Loyalty is essential. Loyal customers buy more, spend more, and visit the site more often. They are also the ones who promote you for free – but significantly – by sharing their positive experience with you or with the products or services you offer to their circle of friends and acquaintances.
Often, small companies just starting out do not emphasize this loyalty and try to obtain large profits immediately from a limited number of customers who, most likely, will not return to purchase again.
Today we aim to offer you some ideas on how to attract and maintain customer loyalty.
1. Create a relationship with each person and then communicate
A study conducted in the United States revealed that over 71% of customers who ended relationships with a supplier or store made this decision due to problems caused by poor customer relationship management in that company. Although computers and all social networks seem to encourage a lack of direct contact with other people, it appears that people still want (more and more) to have direct contact with those who sell or provide various services to them on the internet. Therefore, it is very good to offer customers the possibility to call a phone number on the site (where someone always answers – even a robot managing calls) or to be called back after placing an order or submitting a question/request/complaint.
2. Inform yourself and compare.
One of the best ways to find out what customers want from you and your employees is to put yourself in their place. If your services or products do not differ from what your competitors offer (for example, in the case of an online store with food or general use products), customer service is what makes the difference. Thus, put yourself in your customer's place and test both your online ordering systems, phone ordering, or online payment, as well as those of your main competitors. If the differences are small, it means you do not differentiate enough, and if they are in favor of the competition, the answer is easy to guess.
3. Introduce new payment methods
Although it cannot be applied to all types of businesses or in all fields, it is an idea for large businesses with high turnover and increased sales volume, but concentrated in certain periods of the year. To improve cash flow, a payment installment system can be used. This allows the seller to have a constant or predictable income for the coming months, and also allows customers to purchase more products or products with a higher price.
4. Challenge your employees.
Many business owners or managers believe that their employees are as interested in customers and their loyalty as they are. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the employee is not educated, trained, and motivated to treat customers properly or as their superior wishes, most likely they will not do so. Put yourself in the customer's place: would you return to a store where the sellers behaved rudely, indifferently, or arrogantly? I think not. Then avoid your employees behaving that way as well.
5. Surprise
Do something that no one, especially customers, expects. For example, offer surprise gifts when purchasing a product, or a discount directly applied on the invoice. You can send thank-you packages to loyal customers, those who frequently interact on social media pages, or those who voluntarily agree to respond to a survey.
People appreciate surprises and will certainly tell others about them. However, do not run such campaigns too often, as they will lose their uniqueness and surprise factor.
6. Anticipate the need
People always need something. And if they don't necessarily need it, they want something. And, so they don't feel guilty, they turn desire into need. Therefore, we, marketers, must "take advantage" and exploit these desires. We must turn them into needs. Maybe a customer no longer needs nail treatment now, but we create the need for a three-sided nail file and cuticle oil. If they don't know these exist, how would they know they need them?
7. Invest in customers
A legend – which most of you probably already know – says that Nordstrom (a clothing store) had such a customer-friendly policy that at one point a store refunded a customer for a set of car tires even though the store had never sold such items. The case is extreme and, as I said, circulates as a legend, without knowing for sure if it is real or not. Nevertheless, it is a good example of a customer-friendly policy.
Regardless of the size or age of the company, we all must focus on gaining customer loyalty, even if that requires some initial investments.
Loyalty is earned over time. It is lost quickly if no different action is taken. The company must, in turn, be loyal to customers, quality, and the promises made.
