How to Create Value and Build Customer Loyalty
This article was originally written by me and published on ezinearticles.com on August 18, 2011
Creating value for your customers is one of the most effective ways to satisfy your customer’s needs and build customer loyalty.
Create Value or Promote Low Price?
It would be easy to conclude that customers will be loyal to you because you are the ‘low price leader’ in your business. This is especially a common feeling among entrepreneurs and small business owners who may be willing to lower their prices in order to attract more customers and grow their customer base.
Studies have been done on this type of reasoning and the findings reveal that in most cases, if lower prices are the main focus of a business, any growth is only temporary because customers are very interested in value, not just price.
Ways to Create Value
Make sure to offer customers only the best quality products or service. An example of the opposite of this is someone who knows that her products have expired, yet she sells these to unsuspecting customers. Or, you offer a special discount on a service, but you provide less Read More Here…
Customer Loyalty and Retention – Start with Your Current Customers!
Large companies allocate huge amounts of money to advertising, and their primary purpose is to attract new customers or clients. It’s understandable that companies work to attract new customers or clients because businesses lose customers and need to replace them, plus they also need to increase the number of customers they have.
On the other hand, these same companies have thousands of customers whom they overlook when they offer promotions and incentives. It never ceases to amaze me that I could be a customer for five years and I ask for a break in my bill and the answer is, ”There’s nothing we can do” while prospects are invited to become new customers with extremely low rates and bonus gifts. Doesn’t it make sense to encourage customer loyalty and retention in your current customers?
It’s likely that almost everyone reading this has or know someone who has had a similar experience and it begs the question, “What are these companies thinking? “Have they not heard of customer appreciation?” “Doesn’t customer loyalty and retention mean anything to them?”
Instead of paying thousands of dollars to lure new customers, wouldn’t it be a less expensive proposition to do whatever is possible to keep your current customers happy? Interestingly Brian Woolf, the author of Customer Specific Marketing-The New Power in Retailing and a loyalty marketing expert, noted in his research that only 1% of new customers become the best customers of a business. It means that it would be in the best interest of the business to show their current customers that they appreciate them. These customers could, in turn, become their raving fans and recommend others to their business.
As a small business owner, solo-professional, or entrepreneur you recognize that your customers and clients have a large number of options of where and with whom to do business. What do you currently do to encourage customer loyalty and retention? Do your customers and clients know that you appreciate them? I’d love to hear your responses and experiences.
Dare to be Transparent and Build Your Community
People are attracted to people who display normal human qualities, and those who are not afraid to expose their foibles and idiosyncrasies. People also do business with people they know, like and trust. In order for people to get to know you, like you, and trust you, you have to be transparent about who you are to the extent that you feel comfortable.
Your prospect, even before making the decision to become your customer or client, wants to know that you understand her concerns and can relate to her pain-points. If they perceive you as someone who has always had everything go smoothly, they’ll probably think that you could never understand the challenges they are experiencing. On the other hand, when you are transparent and are willing to disclose that you understand where they are Read More Here…
How to Create a Mindset for Building Strong Client Relationships in 3 Easy Steps
Successful marketers start with or develop a vision for their business that will focus their efforts on the direction of their vision.
Building strong client relationships cannot rely on haphazard methods. At best, these will be hit and miss. This is not a formula that will lead to effective results in providing extreme client or customer care. Instead, you must create a mindset for building strong client relationships.
Demonstrate Integrity
Your clients or customers will recognize if you’re coming from a place of integrity. They will see this in the way you communicate with them, how you keep your promises, and your public side on social media.
Honesty and sincerity will be your hallmark. While deceptive marketing strategies may often give immediate rewards, the results are at best short-term. That’s because you cannot build a lasting business that’s based on a faulty foundation. On the other hand, when your business is built on a foundation of trust, you will attract trust from your customers.
For example, your ebook or program must align with the points outlined in your Sales Letter. People must receive what you promised them. Not only will they request a refund, and even if they don’t, they likely would not purchase anything you offer in the future as they no Read More Here…
Using Testimonials to Attract More Clients to Your Business
Are you using testimonials to attract more clients to your business? Studies indicate that people will more readily make a purchase based on the recommendation of friends and relatives. If they have not personally experienced a relationship with the person who’s offering the service or selling the products, it’s more likely that they they’ll make a buying decision based on these recommendations.
The next best thing to recommendations from friends and relatives are customer testimonials. Testimonials have the ability to convert more prospects into buyers because they assure the prospect that others have used the product or services and have been satisfied with the results. Using testimonials also build credibility in the eyes of the prospective buyer.
How to get testimonials
Ask. Many of your buyers will like your products or benefit from your service but very few of them will readily volunteer a testimonial in writing. You have to ask them for it. Amazon does a great job of this. They will send an email about a week or so after you’ve received the item to ask for your feedback with very specific questions.
I’ve found that in order to receive powerful, detailed testimonials that add credibility to your website or your business, you need to Read More Here…
Use Online Customer Service to Build Relationships
Superior customer service is not limited to offline businesses. Internet marketers must also make online customer service a priority.
What are some strategies you, the internet marketer, can implement to demonstrate that superior customer service is an integral part of your online marketing plan? The following are seven recommendations that have worked for others, and may work for you as well:
1. Build long-term relationships with your current customers as well as those who visit your website and choose to opt-in to your list. They may not yet be paying customers, but by opting in to your list, they’ve given you
permission to stay in contact with them until they decide otherwise.
2. In return, stay in contact with them on a regular basis. This is where many of us, myself included, often fall short. Consistency is key. This may involve sharing tips and strategies, as well as free products through email autoresponders. You may also opt to send a weekly or monthly short newsletter or ezine.
3. An effective tool for showing appreciation for your customers is to send them a greeting card that you create online but is delivered in the US Mail. There are customers you will come to know very well, and you may choose to reward your best customers with a gift like an Amazon Gift Certificate or Starbucks Gift Certificate, as appropriate.
4. There will at some point be complaints. It could simply be that they were un able to open the ebook or software they purchased, or perhaps a problem with a product that you are an affiliate for. Endeavor to respond and resolve complaints as quickly as possible. If research is needed, or you may need to get in touch with a third party, let your customer know what you’re doing. Your reputation is on the line!
5. If the fastest way to resolve the issue is to give a refund or replace the product, do so as quickly as possible.
6. More and more home-based business owners are outsourcing a number of hands-on tasks, like customer service, to others while they work on their business. It’s important that every person who in some way represents you and your business, understand the way you want your customers to be treated.
7. Appreciation marketing works every time. Let customers know, on a regular basis, how much you appreciate their business and their support. This will help to build relationships and can also be combined with #3. above.
In addition to the foregoing, make sure that you give great service.
On a personal note, I do understand that after you’ve been on line for some time, your list will grow and you may need help to handle day-to-day matters. I still feel that customer service and relationship building should not be passed on to others unless your business has grown tremendously. As a result, I appreciate Internet Marketers who respond to emails from their
customers who support them.
How do you feel about this? Are you ok with tickets and a 2- or 3-day
later response? Are you more likely to do business with someone who replies to you directly, even if only to let you know that someone will reply in more detail within 24 hours?
Please share your comments.