Congrats! You’ve finally found some customers who bought your business’ products. Now, all you have to do is sit back and watch the money keep rolling in, right? Wrong. Getting customers in the door or on your website is only half the battle. You now need to figure out ways to keep those customers coming back to you and your business. Check out these powerful ways to gain customer loyalty.
How to gain customer loyalty
Help customers learn how your product works.
When should you start thinking about customer loyalty? The moment a potential customer first sees and/or hears about your product or service. This is your chance to show a potential customer your product’s features and how those features will help make their life easier and/or more fun.
You might also consider offering free, but limited, access to your product or service to customers.
Make it tough to say goodbye.
An obvious reason why customers leave a business is when they’re frustrated with the business’ products or employees. But not all leaving customers walk away in anger.
Sometimes, customers simply find out about one of your competitors. They move on because there’s no big disadvantage to leave your business and try out your competitor’s offer.
That’s why it’s important to find ways to customize your products to your customer’s needs or wants. Personalized products make your customers realize that if they leave for a competitor, they will have to start all over again from scratch with a basic product.
For example, think about your personal or business email list. You could switch to another email service. But if you do that you will have to figure out a way to transfer your current email contacts over to the new service. It’s not worth that inconvenience if you’re already satisfied with your current email service.
You can also offer discounts or rewards for loyal customers and for customers who refer their friends to your business.
Always remember that your customers are human.
Your customers aren’t just numbers. Every customer is a complex person with their own hopes, problems, sense of humor and other things that make each one of them unique.
Sending out emails, social media posts, website updates, etc. are more than just items to check off your customer outreach to-do list. Reaching out to your customers should be an ongoing, two-way conversation.
You help customers learn about your product. Then you listen to your customers’ wants, concerns and other suggestions. You can also give customers the chance to share their stories, pictures and videos of them using your product.
This helps your customers feel like they are part of a larger group or community of people who share their interests. Learn more about building community around your brand in this article by Syed Balkhi, at Business.com.
Final thoughts on how to gain customer loyalty
Getting customers to not only show up, but also keep coming back to you, needs to be a regular part of running your own business. Your customers are more likely to stick around if you help them learn, and if you make them feel unique and valued.
Loyal customers not only keep you in business. They can also help you learn and grow by giving you suggestions on how to make your great business even better.
Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash
