How To Acquire Customer Loyalty And Use It To Your Advantage?
The success of any business is dependent on customer loyalty. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small business or a major corporation. Customer loyalty allows businesses to keep selling their products or services to the same people without having to spend any additional money on advertising. Of course, companies are still going to advertise so they can grow their list of loyal customers who keep giving them business and make even more money.
What is Customer Loyalty Anyway?
So, what exactly is customer loyalty? Well, it can be defined as consumers who choose to frequently purchase products or services from a particular company because they like what is offered or produced.
For example, a lot of people who shop for shoes like to purchase only Nike shoes because they know that Nike is a high-quality brand which makes great shoes. As for services, this is even easier for companies to retain loyal customers because many services are needed on a regular basis.
These could be services like pest control, internet access, auto repair, cell phone carrier, and so on. Customers tend to grow accustomed to a particular company and the services they offer, so they keep getting their services for a long time.
It almost gets to the point where customers are afraid to try out a new company’s products or services because they’re just so used to the company they’ve been doing business with for many years. If you’re a business owner, this is the kind of customer loyalty that you should strive for.
Your Customers are Emotional Beings
Customers tend to use their emotions for judging which companies to continue doing business with. While it certainly helps to sell high-quality products and services, the emotional experience of the customer is what really matters in the end. What this means is that you have to create a business environment in which every aspect of your customers’ purchase experience is positive.
For example, if you manage a brick-and-mortar shop, then you should greet every customer that steps through your door. Always be respectful, courteous and have a great big smile on your face. This alone will create a positive atmosphere where the customer feels comfortable and happy. Because you’ve put them in a positive mood, they’ll likely stay longer and find something they’re interested in buying. And if you’re selling any kind of services, always be kind and respectful in all your communication with them. This will give them a sense that they can trust you to perform the job right. Eventually, word of mouth will get around that your business is professional and full of kind and helpful employees who care about customer satisfaction.
You Need to Focus on the Value You Provide to Your Customers
After you’ve been able to create a positive physical and emotional experience for your customer, the true test of their loyalty will be in the value of what you’re actually providing. You don’t need to have the lowest possible prices to obtain customer loyalty. You just need to sell them a quality product or service that has value. This is important because if you sell a product or service to a buyer and it does not do what you told them it would do, then the buyer is likely not going to want to do business with you again. It doesn’t even matter how nice you were to them or how attractive your store was. If a buyer feels like they got ripped off, they take that very personally. That is why you need to sell a product or service that does exactly what you told the buyer it would do. If the buyer feels good about their purchase, they are most likely going to come back and do business with you again in the future. Otherwise, they’re going to go somewhere else and you’ll lose any chance you have of making them a loyal customer.
An American marketing author, Ron Zemke, has described customer decisions as being based on two dimensions — outcome and process. He says to achieve customer loyalty a business has to meet the customer’s expectation of outcome i.e. does the product or service do what you said it would do? At the same time, the customer needs to feel good in the process of buying.
A research study shows that 68% of consumers will shop with another company if they don’t see the value in what they purchased. Once you lose these customers, it will be very difficult to ever win them back again even if you change your ways. That is why a business cannot afford to make mistakes the first time out. They must prepare ahead of time by ensuring their products or services give customers a great value and return on their money. Again, customer satisfaction is what keeps customers loyal.
Why is Customer Satisfaction So Important?
A 2010 RightNow Customer Experience Impact report shows that nine out of ten American consumers are willing to spend more money with companies that give them excellent customer service. So not only would you have their loyalty, but you would get much bigger business from them as well.
Another study conducted by InfoQuest — discovered that a customer who’s totally satisfied will generate 2.6 times more revenue for a business than a customer who’s only somewhat satisfied. The study also showed that a totally satisfied customer helps generate 14 times more revenue for a business than a somewhat dissatisfied customer. Therefore, the more satisfied a customer is, the more money the business will make.
Customer satisfaction should be implemented in businesses of all sizes. After all, customers are what keep businesses alive in the first place. If you make the customers feel uncomfortable or you sell them something that they’ll regret purchasing, they’ll never do business with you again. If enough customers get to feel this way, word-of-mouth will spread that your business is bad to its customers and it will ultimately result in your business failing. This is why you want to do everything you can to get your customers to keep coming back.
Explore Abhisi a helpdesk which can help you serve your customer better.
It is all about delivering your Promises!
To ensure that your customers are satisfied, create a personalized complaints department where customers have the option of filing complaints that they have about your business or its employees. Their feedback will be beneficial to you because you can implement changes in your business based on the feedback you’ve been given. Then, you can prevent further customers from having the same problems that your previous customers complained about — take a look at some CRM software features which can further assist.
