August 20, 2018
Customer loyalty no longer lasts. Brands must work twice as hard, just to keep half their people. This puts some fundamental and well-established marketing strategies in serious doubt and requires a company to take a “think-outside-the-box” approach.
The digital age means consumerism takes the wheel and a brand simply must adjust accordingly. Companies that adapt to this shift in consumer behaviors will inevitably be the ones that come out on top. Building brand loyalty isn’t easy, but with diligence and sincerity, you can make it happen. Here are just a few ways to start:
It’s important that one of the very first things you do is create a community around your brand. Keep in touch with your target market on a frequent basis and make sure you are engaging them with thought leadership that adds value. Don’t let your customers get ignored.
People tend to congregate on social media these days. However, the channel your audience is on may differ depending on industry and product. It’s important that before engaging, you practice robust social monitoring first. Once you establish where your people are, you can build brand loyalty through continued communication that drives momentum and allows people to feel like a part of your brand.
Consumers have high expectations and if you cut corners in your business, people will know. For example, in 2011, Blackberry’s entire network of 70 million customers went down because they decided to cut costs in the wrong spots. Blackberry had not prepared for the exponential interest in video streaming. No one at the company wanted to invest in system upgrades. Uh oh.
Blackberry never bounced back. The brand was destroyed because consumers knew the company had put money over them. Their market share dropped from 10% in 2011, to under 1% just three years later. Their entire demise could have been avoided had they not cut corners and decided to put their people first. Tough lesson learned about brand loyalty, for sure!
One of the best strategies for letting consumers know you are listening is by asking for their feedback. Think about it. What better way to build brand loyalty than to show your customers you care about what’s on their mind? A great way to engage people and stay in touch is to consider their opinions when making business decisions. Most modern product development facilitates consumer feedback throughout the entire lifecycle of their invention.
You can stay on top of consumer opinions by actively surveying them and engaging on social media. Creating a poll on Facebook or visiting sites like Survey Monkey makes it easy to gather feedback from people. Telling people you care about their experience and are actively listening to their concerns goes a long, long way in today’s business world.
It’s easier to communicate with your customers now than it ever was before, yet many brands are still ignoring people on social media. That’s a major no-no. In fact, 42% of consumers that complain on social media expect a response within 60 minutes. Gone are the days of the 48-hour to 24-hour turn-around. If you make people search for your customer service, chances are they’re not going to be happy.
Declining customer loyalty can be directly related to poor customer service, which ultimately, affects your customer retention rates. Additionally, consumer expectations continue to grow as they use “best-in-class” companies as benchmarks for fine customer service. The thought process is “if Amazon can do it, so can you. No excuses.” Fair or not, it is what it is.
That means the competition is constant. Your best bet is to at least employ at chatbot or customer relationship management (CRM) system to ensure people are getting responses, even when you’re not around. Automation is your friend!
If you’re not staying on top of trends, chances are someone else in your market is. If you lack unique relevance to consumers, you will lose brand loyalty. The key is to stand out from the competition by understanding consumer needs and pain points—even before they do. If you put little thought into the role your brand can play in people’s lives, what’s the incentive for loyalty?
You establish their loyalty by essentially “reading their mind.” But you don’t need to be a genie. Mining social data and metrics leads to increased social intelligence. This can clue you in as to what people need. And if all else fails, just ask customers what their pain points are. It’s that simple. Typically, when a consumer is disloyal, it infers what you are offering isn’t relevant enough to suit their needs.
Did you know that nearly 60% of shoppers look up product information and prices while using their phones in stores? That means transparency is key and considering mobile strategy is also important. Consumers compare prices now more than ever, so it’s critical that you show them the wizard behind the curtain on everything.
Transparency also involves addressing issues head-on. No one likes a customer complaint, and it’s even worse when it’s out in the open on social media. Ignoring the issue, however, will not make it go away. Quite the opposite. People will assume your silence means your brand is hiding something and you lack transparency. This is a major loyalty killer. Especially if people can’t trust you.
Consumers are busy, and no one has a ton of time these days to mess around. If you want repeat purchases, you must provide continuous value for consumers in one way or another. How much does the second purchase mean to you? And the third? Consumer loyalty can be invaluable. These are the people that can later become brand advocates for your business and market for free via word-of-mouth.
Creating value for repeat customers is a tad different than that of a new lead. Potentials are simply looking for informative and thought-provoking content. When it comes to pleasing people that have already purchased, however, things can get tricky.
Consider incentives like discounts for loyal customers or a membership program. You can offer tactics like this through a newsletter that arrives in their inbox every month with deals and specials. Whether it’s through complimentary shipping or a bonus service, you should always be looking to create value in some form or another.
According to a recent study by Bain and Co., just a mere 5% increase in customer retention can grow profitability by as much as 75%. Your repeat customers are where it’s at when it comes to building brand loyalty. Another study shows that 80% of your company’s revenue comes from just 20% of your existing customers. Attracting new customers can sometimes cost companies up to 5 times as much as retaining their current ones.
Building brand loyalty is about reaching out and engaging the people you already have—not combing the web every day for new prospects. Typically, sales-driven companies are not successful with the modern means of consumerism. That’s because the top 5% of your existing customers are worth as much as 1800% of the average customer lifetime value (CLV).
Ultimately, it’s about putting the consumer needs before that of your brand. Sound tough? It generally is a hard pill to swallow but consider how intelligent modern buyers can be. People carry a world of information in their pocket every day, so “duping them” with a lack of transparency, valueless content, or irrelevancy, will lose you loyalty every time.
Additionally, you need to engage in a form of rapid response. If your company is small, consider solutions like marketing automation and chatbots to get to your customers when you’re in bed sleeping. It’s an international world and if a customer has a complaint on the other side of the globe, they will still anticipate you address their needs immediately. In fact, 14% of consumers expect a response on Twitter “immediately” and 65% expect a response within just two hours.
Building brand loyalty doesn’t happen overnight but your best move is to approach it with honesty and authenticity. Start by creating hype around your brand and engaging with your community. The more “present” you are, the less of a corporation you become. And when you reach the point where a customer considers your company a “friend,” you’ve discovered the golden ticket to retention.
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