Steps to Build Customer Loyalty

Now that you know you need customer loyalty, you’ll need to know how you can build it.

1. Know Your Customers

The first step in creating customer loyalty is to truly understand your customers and their needs. After all, how can you meet their needs if you don’t know who they are?  There are three main aspects to getting to know your customers:

• Market research: Market research is when you gather information about your consumers’ needs and preferences. This information includes statistics on the general age, gender or location of your customers. Part of market research is also understanding your competitors, such as learning why customers choose you over them. Or, ask what your competitor offers that you can improve on.
• Data collection: Next, you need to gather more data about each customer. This can be done by allowing individuals to create an account that they can use to purchase products and interact with the company. This is how you can collect more personal data, such as names, email addresses and what they tend to purchase.
• Personalization: Using all the information you’ve gathered, you can get more personal with people interested in your offerings and turn them into loyal customers. Send a personalized birthday message and coupon, encourage someone to come back or remind them of the special deals you have going on. The more data you have, the easier it is to send information that is relevant to them.

2. Create a Loyalty Program

If you want customers to be loyal, you should reward them for it. This can be something as simple as points received for each purchase that can be redeemed for coupons or free items — so the more money they spend, the better the reward. This motivates customers to keep coming back to your business instead of searching elsewhere as they work toward a reward. Loyalty programs are also a great way to collect data.

3. Connect With Customers

Knowing your customers is mostly a one-way street, but it’s also important to connect with your customers more deeply. This entails really listening to them and communicating with them. Connecting with customers on a genuine level keeps you in their minds and allows you to update them with important information. Methods for connecting with customers include:

• Communication channels: In order to connect with customers, you need to determine which communication channels would work best. Email is great for sending messages, but not good for receiving messages from customers. Social media platforms are much more suited to two-way communication between brands and customers. Online chats and phone calls are suited to customer service situations.
• Social media: Social media is one of the best channels for building relationships with customers and spreading awareness. Having an active profile on sites like Facebook and Twitter shows customers that you care about connecting with them and sharing information. You can post new products, share behind-the-scenes photos, host live events and even ask your customers to respond to a survey. As your followers like, comment on or share your post, the business will be able to reach even more people.
• Customer service: When customers do reach out to your business, it’s imperative that every employee offers excellent service. In the unfortunate event that one of your customers has a problem, resolving it quickly is key in keeping that person as a customer. The better the experience, the more likely they are to trust the company with future purchases.

4. Encourage Feedback

Getting feedback from your customers helps you learn more about your customers while also connecting with them. Asking for feedback shows your customers that you care about what they need and that you want to improve. The more feedback you receive, the better you can make your business.

Asking your existing satisfied customers for reviews is a great way to improve your reputation and expand your reach to new customers. People tend to trust reviews written by consumers more than information provided by a company.

5. Improve the Customer Experience

Improving the customer experience is a key way to gain customer loyalty and retention. For example, packaging is an often-ignored part of the customer experience. However, it has the ability to provide value and improve the way a customer sees your business. Offering customers a high-quality box with customer inserts, along with quality products, can have an enormous impact on the customer experience.