Customer Loyalty:

Businesses need to create a loyal customer base to stay afloat and propel the growth of
their brand. Especially now, we can't undersell the importance of customer
loyalty efforts.

And it's important to go about it the right way, guided by your company values and a
commitment to deliver for your customers. You need to earn your customers trust so
they continue to support to your brand even as the market ebbs and flows over time.

What is customer loyalty (and why it's important)

Simply put, customer loyalty happens when customers give a company repeat business
over time. If you provide great value in your product or service, and the customer
experience stays consistently good, then your business will reap the benefits of
customer retention. That means less effort spent on customer acquisition (though of
course you'll always seek out that new customer).

Here are a few ways you forge meaningful relationships with your customers and create
lasting customer loyalty:

Ways to build customer loyalty:

1. Communicate your values
2. Provide exceptional customer service
3. Activate loyalists to help spread the word
4. Show your appreciation with a loyalty program
5. Connect in a deeper way
6. Ask for feedback
7. Continually improve

1. Communicate your values

Before you can increase customer loyalty, you should first understand what
aspects of your brand are worthy of your customers’ loyalty. Sit down with your
team and come up with a marketing strategy that outlines what makes your
 brand stand out, what your purpose is, and how your values align with your
customers' core beliefs.

Specifically, your marketing should focus on those brand attributes that are
unique to your brand and where you can stand out from your competitors.
Sometimes standing out can mean taking a stand, which is becoming more
common. Two thirds of customers now buy based on beliefs, according to an
Edelman study. But you don’t necessarily need to get political. In fact, that might
not be true to your values. Your brand values should be your guiding light. Be
firm in your beliefs and communicate them authentically.
2. Provide exceptional customer service

For new and existing customers, you want to provide the best possible
experience. Your customer experience includes everything about the way your
customers interact with you, from the moment they first land on your website to
when they call and ask your customer service team for assistance. People have
high expectations, especially for customer service. A study we conducted with
Dimensional Research showed that 89% believe a quick response to an initial
inquiry is important when deciding who to buy from. Couple that with the fact
that nearly half of people say they would switch to a competing brand after just
one bad service experience, and it’s not hard to see why an emphasis on
customer service is so important to building brand loyalty. To respond quicker to
customer requests, you can start by expanding your channel offerings. Taking an
omnichannel approach to customer support will allow you to provide a fast,
helpful experience no matter where your customers are reaching out to you. See
here for more best practices of omnichannel support.
3. Activate loyalists to help spread the word

Once you understand your values, you can find your fan base—the most ardent
supporters of your brand and its values. These consumers are your ride-or-die
customers, the ones who mention you on Twitter, who tag you in their Instagram
Stories and tell their friends how much they like your product or service. It’s likely
a small group of highly satisfied customers, especially if you’re just starting out,
but they are essential if you want to understand who is connecting with your
brand and why. It’s your job to find them and learn as much as you can about
them, so you can find others who fit the same profile. These people will become
your brand ambassadors out in the world. You should engage with them often -
 you may even want to surprise an existing customer with special gifts to thank
them for their loyalty, a strategy known as “surprise and delight” that can help
increase retention and cultivate customer loyalty.

4. Show your appreciation with a loyalty program

To build customer loyalty, it helps to incentivize repeat purchases with special

offers, discounts or perks. You might even consider creating your own customer
loyalty program. There are many different types of loyalty programs, such as
those based on points systems—the virtual equivalent of the coffee shop punch
card. By giving your customers some kind of reward, you make them feel good
about purchasing and motivate them to keep coming back. Loyalty programs like
these help your customers feel valued and appreciated, while also providing
valuable customer data you can use to improve your customer experience.
These tactics can bolster your results in the short-term, but because they’ve
become so commonplace, they can sometimes fall flat when it comes to building
a meaningful relationship with your customers. You should also strive to serve
your customers by creating a good customer experience and living by your
corporate values. Together, these efforts can help turn repeat customers into
loyal customers.
5. Connect in a deeper way

You can continue to grow the relationship with your customers by giving your
loyalists a place to connect with the brand and with each other. Creating
a community forum is an easy way to do that. They can share tips and tricks for
optimizing the product, and community managers can continue nurturing the
relationship by providing additional resources and support. Sometimes these
conversations happen organically on social networks, and if so, you should take
advantage of those opportunities as well. For example, more brands are creating
Facebook Groups where they can engage with their most active fans. These are
often successful when they focus on harnessing the enthusiasm of a niche group
of supporters, like the Facebook Group that Starbucks created for fans of their
signature Pumpkin Spice Latte. These types of community hubs serve the
valuable purpose of engaging fans, and they can also be a tool to collect
feedback and product suggestions from some of your most loyal customers and
brand ambassadors.
6. Ask for feedback
 If you're looking for ways to build customer loyalty, you should be asking your
customers for feedback every chance you get. Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
surveys are commonly used following a support interaction, and they give you an
indication of how happy your customers are with the help they received. You can
also ask your customer service team members to share anecdotal feedback
about how customers are responding or common issues they are encountering in
the tickets they work on. Beyond surveys, you can also look at social media
activity or analyze online reviews. No one likes to get negative reviews,
but negative reviews can actually help you because they pinpoint the exact areas
that need improvement. Plus, taking customer feedback seriously shows
customers and prospects that you care about them and are committed to
providing a good experience. This can help increase satisfaction and build
loyalty.
7. Continually improve your customer experience

To drive customer loyalty, make this a continuous process of evolution and

improvement. The world is constantly changing, so you should be checking in
with your brand identity and values regularly. While your values shouldn’t change
drastically, your positioning should match the mood of the moment. As new
people join your community, you might also want to refresh your messaging or
develop communication strategies for multiple audiences. You should always
have a finger on the pulse of your customer experience, which means talking to
your customers and asking for their feedback frequently. Pay close attention to
customer complaints, because those are warning signs about the health of the
customer relationship. Customers’ behavior and channel usage can change
seemingly overnight, and you want to be ready to pivot and meet them where
they are—wherever that might be in the months and years to follow.

Building customer loyalty is really about building relationships. As with any

relationship, it takes time and effort to establish trust, and an ongoing investment
to keep the relationship afloat. Loyalty and retention can’t just be bought—they
have to be earned. To improve customer loyalty, look to your customer
experience and do everything you can to make your customers’ lives easier and
hopefully, more enjoyable.
Make the right impression when connecting with customers. Get started
with a free trial of the Support Suite today.