Can lost and found property software bring businesses closer to their customers?
Everyone hates it when they lose something valuable. Losing items that are not very important may not be a big deal. But imagine the horror of losing your phone, wallet, or essential documents. It can create serious troubles and add unnecessary tension. But no matter how alert we are, there are incidents when we end up losing our possessions.
Just as losing essential items creates stress, finding those items safely also a huge relief. That is why various Lost And Found services have cropped up to help people in finding things that they have lost or misplaced.
However, a lot of businesses and organizations still don’t have an effective lost-and-found mechanism in place.
Although businesses focus on a range of things to create a positive impact on their customers, – the quality of products or services, a co-operative customer support system, advertising, and marketing. But establishing a lost and found mechanism for customers is not something that is talked about very often.
So let’s take a look at the importance of lost and found services, and why more businesses need to provide such services to customers.
Professional vs. Personal Approach
Before we discuss the benefits of lost and found services for a business, we need to know about the professional vs. personal approach.
The professional approach towards customers only focuses on the product and services that a company provides. If your focus is on the quality, price, and accessibility of your product or service, then that is a professional approach.
On the other hand, a personal approach is when businesses make their customers feel like they are a part of a bigger family. Here, the focus is to make customers realize that the business takes care for their needs, listens to their opinions, and helps them when possible. Also, it makes customers feel as if they are more than just a source of revenue.
Many businesses are so invested in building their professional approach that they ignore the personal aspects. Even marketing experts have emphasized the importance of developing a personal relationship with customers. Still, be it knowingly or unknowingly, businesses overlook this aspect.
The reason we are discussing this is that a ‘lost and found’ system is an excellent way for businesses to leave a positive impression on their customers from a personal approach.
How Setting Up Lost And Found Services Benefits Businesses
1. Earning the trust and gratitude of customers
Every institution or organization receives a range of individuals on their premises. Thus, it is no wonder – locating lost items is a tough deal.
If the lost item has some information to identify the owner, it may be easy to return. But many times, the owner of a lost item can’t be identified.
With the help of a lost and found service, such items can be returned to their owners. Not only will this help in finding the right owner, but it will also allow businesses to earn brownie points from customers.
You will likely recommend a business that helped you in locating your lost iPhone, won’t you?
2. It may compensate for the unpleasant experiences that customers have had in the past
Businesses try their best to keep their customers happy. But despite all their well-intended efforts, things can go wrong now and then. It may be due to negligence or a genuine mistake. Whatever be the case, there is no doubt that it will leave a bad impression on the customer’s mind. Faulty products, problems with the delivery, transaction problems and the likes are a few common issues that businesses face.
What better way is there to get back the confidence of your customers than by returning them an item they lost? This way, having a lost-and-found mechanism act as one of the best ways of compensating for any past experience the customers have had.
3. Building a brand reputation
We already discussed above that many businesses don’t focus on building a personal connection with customers. A ‘lost and found’ department is not something that is commonly seen among businesses.
If your company does have such a provision, it can set you apart from your competitors who don’t have that service. Furthermore, it can be a deciding factor that can convince customers to choose your product or service instead of your competitors
How to Set Up a Lost and Found Property System Effectively
A lost and found service is not as simple as picking up lost items and returning them once the owner is identified. There are many things you will need, some obvious ones being an inventory to store the items, staff to look after the process, and a system of collecting the lost items, and later delivering them to their owner.
But the primary factor that will affect the effectiveness of the entire system is that it should be smooth and hassle-free. The best way this can be done is by using lost and found property software.
Typically, the process of lost and found services will include collecting lost items, recording them, publishing the details online, identifying the owner if possible, or waiting for someone to make a claim, doing some paperwork, and then handing the item over to its owner. However, the suitable software could make this entire process many times easier.
Lost and Found Software to the Rescue
The soon-to-be-launched vFound software will only require a party to upload the image of an item that someone has lost. The software will then record the item and publish it on the respective business website. Customers can then check the gallery of lost and found items and claim the item. Next, they will need to fill an online form to make and verify their claim, and they will have their item delivered.
Although the software is not launched yet, it aims to reduce extra workforce, resources, and effort for the businesses, and plans to create a quick, hassle-free system for customers to get their items back.
Thus, this way, it aims to assist both businesses and the general public, while also improving the relationship between the two parties.
The Next Steps
So as you can see, having lost and found property software is essential. Further, it creates a better experience for your valuable customers. If it’s something you have not considered before, we hope that you will after reading this article.