As it is said Customer happiness is must
Boost your Employee Morale
As important as it is to keep your customers happy, you need to keep your employees happy and confident as well. This is important for a variety of reasons, aside from the fact that employees are the representatives of your business when they interact with customers. Employees that are confident at their jobs will be more productive at their work while making fewer mistakes. This will reduce the number of complaints made by both customers and other employees. An employee who has job satisfaction will be able to implement customer satisfaction into the business. It all links together.
The way you keep employees happy and satisfied is through good management. This means you shouldn’t be a demanding boss that makes employees feel unhappy. Instead, you should make employees feel happy by treating them a certain way and giving them certain benefits. The right kind of helpdesk reports will help the improve team performance.
MARCUS ERB from Entrepreneur says there are 7 ways to try and boost your employee morale, try them out
Below is a list of ways you can keep employee morale high.
· Keep employees feeling their work is more than just a job.
· Take time to creatively celebrate accomplishments.
· Grant time off to employees to pursue projects they are passionate about.
· Mix up the company’s usual way of doing things.
· Don’t forget to have fun.
· Train employees to develop positive attitudes.
· Offer time away from the office to do some good.
If you implement these tips into your organization, you’ll see productivity increase like never before. More importantly, you’ll see customer loyalty increase right along with it. Customers will want to return to your business if your employees are knowledgeable about the products or services being sold and have no reservations whatsoever about helping them.
Showcasing Clientele
Business marketing in the 21st century is all about getting customers to come to you rather than you trying to reach them. In other words, you need to leverage your existing customer base and get them to create testimonials where they express how happy they are with your business. These testimonials could come in the form of videos, audios, or written text, although video is the most effective and convincing form. If you create the right testimonials, it will be a huge factor in influencing customers to do business with your company. Then you’ll see your sales leads greatly increase. And even if these leads don’t actually turn into sales right away, you can still get these leads to sign up with your company’s newsletter or subscribe to your company’s social media accounts. Then, you can stay in contact and notify them whenever you have something new to announce or sell.
Your Customers will Love it if You Follow Up with Them
After you get sales from your customers, don’t just forget about them because they’ve already paid you money. You need to establish a bond with your customers that goes beyond just a monetary exchange for goods or services. As a business owner, contact your customers by phone or through email and ask them how satisfied they were with their purchase and if they have any questions. The idea is to turn each transactional relationship into an interactional relationship. If customers feel like they can talk to you on a more personal level, then they’ll more likely want to purchase from you again in the future because they’ll feel like they can trust you.
In a recent survey, 71% of customers said that poor customer service makes them want to end their relationship with a business.
Poor customer service can often be attributed to businesses that push people to make a purchase without considering their wants and desires. That is why if you talk to a customer on a personal level, you can inform them about how your product or service can satisfy something in their life that is missing or troublesome. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to get too personal with the customer by asking them private questions. Just be friendly and maybe tell them a story or two about your personal life. This could make the customer feel compelled to share a story of their own, which will then be your opportunity to associate what you’re selling with the story they just told.
Giving Customer Rewards Really Work
Incentives are a great way to retain customer loyalty. Customer rewards are something that many businesses use as a way to give customers an incentive to purchase more products or services from them. For example, let’s say you offer a customer 10 points on their customer rewards card for every $1 that they spend at your business. If they were to accumulate 1000 points, this could give them a $25 gift card or some other prize as a rewards bonus. Customers will then feel motivated to make more purchases from your business so they can build up the points and receive more rewards.
Below are more ways you can give customers an incentive to remain loyal to your business. The idea is to offer customers something in return for their loyalty. This could be free goods, discounts, and special offers. Here are some of the best incentives:
· Offer cumulative discounts on selected lines.
· Create a loyalty-card scheme.
· Give away free items with multiple purchases.
· Team up with an associated business to offer reciprocal discounts.
· Invite customers to trial developing products and services for free.
· Hold a preview evening.
· Take your best customers for a day out.
· Offer preferential service terms.
· Offer additional products and services at cost.
· Reward introductions and referrals.
Takeaway
There is no perfect company and customers are bound to get frustrated with some aspect of your business at some point. That is why it is crucial to always ask customers for feedback on their experience doing business with your company. This will help you figure out where improvements need to be made and which customers you need to be targeting. As a result, you can set goals for yourself and your company so you can build the customer loyalty that you’re striving for. Also, remember to always be nice to your customers and to sell them a valuable product or service. Finally, maintain a professional customer service environment and always try to make customers happy. If you can do that, then you’ll have their loyalty and their business in the future.
Co- Founder of abhisi.com
