How to Build Loyal Lifetime Customers
Two years ago, I helped my aunt to choose preschool for her little daughter. Firstly, she learned about the school through a Google search (Aware); she checked the attractiveness of site and information provided about the school (Appeal); then, she sent an inquiry to ask about the tuition fee and class schedule of the school (Ask); after that, she scheduled a trial class for her child, and finally enrolled my cousin (Act); she also recommend the school to other parents around her (Advocate). The steps above form the customer path of my aunt to choose a preschool for her child. Customer path ( the same as customer journey) is the complete experience of a customer to interact with your company and brand. The news I found today, “Optimizing the Customer Journey Over a Lifetime”, by Michelle Tilton, talks about how we can build loyal lifetime customers for the company as a marketer.
Michelle Tilton shares insights about how to build lifetime relationship with loyal customers and points out why the classic customer path falls short. The classic customer path relies too much on the point of purchase to analyze the overall customer experience, but people change and evolve moving along every point in their life. Obviously, a customer’s need and values are different at the point of mid 20s from the 40s after marriage. Tilton points out that the marketing strategy and interactions should evolve along the continuum of the customer’s life. Then, she offers some best practices for marketers to ensure consumers coming back, including “resolve current identities, enhance with attributes, reexamine segmentation, and remarket with personalized and relevant product content”.
Acquiring a new customer is far more difficult than retaining an exiting one, so it is significant for the marketers to use accurate information to target their customers and interact with them continuously. In addition to Tilton’s insights, I think a company’s commitment to quality is also important to retain loyal customers. It needs appropriate return policy and guarantees to achieve customers’ satisfactions and keep them coming back.
