Why Your Business Should Care About Social Responsibility

Published on: 25 October 2017 Last Updated on: 03 September 2024

You’ve got enough to worry about trying to make your business a success without having to worry about saving the world as well, right? Wrong.

Research shows that incorporating socially responsible policies into your business model can help your business to thrive. From inspiring customer loyalty to attracting investment, social responsibility has huge business benefits. Plus, you can’t beat that warm, fuzzy feeling you get from doing your bit to help the world.

In our modern digital society – where consumers have access to both company records and the fast-moving social media grapevine – social responsibility matters more than ever before. Not only do many consumers prefer to buy from ethical companies, they often insist on it. And this demand is going nowhere. Brands need to embrace social responsibility and put it at the heart of their business to have any chance of earning the kind of reputation today’s consumers want.

Read on to find out exactly why your business should care about social responsibility.

What are the benefits?

Making social responsibility a key part of your corporate citizenship policy can have far-reaching effects for your business. Commit to better environmental practices and you’re likely to cut costs as you reduce your waste and save on energy bills. Devote time to helping a charity and you’ll create no end of positive press and PR opportunities. The list goes on and on.

Other top benefits include:

Better marketing and brand recognition
More credibility and customer loyalty
More satisfied employees (and that makes for increased productivity)
Facilitation of innovation and development through collaboration
Increased sales and a boost in profits
More opportunities to secure external investment
Easier regulatory relationships with local authorities and the law
A great reputation and business longevity
The chance to leave a meaningful legacy and inspire the next generation

How can my business be more socially responsibility?

When creating your corporate social responsibility policy, you need to start by identifying the values that are important to your business. Think about your purpose and what you believe in. You should also think about what means the most to your customers.

Your policy should cover a range of issues from the environment to charitable donations and, crucially, include an implementation and reporting plan. You could have the best policy in the world but if you don’t carry it out, it’s meaningless. You’ll find loads of useful information on the GRI website. They empower businesses around the world to create socially responsible and sustainable business models.

Key policy areas to consider include:

Charitable giving

Social responsibility often involves working to support a charity or worthy cause. Ideally, you should choose a cause that aligns well with your business and that your stakeholders and employees will be enthusiastic about.

Take shoe brand, TOMS. Their One for One campaign helps provide shoes to people in need. For every pair of shoes purchased, they donate a pair – over 75 million at the last count. A great example of a charitable cause that has meaningful synergy with a brand.

Collaborative brand partnerships

Putting competition aside and partnering up with another brand to work collaboratively can have a huge impact. By sharing resources and expertise, partnered brands can achieve far more than they would alone. And all sides stand to gain when the collaboration has charitable aims.

The pre-competitive partnership between luxury online retailer Yoox and fashion brand We Are Handsome is a prime example. Their Yoox Loves the Reef project sees them team up to produce and sell an exclusive line of swimwear and activewear to support the conservation work of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Carbon emissions

In the face of climate change, more and more businesses are looking to play their part and reduce their carbon footprint. Brands like L’Oréal have even committed to going fully carbon neutral and the hope for the future is that other businesses will follow suit.

Begin by identifying your carbon emissions and then look at ways of reducing them. This could include boosting the energy efficiency of your operations, reducing travel miles in your supply chain, investing in sustainable packaging, and offsetting unavoidable emissions. A wide range of brands from IKEA to Unilever are collaborating to fight climate change in the We Mean Business coalition.

Human rights

Socially responsible businesses should, at the very least, make sure that no part of their supply chain uses unethical labor practices, wherever that might be in the world. On top of that, the most socially conscious brands take active steps to improve the lives of their workers. Sourcing Fair Trade goods, investing in sustainable solutions for local communities, and treating workers fairly and with respect are of vital importance to consumers nowadays. And they’re willing to pay more to shop from a brand with great human rights credentials.

M&S are one brand leading the way here, with a range of projects designed to ensure they have a positive impact on human rights and wellbeing. The M&S Global Community Programme aims to help one million people from their supply chain communities build livelihoods and conserve the environment over the next seven years.

