Tips for customer loyalty success

For businesses seeking long-term success, enhancing customer loyalty is key to achieving this aim. By forging relationships with your customers so they establish an emotional attachment to your brand, you can enable your business to grow.

As well as boosting your client base, focusing on customer loyalty puts you ahead of your rivals, and can insulate your business from price competition. You can more easily up-sell and cross-sell to loyal customers, and you can rely on them to become ambassadors of your brand.

Crucially, it costs significantly more to acquire new customers than retain existing ones, and with 80% of your income coming from 20% of your current purchasers, it’s easy to see why enhancing customer loyalty makes financial sense. But how can you achieve this?

Excellent customer service

Go the extra mile to offer great customer service. Take complaints seriously and resolve them swiftly, and offer the personal approach when communicating with customers. Address them by their name, and make it easy for customers to contact you. Reliability is a vital component of customer service, so always be authentic, transparent and deliver on time.

Multi-channel approach

Engage with your customers before, during and after the purchase procedure, to keep them hooked to your brand. Don’t bombard them with too much advertising, however. Instead, provide them with useful information, and a variety of relevant offers or rewards.

Embrace digital technology

Advances in digital technology have enabled savvy businesses to engage with customers and enhance their loyalty. Digital receipt validation, for instance, offers great convenience, while giving customers easy access to offers, rewards and promotions. It can also help to capture customer data.

Embracing digital technology offers real opportunities for boosting loyalty, but ensure you don’t ‘hide’ behind technology – customers still like to have human contact, especially if they have a concern. Whatever technologies you use, always make it easy for customers to participate and engage with your brand.

Build loyalty internally

If you focus on building a loyal workforce, this positive and enthusiastic approach will be passed onto your customers, making it easier for them to feel connected with your brand.