Congrats! You have launched! That’s seriously amazing. Most people only dream of launching a product, service or blog but you actually did it!
It’s time to take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back but do it quickly because it’s time to gear up and ensure customer loyalty after your launch.
Why Want to Ensure Customer Loyalty?
Converting a reader/observer into a buyer is a lot of work. In fact, as the number of businesses enter the online world, converting fans into customers is getting even harder.
With so much competition and so many products being thrown around, people are being choosier and are looking even more for trustworthy businesses to invest with. They really want to connect with the business they are buying from and once they do they become loyalty. If you’ve ever worked in retail you may have heard the term “brand loyalty”.
Brand Loyalty: the tendency of some consumers to continue buying the same brand of goods rather than competing brands.
Customers who have brand loyalty buy from the same brand again and again. When you think about that, have devoted customers helps you save money. Marketing dollars don’t need to be focused on reselling to those who are loyal to the brand. Instead, we focus on keeping them happy after they purchase so that they remain loyal. Investing in your current customers is much less expensive and has a much higher ROI than acquiring new ones (yes you still want to attract new customers but that’s a different subject of another time).
~It is much easier to sell to a person who has brand loyalty to your company than to sell to someone who has no relationship with your product. It’s a lot less expensive to sell to current customers as well. For these two reasons alone we want to focus on ensuring customer loyalty once we acquire a customer.
5 Ways to Ensure Customer Loyalty
- Send a personal email or a handwritten note thanking your customer for their purchase.
- Ask for feedback from your customer on a phone call. Yes, that’s right, pick up the phone and call them to get their honest feedback on how you can improve your product.
- Learn about your customers and let them know you are familiar with them and their needs. Use their name when you address them. Create anecdotal examples using language that relates to what they do.
- Create a positive and customized customer experience. People are driven by emotional connections if you can create an experience they love they will keep coming back for more.
- Be relentlessly attentive to your customers. DO NOT keep them waiting an unreasonable amount of time. If they have complaints or concerns, hear them out, investigate them and try to come to a solution quickly. Do not fall short in this area.
Your Loyal Customers are Your Biggest Mouthpieces
We already know that it’s easier to sell to your loyal customers but one thing I didn’t mention is what happens when these loyal customers become super fans. Your superfans will not only come back to buy everything you launch but they will be your biggest mouthpieces of support.
Superfans will do a lot of your marketing for you. They will legitimize your brand by telling others how excellent it is and how much they love it. If your superfans are doing this for you, it’s all the more reason to take care of them and make sure you are giving them as much attention as they give your brand! Think you need millions of superfans? You don’t you just need a few to help spread the word and then the ball will start rolling and you will attract more and more. See my point?
What are you going to do to ensure customer loyalty for your brand?