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5 Reasons You Should Respond To Every Customer Complaint

Any business encounters a customer complaint at some juncture. Despite the best of intentions, there will be situations when a client leaves feeling dissatisfied. Such a customer may initially try to seek resolution from the business itself, but increasingly, they are more prone to air their grievances on social media platforms. When such negative feedback is published online, it becomes a permanent fixture. This puts business owners and managers in a position where they must make a choice: either overlook the complaint or use it as a platform to exhibit their c for everyone to witness. Here Are Five Prime Reasons You Should Respond To Every Customer Complaint Here are some reasons why responding to customer complaints is crucial for your business's success. 1. Forge Strong Connections Customers tend to be doubtful, particularly regarding reviews. Research indicates that only 39% of consumers believe retailers seriously consider their feedback and an additional 22% feel this simply never happens. Making public responses to your reviews is the initial action towards alleviating these suspicions. Don’t solely concentrate on responding to negative feedback. Yes, one and two-star reviews should be addressed first, but recognizing customers who have given you positive reviews, even with a plain “thank you,” can greatly enhance brand loyalty and demonstrate to the world that you value every piece of customer feedback. Ensure your responses strike the right note. This is your opportunity to initiate dialogue with your customers and exhibit the personable side of your brand, so think deeply about the image you want to project. 2. Motivate Employees When your entire support team commits to elevating customer satisfaction by gaining insights from customer interactions, it naturally leads to fewer disgruntled customers and boosts motivation. Employees feel more motivated and their morale improves when they're not constantly dealing with negative feedback or hostility in every interaction. If you're overwhelmed, you could outsource professional answering services from Absent Answer to handle any high volumes of customer interactions. 3. Complaints Help to Pinpoint Defective Products Regrettably, despite rigorous quality control measures, defective products occasionally reach consumers. Organizations need to be informed about these flawed items by customers to rectify similar issues that might exist in other products. This scenario is especially relevant when a discourteous employee interacts with customers over the phone. Many individuals would prefer not to expend the effort to report such instances of rudeness. However, without this feedback, a manager may remain oblivious, potentially resulting in a single employee driving numerous customers away. 4. Complaints Pave the Way for Service Improvement Opportunities Studies indicate that a customer whose concerns have been addressed satisfactorily tends to be more loyal than a customer who has never had any issues. Complaints provide a chance to demonstrate to the customer that their satisfaction is a priority for the business by implementing service recovery measures. Numerous businesses implement a service recovery strategy to handle those occasional yet significant instances when customers feel their expectations have not been met. A well-executed service recovery program can potentially convert a dissatisfied customer into a loyal patron, who may be more satisfied than if they had never experienced problems. 5. Improved Digital Presence Complaints on review sites and social media are becoming more common. While it might be disconcerting to publicly display a customer's dissatisfaction, remember that potential customers expect to see some negative feedback. The key is demonstrating that your business is proactive and committed to satisfying its customers. Responding to complaints by regretting any less-than-positive experiences shows potential customers they can trust your service. In your response, highlight your eagerness to rectify the situation. Once you've addressed the issue publicly, follow up privately as well. This prevents the possibility of an extended discussion overshadowing your initial response. Generally, you'll be able to resolve the problem and, apart from maintaining a positive public image, you'll also enhance your reputation with the affected customer. Tips on How To Effectively Handle Customer Complaint Responding to customer complaints as soon as possible is crucial as it sends a message to them that the business or organization values their concerns and feedback. Moreover, ensuring customer satisfaction also helps in building and maintaining one’s brand reputation. However, handling and responding to customer complaints is not an easy thing to do. Here are some tips on how to effectively handle customer complaints. Go Through The Complaint The first step to effectively handling a customer complaint is actively listening to the customer and trying to understand the issues that they are facing with your product or service. If you are reading online reviews feedback or complaints sent via email, then don't just skim through. Make sure to read the review thoroughly from top to bottom. While reading through the reviews, you should also try taking notes such as product or service number, day and date of the incident, and any other information that you think is relevant. Carefully reading or listening to the complaint will help you to understand the issues and determine a suitable course of action. Stay Professional and Apologise to the Customer It can be difficult to accept criticism, be it online or face-to-face, especially if it is about your business that you have worked hard to build from the ground up. However, it is crucial that you stay calm while listening to or reading customer complaints, even if you think that they are wrong, lying, or being unreasonable. Getting emotional or worked up over customer complaints and then reacting angrily in front of customers will only escalate the situation and harm your brand’s reputation. So be professional and apologize to the customer even if they are the ones who are in the wrong. You should also be courteous and thank them for reaching out to you and voicing their frustrations and assure them that you are looking into the issue. Most of the time, apologizing immediately to the customer can go a long way toward defusing the situation. Formulate A Course Of Action To Resolve the Customer Complaint Once you have carefully heard or read the customer complaint and understood the issue, try to formulate a suitable course of action. Some problems can be easily resolved, while others may take some time. If the issue can be fixed easily, then you should get back to the customer as soon as possible with the solution. The customer will appreciate the promptness on your part, and it will go a long way in ensuring customer satisfaction. However, there can be issues that cannot be resolved quickly. In that case, you should determine how much time it will take for you to fix the problem. At the same time, be honest with your customers and tell them that you will need some time to fix the issue and provide them with a timeline. Here are some additional tips on what to do after the complaint is resolved: Follow up with the customer after the issues are fixed and make sure they are happy with the outcome. You can ask for their feedback on how you handled the complaint and what you can do better next time. Try to exceed their expectations by offering them something extra, such as a discount, a freebie, or a referral. This will help you turn a negative experience into a positive one and increase customer loyalty and retention. Endnote If you've been neglecting your reviews, feeling too anxious to reply, or simply haven't had the opportunity, there's no more suitable time to start than now. Responding to all your reviews, whether they are positive or negative, can contribute immensely to strengthening trust in your brand and depicting your company as one that genuinely listens and deeply values its customers. Read Also: 5 Most Common Digital PR Mistakes And How To Avoid Them The 7 Steps to Create a Storybrand to Ensure Marketing that Works How Customer Success Can Help Grow Your Business

