In this post we are talking about ways to increase customer loyalty for your business. By customer loyalty I mean that customers return to buy more, or other products from us, instead of our competitors. There are several ways, and the ways you can increase your customer loyalty can vary depending on the industry your business is in. Let’s get into it.
1. Perfect customer service
Customer service is one of the most important things if you want to maintain a loyal customer base. Customer service is the face of your company. It is most of the time the only thing that customers see when they shop at you. They don’t see what is going on behind the scenes. Even if your company was the nicest workplace on earth, customers only see the customer service.
Having the nicest company in the world for workers will pay itself back in terms of customer service. When your staff is happy, they will make your customers happy as well.
If your company is the worst workplace in the world, the customer service probably will tell that to the customers as well, maybe not straight, but through their actions, and attitude. Why would they want to be nice if you are not nice to them? Be careful who you take on a customer service position. Take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers.
I have a post about how important customer service really is. You can read it here.
2. Quality of products
This applies to products people are going to buy once and to products that they will be coming to buy again. If your product is supposed to last for a decade and it does, they probably will remember that and buy it again from you.
On the other hand, if your product is supposed to last for a decade and it breaks after a year, they will likely tell everybody about how your products don’t last. If the customers are satisfied, they could tell 1 person about that.
If they feel tricked into buying something that doesn’t match the sales pitch, they will tell 100 people that. Maybe write an article about it online and tell the world your products don’t last.
Customers stay loyal if your products are on point. You can make up to mid-tier customer service by having an amazing product, but even a high-tier customer service can’t save you if your product is bad.
3. Make your store easily approachable
Doesn’t matter if your site is online or it has a physical location, the shopping experience there is important if you want to keep your customers.
Having a website that works, is easy to navigate and the whole purchase process is easy, will increase customer loyalty. Compared to a site that is slow, where it is hard to find products and the payment process is hard as well, customers are more likely to look for another place to find that product or service.
On a physical store, there are several factors. Your staff will be more visible to your customers, not just through chat a box, but physically present. The feeling when customers come to your store matters. You don’t have to please everybody with your color choices but try to make it a nice experience for the customers to visit your store.
4. Loyalty programs
Loyalty programs are another thing you can add. This is personally not my favorite, and I don’t really like loyalty programs. For certain products or services, however, this can be a good addition. Loyalty programs nowadays are put into industries where they probably are not the best option to keep customers. But again, just my opinion.
If you offer a service, let’s say massage, for example, having a loyalty program where every tenth massage is free of charge could help you out. That might keep customers coming to you, instead of your competitors.
5. Ask for feedback
The last thing on my list is asking for feedback. No matter what the issue with your company is, or if everything is perfect, you might want to get feedback from it. You don’t have to take every feedback you get seriously.
However, if you get multiple complaints about your product being bad or having a bad smell at your store, it might be a good idea to take a look at the problem.
When asking for feedback, make sure to ask from actual customers. From people, who are in your targeted group. Asking feedback from people who are not in your target group might give you false information about what needs to be improved in your business.
A dedicated post about why feedback is important for your business can be found here
Final words
So, these are my top 5 go-to things if asked how to make your customers more loyal. I am sure there are other ways as well. The thing you need to focus on when making your customers more happy is to really understand what they want.
What your customers are looking for. Give them what they want, the best you can and you will increase your chances of success. When your customers are happy, they will be more loyal to you.
Hopefully this was helpful to you, have a nice day.