Marketing Tactics | Turning Satisfied Customers into Loyal Customers
Any company can satisfy a customer. Doing the minimal and exerting minimal effort can result in a satisfied customer, but in order to create a loyal customer, something more needs to happen. The entire sale experience needs to be different. It starts with the company, though, and regardless of how a customer acts, the company’s reaction is what makes or breaks the success of the customer’s experience.
Customers who become advocates/evangelists for your brand/company are indispensable; you cannot pay a customer to be an evangelist; they have to become one on their own. You can, however, help to encourage them to become one. How do you do that? Well, you could:
- Put yourself in their shoes. How would you want to be treated? How would you like your problem dealt with? Try to emulate that through your service offered.
- Treat them with respect. Just like #1, how would you want to be treated? Avoid demeaning the customer, and talk to them with empathy, understanding, and with a solution in sight. Even if you’re unable to offer a solution right them, let them know that you’re working on one and that you’re doing something.
- Go above and beyond. If you don’t normally offer something like what they’re asking for, but you’re able, do so! This can also change things and make the customer more apt to come to you again.
- Offer something others don’t. Do your competitors offer a refund? No? Then offer one yourselves. Do they offer solutions for unhappy customers? Try doing that if they don’t. Doing something more, offering something more, can make your customers feel special and appreciated.
- Make the buying (and returning) process painless. Customers have been through a maze of choices, emotions, and decision making once they get to the purchasing stage, so try to make the POS (point of sale) painless and easy. Avoid stipulations, too many options at the end, and be clear about your policies and set the right expectations for their ownership of your product. Setting the right expectations can help to decrease issues in the future, and being clear can help to lower confusion and anger.
Overall, the above things are all efforts to WOW your customer. It’s easy to make them thankful for your service, but to offer them something that they are more than pleased with, feel the need to share with others, and do share with others, is what sets companies apart from one another. A product is easy to duplicate, and any company can replicate the process of another, but to offer excellent customer service, that can’t be faked.
Customers get angry for one reason: their expectations were not met. Whether that be a product not working the way they expected, a sale not being there, or a price being different, a customer can get angry for many reasons that are not the fault of the company. This can make the job of the customer service representative a tough one. Making sure that you set the right expectations clearly and loudly can make the process easier, so be sure to be up-front and clear. If you think you’ve been clear, turn it up a bit and be even more clear.
So, how are you treating your customers? Are you turning them into evangelists?
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