Retain Your Customers

Tips for retaining lasting customer loyalty

June 28, 2010 | Edited by Ken Beaulieu
Permalink: http://www.stepbystepmarketing.com/?p=6774

Customer loyalty can be a huge boon to your business success. But building strong customer loyalty takes time and a very consistent effort on your part. If you aren’t ready for a customer loyalty program and the commitment that it takes, you’re better off continuing your mass marketing efforts and hold the loyalty effort until you’re ready to make it happen the right way the first time. Committing to a strong customer loyalty marketing effort requires three critical things:

• Make it mutually beneficial. You create loyalty through give-and take relationships, not by stacking the deck solely in your favor. If you want repeat customers, give them something you don’t give to the first-time buyer. And once you know you’ve found a core group of returning customers, treat them like they are very, very special to you, because they are. Create a customer retention program that lets them know they are a cut above and you recognize that. And always think about “giving” rather than “getting.” The gains over time will be worth your efforts.
• Repeat, then repeat again. Loyalty programs require constant care and attention. Attracting new loyal customers, recognizing them, inviting them in to the “exclusive club,” and then communicating with them as a special group more frequently and with more targeted messaging is crucial. Then, start the whole cycle over again and keep working to grow that loyal group. Don’t stop, or they will stop as well, because once you give special recognition, there’s no taking it back again!
• But also change it up. As hard as you work at making your loyalty program something of value to your customers, you have to keep it fresh. Plan to change it up each year, or at least every two years. Re-brand your loyalty card. Add a new loyalty benefit. Change your messaging (but keep it within the family of benefits you have identified for your plan). Just keep finding new ways to keep customer interest. There’s a new idea and a new competitor around every corner, so keep your creative thinking cap on.