You’ve done it all — you’ve meticulously designed a logo, you’ve quality tested all your products, you’ve spent weeks relentlessly promoting your business on social media, and you’ve even made a killer website with flashy animations…but nothing’s happened yet. Sure, you’ve got a few orders here and there, but they’re certainly not as much as you’d hoped for. What gives?
What is responsiveness in a business?
The likely culprit might be your responsiveness as a business. Now before you roll your eyes at us for saying something so obvious, let me explain. Responsiveness in a business doesn’t just mean your website runs smoothly or you have a FAQs section on your social media pages. Responsiveness in a business ultimately boils down to the specific ways you handle your customer interactions, from the speed and quality of your responses to the voice you use to respond and whether it aligns with your brand identity or not.
It doesn’t matter if your products are made from the best materials in the world. If your customers don’t feel valued and respected because you make them wait for days before replying to their messages, then chances are that they won’t come back after their initial purchase (if they even end up purchasing anything at all).
Don’t just sell them the experience, sell them an experience! Think of it as though you’re trying to win the affection of someone you like. To set yourself apart from a sea of other suitors who are offering the same things as you, you have to be able to form a bond of trust that only the two of you have. And the only surefire way to do that is to be 100% communicative and attentive to their needs.
How do I start being responsive?
Okay, but how in the world do I start being responsive?
For starters, being responsive has to start with a commitment from you and everyone who works in your business. Think of it not as an optional add-on that comes and goes depending on your mood but as a mandatory step in your daily routine.
A good habit to adopt is to reply to emails and messages within the first thirty minutes of receiving them, but if you’re too busy to commit to that, an acceptable alternative is to create a system where you go through all your customers’ emails in certain timeframes per day — never leave them “for tomorrow”. We’ve all heard that before. The next thing you know, you’re back to having the communication skills of a turtle.
Another thing to remember is that there’s a glaring difference between auto-generated responses and organic responses. As mentioned above, responsiveness not only encompasses the speediness of your replies but their quality as well.
A good response is both quick and full of valuable information that is relevant to your customer’s enquiry. You can’t just make an auto-generated message and then disappear for a week — nurturing a relationship of trust will require more personal effort than that (plus, auto-generated responses just feel so robotic and distant, don’t you think?)
Finally, just make sure that you’re sincere with what you say! People can easily sniff out inauthenticity. This shouldn’t be too hard; as long as you truly care about your business and the environment you’re creating, you won’t have a difficult time staying true to your brand’s identity. Cater to your customers in a genuine way and it’ll definitely reflect positively on you.
