Marketing
Posted 16 Sep 2019, Editor's Desk
Introduction
“Brand Loyalty” and “Customer Loyalty” are two strong points in any business. So, companies are focusing on how to retain customers and build brand loyalty.
Today, every big brand and small company is continuously creating brand loyalty to retain their customers.
You need to have a customer loyalty department whether you are running a small business or big to retain your customers.
Now, the question arises ‘what is loyalty?’ and how to build brand loyalty?
Understanding Loyalty
To know how to build brand loyalty, you need to first understand what loyalty is.
Loyalty is a bond between you and your customers. It is different from customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction is more like a rating system, wherein your customer says, “I’m 10 out of 10 satisfied”. But this doesn’t mean that he is loyal to your brand.
This is because a satisfied customer can move to the next product or services on any day at any time.
For Example
It is not necessary Apple’s customer is satisfied with Apple mobile, but he is brand loyal and will never leave this brand.
Harley-Davidson - Customer won’t like to switch from this brand to Hero Moto Corp.
Thus, loyalty is an emotion tool which can be built step by step. Every businessman can create brand loyalty and their customers will never switch from their brand on any condition.
Loyal Customers is Your Promoter!
A loyal customer starts spreading about your brand through ‘Word of Mouth’ marketing.
In effect, he is not just your customer, but he becomes a Promoter to your company and generally works like an unpaid salesman.
If you can retain 5% of the existing customers then your profit will increase from 25% to 95%.
- Harvard Business School
“Foundation of Loyalty is TRUST”, where trust is more Likelihood, Likeliness of business increases many folds.
Thus, loyal customers:
✅ Increases your brand equity.
✅ Brings down your cost almost by 7X.
✅ Increases Repeat and Repurchase.
Now, let’s see how to retain customers and build brand loyalty.
#1: Point-Based Loyalty
It is one of the ways to how to build brand loyalty.
By giving, points on each shopping one can generate online conversion and in-shop experience.
It will “increase the engagement of your customers with your brand” and they would like to redeem points on their next shopping.
For Example
Amazon Prime has become “King of Brand Loyalty” through Impulsive shopping, Value for Money, Exclusive deals and Free Videos.
Nowadays, social media has emerged as a big platform to increase loyalty on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.
#2: Customer Referral Program
It is another way how to build brand loyalty.
If you have a platform where you can increase customer engagement then it will lead you to more customers. In this, the customer becomes your partner in the customer acquisition process.
You can give some benefits or perks to your existing customers for making new customers.
For Example
Ola and Uber give free rides to their customers on referring their App to new customers.
Try to analyze the data history of your customers through Electronic Virtual System (EVA). Based on this data, try to interact with your customers and make them loyal.
You can also increase involvement through Whatsapp for business, chat, messages, which could “involve your customers emotionally” or solve their problems.
#4: Omni Channel Strategy
It is the fourth way to how to build brand loyalty.
It is a very important and successful strategy. You just try to touch your customers emotionally by using one of the following tools-
You need to make them feel special by -
✅ Wishing your customers on Birthday.
✅ Offering coupon or discount voucher
Always follow 80:20 Rule - It says if you send 8 messages related to awareness for customer’s benefits, then only send 2 messages to ask them to buy your product or services.
You can adopt these strategies of how to retain customers and build brand loyalty and achieve great success in business.