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What does customer service mean to you? Does it mean merely avoiding returns and customer complaints, or does it mean going well beyond what customers expect to make their interaction with you truly a memorable one? Truly great customer service that brings customers back requires conscious effort. Let’s look at a company whose reputation for […]
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Most customers have limited spending dollars which they must choose how to spend. With all the competition vying for every customer dollar, it is important to set yourself apart and show the customer why you deserve their business. This does not mean you have be the cheapest, rather, if customers perceive your service or product […]
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No matter what level of success a business achieves, it alwa
ys runs the risk of being one-upped by a competitor. There always seems to be someone who can offer a lower price or more updated services. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever for brands to watch out for the competition. Here are three ways you can research your competitors and gain the upper hand.
Traditional and Online Marketing
Customers have more choices than ever when purchasing products. This only makes it more important than ever to offer the best prices and customer service around. But in order to be the best, businesses must know as much as possible about what other businesses are offering. Fortunately, competitors will often publicly announce their offerings, both through traditional and online marketing. By keeping an eye on competitors’ social media accounts and traditional ads, a business can see special offers through a customer’s eyes and shift its own strategies accordingly.
Site Visit
For local businesses, nothing can compare to an in-person experience. If your competitor sells products through a store, visit that store occasionally and pay particular attention to the customer service you receive and the way products are displayed. If you feel you’ll be instantly recognized, send a friend or family member in and ask them to report back their experiences. For your online counterparts, you can employ the same strategy by purchasing an item and returning it, giving you an idea about how customers perceive their quality of service.
Online Alerts
Even with the best intentions, you’ll likely get busy and forget to watch competitor activities. The best way to maintain ongoing awareness is to set up notifications through Google Alerts that will let you know whenever your competitors are mentioned online. But in addition to keeping up with their marketing efforts, you should also regularly ensure your pricing is
competitive with others in your industry. To accomplish that, a price-monitoring tool can notify you by email any time a competitor’s price drops on a product.
Today’s retail marketplace is more competitive than ever. When a business remains aware of its competitors’ activities, that business gives itself an edge. Through site visits and social media monitoring, businesses can also watch how competitors interact with customers and present their products, helping them create better experiences for their own customers.Tools like PriceManager can help retailers not only track pricing on their competitors websites, but help them stay aware of the marketplace pricing as well as seller rankings, customer reviews and star ratings. This will help retailers know what customers value, and show them how they can improve on their customer service to gain and keep new customers.