All businesses need customers or else they go out of business. It takes a lot of hard work, patience and time to acquire and maintain customers – to build customer loyalty. You know you have loyal customers when they stand by you no matter what. They believe in your company to offer them what they need. Loyal customers help to keep a business in operation even when other environmental factors are unfavorable.
High customer loyalty is what drives most businesses and is the reason why customer loyalty is so important if profitable margins and business growth are to be realized. One of the challenges most businesses have is how to win and maintain customer loyalty especially in this era of the internet. A wide range of products are easily accessible to customers through the internet thereby making customer loyalty especially challenging. However, loyal customers are able to over the various temptations flashed in their face.
Reasons Why Companies Fail In Customer Loyalty
Many businesses have found it challenging to maintaining customer loyalty because of a number of reasons, namely:
- They are not clear on their target market and who their important or high value clients are.
- They have not taken time to understand their customer’s needs.
- They are driven more by profits than customer satisfaction.
- Little or no attention is given to Research and Development to keep the company ahead of their competitors.
Winning Customer Loyalty
- Knowing who their customers are – it is important to understand who your customers are particularly the high value ones so that you meet their needs satisfactorily.
- Building customer trust by offering quality goods and services, and delivering on promises.
- Understanding customers well to an extent that their expectations are met.
- Letting customers know that they are important and that they are appreciated – treating them well and giving that personal touch are some of the ways to do this.
- Making sure that your employees are adequately motivated since they are the link between the company and its customers. Employee retention and their loyalty are important for customer retention.
Benefits of Customer Loyalty
The benefits of customer loyalty can not be underestimated. A company or business stands to benefit from customer loyalty in the following ways:
- A consistently growing customer base.
- Sustained financial gains.
- A company is cushioned from all manner of business storms.
- High business rating in the marketplace – this attracts more customers as well as investors.