How To Ensure Your Customers Are Content With Your Content

Ensuring customer satisfaction is high is one of the most important parts of the business. Without customers being content, there will be little customer retention, and this can impact customer acquisition. Here are a few tips for ensuring that your company’s customers are content with your content. 1. It Starts Before the Sale To ensure customer satisfaction with your products, start before the sale. When you list your products online, make sure you list everything properly, and all the information is up to date and accurate. This can go a long way to ensuring your customers choose the right product for their needs 2. Invest Some Time in your Customer Service Team Similarly, the quality of your customer service can help a lot too. When a customer service team has proper staff with high quality training, this will increase customer confidence in the company. It will also increase customer satisfaction and allow them to make a more informed decision before they even purchase anything. It also allows you to deliver a more personalized and bespoke service. Without your customers, you wouldn’t have a business, so make sure to make them feel special for supporting you. Be available to answer questions and acknowledge their needs, personalizing the service you can give them. 3. Quality Control When it comes to the actual products, they regularly undergo quality control assessments. This will ensure that if there ever is a problem it will be picked up and rectified as soon as possible. By doing so, there will be less of a negative impact on customer contentment. 4. Use Quality Packaging It can be easy to overlook your product’s packaging in favor of what’s inside. However, the packaging is more important than you might think. In fact, global packaging demand has risen over the past few years. The packaging is the first thing that your customers will see, and it is what they might make their first impressions of. This is why it is important to choose a quality packaging solution like those from Duplo International. If your packaging is eye-catching, has a nice feel to it, and is clearly of high quality, customers are more likely to choose your product and be satisfied by its contents. 5. What Does the Customer Want? To make sure that your customers continue to be content with your product or service, regularly compare what you are producing against market research of what your customer base wants. This will make sure that you identify any weaknesses or areas of potential development. 6. Ask for Feedback and Implement it Arguably, the most important tip for ensuring your customers is content with your content is to ask them their opinions! Whether you ask them to fill in a quick survey or put out a call for product development feedback, embrace your customer’s feedback and implement your findings. If you follow these ideas, your customers will stay content with your company’s products and services. 7. Stay Consistent Across Channels Consistency is key to maintaining customer satisfaction. If your company operates across multiple channels, be it online, in-store, or through social media, ensure that the customer experience is seamless everywhere. Customers should feel like they are dealing with the same brand, regardless of where they engage. Consistency builds trust and gives them the reliability of your products or services. This also talks about your brand’s voice, visual identity, and even the way you handle your customers. Consistent messaging and service make your customers feel secure in their choices, leading to much higher satisfaction. 8. Keep Your Promises Nothing frustrates customers more than unfulfilled promises. If you promise fast delivery, deliver fast. If you guarantee quality, ensure your product lives up to that standard. Customers remember when a company over-promises and under-delivers, and it can harm your brand’s reputation. On the flip side, when you meet or even exceed expectations, customers are more likely to stick around and recommend your brand. In the long run, keeping your promises fosters loyalty and makes customers feel valued. 9. Build a Strong After-Sales Support System Your job doesn’t end when the product is sold. In fact, customer satisfaction often depends heavily on what happens after the purchase! A strong after-sales support system ensures that customers can easily reach you if they face any issues or have questions about the product. Whether it’s a clear return policy, accessible customer service channels, or a helpful FAQ section, providing solid support shows that you care about the customer’s experience even after the sale. Offering warranties or guarantees can also be a reassuring factor that keeps customers satisfied. 10. Reward Loyal Customers Another way to maintain customer satisfaction is by recognizing and rewarding loyalty. Offering loyalty programs, discounts, or special offers to repeat customers can keep them engaged with your brand. It’s a way of saying “thank you” for their support. Even small gestures, like sending a personalized thank-you note or offering early access to new products, can leave a lasting impression. By making customers feel appreciated, you increase the chances of them sticking with your brand for the long term. Final Thoughts Customer satisfaction isn’t just about meeting expectations—it’s about exceeding them whenever possible. It’s an ongoing process that requires continuous attention and adaptation. From quality control and packaging to feedback and after-sales support, each touchpoint in the customer journey matters. By focusing on these areas, you can create a positive experience that keeps customers coming back. Read Also: Online Marketing: Selling Your Product And Services Tips on How to Create Repeat Customers Not all customers are always right

