When the economy becomes constrained, a lot of people consider the lack of transactions to be the result of the economy. One of the benefits of the lack of transactions is we can focus on our existing customers. Now is when the test of customer loyalty determines which businesses survive an economic crisis.
An economic downturn does not decrease customer loyalty; it simply reveals their loyalty by increasing outside pressures.
What Determines Customer Loyalty?
There are a lot of things that can determine a customer’s loyalty to your business. Everything from their customer experience to the quality of the product. A large number of businesses invest more in their advertising than in their customer experience or product. While this can help a business get rich quickly, there will be a persistent challenge of growth. A ceiling will be reached where the business will be unable to grow because of a lack of customer loyalty.
Customer Experience Determines Customer Loyalty
A customer’s experience is one of the most critical aspects of the buying process where loyalty to your brand is determined.
- 80% of customers switched brands because of poor customer experience
- 43% said they were somewhat likely to switch brands after only 1 negative customer service interaction.
Think about what your customer experiences in the buying process. From the moment they are searching for your product and asking questions about your product or service to a week, a year, maybe even five years after having purchased your product.
- When a potential customer is searching online and asking questions about your product or service, does your business answer their question?
- When they contact you (call, contact form, email, etc.), do they receive answers to their questions or an automated machine?
- As they go through the purchase process is it enjoyable?
- After they make, the purchase is it a quality product?
- Do you contact your customers after their purchase and ask them how they like the product?
- Do you follow up with your past customers to learn how you could have made the customer experience better?
If you do not focus on your customer experience, you will see churn, especially when the economy has fluctuations and downturns.
What Is Churn?
Churn is a higher rate of customers leaving your business. Prepare for churn and increase your business’s retainment to weather the storm.
How To Develop Customer Loyalty
Want to decrease churn in your business and increase customer loyalty and referrals to your business? These efforts will see growth
Talk to your customers in order to keep them.
Email marketing is a great way to connect, social media is wonderful but nothing beats a phone call and friendly conversation. Put together a list of high-priority customers and call them. Talk to them about their needs. Talk to them about the economy. Do not wait until you are trying to save the relationship. Build the relationship.
Steps You Should Take To Improve Customer Retainment
- Contact Your Customers
- Track Customer Retention
- Set Customer retention Goals
- Meet Goals, Analyze & Improve
Understand the needs of your customers and meet with them in order to improve customer loyalty.
Contact Wes Web To Improve Your Marketing & Customer Retainment
Digital marketing highly focuses on customer experience. Developing your online presence, branding and most of all user experience is vital to having customer loyalty. From your website’s design to creating content that is SEO optimized so your business ranks and answers your future customer’s questions. You can have an automatic email go out the moment you are contacted. Additionally, after customers have made a purchase you can provide ongoing customer service through social media posts or regularly scheduled emails. Improve your business’s customer experience to grow your company.