02 Nov
Six Essentials to Build Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty is a customer’s likelihood to continue doing business with you. A business with strong customer loyalty typically has high customer retention which can be a big source of its revenue. In fact, research shows that a 5% increase in customer retention can improve your profits by 25% to 95%. Additionally, repeat customers spend up to 67% more on products than first-time customers. If your business isn’t actively working towards building its customer loyalty, your probably missing out on a significant source of profit.
Here are some essentials you might consider to build your business’s customer loyalty.
Provide excellent
customer service
There are several basic principles you want to adopt to ensure you are providing the best customer service you can to your customers. First, it is important to be personal. Empathize with your clients and address their concerns with patience. If you can, have a live representative who can talk to customers. Next, be honest with your customers. If you make a mistake, admit to it. Explain what went wrong and how you’ll fix the problem. You’ll build respect customers this way that will ultimately to loyalty. Lastly, be timely and prompt with your promises to customers. If you say you’re going to do something, explain in detail what you are going to do for the customer and immediately follow-up. If you are looking for a more detailed approach to improving your customer service, keep an eye out for one of our upcoming articles.
Reward your customer's loyalty
Customer loyalty programs are a great way to ensure your customers feel recognized for the business they bring to you. Additionally, they build your business’s customer retention by motivating customers to continue working towards rewards your business offers. Loyalty program members have been shown to make larger purchases more frequently than non-members. One study even found that loyalty programs can increase a business’s overall revenue by 5% to 10%.
Follow-up
on customer purchases
Another simple, cost-effective way to ensure your customers feel valued is to follow-up on their purchases. For instance, you can send them an email asking them if they are satisfied with a purchase they’ve made. By doing this, your business shows that it cares about its customers and the quality of the service it provides to them. This builds your brand’s credibility and ensures your customers have positive experiences with you.
Use mistakes as an opportunity to build brand credibility
Some of the world’s leading entrepreneurs often discuss turning businesses’ mistakes into something that builds trust and credibility. No business is perfect, and when customers are wronged they appreciate a business’s ability to take responsibility for its mistakes. If your business makes a mistake, you must acknowledge it and explain the actions you will take to make it right. These actions show your customers that your business is working towards bringing better experiences to them and will build your customer loyalty.
Develop your brand
As we’ve mentioned before, developing your brand can bring many advantages to your business including customer loyalty. By developing your brand to be unique, you can inspire customers to feel a certain way when they do business with you. Successful brand development makes your business meaningful to customers. As a result, customers doing business with you will want to advertise your business as a part of their identity and will be turned into loyal brand advocates.
Bring innovation
to your customers
One of the best ways to develop brand loyalty is to bring innovative products or services to your customers. Innovation done-well solves the problems we encounter in our daily lives and simplifies activities we already do. Consumers are constantly looking towards the best products in a certain field and are usually most attracted to the newest innovations. If your business provides this innovation, you will build a loyal customer base that will consistently look towards you for the newest improvements you bring to a market. Innovation sells itself and it is often the most innovative businesses that inspire the strongest sense of loyalty among their customers.
Recently graduated with a degree in political science, Robin is using his research and communication skills to pursue a career in content marketing. A talented copywriter for Ekoma, he also enjoys spending time with his dog, taking care of his home aquarium, and rock-climbing.
Robin Sawka