The Secret of Creating Loyal Customers
08/24/19 • 24 min
I have a few things that drive me crazy in the business world. In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, we are going to talk about how organizations often define loyalty, and why I think they have it all wrong.
It makes me upset when I think about it. Many, if not most, companies believe that when a customer gives you all their business, it means they are a loyal customer. After all, isn’t that what we all want, all the business our customers have to give? If they are giving it to us, then they must be loyal right?
Not so fast.. A customer giving you all their business doesn’t always mean they are loyal customers. It could be because they have a habit of buying from you, or it could mean they haven’t bothered to seek out an alternative. It might also be that they have no other choice, but as soon as they do, they will leave and take all that business with them. (I’m talking to you, Internet Service Providers.)
Customer Loyalty is more than an automatic, indifferent, or begrudging action. It is an emotional connection with a brand. Customer Loyalty is hard to earn but also hard to lose.
However, it can be lost, so don’t rest on your laurels.
When you think about who you are loyal to, you likely think of family and friends. That’s because you have a relationship with them. Over time, you have had a consistent and positive interaction with these people, and you share an emotional bond because of it.
Sometimes friends and families disappoint you though, don’t they? However, you don’t cut ties over it. With time and communication, most families work it out. Many friendships endure despite quarrels or disagreements, too. Again, that is because of the history and the emotional tie that you share with these people.
When you have loyal customers, you have a relationship with them, too. It is built through your consistent positive actions. Also, when you make a mistake or do something they don’t like, they don’t cut ties with you over it. Why? Customer Loyalty is an emotional bond with your company, and it persists over time and troubles.
One thing is certain about Customer Loyalty; it is the result of what you do in your Customer Experience. We examine what Customer Loyalty is, why it works that way, and, perhaps most importantly, how it benefits your relationship with them and all that business of theirs you would like to have.
Listen to the podcast in its entirety to learn more about The Secret of Creating Loyal Customers with your Customer Experience.
The Intuitive Customer podcasts are designed to explain the psychological concepts behind customer behavior.
If you would like to find out from one of our CX consultants how you can implement the concepts we discussed in your organization’s marketing to improve customer loyalty and retention, contact us at www.beyondphilosophy.com.
To subscribe to The Intuitive Customer and never miss a podcast, please click here.
I have a few things that drive me crazy in the business world. In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, we are going to talk about how organizations often define loyalty, and why I think they have it all wrong.
It makes me upset when I think about it. Many, if not most, companies believe that when a customer gives you all their business, it means they are a loyal customer. After all, isn’t that what we all want, all the business our customers have to give? If they are giving it to us, then they must be loyal right?
Not so fast.. A customer giving you all their business doesn’t always mean they are loyal customers. It could be because they have a habit of buying from you, or it could mean they haven’t bothered to seek out an alternative. It might also be that they have no other choice, but as soon as they do, they will leave and take all that business with them. (I’m talking to you, Internet Service Providers.)
Customer Loyalty is more than an automatic, indifferent, or begrudging action. It is an emotional connection with a brand. Customer Loyalty is hard to earn but also hard to lose.
However, it can be lost, so don’t rest on your laurels.
When you think about who you are loyal to, you likely think of family and friends. That’s because you have a relationship with them. Over time, you have had a consistent and positive interaction with these people, and you share an emotional bond because of it.
Sometimes friends and families disappoint you though, don’t they? However, you don’t cut ties over it. With time and communication, most families work it out. Many friendships endure despite quarrels or disagreements, too. Again, that is because of the history and the emotional tie that you share with these people.
When you have loyal customers, you have a relationship with them, too. It is built through your consistent positive actions. Also, when you make a mistake or do something they don’t like, they don’t cut ties with you over it. Why? Customer Loyalty is an emotional bond with your company, and it persists over time and troubles.
One thing is certain about Customer Loyalty; it is the result of what you do in your Customer Experience. We examine what Customer Loyalty is, why it works that way, and, perhaps most importantly, how it benefits your relationship with them and all that business of theirs you would like to have.
Listen to the podcast in its entirety to learn more about The Secret of Creating Loyal Customers with your Customer Experience.
