8 Ways To Win Customer Loyalty
 By R.K. Sparkman

Some experts estimate that it takes at least seven exposures to your ad to lure a new customer. Then there is the time and expense involved soliciting new business apart from advertising.

New customers are expensive to generate.

They must first become familiar with your product or service, then be educated to understand its benefit for them. You also face the crucial closing phase when you spoon feed prospects just the right amount of justification for buying, but not too little to leave them unsure, and not too much to risk a hard-sell turnoff. And consider all the time and expense that goes for naught when you lose the new prospect to a competitor or to indifference.

The cost of cultivating a new customer can run many times more than the cost to bring back a return customer.

That’s why customer loyalty programs are wise investments. It’s particularly so during the holiday season, when buyers will be out in droves, but in a rush. Your advertising and multiple contact opportunities must be compressed to attract newbies. You’re even more likely to be lost in the cacophony of competitors crying for their business.

It makes sense – both in slow times and in booming selling seasons – to cultivate loyalty among customers. They are the ones who return without all the effort and expense generated to win new buyers.

People who have bought before have proven themselves to be great prospects for reselling. They’ve already become familiar with you, and already been persuaded that you have what they want. The persuasion curve is drastically reduced. These people are ripe for repeat business.

The question is, how can you bring back pleased customers as inexpensively as possible? A number of approaches don’t cost much, yet reinforce the already high opinion of you.

Try these eight time-proven methods for staying in your happy customers’ faces without being obnoxious:

1. Frequent buyer or frequent service bonuses are effective, such as a restaurant handing out wallet-size cards to be hole-punched on successive purchases, with a reward of a free or discounted meal on the tenth visit.

2. At point of purchase, ask customers what they are particularly interested in that they didn’t find during this visit, but might consider buying later. Store the information, then mail reminders when you stock or reduce the price of those items.

3. Follow up the sale with mail or a telephone call inviting the customer to attend “VIP Customer Only” sales that are not open to the public.

4. Similarly, when regular sales are scheduled, notify loyal customers in advance, offering a “preview sale” opportunity 24 hours before the same merchandise goes on sale to the general public.

5. Whenever feasible, make periodic mail contact with clients or customers more personal with hand-signed notes, rather than generic mass printed mailings.

6. In online selling remove obstacles by allowing repeat customers “one-click” purchases to circumvent the multiple steps it takes to process a shopping cart of items. This can be done by storing credit card and shipping information in your online store, which can be triggered by a customer password. The more steps online buyers take, the more likely they are to opt out before the final click.

7. Cater as specifically as possible to each customer’s uniqueness. This is more difficult for hundreds and thousands of customers, although computerized records make even that feasible. Strive for subsequent contacts with buyers to emphasize the particular traits that set them apart. Computers can tract periodic purchases. When a buying pattern is broken, you can generate an individualized mailer reminding the buyer that this is the time when he usually restocks his favorite or most used items.

8. Capitalize on mistakes. Be willing to hear customers’ complaints and address them. Don’t stop there. If the complaint results in a change in your operation or in stocking of an item for the first time, send a personalized note to complainers. Thank them for helping you to serve customers better and offer them a one-of-a-kind discount. Even complainers can be converted with such loyalty building efforts.

(Posted October 2005)

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