement strategy?

    An engagement strategy consists of various activities and interactions with the customers to ensure a great before and after purchase experience for them.

    What are the types of engagement?

    The following are the types of engagement:

    • Personal engagement.
    • Situational engagement.
    • Organizational engagement.

    How can I drive brand engagement?

    You can drive brand engagement with the help of the following:

    • Create a seamless brand experience across all channels.
    • Take part in social media discussions.
    • Use the live chat to engage with customers directly.
    • Personalize your content.
    • Conduct contests, polls, and giveaways.
    • Prioritize feedback from customers.

    What is branded search volume?

    The volume of visitors to your website that came from a branded keyword on a search engine over a specific period, such as a month or quarter, is known as branded search traffic. It shows the growth of your brand’s recognition among the people.

  • 9 Things You Need to Know Before Starting a Business

    Nowadays, beginning a startup is the of entrepreneurs along with taking it to the heights of success. However, just because you think that you can begin your startup doesn’t mean that you have the power of plunging yourself into your business without any prior thoughts. That will be your ultimate mistake, which may cost you, your lifelong dream.

    A number of things need to be considered before plunging into a start-up business in India. In a land of stark diversities, lots of factors come into play for the smooth running of a business. You may have innovative startup ideas, but it needs proper planning and execution. The first thing you need to know is that starting a business is similar to driving a car through heavy fog where you can’t see anything except a few feet in front of your windshield. So, one wrong decision can lead you in the wrong direction or worse tumbling down to the abyss.

    As per a report, only 78.5% of small businesses survive their first year. You need an effective marketing strategy to establish your business.  While starting a business if you know what needs to be done and what is not then there’s no doubt that you’ll be successful. In this article, we will talk about the things one needs to know before beginning their startup, so let’s get started.

    Know Your Competition and Available Marketspace
    Know the Future of Your Industry
    Know Your Target Audience
    Find Out the Pain Points of Customer
    Ask Feedbacks From Customers
    Be Different
    Build a Healthy Relationship With Your Customers
    Be Open to New Ideas
    Plan For a Long Time

    Know Your Competition and Available Marketspace

    Starting a business to serve people and their need is a great step toward excellence in life. However, the first step is to check out companies offering similar services to know about the industry and how one’s idea stands against competitors. If the concept is new in the residential country then also there is a chance of a company providing similar services existing for a long time in some other country, therefore, thorough market research is a must and keeping an eye on your competitors is important.

    Know the Future of Your Industry

    The future is unpredictable but the least you can do is through research to understand what can happen with your startup. There are so many thoughtful leaders in the industry who mainly or usually predict the future of the market value of different industries. Take a look at them and analyse, you may get an idea of the future of your startup in some way or the other.

    Know Your Target Audience

    Decide on the customer pool for the product or services of the company being established, and search for ways to reach out to them with the price of the product or services being provided.  A business will only be successful if customers are interested in it and can be convinced to try it. For this, a person is needed who can easily identify the target audience and their requirements and help in implementing a strategy to fulfil their requirements with all possible efforts.

    Find Out the Pain Points of Customer

    No company in the world can’t satisfy or fulfil every requirement and need of a customer, and so this is the chance to try to do it. When the given product is launched in the market, try bringing relief to customers’ pain points and this will go a long way in establishing loyal customers for the business. Remember one thing, when a company grows and becomes a bigger brand, it can’t always satisfy its customer with the same dedication but the success is, in trying to find ways to do it.

    Ask Feedbacks From Customers

    When a customer buys the said product or uses the services of one’s company, asking them for some kind of feedback about the service or products is a good idea to know the position of the business in the market. Some might have been satisfied while some might not have been satisfied. Companies can then work to correct those flaws.

    Be Different

    If the start-up is entirely a clone of the industry leader, the possibility of getting found will be lower than one expects. So, find a way to be different from the competitor by adding some uniqueness to the service or product. It will give you a lot of exposure amongst everyone. It is important for all new startups to ensure that a huge number of people know about their business.

    Build a Healthy Relationship With Your Customers

    If a user is using the service multiple times then make sure that a healthy relationship is maintained with them to retain the loyal customer. When a good relationship apart from the business relationship exists, it will help in retaining the customer and the chance of getting exposure from word of mouth will be high as well as helpful in growing the business. This is a powerful tactic of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to improve business.

    Be Open to New Ideas

    A lot of startup companies are doing the mistake of not implementing a new idea. If they are running smoothly and getting sales for their products and service, they might think about a few great new ideas, but they don’t end up implementing them due to some issues or the fear of failure. Start-ups must be a little courageous and confident to implement new ideas.

    Plan For a Long Time

    Plan for a long time and don’t make a short term plan for your dream startup because long term plans will take you a long way and help in surviving as well as growing in the industry. These long term plans will only help you in sorting out your short term goals. They will help you analysing the situation and help you in taking the company to the right direction.