5 Tips To Prepare Your Business For Growth

Every business owner recognizes themselves in tough shoes, and by best foot forward, they ensure quality and smooth business operations. However, the process of operating your business with manual strategies is becoming outdated. The success and expansion of a business becomes a crucial factor for the owners, and more it sounds exciting –it becomes a daunting process. To grow your business, you need to plan carefully and prepare your business well to identify new heights. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy. However, here are some practical ways that you can consider and optimize your business potential. Here Are Five Ideas To Prepare Your Business For Growth Read on to explore how to attract growth: 1. Assess Your Current Performance Assessment of your business is one of the essential things that you have to consider as a first priority. Understanding your business strengths and weaknesses will allow you to analyze the current place of your business and how you can improve its performance. This way, you will get valuable insights that will help in planning strategies for growth and expansion. The other benefit you can avail by assessing your business is to explore the right opportunities and work on the shortcomings. 2. Set Your Clear Goals A successful business owner always has eyes on the bigger picture no matter how small the business they are operating. The purpose of a goal is to give direction to the business owners so they identify how they can lead their business toward growth. So, when planning to grow your business, you need to set clear and actionable goals. You can take time to identify the desired outcomes and where you want to see your business in the coming years. 3. Explore Strategic Partnership When you are planning to expand your business, considering collaboration with the right partners will be rewarding for your business. It will open new doors for you in the market by creating access to new resources and expertise. This way, your business will be able to experience competitive advantages. But when you are looking for partnerships for your business, you need to ensure that these professionals align with your growth plans and comply with CTA reporting. This will give you surety that your business will not be part of any illegal or illicit activities or source of income. 4. Embrace Technology With the advancement in technology, it becomes crucial for businesses to take leverage from it and escalate desired outcomes. Technology and innovation in your business can transform operations by boosting the efficiency, performance, and quality of work. To prepare your business for growth, you can identify the areas where you need to upgrade. You can look for the best software for automation to make business operations seamless. 5. Focus On Customer Experience Growth can only happen when you boost sales and offer value to your customers. For this purpose, you need to offer your customers quality and meet their expectations. These two factors will let your customers stick to your business and always prefer your services when they will find the need. So, keep their satisfaction as your main business motto to optimize the revenue. Read Also: Getting The Best Digital Marketing Agency In Singapore For Your Business How Inspirational Speakers Like Tony Robbins Can Help Your Business Ways To Improve Your Business’s Financial Health

Why Your Business Should Care About Social Responsibility

What are the benefits?

How can my business be more socially responsibility?

Collaborative brand partnerships

Carbon emissions

Human rights

Tips for Creating Effective Portable Trade Show Displays

Choosing Open Office Space vs Cubicle Office Space

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

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5 Reasons You Should Respond To Every Customer Complaint

How To Ensure Your Customers Are Content With Your Content

5 Tips To Prepare Your Business For Growth

Why Your Business Should Care About Social Responsibility

What are the benefits?

How can my business be more socially responsibility?

Collaborative brand partnerships

Carbon emissions

Human rights

Share this Article

Tips for Creating Effective Portable Trade Show Displays

Choosing Open Office Space vs Cubicle Office Space

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

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