Customer loyalty
Do you know how to retain customers?
Philip Kotler said that acquiring a new customer costs 5 to 7 times more than keeping a current one and therefore, customer loyalty is a fundamental pillar for the growth and sustainability of any business.
Making a customer loyal to your brand is not just a matter of repeat sales, but of building a relationship of trust and value that benefits both the consumer and the company.
In this article, we will discuss more about the subject.
What is customer loyalty?
Customer loyalty is nothing more than the process of making them engaged and committed to your brand, encouraging them to continue purchasing and supporting your business.
It is an essential strategy to increase recurrence and happy customers recommend it! Loyal customers often become advocates for your brand, products and/or services.
But how to retain your customers?
Understand your audience’s expectations
Understanding customer expectations is essential to offering a service and/or product that not only meets, but exceeds their needs.
A simple example of exceeding expectations is working with logistics to your advantage.
Imagine that your customer purchased a product and the delivery time is 5 working days and in just 3 days the product arrives at your home. You exceeded expectations, didn't you?
Now, imagine the opposite, if the delivery promise is 5 working days and the order is delayed, you will be frustrated.
In other words, having strategies to meet and exceed your customer’s expectations is essential to expanding their experience with your brand.
Add value to your product or service
To retain customers, it is extremely important to invest in ways to add value to your products or services.
Whether during service, during the payment process or after-sales, adding value is a way to win over and retain your consumers.
Therefore, adopt strategies that make your customers see the value in continuing to buy from your brand. Examples of strategies are: having personalized service that enhances the customer experience, delivering quality products (services), investing in social actions, sustainability, etc.
Empower your team
A well-trained team is crucial to offering a delightful shopping experience and building customer loyalty.
If you want to offer a different experience that delights your customers, it is essential to prepare your team for this.
Unprepared employees not only generate lost sales, but also negative impressions that can make the customer decide not to return to your business, even if it is to be served by another professional.
Therefore, invest in training and courses to ensure that your entire sales team is capable of offering a service that exceeds your customers' expectations and generates true satisfaction.
Get agile service from start to finish
High-quality customer service is critical to keeping customers happy and loyal to your brand.
No matter the stage of service, it must be personalized, fast and efficient.
Want an example? If you are investing in paid traffic to advertise your products or services, you must also invest so that your sales team provides good service when potential customers come to them asking for more information about your ad.
After all, there's nothing more frustrating than asking for information and waiting for days or not getting satisfactory answers, right?
Take the opportunity to access our article about “Factors that influence purchasing decisions” and learn more about the subject.
Invest in humanization
Humanizing the customer relationship helps build a stronger, more personal connection.
And yes, we all understand that today's world is more digital, but that's exactly why brands that invest in humanization can achieve more customer loyalty.
By being able to guarantee a more humanized service, and consequently less cold and distant, you will be able to retain those customers who can see that your brand cares about people and their needs, offering personalized solutions.
Request feedback
Don't be afraid to ask for feedback. Doing so is an effective way to understand their needs and continually improve the experience they have with your company.
But how to do this?
You can range from asking the customer directly, such as placing a suggestion box or applying the NPS (Net Promote Score). This customer satisfaction methodology was created to evaluate the degree of loyalty of your customers.
However, it is important to highlight that more than asking for feedback, it is important to evaluate each one and make it your mission to implement improvements.
Advantages of retaining customers
Building customer loyalty brings numerous benefits such as: increased revenue, reduced costs of acquiring new customers and building a solid base of brand advocates.
Remember that loyal customers tend to buy more and promote your brand through word of mouth, expanding your reach and reputation in the market!
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Alessandra Rech Tortelli is CEO of Conex Negócios, graduated in Administration and has an MBA in Retail Management, Franchise Management and Omnichannel Retail. She worked as an internal consultant and manager of large companies, such as: Tintas Renner, Arezzo, Portobello Shop, Mormaii, Confecções Brandili, etc., in 2010 she founded Conex Negócios, a consultancy company focused on Structuring and Expansion of Companies, she is also a speaker, teacher and creator of the startup ConexHub. Alessandra loves challenges and being connected with entrepreneurs, promoting exchanges, experiences and knowledge. She believes that we are all interconnected, that the challenge of one is the challenge of all!
