5 Ways to Build a Loyal Customer Following
5 Ways to Build a Loyal Customer Following
Customer loyalty is vital—no matter the size of your company. Retaining old customers is far less expensive than attracting new ones.
Still, improving customer loyalty takes a lot of work. Here are 5 ways you can ensure a fruitful, long-lasting relationship with your customers.
Emphasize Your Values
For starters, you must know what you are about and what your customers are about. You have to share your customers’ values if you want to develop a strong relationship with them.
As seen in a study featured in Harvard Business Review, 64% of US respondents stated that shared values are the primary reason they have a brand relationship.
Shared values are often the largest driver of customer loyalty. You can learn more about the things that matter the most to your customers by doing a bit of research and creating a buyer’s persona.
Offer Exceptional Customer Service
No matter how obvious this one sounds, the importance of offering exceptional customer service cannot be emphasized enough.
We do our best to make our products or services the best they can be, but they will never be perfect. Customers get that, so they are willing to accept some flaws in the products/services they purchase.
To make up for the drawbacks your products may have, you need to offer flawless customer service. It’s a tried and true way of reducing customer churn.
For this, you must utilize the right communication tools. By communicating with your customers frequently, you will always stay “fresh” in their minds. The best tools for the job are:
- Online Voice and Video Call: To make it more convenient for your customers and clients, you can use dedicated voice and video call tools on your site/app that will connect them with support agents almost instantly.
- Live Chat: Hyper/connectivity and instant messaging have become mainstream. Live Chat allows you to fit your customer service right into your customers’ digital habits.
- Chatbots: Chatbots can intelligently direct customers to the right agents. They are a highly efficient tool for scaling your customer support.
Offer Extra Perks to Most Loyal Customers
You’ll encourage your most loyal customers to stick around by setting up a special reward system for them.
Whether it’s a special discount, immediate seating, free drinks, special meet-and-greets, a chance to skip the line—everyone likes getting a little something extra.
When others see how you treat your most loyal customers, they will also want to reach that status. Referral programs are also another great way of both improving customer loyalty and bringing in new customers.
Ask for a Review
The rise of search engines and social media has changed marketing from the ground up. When a customer wants to learn more about your business, they turn to Google.
Because of this, reviews are more important than ever. Reviews can help make your customers feel confident that they’ve made the right decision by sticking with you.
Asking your customers to leave a review and thanking them when they do so is a good place to start, but there’s more you can do.
Since it’s far too easy for a business to write fake reviews to improve their online reputation, some reviews are more valuable than others, and the iGaming industry is the perfect example of this.
When a player wants to find out whether an online casino is good or not, they try to find genuine casino reviews written by experts.
The player will feel safe playing there knowing that a reputable expert has vetted the online casino and gave it a good rating.
If you are confident in the quality of products or services, make sure the right experts in your industry or niche know about you.
Find out who (or what) is a reputable source of information for your customers. Make an effort to reach out to them and ask them to review your business.
Own Up to Your Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes. The question is: how do you deal with yours? When a mistake happens, many customers won’t hesitate to share their experiences with your business.
And there are many platforms out there that allow them to do so. Moreover, some customers can be real meanies when they call you out.
Don’t get sensitive or defensive when that happens. To own up to your mistakes and resolve such issues, use the same platforms your customers have used to complain. There are many great tools that can help you with online reputation management.
It’s a good idea to respond both publicly and in private to such complaints. To make up for your mistake, offer some type of compensation. It can be a freebie, a steep discount, or anything else that you see fit.
Takeaway
People will go to great lengths to show how much they love a brand, business, or product. They will get in vehement arguments in favor of your business and proudly display your bumper sticker on the back of their car.
But, you must always give them a reason to be loyal. By following these tips, you will gain loyal customers that won’t just stick with your business, but will turn into passionate advocates of your brand.
