Customer Loyalty, we all want it. Don’t we?Some people say it’s dead - they say that customers are fickle, that they don’t want loyalty, that they just want
lowest price and fastest way to get it. Some say that customers have changed and that pursuit of loyalty is foolish, since it’s customers that are not interested in it. I don’t agree. Loyalty is not DEAD, it’s just sleeping.
I agree that customers have changed (because our needs have changed). We’re more demanding than ever before, we have more choices than ever before, we’re more educated than most of companies we do business with (about their products and their competitive position). And here’s truth: we don’t give our loyalty to companies that don’t give their loyalty to us.
Companies have in last ten years made it more difficult, more confusing, and more frustrating to deal with them than ever before. They give all "special offers" to new customers; they’ve removed human beings from answering phones and answering questions. They make us pump our own gas, check on our packages, book our own airline tickets and figure out when they’ve made mistakes on our accounts. They cut their training budgets and have trimmed their service staffs to bone. They pay big bonuses at top, but at bottom of corporate pyramid, where customers lie (if they make pyramid at all) they charge us fees for privilege of using their services!
Is it no wonder we’ve become rather selective to whom we pledge our loyalty?
No, customer loyalty is not dead, but it is ailing. It is given only to those companies that earn it and keep earning it by delivering value and positive experiences on a consistent basis.
Companies that want to Thrive...not just survive in this century better figure out fast that keeping more of their customers, and keeping them happy is a critical economic necessity.
Good and loyal customers are critical to profitability. Estimates are that it costs 6 - 30 times more to get new customers than it does to maintain ones you have. If you keep losing customers and have to keep replacing them, it makes sense that you are spending money on sales and marketing that could be going elsewhere.
It’s your LOYAL customers that give you referrals and sing your praises in your advertising and testimonials. Referral business is like "free" new customers. So money you would have paid to GET new customer drops back down to your bottom line.
I find it is sadly true that most companies don’t have a strategic plan for keeping customers, keeping them happy OR keeping them coming back time and time again with their money and their friends. Even though Customer Loyalty was determined to be a #1 concern of CEO’s (according to Conference Board) how many companies do more than pay lip service to importance of customer service and loyalty in their organization? Your guess is as good as mine. Based on service I receive as a customer, well, I can understand why more customers aren’t loyal, can you?
What can YOU do to change that? What can you do to turn tide on this disturbing trend and develop long lasting, loyal customer relationships?
And what’s LOVE got to do with it?
Everything. Business is based on relationships and relationships are based on qualities such as trust, respect, appreciation, understanding, generosity, clear open and honest communication and heavy doses of kindness, compassion and affection. Sometimes known as LOVE.
Studies show that main reason customers will leave a company they are doing business with is that they perceive company does not care about them or their needs. And conversely, studies show that when asked why they stay loyal to a particular company for a long time, customers respond, "Because they cared about me." This perception and feeling of caring is emotional bridge between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. And, it’s often bridge between lackluster profits and thriving good health on bottom line.
It's about emotion. Loyalty is an emotional attachment to a company based on customer’s subjective perception that company is delivering value they desire or need, when and how they need it. It’s based on their needs, and it’s based on their experience of doing business with us. As a customer myself, I know that companies I chose to give my loyalty to are those that make me feel good about whole experience of doing business with them.
When we FEEL good about doing business with a company we form emotional ties, not just financial ties with them. Let’s face it, customers are emotionally attached to their money - if we want them to give some of it to us-we need to get them emotionally attached to US.
