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Five Tips to Encourage Customer Evangelism These tips can help you improve customer loyalty and profitability: Reward your top customers Can you focus your loyalty efforts on those customers that are most valuable, or are you wasting time on trying to generate loyalty from unprofitable customers? By better understanding your customers – their spending behavior, their demographic and psychographic profiles, what they like or dislike about your products or services – you’ll be in a better position to focus your loyalty efforts on those that are most profitable. Invite participation Look for ways to include customers in your decision-making. Loyalty is created by continually meeting the evolving needs of your customers, so their input is critical to areas such as new product development. Many businesses invite their top customers to sit on advisory panels, which serve two purposes. First, they benefit by better understanding how well their new offerings meet customer needs. Second, it demonstrates to their top customers that they appreciate their insights and value their business. Survey One of the best ways to gauge customer satisfaction and loyalty is to ask questions in a brief survey. Conduct these surveys at the point of transaction – retailers and restaurants, for instance, can do this when the customer is making a payment; businesses with more in-depth projects can ask questions once a job is complete, or at a fixed point such as at the end of the year. Limit the number of survey questions to maximize participation in the survey. Consider providing some sort of incentive for answering the survey, such as a gift certificate or a chance to win something. Focus on your front line Include your customer-facing employees – generally your sales or service staffs – in your loyalty efforts. As the primary point of contact with your customers, they set the foundation for repeat business. Train them to establish their skills, and provide them with the ability to solve common customer problems on the spot. Develop employee incentive programs that reward customer loyalty as well as they do bringing in new customers. Communicate Keep the lines of communication open with your most valued customers. Reach out to them regularly with news, offers, insights and information. An email newsletter, a monthly flier, a holiday greeting or a postcard lets steady customers know they’re appreciated. Surprise your most profitable customers with little gifts, learning experiences or other services that add value to the relationship. |
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