I recently traveled to Mexico’s Riviera Maya for a friend’s wedding. Prior to booking, I searched every review and rating (good and bad) for our resort. While I didn’t find much beyond Google and TripAdvisor, I bit the bullet, paid for the trip and hoped for a bedbug-free week in paradise.

Not only was the trip exceptional, the resort’s customer service was, too. I couldn’t help but think about how the whole staff delighted visitors throughout their stay. Of course, given my line of work, when I thought “delighting customers,” my mind went straight to the Inbound methodology (simply put: attract, close, delight, convert). 

Extending this analogy, I will say that after my vacation, I found myself at the “end” of the Inbound methodology workflow. It was then that I realized the steps the resort had skipped – attract and convert. Yes, they closed and delighted, but I had no choice about where the wedding was held. If I were to book an all-inclusive week in Mexico at the place of my choosing, this resort wouldn’t have been in the running. Why? Because I never would have found it.

In most situations, consumers have choices. Forming the B2C relationship early is crucial when trying to win over customers. Here are five simple ways to ease a customer’s mind, so they’re more confident making the purchase:

1)   Blogging

• It is not a waste of time. Customers are interested and will read your blog. They want to get to know you, to have their questions answered or to learn something new. I specifically looked for a blog when searching our resort’s site. I wanted a feel for their brand voice and maybe learn tips about travel in Mexico.

2)   Social Media

• Just do it. According to Business Insider, 1 in every 5 people in the world owns a smartphone. It is a quick, FREE way to talk to your audience. While at our resort, each night there was a different themed event with bands, activities, etc. This would be useful information to us – and it’s easy to share on social media. 

3)   SEO

• Nearly all information can be found on the web. Every second, people are typing keywords into a search engine hoping to find their answer. Google completes roughly 3.5 billion searches a day. Your company has to be searchable in order to be found. When I typed in “Riviera Maya all-inclusive,” there was no sign of our resort.

4)   Forms

• Creating a form on a landing page allows you to gather an incredibly valuable piece of information. You now have a lead, and you can reach out to that contact whenever you please (and hopefully place them in a workflow). I’m the first to say I don’t want my inbox jammed more than it already is, but I would have completed a form to receive content from this resort.

5)   Emails

• If you have forms, you also have email addresses. This is not to be taken lightly. The consumer is interested – they willingly gave you their contact info – and now the ball is in your court to work on closing them.

- Erica Malone, Account Associate