In many ways, all businesses, charities and independent organizations are interested in removing unnecessary obstacles between their brand and their audience. So for instance, a charity will usually hire professionals well-versed in curating corporate partnerships and taking large donations, so that a steady income stream allows for the operation to continue.

But it’s not just about wining and dining or coming across well to your potential audience. It’s also about making the process of supporting your brand as easy as possible, at all levels. Sure, you can make it easier for people to pay you or solicit your services, but in the long run, this is only one element of making your organization easier to engage with.

This begs the question – how can we even increase brand convenience going forward? In this post, we’ll discuss the very many measures you can use to achieve that, and hopefully aid you in curating the best approach. With that in mind, please consider some of the following advice:

Make It Easier For Customers To Reach Out

When it comes to creating a seamless customer experience, every stepping stone counts. From initial contact to your final sale at the end of the sale generation pipeline, there are many ways you can make the process smoother and more convenient for your customers. 

One way to do this is by using customer feedback to identify negative experiences and work on resolving those as quickly as possible. For example, you could learn How To Add Live Chat to a Website in order to help your AI chatbot better delineate which section of support a complaint needs to go to, and as such, allow someone to give immediate feedback in the right way.

Another way to improve your customer experience is by investing in outsourcing for customer support, at least this is very helpful for small firms. By outsourcing certain measures like your customer support call centre, or fulfilling your eCommerce orders through quick logistics, you can free up staff to focus on more complex issues. That in itself means the customer interaction pipeline delivers more consistently, and more quickly at that.

Always Improve The User Experience

It’s essential to consider UX, the user experience, when designing your products and services alike. Customers expect ease of use and for what you have to offer to fit seamlessly into their daily routines. Even traditional services are focused on this now, as many companies that offer new and updated methods of delivery tend to win out. For instance, it’s not uncommon to see bus services, one of the final stalwart users of cash, adopting new contactless models, and even “tap in, tap out” systems so passengers can easily be charged for only the exact distance they travel each day. In the same vein, you might also consider developing an app so customers can more easily purchase your products, manage their account, and book any appointments depending on how your company works.

With stringent user testing, you can make sure these provisions are routinely updated as time goes on. It’s okay if you launch a functional but bare-bones convenience at first, even to a smaller selection of your audience to test it. What matters is trying to give those multiple channels for utility that help streamline the process.

Always Consider Accessibility

Accessibility is an important consideration for any brand to not only commit to, but to uphold as a core part of their culture and goal-setting approach. By making your products or services more accessible, you can reach a wider range of customers and create a more inclusive brand too. There are many ways to increase accessibility, and luckily, each one can be used as a worthwhile marketing point.

Of course, accessibility isn’t always about large-scale changes to how you deliver you service. It might just be that you offer your user manual in new languages. Hiring someone to do that work well for capable localisation will pay for itself in terms of your ability to reach new markets.

You can also consider additional accessibility through the tools people use to access your service. For instance, developing a mobile app helps many people, no matter the device they’re on, better interface with your brand. You might also make sure alternate payment services are available for use. PayPal, account gift cards, even cryptocurrency payments can all work for businesses in the long run, and will widen the possibility of people hoping to use those services.

Finally, it’s important to consider the needs of customers with disabilities when designing your products or services too. This includes everything from offering closed captioning for videos on your YouTube channel or website, to ensuring that your physical locations are wheelchair accessible where appropriate. These are just two examples of course, there are countless more than this.

Personalizing User Experiences

Personalization is a key way to make your brand more convenient and appealing to customers at every level. Not only does this make certain that you keep customers and clients around by providing a unique experience to them, but it allows you to understand the best way to leverage each member of your audience in the long run. Note that this isn’t exploitative, merely a matter of understanding who you’re servicing and trying to expand your ability to do the same. 

By tailoring your products, services, and communications to individual customer needs, you can create a more engaging and memorable experience for every person who uses your services or products more than once. It’s why some companies will run particular marketing campaigns for certain elements of their audience, or offer discount codes for those that haven’t logged into the app or booked a service for a little while.

If you can, it’s also good to offer customization options for your products or services. This could include options for different colors, sizes, or configurations on a macro or micro scale, or offering bespoke products tailored to individual customer needs too. For instance, some jewelry companies will allow for engravings, and even tech firms can offer this when purchasing their devices.

Of course, it’s also important to consider how you communicate with customers. By using their names in emails, offering personalized recommendations, or sending personalized offers based on their past purchases as discussed above, you can create a more engaging and memorable experience that makes them feel valued and as if you’ve actually noticed them. When a firm seems to be interested in making things easier for you, you’re less likely to use another brand.

Empowering Your Customers At Every Level

Self-service is becoming increasingly popular among customers, as it allows them to find the information they need and solve problems quickly and easily by themselves. That’s right, for the most part, it’s wise for businesses to just get out of the way. For instance, if a customer forgets the password to their account and needs to change it, should they have to message support? Or should they be provided with a password request form sent to their original email, changing it without your input?

By investing in self-service options, you can empower customers to help themselves and free up staff to focus on more complex issues through and through. One way to do this is by offering a comprehensive knowledge base or FAQ section on your website, the AI chatbot suggestion we made above can also provide this.

Not all businesses will offer this, and some may wish to strike a balance. For example, you might only have one checkout in your store with self-service scan terminals for most customers to use. You’d be surprised just how much automation you can leverage, and at the very least it’s worth keeping these considerations in mind.

A Warning: Be Purposeful With Convenience

Sometimes, convenience can be too convenient, as strange as that might sound. In some ways, customers appreciate the experience of using a service, they don’t want to be automated as quickly as possible so they leave as soon as they can.

Depending on the kind of business you run, this can differ in scope. For instance, a salon will still need to provide a comforting in-store experience with soothing music and good interior design, even if the entire booking system is app-based. 

It might be that you offer new delivery options with your eCommerce store, but you also allow customers to pay for premium gift wrapping so their purchases for others are more heartfelt. Increasing brand convenience is a great means for you to remove obstacles between you and your user base. But don’t let that erode the soul of your brand, because otherwise you have nothing distinguishing your company and its values from others. With a careful approach, you’ll be able to make the right decisions, and perhaps retract trial features that haven’t worked out in this instance.

With this advice, we hope you can see the virtue of increasing brand convenience, and benefit as a result. Over time, many firms will determine the right pace for them.

Published by HOLR Magazine.