52% of consumers say that they would happily pay more for both fast and efficient customer service, says Toby Nwazor, writing for CustomerThink. The norms of customer service are changing each year. If you’re going to make and keep loyal clients, and therefore, easier money down the line, you need to not only be aware of the latest trends, but practice them, as well. Here are a few tips to keep in mind, according to Nwazor. 

Utilizing Social Media

“There is no better way to make contact with your customers and prospective customers than to go looking for them, where they hang out,” writes Nwazor. Social media is a favorite past time for millions of Americans, including your clients and prospects. Speed is key with social media. Americans are used to being able to quickly scroll through and selectively view hundreds of posts every day and send and receive messages to both friends and businesses in a timely manner. That includes you. Be available to your clients and prospects where they want to contact you with customer service requests. And that is increasingly becoming social media.

Hyper-​Personalization

You’ve probably implemented the stereotypical personalization strategies: including the client’s name in your emails to them, referencing the common factor you’ve discovered between the two of you, etc. But that kind of personalization effort is standard at this point. Hyper-​personalization is the latest standard of customer service. Hyper-​personalization is based on research gathered through surveys and quizzes you’ve had your clients take. “With hyper-​personalization strategy, you can determine the best time to pitch a customer with an offer, expose customers to dynamic content based on their specific locations and preferences, send individualized product offers and gradually push them along through your sales funnel,” says Nwazor. Yeah, names in emails are nice, but useful content that applies directly to each client is the type of customer service that is going to inspire your next sale.