Tweet

Creating Customer Loyalty

Guest post by: Mash Bonigala

Article Overview: Think back 50 years. Most people shopped from the same supermarket, ate from the same restaurants, and frequented the same retail stores over and over again throughout their lives. These small business owners needed to do little beyond good customer service to retain the loyalty of their customers. Today, even excellent customer service, will not keep many of your customers coming back. It is too easy to shop online for the best deal, or go to the mall to do our shopping. As business owners, we need to go beyond the ordinary, to create customer loyalty and maintain a strong customer base to ensure financial stability.

Creating Customer Loyalty

Think back 50 years. Most people shopped from the same supermarket, ate from the same restaurants, and frequented the same retail stores over and over again throughout their lives. These small business owners needed to do little beyond good customer service to retain the loyalty of their customers. Today, even excellent customer service, will not keep many of your customers coming back. It is too easy to shop online for the best deal, or go to the mall to do our shopping. As business owners, we need to go beyond the ordinary, to create customer loyalty and maintain a strong customer base to ensure financial stability.



Loyalty vs. Satisfaction

If we run own businesses smoothly, and offer quality products and services along with terrific customer service then our customers should leave satisfied. But is a satisfied customer a loyal customer? Ask yourself this question; If you closest competitor’s prices were lower than your own where would your customer’s shop? If they would go to the competitor, then you may have a satisfied customer base but not a loyal one. Loyal customers are less likely to listen to a competitor’s promotions, and more likely to talk to you about concerns if they do not have the satisfaction. So what do we need to do to create a loyal customer base?



Develop Trust

When your customers know that you are a business owner with integrity, they will want to interact with you rather than a new business. You can earn customer trust by always keeping your word. Keep to your promises even when situations change and you may lose money. Also, take the time and energy required to deliver outstanding customer service during every interaction of the day. In addition, offer products and services that show off your commitment to integrity. When you are upfront and honest in all of your business interactions, your customers will know the difference.



Give Back

Customers want to be associated with businesses that support their community. You can support the community by financially sponsoring individual and organization within the community. This kind of support often has an additional benefit through advertising on banners and other promotional materials for the event. Consider not only the civic community that you live in, but also the business community. Refer your customers to other small business in the area whenever possible. Those small businesses will return the favor back to you. Additionally, consider volunteering at your local SBA sponsored Small Business Development Center as a mentor for new business owners. This is an excellent way to get to know other small businesses in your area and become a leader in your community.

Extras

When your business goes beyond the status quo, your customers will notice the difference. An easy way to reach this goal this is through “loyalty clubs,” these are usually the “buy 9 get the 10th free” cards but feel free to think up unique ideas to reward your repeat customers. Another way to go beyond is by keeping in touch with your customers. You could mail or email monthly newsletters, send out personalized birthday coupons, or even simply friend them on facebook. Find ways to become more than just an anonymous business owner to your customers.

Related Articles
  Revealed key elements of a successful customer loyalty programs
  How Strong is Your Customer Loyalty? What AT&T and Apple Can Teach You
  Franchise Success Through Loyalty Clubs
  Is It's Never Too Late or Early to Build Customer Loyalty
  Can your customers be as loyal as a big brown dog?
  Tips on Building Customer Loyalty
  Are Your Customers Satisfied or Loyal?
  Why Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
  Three Easy Ways to Encourage Customer Loyalty - Mash Bonigala
  Effective use of CRM software
  Customer Loyalty
  Loyal Customers Build Sales
  Share of Mind Leads to Share of Wallet
  Quiznos and Loyalty Clubs
  8 Questions to Ask Yourself in a Recession
  Upselling to Loyal Customers
  Are Your Client Delight Efforts Misplaced?
  More Customer Loyalty
  Are You Customer Centric?
  Fascinating Implications of New (Internal and External) Customer Loyalty Studies

Article Tags: creating customer loyalty, customer base, excellent customer service, good customer service, small business owners



Related Forum Posts
Re: From Sales to Marketing - Loyalty, Glad to know a little about you. Yes, this forum holds quite a bit of useful information. We hope you will join into the conversations and get to know us. Welcome!
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
Re: Can you outsource your product launch? - Yes that what I am talking about. Creating a buzz for your online product launch basically. Is this part of what you do?
Re: Social Media & Digg, Google, MySpace, and YouTube - Hi Kathy, What I meant about it being worth it was in the sense that I described. Creating multiple accounts for various sites and posting and ranking your own stuff. It's very time consuming to say the least. I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there that has done this and thinks it's beneficial.
Re: Paypal process $315 million in payments per day. - I agree with you David, their Customer relations suck. This mean other payment systems like 2CO and WORLDPAY should work on their customers relations to take more slice of the market.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

10 Steps to a Great Support Team

Designing Employee-Enhancing Training Programs

Work Place Counselling

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.