Loyalty: the first marketing challenge!

When we think about profitability, there are things we don’t always think about at first. An example of this is customer loyalty. Furthermore, it is often poorly managed and poorly implemented. In the mobile telephony or Internet access sectors we notice that we often try to build customer loyalty through commitment systems rather than, for example, a real loyalty program. On the contrary, great efforts are made to attract new customers with attractive promotional offers. For consumers who are already customers there is a strong idea inspired by this diagram: loyalty doesn’t pay! Read this article on how to retain your customers.

Loyalty: a new marketing challenge

However, the challenge of retaining your customers, of retaining them, is THE challenge to propose in your marketing strategy. On the one hand because it underlines the general quality of your service. If customers return, it could be because your overall offering is quality (there are other factors, I admit, it’s a shortcut). Then because it costs less to bring back a customer than to attract new ones.

We are in fact talking about the cost of acquiring a new customer. When they become loyal to your product, service or brand, this cost does not have to be reproduced and profitability is therefore higher.

Loyalty can take different forms:

• We find the routine loyalty where the consumer buys a product habit,
• THE loyalty by obligationbecause there is no direct competition for an offer. However, beware of companies that think they are part of this group. Falling can be tough! For a long time, railroad companies believed they had a monopoly. However, by expanding the market, aviation has over time stolen a large number of customers. We also remember the agreement between the three major mobile telephony players! The arrival of Free shook up a market that had remained completely frozen for many years.
• THE loyalty out of fear. The economic risk of a change of platform, change of organization, etc.
• THE loyalty linked to a loyalty program : promotional offers, loyalty cards, etc.
• And finally the best, the Gral for every company: loyalty by attachment to the brand or when loyalty generates free promotion through word of mouth.

Customer experience: the key to retaining your customers

The loyalty of a consumer (or a B to B company) is mainly linked to one important factor: satisfaction and experience!

Most companies are all about the product and services (free shipping, etc.). However, experience is one of the points that allows you to stand out from the competition. Offering an original experience that positively surprises your customer is an investment for the future.

ForeSee has published a report in which we can read how customer experience influences the success of a company. In particular, we learn that the customers most won over by the customer experience are 72% more involved than the others. Consultants at Watermark Consulting undertook another type of study by comparing the stock prices of 150 American companies over a six-year period. Those who placed more importance on customer experience saw their value increase by an average of 43%, while those who placed less importance on it decreased by approximately 34%.

I won’t dwell too much on the customer experience in this article, but it is everything that constitutes the consumer’s act of purchasing: the visit to your website, the contact with the sellers, your premises, the reception, the sales process, the after-sales service, etc.

There are, in general, three types of experiences:

• That which does not satisfy the needs of the consumer
• The one that meets their needs
• The one who exceeds his needs

You have to prioritize the experience! The experience is much harder for competitors to replicate. We know, for example, that if Samsung made a lot of fun of Apple customers queuing in front of Apple Stores for the launch of a new product, it would instead send teams to interview these same customers to understand how they worked to try to reproduce the experience.

Of course, despite the best experience, a satisfied customer may not return for a variety of reasons. Someone will be able to treat themselves to something on the occasion of a significant event that they will not have the means to reproduce later, a four-star restaurant for example. Maybe even the location is far from home and he is on vacation. But all is not lost for the company. If there is no direct return on investment from this experience, there is still a good chance that this person will talk about this restaurant and recommend it to those around them.

Where are your customers located?

A satisfied customer breeds loyalty and loyalty brings profitability. Based on just one successful experience, that customer will come back and talk about you. With an initial communication and service effort, you will benefit from more orders and sales.

Your customers, depending on the experience offered, will find themselves in one of these three zones:

• Defection zone : populated by very dissatisfied customers, inclined to move towards a competing offer.
• Zone of indifference : Neither totally disappointed nor totally thrilled with what the company offers them, these customers may also turn to the competition if a more attractive offer presents itself.
• Area of ​​affection : we find convinced customers, those who believe they have found the best service provider and those who recommend you. We know that the more satisfied a customer is, the more loyal they are to you, but to reach the level of a customer evangelist, you need a really high satisfaction rate.

Three types of customers are therefore generated through the customer experience:

• Terrorist client : The one who will create Bad Buzz, who will speak badly about your company, its services and its products. These cases are relatively rare. We must clearly distinguish between the terrorist client, whose temperament comes from a long and painful experience for which he has never received any compensation, and the dissatisfied client, of whom we will talk a little later.
• Indifferent customer : he is a customer because he hasn’t found anything better.
• Customer evangelist : the one who is in the area of ​​affections. He likes your company, he recognizes himself in your values, your products or services.

True customer loyalty is not a matter of convenience. He didn’t choose you because you’re closer to him or because you deliver a little faster, it’s a real choice, within beliefs, beliefs that sometimes mix with a touch of affection.

What to do when the customer experience is negative?

Sometimes a customer reports an unhappy experience. This can happen to anyone and most customers can understand it. There are things that sometimes escape us, stock or delivery problems. Instead of getting defensive, listen.

Your customer, by contacting you, offers you the opportunity to remedy this bad step, to turn a disappointing experience into a good one, or even to retain them.

Too many companies neglect after-sales service even though it is a great way to identify weak points in their products or services.

Should you retain all your customers?

We would be tempted to answer yes. Obviously every company wants to develop turnover. However, you cannot please everyone (read this article to convince yourself, a case study based on the experience of one church). Your experience, your product, your culture, your values, your identity, are not right for everyone and despite the best experience offered, customers are different. They have different personalities, different needs and expectations.

Don’t try to sell Windows 8 to an experienced Mac user, they will laugh in your face. Don’t talk about iOS with an Android user. He’ll tell you that he’s too closed off, that he doesn’t meet all of his expectations, and that he doesn’t fit into Apple culture. Is Android better than iOS or vice versa? I do not believe. These two systems have just found their place and target different subcultures of the technophile population (I talk about technophiles because other consumers buy with different purchasing criteria than OS).

Furthermore, there are customers who are never satisfied. They are called profiteers. You can let these move towards the competition!