Show Some Loyalty, Customers!
April 2, 2009 by Mary Ellen
In a market where businesses cry “Where’s the money?” the new buzzword is customer loyalty. You’ve probably experienced a loyalty program: frequent buyer cards, written thank you notes, membership sites, surveys, to name just a few.
My conversations about loyalty start and end with questions like these:
“How are you making the customer experience better?”
“How do you add value?”
“What are the little things you do to make a difference?”
Customer loyalty is more than a program. Certainly special offers help. I maintain the experience of interacting with you can build far more loyalty than any special price or contrived incentive.
People recognize the experience, the engagement, of doing business with you no matter what your communication. Here are just a few of this week’s missteps:
Confusion. Three people show up for a cancelled seminar. Had they submitted an RSVP, they might have gotten the cancel message. Q – Who’s responsible for the error? A – You are.
Indifference. “The paper always gets it wrong.” Q – Does the customer care? Who’s responsible for communicating? A – You are.
Denial. “You’ll have to call technical support. It looks fine to me.” Q – Why would I return to this store? A – Although it took 90 minutes, I did work out the technical problem with someone who was not in India.
Unclear calls to action. “You got my offer wrong.” “We no longer honor those coupons.”
The business person who methodically builds relationships day after day and encourages his/her employees to do the same is the one who creates loyalty. The effort doesn’t include blame. Rather, there’s an ongoing effort to listen, to eradicate misunderstandings, correct problems and treat customers with genuine care and concern.
Communication either creates or dissipates loyalty. How’s your loyalty communication these days?
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Indeed. And we all screw up, on both sides of the transaction. If we’d just stop, take a deep breath and think “how can we solve this?” from an adult perspective, it’d prevent a lot of hurt feelings and lost business (And, yes, Virginia, all business is ultimately personal.)
This past week, I added one company to my list of “not do business with ever” due to what should have been a simple little miscommunication. Geez, life is too short for tempests in teapots (and besides, I don’t even OWN a teapot…;-)