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Achieving Customer Loyalty

In terms of revenue and efficiency, it makes sense to foster customer loyalty. Learn some easy-to-follow guidelines for keeping the spark alive with your customers.

Customer loyalty is a coveted thing for any business; a continually returning customer represents, of course, a reliable source of revenue. Not all business operators realize just how beneficial customer loyalty can be as a marketing tactic, however. In fact, it costs several times more to attract new customers than it does to retain existing ones. If more companies realized this, we would surely see a marked jump in average customer service standards. If you can take care of your ready-made customers – if you can listen to their concerns, address their needs and cultivate customer satisfaction – you will give your rate of return a sharp and powerful boost.

Here are some easy-to-follow steps you can use to create customer loyalty and maintain customer satisfaction:

1. Build an unbeatable bundle of products and services.
If you want to keep your customers, make sure they can get what they want without leaving your premises. Take a cue from Amazon.com: Amazon may have started selling books, but today, web surfers visit its online store and remain there to purchase greeting cards, music, videos, tools, toys, software, and more.

2. Give your customers an incentive to come back.
Whether for freebies, discounts, special financing, or a chance to win a competition, customers come back for incentives. It's no coincidence that all the major oil companies, airlines, supermarkets, visa companies and even coffee shops offer loyalty schemes where customers earn bonus points and redeem these points for rewards. Incentives are a key element of good marketing strategy.

3. Sponsorship.
Create goodwill and generate loyalty by sponsoring sports groups, social clubs or special interest groups.

4. Stand behind your product
Stand behind your product and reap the rewards of trust. Successfully fostering trust represents a major marketing coup. Money-back guarantees are the clearest, simplest way to reassure customers that nothing is risked when they spend money in your store.

5. Support good works.
Support good works and your customers will stand behind you. Doing good is also a powerful way to do well. Numerous natural foods companies donate a portion of each sale to an environmental charity or other worthy cause; customers then feel their purchasing patterns are integrated with responsible living. Or consider the example of a children's clothing manufacturer that encourages customers to return their purchases when their kids have stopped wearing them. The customers get a 20% discount on their next order, the manufacturer gets the customer coming back, and needy children get 1,000 articles of returned clothing per month. Everyone wins something.

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