Developing Customer Loyalty
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Every business person knows the value of customer loyalty. We have all heard the mantra that the customer is always right, but while this may be true it doesn’t mean you know all there is to know about them. Doing all you can to win the business of your customers isn’t the only thing you need to be doing to ensure they are loyal to you both now and in the future.
In order to develop customers who are loyal to us it is vital to understand what customer loyalty is all about. This might sound like we are stating the obvious, but in fact not everyone understands the difference between having loyal customers, and having customers who choose you over another company. The difference in the two parts of that sentence may not seem like much but it can translate into a big difference to your company’s profits.
To understand how to develop customer loyalty it is a good idea to think about how you use other businesses. Think about the ones you go to all the time. Why do you go there? Is it because it’s the cheapest? Is it the best? Does it offer the best customer service or are there perks to using that business that put it above all the others?
Loyalty is clearly not the same thing as having a long term customer, and to ensure you have the most loyal customers possible you must be able to distinguish between the two. Ideally you need to determine why people keep coming back to your business as opposed to going elsewhere.
Think about one of the businesses you frequent on a regular basis for example. If someone else came along and offered you that exact same service for less money, would you move over to them instead? If you would, that tells you all you need to know about how loyal you are to that first company. The length of time that someone uses a business and how loyal they are to it are two very different things.
To generate as many loyal customers as possible you need to develop a business that appeals to each customer as an individual, rather than as someone who adds to your profits. By shifting the focus of your business from money to serving your customer, you will automatically increase your revenue anyway, because everyone appreciates the extra level of personalised service that a business offers, which means they will often pay more for that service – even if a cheaper version comes along to rival it.
Each of these opportunities to provide that personalised service is an opportunity to make your customer say “wow”, no matter how large or small that reaction may be. In today’s experience economy, this focus on creating emotional responses to the service you deliver to your satisfied customer will turn them into an extremely satisfied return client who is at the same time an advocate for your business.
Positive emotional experiences create loyal clients!
Another by-product of this is that you will be able to access the best type of advertising available today – and that is word of mouth advertising. If people are delighted with the level of customer service they are getting from you, not only will they be loyal to you for a very long time, they will also talk about the service they get to other people.
The secret to achieving all this is to work on your overall team performance. Everyone has a chance to contribute to building a stronger business that encourages customer loyalty, and a team effort will bring better results all round.
