It’s much easier for businesses to keep existing customers than it is to gain new ones. However, generating customer loyalty is a process that isn’t always easy to fathom. Different customers want different things, and you need to understand exactly what your customers want. This article will take a look at six ways that you can interact with your customers in different ways, understand who they are, and become a better service provider that keeps its customers.
- Understand your customers
The key to keeping customers is to understand who they are, what they want, and how they interact with your brand. By using real-time data and social media, you can enter a better conversation with them. The beauty of having customers is you can talk to them, so make sure you make the most of the conversations to get a picture of how you can make their experience better.
- Use loyalty and rewards schemes
Customers really appreciate it when you give them something for free. There is a psychological phenomenon where if you give something for free, the customers will have an unconscious perception that they owe you something. By having a reward programme and incentivising royalty, you will build emotional equity that will keep customers coming back again and again.
- Incorporate new technologies into your business
Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality are beginning to become mainstream. By utilising these technologies, you will set yourself at the cutting edge of your industry and help your customers get a better experience of your brand. Experience is the key, and driving engagement through these new media will certainly make a difference to customer loyalty and customer retention.
- Using newsletters and social media
By creating engaging content and distributing it on newsletters and social media, you add touch points for your brand and can create a sense of community. In so doing, you create a deeper connection with your customers.
In sales we often talk about touches, and that you need to touch a customer seven times before they buy from you. It’s the same with customer loyalty. The more positive interactions that you can have with the customer, the more likely they will feel like they are your customer, and are going to stay.
- Understand the key times for attention
You need to understand your marketplace and how your customers think. For example, if you are trying to build loyalty for a gym, you need to understand the importance of the January period, and all the offers that are going to be made by your competitors. If you are selling seasonal items, then you need to get the cycle of communication right in the run-up to that.
If you want to reduce churn, you need to make sure that you don’t give opportunities for competitors to steal a march on you by communicating power for messages in a vacuum. Make sure that you are having good conversations and creating the right perceptions in the lead up to these key times in your sales year.
- Be human
In a world that has gone digital and computerised, it has become more important than ever to show the human face of your organisation. If people complain, then you need to deal with things in a human way, and not in a “computer says no” style interaction.
Having good people, with good customer skills, will make the difference between retaining and losing customers. Tell your story naturally, interact based on your understanding of customers, and talk to them about what they want, their problems, and the solutions you can provide for them, rather than just talking about what you have to offer.
There are so many ways to create customer loyalty and reduce churn. It comes down to focusing on your customer and understanding who they are and what they want. By creating a positive customer culture within your company, you’ll be able to retain more customers and grow your business.
