7 Best Practices for Managing (and Successful) Customer Interactions

For every interaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Customer satisfaction is at the heart of any business strategy, and it all starts with how you manage your communication with your customers.

Customer interactions can literally make or break your reputation and conversion rates. Paying attention to every interaction can help you understand what customers want and how you can better serve them.

Talking to your customers doesn't have to be long and complicated. Using customer communications management software can simplify the process by storing and analyzing customer information up front.

What is customer interaction?

Customer interaction refers to any communication between a business and its customers. These interactions can occur across multiple channels such as phone calls, text messages, social media, self-service portals, and chatbot services.

Customers can interact with businesses for questions, comments, or general customer service requests.

Effective conversations with customers help meet their expectations while building trust and loyalty to your brand and products. While there are many ways to improve your customer interaction practices, it is important to remember that communication is an ongoing process that requires consistent time and effort.

Understanding the customer interaction cycle

Customer interactions play a vital role at every stage of the customer journey: from making a first impression during customer onboarding to asking for feedback and maintaining customer loyalty.

The customer interaction cycle is simply the process of moving a single customer down the sales funnel based on their interactions with a business. It is a strategic approach to better understand customer interaction management and how multiple conversations can be stored and used for a better customer experience.

5 stages of a customer interaction cycle

Successful companies have a solid understanding of the different stages of the customer interaction process. Here are the top five steps to consider when helping a customer make a purchasing decision.

Awareness: At this stage, customers are very early in their buying journey and are simply looking for more information about what your company does and how it can solve their problems. Consideration: The consideration stage of the customer interaction cycle helps customers find unique value propositions in your products and evaluate their overall fit for their needs. Conversion: Everyone’s favorite – This is the stage where you can expect new customer acquisition as the buyer is in the last stage of the sales cycle. Retention: Winning customers should never be the only goal of your customer service activities. Make sure your customers are happy by checking in and asking for consistent feedback. Advocacy: Once you are sure which customers will remain loyal to you, encourage them to become brand advocates by attracting new customers in the form of referrals or social shares. Importance of customer interactions

Imagine if every difference with your friend could potentially end your friendship; very unfortunate, no?

This is precisely how customer interactions work, except that your business could suffer immensely if conversations go awry. Below are the reasons why customer interaction is essential for your business.