Customer relationships are just as important on Day 1000 as Day 1. Of course every client knows they are one of many, but they don’t want to feel like a number the bigger you get. They want to feel like they are your only, or at least, your most important customer, no matter how many hours, weeks, days, or years you have been serving them.

Of course, it can be tricky to maintain that personal touch, especially as your business grows. But there are many ways to remedy this, and one of the most powerful is video. Video is a really simple and effective way to retain a truly personal channel of communication with every customer, and ensure they feel valued throughout their journey with your brand. Here are Bonjoro’s top five tips to surprise and delight customers with video.

Be consistent. Welcome every single new customer personally.

You should never feel your business it too big to welcome a new customer in a thoughtful and personalised way. Think of it this way – if a new customer isn’t worth a minute of your time, do you even deserve them in the first place?

Find out a bit about them and their business, then get in touch with a personalised message that shows you understand their business challenges, introduces who you are, and defines how you personally can help them succeed.

At Bonjoro, we send a unique video message to every single signup we get, and we always will. Why? Because we are still thrilled people like what we do and are as excited by video messaging as we are. We convert so many more users by treating them as individuals rather than cells in a spreadsheet. It’s a little more effort than an automated email but it’s worth it when every day our inboxes fill up with gratitude from our users.

Introduce yourself before a meeting, and follow up after.

Putting a face to a name is invaluable in business, but in the modern fast-paced business world, it can be tough to secure face-time before launching into a project.

Shooting a video message to your client before any catch-up guarantees people will remember your face and your name. On top of this, it’s a sure-fire conversation starter – you’ve warmed up the room before you even set a foot in it. And don’t forget to follow up after to stay fresh in their minds and provide a call-to-action.

This tactic is absolute dynamite after events too. Your face stands out against an inbox full of generic follow-ups the day after, and it’s much quicker than writing an email.

Reinvent cold outreach on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Cold outreach has a bad reputation because so many people use automated platforms that render it inhuman, and ineffective. If you’re looking to get a better response from your inMail and Twitter messages, try out this trick: Instead of falling back on a boring old plain text message, send them a link to a personal video message instead and you’re guaranteed to surprise, delight, or both.

Humanise your customer service team.

Customer support and bug complaints are inevitable parts of any tech company’s workflow, but they can actually give you a real opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Recently we’ve stepped up our game and started handling these interactions via video. How’s it working for us? Check out the email response our developer Mike got below.

Hey Mike

So refreshing to receive your personal video message. Thanks. It’s actually made my day somewhat!

Sorry, I won’t return the favour of a video reply, as I am not too comfortable in front of the camera unless you want it in Snapchat 🙂

Thanks for looking into ways of improving the functionality.

Best wishes

L

This is a great technique to soothe people’s frustrations by showing them that a real person is attending to their problem. Even if it’s a tricky or time-consuming fix, the honesty of a video is better than an email, which could seem evasive or be perceived as a delaying tactic. A gesture of dedication like this is the kind of thing that can convert a non-believer into a lifelong fan of your product.

Don’t forget to say thank you.

Thank you is a phrase not used enough in the business environment. Clients, suppliers, colleagues – professional relationships are vital in every workplace. Whether you’re a bootstrapping startup or a corporation made up of thousands of people, nurturing these connections is vital. But even though we depend on them every day, we don’t always give our business partners the attention they deserve.

That’s why we have made #ThankYouThursdays a regular feature of our culture at Bonjoro. Every Thursday we send a personalised video message to customers, friends and team members that we want to show gratitude to.

So take the time out to regularly say ‘thank you’ to your important contacts. Take time to get in touch with someone you work with that you haven’t thanked recently and let them know that you appreciate them. After all, gratitude is essential to any relationship.