Where are your customers looking for value? Everywhere. Don’t be fooled – your customers don’t just expect value from you at the time of purchase. Yes, a great product delivered on time with excellent service may get you five stars, but will it get you loyal advocates who’ll buy from you time and again?
Your customers are looking for value before they’ve even engaged. Whether that’s through your ethical ethos as a brand, finding authentic opinions from people like them, or showing you’re a brand that listens and responds – customers want to shop from brands who offer value above and beyond their products or services.
If you’re asking yourself what that means for you as a brand, you’re in the right place.
'How can I better understand my customers and give value back to them?’
Your customers look for value at every stage of the journey, from consideration to post-purchase, and many even expect it long after the purchase experience. The key for any business to improve its brand is by becoming obsessed with their customers. That means understanding their needs and what makes them feel valued, and structuring your business in a way that can offer that back. 63% of shoppers say they’d share more information with a company that offers a great customer experience. Are you a brand that offers that?
Ways in which customers look for and expect value exchange from a brand
- Access to information that’s relevant to them, especially at the discover stage, such as authentic, trustworthy reviews from people like them
- Hunting for a brand with values similar to their own, such as ethical practices, sustainably made products, products matched to demand or desires, or engaging with their customers
- Feeling listened to and heard by a brand, whether that’s via access to real human support when they need it, being asked for feedback AND acknowledged, or being invited into a community of like-minded customers
- Feeling appreciated and valued after initial engagement and not simply experiencing a transactional relationship
- Watching a brand use customer insight to improve and grow, showing that they’re truly customer-centric
Consumer discovery: How can brands offer value before a purchase
Before a customer has even engaged with you, they’ll consider what value you offer as a brand, not just regarding products. More than half of UK consumers do research online before making a purchase, with many using social media sites such as TikTok or Instagram instead of Google for answers. People are deciding on the value they’ll get from a brand long before they’ve visited your website to make a purchase. Granted, half of that judgement will be made on elements you may not be able to control, but you CAN influence your brand reputation and how your customers are talking about you behind your back.
Three ways you can demonstrate you’re a brand that offers value to your customers before they’ve even purchased, are:
- Give them access to the information they want – this could be by making customer feedback findable on your website, displaying it in themed collections to show popular opinions or needs, or displaying customer FAQs next to a product such as with our Q&A feature.
- Provide verified, authentic opinions from people like them – 91% of people (18-34) trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. People read reviews because they want a real, unfiltered opinion, so make sure your reviews are 100% verified and remain unaltered
- Demonstrate you’re a brand that listens and puts the customer first – By responding to reviews, whether 5 stars or 1, you showcase how much you value your customers and how you handle situations.
How to continue to provide value to customers after purchase
It’s not just about immediate aftercare. It goes without saying that your customers will want to review their experience with you, and it’s a vital part of the buyer journey that they get to share and rate their engagement with you. As a reviews provider we know that asking for their authentic, verified reviews can be the difference between a one-off or repeat customer.
But, what’s more valuable to customers is brands that respond to their feedback. Collecting reviews shouldn’t be just about racking up your ratings. In a market where most smart brands are collecting reviews, it should be a process that’s about collecting meaningful and impactful insights from your customers that can be used to improve your brand.
What does that mean in terms of offering a value exchange? It means responding to and acknowledging every review, whether it’s negative or not. Making your customers feel heard is just one of many ways to give back to your customers.
It’s not all about reviews.
Checking in with your customers can mean inviting their comments a month or even more after their engagement with you. This could mean using Surveys to collect insights, anonymous or not, where they can explore their attitudes towards wider consumer issues or brand expectations. Or it can mean providing a platform where your customers can engage with each other about your brand. It could mean making content that addresses trends in a newsletter. Or even asking your customers for their attitudes towards trends to help shape the value you’re offering back to your customers.
Providing continuous value to your customers demands a circular flow of asking for insights, understanding needs and giving value back. If 65% of business comes from the existing customer base, continuing to engage with and offer value back to your customers is a necessity.
Understanding your customers’ value expectations
Brands that are smart will already be collecting customer feedback, and intelligent brands will be diving deep into that feedback to analyse and assess what their customers are really saying. Brands can use insights from reviews to grasp what value their customers are looking for. Not only that, but understanding the customers journey from start to finish, and people's experience and expectations at each stage, is vital for brands to continue to improve and grow.
The key to insights isn’t simply gathering data from your customers, it’s knowing how to use those insights to improve your brand.
Looking for more?
Want a deeper understanding of the customer journey and how insights can help you grow your brand? Browse our Knowledge Hub for free industry reports, eBooks, webinars and guides, or follow brand expert Kerry Leighton-Bailey, Feefo’s Chief Product and Marketing Officer on LinkedIn.
