Customer loyalty is the holy grail of marketing and sales - This is not without reason, but how does it work and what do you need to focus on?
We have tried to collect several reasons how customer loyalty can increase for you.
Over recent years, more and more companies focus on how to build loyalty among customers, and how this loyalty is achieved. All companies are different, so the communication has to be differentiated for the individual customers. Great service and communication targeted to consumers generally result in satisfied customers, which helps build loyalty over time.
“Customer loyalty often leads to more sales and positive publicity”
Companies’ products and services become more integrated and have become a way to differentiate yourself as a business in the competitive market, where everyone has an agenda to make sales and profit. Without any sales, companies cannot survive.
When a company separates itself from others by adjusting the price, it can create customer loyalty. The price is an essential part of a marketing strategy, and by giving a great price and service, customer loyalty can soar to the moon. Creating a good experience based on e.g. price and expectations will get consumers to think of you again, next time the needs arise.
In physical stores, it is possible to give a customer a personalized and unique experience, where you can build personal relationships, which the customers cannot with online shopping.
Higher customer loyalty, but how?
A great example of creating customer loyalty can be seen in the hairdresser industry. If price, expectations, results, experience match, then the customer have no reason to go to another hairdresser next time. The hairdressers can create a very personalized experience for the customers and try to make sure, that they will return with more business.
Due to the fact that online information searching becomes a larger part of our pre-buy, and that the consumers interact more with the companies before a purchase, it is of utter importance to identify touchpoints of the consumer. Every company has several touchpoints and a consumer will meet many of them during the search for information. For companies, it is important to find some sort of segmentation, where they can narrow in on a persona, so they can target their marketing efforts more effectively.
Both the B2B and B2C-market are based on a simple thought: Who do we want to target with our marketing and how? And how do we target our marketing towards to chosen persona?
Most companies in Denmark har small to medium-sized and most reside in the B2B marketplace, where the customer journey and needs need to be based on the B2B customer.
No matter what market, product, or service we talk about, the customer is going to recommend, remember, and review the company based on their actions and behavior. This makes all touchpoints relatively important since consistency is key. It is not just about what the company says it will do, but rather what it actually does.
“Actions speak louder than words”
The customer journey
On the B2C-market the consumers’ purchase decision process can be described as a journey, where the consumer switches between online and offline media. The consumers also consult family, friends, and colleagues, and therefore, they are regularly in contact with touchpoints. All these affect the consumer in the B2C-market.
The customer journey starts with the consumer recognizing their problem. Finding a solution to it can be found among experience, marketing, etc. The consumer starts looking for information, which can be found in several sources, such as websites, social media, etc. Next up is reviews, both online and offline. The potential consumer will ask for advice from their network and/or look for reviews online , to get a better understanding of the company and product as a whole. If the product is physical and available the customer might take a tour to see the product in real life.
Measuring the loyalty of customers can be measure on how often they return vs. the expected lifetime of the product or service. It is essential for the companies to keep up initiatives for the customers to return. This can be achieved by e.g. customers clubs, benefits for often shopping, return discounts, etc.
In the end, it only matters if the customer has had a good experience in general. Walking away with a positive vibe can make or break if a customer will return in the future.
