Customer relationships are crucial and should be the focus of all your efforts. Building strong relationships with your customers should be the main goal, and the type of relationship you want to establish with each customer segment should be clarified to ensure the long-term success of your brand.
Here are a few types of customer relationships you can build with your customers and how they can impact your brand-building efforts.
Transactional customer relationship
In a transactional relationship, the main emphasis is on buying and selling products or services in exchange for money. Brands that focus on transactions typically do not prioritize building customer loyalty, trust, and credibility. Such relationships often attract customers who are primarily concerned with price and immediate needs, and not long-term engagement. In such cases, brands are less likely to focus on personalization and are mostly interested in short-term profits.
Emotional customer relationships
An emotional customer relationship aims to connect with customers on an emotional level, taking into account their feelings at a given moment. The objective is to create campaigns and content that generate a conscious or subconscious bond between the customer and the brand. Brands that focus on building emotional relationships typically develop specific campaigns to create waves of interest. It is also common for brands to look to cause marketing from an emotional connection standpoint.
Community-based customer relationship
This type of relationship between a brand and its customers is centered on building trust and long-term connections. The brands often humanize themselves and focus on both the customers and the people behind the brand. They aim to create a community of like-minded individuals who share similar values, interests, and ethics. By building a community of supporters, the brand can increase referral rates and participation in loyalty programs. This community can act as a group of brand advocates who are loyal to the brand and willing to refer it to others.
Value-add customer relationship
Similar to community relationships, this type of customer relationship is aimed at establishing brand loyalty and customer retention, as well as building trust and credibility. Personalization and customer experience are essential in this relationship. Brands that prioritize adding value can gradually build loyalty by providing value and transparency in their business practices, work hard to comprehend their customers’ needs and educate them on their solutions. It is more about creating two-way dialogue to ensure you are providing value.
Read more: 5 WAYS OF BUILDING STRONGER CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Conclusion
Although factors such as the business model and brand personality can influence the nature of customer relationships, it’s ultimately your decision on how you want to engage with your customers.
If you aren’t sure how to change things up to create better customer relationships, book a consultation with us!