Loyal customers help business thrive! According to a study by global business consultancy Bain and Company, “a 5 percent increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75 percent!” Also, loyal customers are likely to recommend your business to friends and acquaintances. Retaining customer loyalty isn’t hard to do, all it takes is a little TLC.
Exceeded expectations: This is obvious. Remember when you walked into a store and were greeted with a happy face that was there to help you when you needed it? Her experience there probably put a smile on her face, didn’t it? Apply the same techniques that made it a memorable experience in your company culture. If you’re running an online business, make sure you keep your customers up to date on their purchase at every step. Confirm receipt of payment, thank them for their purchase, provide them with an invoice, and provide tracking information. If something goes wrong during or after a transaction, be sure to help them until your issue is resolved. This doesn’t require any extra money, just some extra time and patience.
Treat your customers like friends: You don’t have to invite your clients over to your house to make them feel special, but a friendly little chat always makes someone feel remembered. You definitely won’t remember every detail of every customer you had a conversation with, but a little chat never hurts if you recognize a face. If you own an online business, make sure all returning customers see a “welcome back” banner on your website’s home page.
Keep them in your inner circle: Be sure to keep a customer database with their email and mailing address along with their latest purchase so you can keep them updated on various promotions and discounts. You can also send them emails about products, services, and special promotions related to their latest purchase. Before sending any email, review email marketing “best practices.”
Celebrate with them: Take your customers’ birthday information and send them a personalized card or eCard with a special discount or coupon for their birthday. You can be sure that some customers won’t let a perfectly good coupon sent especially for their birthday go to waste.
Encourage feedback: Invite customers to review and let them know that you want your products, services, and customer support to meet their needs. You’ll be surprised at the great advice you get from customers, and many of them will be happy to give you their two cents or praise your business. But don’t stop there: implement what has been recommended!
Brighten up that face: With the exception of utopian societies, not all of the customers you serve will be completely satisfied with your products or services. If a customer is upset or disappointed, offer them a few options to assuage their concern, whether it’s a discount on their next purchase, store credit, a gift certificate, etc.
Create a loyalty program: Membership, customer loyalty or point accumulation plans work wonders. According to ntouchloyalty.com, “studies show that customers who belong to a loyalty program visit twice as many times and spend 4 times more than those who do not.”
With these simple tips, you can easily get lots of customers to come back again and again. It is not necessary to implement all of these ideas at the same time. Rather, pick a few that fit your business model and give them a try! It certainly can’t hurt, right?
