“The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but LEGENDARY.” – Sam Walton, founder of Walmart

Those words could not be closer to the truth in today’s competitive business environment, now being more important than ever to build customer relationships that add-value to the overall customer experience.

Nowadays, most companies turn to social media and other forms of “online” marketing to create such customer engagement as a substitute for never having an actual human interaction with a customer. Therefore, knowing that human beings need relationships in both their personal lives as well as when they are buying things leads to the endless struggle for companies to build relationships with their customers.

How can we stand out over our competitors when trying to engage our customers? We will present you a few ways in which small businesses can drive better sales by building stronger customer relationships online.

1. Feedback – Survey Your Customers and Get Their Opinions

To give your customer exactly what they want represents probably the best way to increase your sales, build trust and retain customers. Maybe it is the ideal situation for any business. But how exactly do you figure out what your customers’ wants and needs are? The answer is simple: send them surveys.

Customer surveys or feedback can be done through email, on your company’s website or through social media networks. SurveyMonkey represents one of the survey platforms available that allows you to send targeted surveys to customers through different platforms like email and social media networks.

2. Rewarding Your Loyal Customers

We all know the 80/20 rule where 20% of your customers make up 80% of your sales so your most loyal customers are very important, and it’s a must to retain these ones. There are many ways to reward your customers through social media or other online platforms. Whether you are using gamification, running contests and giving away free prizes or simply saying thanks there are many ways to show your loyal customers that you care.

3. Communication via Email

Having an email list represents probably one of the most important ways a company can stay in contact with their customers, build rapports and increase sales (unless you come across as a spammer). Moreover, emails should be able to provide valuable content for the consumer to share. Therefore, when you provide content that addresses the need and provides a solution to your customer’s problem then you build rapport and foster the digital relationship that you company needs to be successful.