Webster’s collegiate Dictionary defines Loyalty as, “the act of being faithful to a person, cause, ideal or custom”. In business terms, customer loyalty is the customer’s behavior of feeling good, repeatedly buying, referring, and enjoying your products and services as well as dealing with your company. This optimum behavior can only be achieved by constantly matching a customer’s expectation for quality, responsiveness, caring and value as perceived by the customer. Consistency in delivering on these promises builds a comfort zone that binds customers to your products, services and to your company.
It costs much less to sell new products and services to existing customers than to new customers. The explanation is clear. Sales to customers you know and who know you require little marketing introduction, less sales efforts, and much more less time. That’s the reasons why customer loyalty is important for companies.
There are some factors that most often influence a customer’s comfort zone and lead to questions concerning the consistency in the operation of a company, such as prices, personnel, services, and policies and procedures.
Prices: One objective of most businesses is to minimize a customer’s focus on price and create purchasing habits and routines that are built on other factors.
Personnel: People buy from other people. When you make personnel changes in account coverage, inside sales staff, counter help or telemarketing representatives you run the risk of losing customers who considered themselves “friends” of their contact. Customers love to be greeted by name and recognized as an important person.
Services: Any change in the type or frequency of service can cause customers to re-evaluate purchasing requirements.
Policies and Procedures: The key with policies and procedures is to educate customers as to why a change is necessary. You should also insure that your methods are not more complicated or cumbersome than your competitors. Surprises are interpreted as a lack of respect which can influence a customer’s loyalty.
Consistency is measured by continually performing to the expectation level of your customers. As business grows, changes are necessary to stay competitive, but companies who are sensitive to their customers’ need and adequately communicate necessary changes, will stand a better chance of maintaining customer loyalty during transitional and difficult times. A good way to maintain customer loyalty is by implementing periodical customer loyalty survey to make sure that you are where you customers want you. Learn More ›