Start Being Loyal to Your Customers
Every business owner, old and new, knows that landing customers is hard, but keeping them is harder still.
Loyal customer base is something all businesses want, as loyal clients result in at least 5 times more sales than new clients. Chances are, though, that building this customer base is something you struggle with — just like most companies out there.
But maybe you’re looking at it wrong? Perhaps it is you who failed to stay loyal to your customers?
Qminder can help you with managing customers, providing better experiences, and more. Give our free trial a shot and see the difference.
A New Approach to Customer Loyalty
This is the underbelly of customer loyalty that so few people pay attention to. Turns out, the ancient adage of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” can be applied to customer loyalty just as well.
Look at it this way: your customers have done their half of the work — they chose your business. Now, the ball is in your court. You need to not only deliver, but do so in such a way that your customers won’t even think about leaving you for a competitor.
Even when we look at the most basic loyalty programs, you can see that they’re mutually beneficial. Customers get something in return for sticking with you, be it a free item after a certain amount of purchases, a discount, or special points that are aggregated on their account.
Sure, on the first glance, the company spends a tad more than usual: free items aren’t exactly free, are they? But look at what you get in return: a customer that serves as your personal evangelist.
We’ve talked so much about word-of-mouth marketing before that we’d sooner run out of space than manage to fit in all of our articles here. The point is, a satisfied customer does not only go back but is likely to bring somewhere else along with them.
In fact, keeping an existing customer costs up to five times less than getting a new one. It’s not only about the marketing efforts but also the fact that it’s easier to persuade an existing customer to buy from you again.
But it’s about more than just loyalty programs. There are ways you can show your customers that you care about them and what they have to say.
How to Be Loyal to Your Customers: 3 Key Areas of Focus
1. Provide and Retain Value
If you’ve been reading our blog, you might have noticed that we sure love our business/relationship analogies. Sorry, but we can’t resist the temptation of making yet another such analogy here.
You see, some businesses, just like some people in real life, make this rookie relationship mistake of not bothering to keep the appearances once the heart of has been won over. They think that now that the battle is won, there’s no reason to keep one-upping yourself all the time.
Here’s a self-evident truth for you: lowering the quality of your products or services, even in the name of maintaining lower prices, will scare the customers away.
The quality of your services is exactly why they chose you in the first place. You can alter the core message or intention of these services, but if their quality needs to go, it’s only needs to go upwards.
2. Know Their Wants and Needs
To serve a customer, you need to understand how the customer behaves. To better serve a customer, you need to predict how the customer will behave.
You don’t have to be a certified wizard or have a crystal ball lying around to do that, either. All you have to do is gather enough information about your customer and act on it.
Purchasing history and behavior are perhaps the most important stats you can observe. Things like typical visiting hours or days, covered by Qminder’s Service Intelligence, are of immense help.
To show a little bit of pragmatism, learning your customers’ purchasing history helps you with upselling and cross-selling, too. The better you know them, the better you can convince them to purchase useful products or service they needed but haven’t even thought of.
There’s more to it than purchasing history, however. Your range of weapons is quite wide: email surveys, social media interactions, polls, chats, phone calls, etc. Use every means available to get to know your customer a little bit better.
3. Keep in Touch
Can you really claim to be loyal to your customers if you barely talk to them?
In the age of instant communication that knows no space or time limitations, there’s no excuse for not spending your time having heartfelt conversations with your customers.
Learn to be a good listener to your customers, as there’s no greater perk to have in customer service. Everybody has something to say, even if sometimes they need a little push.
Be sure to respond to your customers’ emails as well as comments on your website and social media. (You have social media, don’t you?) Even the most inane opinions and requests require a calm and thoughtful response.
Don’t forget to spice conversations up with your personality, be it emojis, gifs, funny quips, or what have you.
4. Make Customers Feel Special
Nobody likes to be part of the masses. It is in human nature to want to be memorable, to stand out from the crowd, and feel loved and wanted.
(This is the last time we’re making the romance analogy, I swear.)
Similarly, your customers don’t want to only engage with your services. They want you to care about them, not just their money. Making them feel special is a signal of your loyalty to them.
The easiest way to do that is to use customers’ names when talking to them. This helps create a more relaxed, personal atmosphere, and helps tell your customers that you not only remember them but also comfortable around them.
Another ways to make your customers feel special is to occasionally bend your own rules for them.
Now, the keyword is bend, not break. What we mean by that is, for example, showing leniency with your return policies (to reasonable extents, of course), or letting a customer in if they’re a few minutes late.
Not all rules are made equal. Some of them are outdated, not clear enough, or too specific to be applied broadly. If that’s the case, prioritize your customers over policies.
“Am I being loyal to my customers?” is not a bad question to keep asking yourself from time to time. Keep your perceptions grounded, and don’t always assume you’re completely blameless.
Staying loyal to your customers is a brew made with a number of ingredients. It’s not only about the attitude that you have but also the equipment that you use.
Qminder is a customer service tool that helps your business maintain the image of an innovative, customer-loving company. Don’t take our or our partners’ word for it — try it out yourself, for free.