The Intuitive Customer podcasts are designed to explain the psychological concepts behind customer behavior.
If you would like to find out from one of our CX consultants how you can implement the concepts we discussed in your organization’s marketing to improve customer loyalty and retention, contact us at www.beyondphilosophy.com.
To subscribe to The Intuitive Customer and never miss a podcast, please click here.
Previous Episode
Discover Your Relationship Types and How to Use Them
Relationship Types and How to Use Them
We act differently in our various relationships. We have a way we operate at work or school; we act a certain way in public and another way with our friends and family. The difference is the type of relationship we have with the other people involved. This variance in behavior is also at work in our relationships as customers.
In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, we explore how our relationship with customers affects how we interact with them. For this episode, we characterize relationships into two types, Relational and Transactional. You might think that one is better than the other, but it is not the case.
For example, let’s say you want to sell an old car. You make the listing and wait for the responses. It turns out you get one, but it’s from your brother. Would you change your approach to selling the car? My guess is you would—unless you and your brother are on the skids. For my part, my brother and I would enjoy the match up and would have a no-holds-barred approach.
The fact is, most of us wouldn’t haggle the same way with a family member the way we would a stranger. In my case, I would not only skip the haggling, but I would probably back off the price. Moreover, I would worry every time that I saw them that they would tell me there was something wrong with the car.
Advantages and disadvantages exist for each of these relationships on both sides of the equation.
- Relational: This relationship is emotional. It focuses on value instead of price. These relationships are the foundation of customer loyalty and related customer behavior.
- Transactional: Unlike Relational interactions, transactional relationships tend to be a one-time thing. Rational parts of the experience, e.g., price or shipping costs, etc., often drive the buying decisions. Instead of loyalty, these relationships tend to focus on What’s In It For Me (WIFM).
If we go back to the car example, the idea of selling a used car to your brother is one point in a much more extended relationship. As a result, you feel more responsibility to ensure that it is positive. You also feel more guilt if it is not great.
Listen to the podcast in its entirety to learn more about Relationship Types and How to Use Them for your Customer Experience.
The Intuitive Customer podcasts are designed to explain the psychological concepts behind customer behavior.
If you would like to find out from one of our CX consultants how you can implement the concepts we discussed in your organization’s marketing to improve customer loyalty and retention, contact us at www.beyondphilosophy.com.
To subscribe to The Intuitive Customer and never miss a podcast, please click here.
Next Episode
The Secret of Creating an Effective Customer Experience (CX) Strategy
The Secret of Creating an Effective Customer Experience (CX) Strategy
What is the experience you are trying to deliver to your customers? This is one of our key questions we ask organizations when we consult with them. It seems a very simple question and yet in reality, the answer is very strategic and critical to moving your CX to the next level. What is surprising is most organizations do not know the answer to this question! Be clear, everyone thinks they know the answer, but in reality every part of the organization does what they think is the right thing. Marketing, Sales, Customer service, Finance, IT, etc. all do what they think is the right thing, but it is not aligned, it is different and as a result the Customer is confused, there are overlaps and gaps in the experience. This leads to re-work, overlaps, gaps and all this costs money. More importantly, the Customer looks at your organization as a whole and ends up being frustrated. This does not build Customer loyalty.
It is therefore vital to define the answer to this question. What is the experience you are trying to deliver to your customers? The answer to this is a strategic choice. The experience that you should be delivering should be one that drives value ($) for the organization. It should be decided strategically by the senior executive of the organization. It should be debated and argued about. Once agreed, it should set the direction of the whole organization and as a consequence it should outline all the things that you need to start and stop doing as a result of the strategy.
In this podcast we outline how to go about this. We give you an example of one organization who, by setting the strategy in this way, improved their Net Promoter Score® by 40 points in 30 months that lead to a 10% rise in volumes.
The Intuitive Customer podcasts are designed to help you improve your Customer Experience by unlock the ‘hidden’ aspects of your experience and what drives value for you to enable you to take your experience to the next level
If you would like to find out more in your organization’s marketing to improve customer loyalty and retention, contact us at www.beyondphilosophy.com.
To subscribe to The Intuitive Customer and never miss a podcast, please click here.
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