Customers Want to Be Loyal, So Give Them a Good Reason to Be
Businesses need to grow, and without happy customers, they won’t. That’s a short, factual statement. That said, exactly how is a company to attract customers and keep them happy? Customer service encompasses the topic of discussion here. However, it’s a subject of much consideration when the only difference between a successful business and a failing one is its (happy) customers. How does a business keep up with the ever-increasing demands of its customers to keep them happy and coming back?
Let Customers Interact with your Company – Socially
It is time for companies to stop being isolated from their customers and allow a more personal connection to break through barriers common in business. For example, the most basic of interactions with a customer, such as answering the telephone, keep some customers from trying to reach you due to the impersonal nature of hold times and voicemail. It takes time and it isn’t effective in solving issues in a timely manner.
Social media closes the gap between reluctant customer service and real-time communication between the most important part of your business – your customer. Enabling social media interaction is an in-demand function that your customers want and need. Creating an open channel between you and your customers sends a strong signal that your genuine intent is happy customers.
More Customers are Digital Savvy
Only a few years ago, many customers preferred the old standby sources of information such as TV and newspapers with their full-color printed inserts. Fast-forward to today and we find trends in market research showing us that more customers have become digital savvy and now use their phones and computers for instant information.
The sooner you adopt these functions so your customers can reach out to you instantly, the better. Customers expect this ability and you need to deliver this to them or risk your competition doing it for you.
Costs to Attract Customers Soar vs Keeping Them
Estimates vary about the cost of attracting customers versus keeping them, but most sources say the cost to attract new customers is 4-10 times that of retaining them. In fact, some place that number near 30 times the cost. Doesn’t it make more sense to place your efforts into keeping your existing customers? Of course, it does.
Give your customers a valid reason for sticking with you and to demonstrate their loyalty to you by doing what’s necessary to keep them. If your company focus is on technology, having more technology experts on staff, available to interact with your customers, would be very beneficial. Customers would appreciate talking to an expert (not a salesperson; there’s a big difference) who possesses intimate knowledge of your product(s) that can provide real, actionable tips and techniques your customers can put to use immediately.
Get your Customers Involved
In the example above, another effective approach to staying in the good graces with your customers is by offering them a chance to take part in webinars or on-site seminars about your product(s). Your customers will appreciate the opportunity to expand their knowledge to help them become more effective and more profitable. It’s a win-win situation, and you should seriously consider doing this for your customer base.
Involvement with customers should include the use of digital media such as texting, instant messaging, or video chatting when appropriate. It’s the real-time and instant communication aspect that will ignite loyalty.
Your Customers – On a Personal Level
Customers love to be loved. Take a look at the data:
Brand loyalty is emotion-driven, and a great experience tends to commit your brand to memory. However, a bad experience does the opposite, and it’s a long, hard trip back to acceptability to the customer.
- Customers look for and appreciate personalization. 59% say this helps them with their shopping decisions.
- Personalization is so important that 31% of people want more.
- A whopping 74% of potential customers feel unfulfilled if the content on the website is not optimized for them personally.
Conclusion
Customers want to be loyal, so give them a great reason to be. Provide easy and effective ways for them to contact you and always be quick to respond. When customers feel as important as they are, your brand will enjoy prominence in their mind and loyalty becomes a mainstay.