    Conclusion

    Your dream startup can be a success when your planning and its execution are perfectly done. Just like before an exam, preparation is needed a business also needs preparation before it is launched. One needs to keep these things in mind before beginning with your startup.

    FAQs

    What makes a business successful?

    Making the customer experience and customer service better is one of the most important ways to achieve success for a business.

    Why do businesses fail?

    Businesses fail because of a lack of funds, not doing proper research, marketing is not done properly or not having proper teamwork.

    What are the three significant things that one needs to consider before starting a business?

    Three significant things are adaptability, persistence and work ethic.

  • Brand Rehab: 7 Powerful Moves to Restore your Brands Tarnished Image

    When you are starting a business, one of the most important things to do is to build up the brand of that business. Your brand is your identity, through this, your customer distinguishes you from other similar businesses out there.

    Now building up the brand name is much more than just giving a cool name or a logo, it is all about building your business reputation and for that, you need to give 110%, maybe much more than that.

    Reputation can be built through different ways, by providing great service, great products and attending the customer’s needs are some of the main ones and it takes a lot of time and hard work.

    Now sometimes there can be some problems, which can arise at any time and tarnish the image of your brand that you have taken so much time to build. It can be a bad product, an action of your business that doesn’t seem right or anything. Nonetheless, we can’t just sit around and ponder about it; we need to do the deed to get our business back on its feet.

    The most important thing while building a brand name is that you need to be preparing for any worst-case scenario and at any time. The brand name can come spiralling down because of a simple mistake and with social media on its top form; it won’t take even a minute to become breaking news, thus spreading like a wildfire.

    In this article, we will give you an insight into powerful marketing moves that can fix your tarnished brand name. Some of the techniques that can fix your brand names are,

    A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well. -Jeff Bezos

    Be Active with Your Values
    Share the Outcome of CSR
    Create a Campaign for Honest Feedback
    Be Responsive to the Problem
    Be Active on Social Media
    Communicate Carefully
    Connect with the People
    FAQ

    Be Active with Your Values

    This is a prime time to collaborate with different charities and follow the particular set of values that your company stands for. Start Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) if you haven’t already because the actions speak louder than voice.

    So, if by any chance a crisis arises and bad word of mouth goes out, if you stick to your values, your customers will understand that it’s just a wrong way of presenting a situation as your reputation is already a hit with the help of your marketing.

    Share the Outcome of CSR

    When your business is partaking in CSR, it is important to share it with your customers; this will show them that you and your business are responsible to society and its surroundings.

    Sharing does not mean bragging, sharing the results through social media, and letting people know about the achievements of CSR in a humble way.

    Create a Campaign for Honest Feedback

    Your customers are your biggest asset, if they are not happy with your services; your business is bound to get doomed. After the crisis, start creating a campaign that will ask for honest feedback from your customers. This will make them realize that your business is trying its level best to build trust again. The campaign can be held digitally or physically as well. Although digitally, you’ll be able to interact with more people.

    Be Responsive to the Problem

    Don’t try to be defensive and hide the problem, it will only fuel the fire, once it gets revealed because it will. When the problem arises, acknowledge it, be transparent to your customers, and clearly state your response to the world. If you’re wrong, don’t shy away from apologizing.

    Be Active on Social Media

    We are living in a time, where everything is transparent thanks to social media. Be it your products or customer services, if people don’t find it good, they often convey their concerns on social media and present their dissatisfaction.

    Keep an eye on the hashtag of your brand and use social listening tools to understand what truly is cooking. If there is a negative comment, you can easily handle it by responding to it and solving the problem, before it gets out into the front for everyone to judge. Try to control all the conversation that is about your brand.

    Communicate Carefully

    Remember that communication is the key. Social media helps you in engaging your customers with your brand, so when a crisis arises, be careful while responding. The way you convey the message talks a lot about your brand.

    Take your time, if you think there is a need, and then respond but not too much. Your brand name depends on it, one single response can eventually make or break your business.

    Connect with the People

    One thing about humans is that we are bound to make mistakes, what sets us apart is our way to acknowledge it and own up to it. When a mistake took place, apologies properly, and get ready to solve it, instead of being arrogant.

    Express yourself and try to connect with people and understand what they are feeling, communicate with empathy and show your customers that the brand cares about them and not just focusing on making money.

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    Conclusion

    It takes years to build a brand but it takes only minutes to have it crumble down. A business will somehow face a crisis at any point of its lifetime. One needs to be prepared for that and to bring it back to its feet, they need to use the above techniques properly so that the brand can get back its glory once again.

    FAQ

    How do you fix a tarnished brand?

    Communicate carefully, Be active on social media, Acknowledge the problem, and try to connect with the people.

    How do you strengthen a brand name?

    Build a loyal customer base, Build a brand that stands out from the competition, Keep your brand name simple and easy to remember, and monitor your competitors.

    How do you maintain a brand reputation?

    Improve customer satisfaction, Reply positively to negative comments, Focus on providing excellent customer support, and increase employee satisfaction.