How Businesses Score True Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is always a blessing to have. And while many businesses and organizations see it as only a plus, not necessarily contributing to their bottom line, they’ll soon realize that loyalty makes all the difference in the success of a company.

This is because with the proliferation of businesses and services, customers have options. They can read reviews, they can talk to peers, and if you’re not offering the right goods, they can be drawn to other competitors.

What will make a business successful in drawing not only customers, but loyal customers who are motivated to share their experiences with others. Creating an experience that goes above and beyond to offer a pleasant physical, emotional, and transactional experience for customers is key. We’ll go over the several ways businesses can win loyalty with customers and create long-term success for their business.

There’s Value in Getting Personal

Like we always say, humanization is the key to business success. Customers want to feel like they’re interacting with a human and they expect a human interaction. Generic, bland, pushy won’t work for today’s customers. A personal greeting on a birthday or anniversary means so much more than 10% off merchandise for President’s Day. Customers will appreciate that you value them as people, not as a transaction.

Customers Are Loyal to People, Not the Corporation

Who builds customer loyalty are not the higher-ups that work at the headquarters, but sales reps and account managers. Customers relate and build loyalty off interactions they have with people who they’re interacting with day-to-day and on a regular basis. Your frontline needs to be fast, effective, engaging, and, most importantly, understanding.

Stop Comparing Yourself with Others

The truth is, we’re often delighted when we receive any sort of customer service because we don’t get it very often. So this has caused customer service to dip into a generic level. Most businesses will do just enough, but won’t go above and beyond. Instead of comparing yourself to competitors, ask what are you willing to offer as a company. Creating an innovative customer experience that goes above and beyond comes from your own ideas and vision.

Be Upfront About Bad News

Our marketing firm is very transparent. That’s because transparency helps with team building. And being upfront in good times and in bad within in the firm and with our clients helps build a genuine, trustworthy relationship. When something bad does happen, what often works well is being upfront and emphasis on solving the issues with customers as soon as possible. Respond to bad or negative reviews or mentions online honestly, own up to any wrongdoing, and make it up to the customer. Every bad incident with a customer is an opportunity to build true brand loyalty. Your customers are more understanding than you think!

What really doesn’t work with a customer? “It’s just company/store policy.”

Reward Customer Loyalty

If you’ve ever signed up for cable TV or electricity, you can vouch for this. These companies are notorious for focusing their rewards and discounts on new customers while ignoring long-term customers who’ve been with them for years. Loyal customers need encouragement and they need to know that you care about them too. Customers quickly become frustrated when they get the short end of the straw with companies. The best way to keep customer loyalty is to give your customers an incentive to stay. Be good to customers and they’ll certainly be good to you.

Want to learn more? Download our free eBook on customer loyalty!