Research: why rapport is important to keep customers coming back

It’s common wisdom that retaining customers is cheaper than acquiring new ones.

One of the best ways to inspire repeat customers is to build a strong rapport between your brand and the people it interacts with. But what does this mean day to day?

To find out exactly how important a strong relationship with a brand is to its customers, we surveyed over 2,000 consumers. And we discovered that alongside resolution and relevant communications—building a good rapport is crucial.

Our respondents highlighted how a lack of empathy, honesty, or understanding could lead to a bad customer experience and dissuade them from using a business for good. So in this article we’ll explore why rapport is so important, and what brands can do to improve their relationships with consumers.

Good rapport with your customers is vital

Although there’s a perception that getting a favorable result is what makes or breaks a customer's experience with a brand, we discovered that the journey and overall experience is just as important. We asked consumers what factors led to them having a poor customer experience:

·       64% say 'having to repeat information to different teams and people.'

·       64% say 'having to chase to get information.'

And the impact of this poor experience can be detrimental to a brand’s reputation, with 59% of our respondents saying they share their bad experiences with friends and family, 40% saying they leave a bad review, and 22% saying they complain publicly on social media.

It's not just a business's reputation that can be damaged by a poor relationship with its customers—this can also affect the bottom line:

• 64% of surveyed consumers say they stop buying products or services from a brand after a bad customer experience

• 51% say they complain to the company and seek compensation for poor service

So, if getting the rapport between your customers and your brand wrong can be detrimental to both your reputation and your turnover, how can you ensure you get it right?

Build empathy into your customer journeys

The key to building rapport is creating human interactions—but opportunities to do that can vary depending on the channels you and your customers use. For instance, person-to-person communication channels like phone and video chat are better for building relationships with your customers compared to digital communications. We asked consumers their top reasons for preferring to communicate with businesses over certain channels and found:

• 54% prefer face-to-face contact as it creates a good relationship with a brand

• 43% feel the same way about video chat

• And 28% say the same of phone calls

Creating the opportunity for human conversations is a crucial step in the right direction. But we know the opportunity for these types of interactions are decreasing as brands move to digital comms, so making the most of human conversations when they do happen is essential. Using every moment of human interaction that you do get to build empathy and understanding, will grow your relationships with your consumers.

We asked our respondents what exactly made for a great experience during those human interactions, and here's what they had to say:

"Listening to the customer and not reading from a script. Being honest if they don't know the answer, but refer the customer to someone who can help."

"Not badgering you to buy products, letting you know what they're doing, and following up with written communication."

"When service agents are attentive to your needs and questions, and are knowledgeable about all the products and services the company provides."

Use the right communication channel at the right time

While person-to-person communication channels are excellent for building a strong rapport with your customers, they’re not always the most appropriate way to interact. Digital communications can be more time and cost effective for your brand—and can offer the simplicity, convenience, and speed modern consumers demand.

So, if you want to create the best experiences for your customers, using different digital channels at appropriate times can contribute. For instance, if a customer has a simple query, they can use live chat to receive a quick response. However, if they have a more complicated complaint, a two-way conversation may be more appropriate.

And for situations where a customer interaction starts as a simple query before developing into a more complex issue, you may need to seamlessly move the conversation to a different channel. By doing this—without any need for the customer to repeat any information they've already given—you can combine the speed of digital channels, with the rapport-building qualities of human communications.

Manage the entire customer journey through a single platform with Webex Connect

While you can manage customer journeys across multiple digital channels manually, a Communications Platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) solution can make the process much easier. Webex Connect is an API and low-code CPaaS solution designed to deliver superior customer experiences across multiple communication channels.

CPaaS solutions bring the management of all of your digital channels together onto a single platform, creating connected experiences that can take each customer's individual needs, context, and preferences into account.

Create a strong relationship between you and your customers

With Webex Connect, you can manage communications across 10+ different one and two-way communication channels so you can develop rapport with your customers through the channel of their choice.

Book a demo today to see what Webex Connect could do for your business. 

And don't forget to read It's Time to Solve the Customer Experience Trilemma to learn how to balance rapport, resolution, and relevant communications to deliver unrivaled customer experiences.