How to Generate Brand Loyalty (And Reward Loyal Customers)
Increasing the customer lifetime by building brand loyalty and rewarding loyal customers.
The customer-purchasing process is a long and winding road.
Multiple touchpoints on multiple channels intertwine to form a buyer’s journey that is difficult to predict and influence to make a sale. Within a B2B pharmaceutical and life science new business context, things are more difficult yet.
Even for the seasoned marker, marketing to attract new customers and clients going into 2020 is difficult.
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But assuming you already have a roster of customers or clients on your books, you can focus less on acquisition and focus more on keeping current customers happy and coming back for more. It makes total sense: Spend more time with the clients you have already won and stop chasing around aggressively looking for new clients.
The costs associated will also be less than the costs associated with customer acquisition. To achieve this, you can look to build brand loyalty and reward your current customers.
HOW TO BUILD BRAND LOYALTY
Keeping customers close to your brand, employees and services is a great way to keep them as your customers for the long term. Here, we’re looking to subconsciously link them to the brand. But this is not an easy task. My Customer suggests that customer loyalty is decreasing, meaning we have to work harder to achieve this.
Here are 7 ways to build brand loyalty with your audience and customer base.
1. DELIVER ON QUALITY AND VALUE (MORE THAN WHAT IS EXPECTED)
One of the obvious ways of building brand loyalty is to deliver on everything you have promised and deliver that to the highest of standard. Never letting them down. The services and products you provide also need to be of the highest quality - maintaining this quality in everything you do so that the value you offer is never questioned. Understand what satisfies your clients and focus your energy on here. If you can exceed your client’s expectations, there will be no reason for your client to look elsewhere in the direction of your competitors.
2. TALK TO YOUR CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS REGULARLY
Regularly speaking to your customers helps strengthen the bond between you and your organisation, and your client and their organisation. Tell your clients about the developments within your organisation (and in your personal life where relevant) and ask them about theirs. Use social media to keep you informed so you can actively participate with their updates. In this instance, you are looking for the client to like you on a personal level and there’s no better way of doing this than taking in an interest.
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Also, ask for feedback on what you do - let them know you care, so listen and apply the feedback you gather. You can do this via a range of channels, such as the traditional B2B methods (emails and calls) as well as more unconventional methods (social media, physical letters). Being human works wonders in a B2B sense.
3. BE CONSISTENT WITH EVERYTHING
Authenticity and trust comes from consistency - consistency in service delivery and also consistency in your brand. A brand needs to give customers a feeling of familiarity every time they engage with emails, documents, web pages etc. Should either of these branded assets look and feel different to each other, warning signs might ring, whether the client knows it or not. Ensure all of your marketing materials are consistently branded and narrow your focus in what your offer so that your brand can become the go-to destination to solve a particular problem. Look after your brand, and treat your logo, values, personality and tone as if it was your own reputation at stake. A branding agency in the UK can help you introduce this consistency into your organisation by creating communication guidelines, designing uniform branded materials, and developing comprehensive guidelines for their proper use and implementation.
4. BECOME KNOWN IN YOUR COMMUNITY OR VERTICAL
You can promote your brand and influence your audience successfully, but when someone else promotes your brand and organisation (via word of mouth referral) you can reach a heightened level of trust with your customers. Word of mouth is one of the strongest forms of marketing. Turn to your media partners and other industry influencers to help promote you and your brand so that your customers can see your popularity within your specific vertical and marketplace. Positive PR - perhaps in the form of charitable work or sponsorship - can help with this can generate some in-direct awareness in your community. Stay relevant.
5. FOCUS ON CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE, NOT ON SALES
Another way of building loyalty is by focusing your organisation’s combined efforts on customer experience and service. By adopting this particular business/marketing orientation, rather than a sales orientated approach, for example, you’re reminding your customers that they’re always the focus of your operations. (The opposite to this would look like your organisation rewarding new customers by giving them better deals than for current customers, which should always be avoided.)
Always be responsive to your clients when they get in touch and look to understand them in every way. Using appropriate technologies, such as certain CRM systems and marketing platforms, you can build up a profile of your clients’ preferences so you can continually improve the experience you are providing, from the start of the relationship to the present day.
By leveraging marketing localization, you can tailor your approach to meet the unique needs of diverse users, offering a more personalized experience and expand your customer base.
6. PROVIDE (UNEXPECTED) INCENTIVES
Sometimes, the best way to make a positive impression with your customers is to surprise them. Providing unexpected incentives in this way helps strengthen the bond and shows real appreciation whereby you are essentially thanking them for being your customer. Sending gifts or messages during birthdays and other personal milestones, as well as during seasonal events, is a quick and easy way to achieve this. Keeping an eye your client’s personal social media feed will also reveal the sort of activities they take part in their personal time which you can look to support in any way you can. Look to surprise your client once or twice a year.
7. STAY ON YOUR TOES
A final tip to ensure you are building up loyalty with your clients is to always stay on your toes. And that’s with everything you do, certainly everything you do for your customers. Don’t get sloppy with marketing and send automated emails without addressing your client’s name. Personalise every piece of marketing communications - to avoid hitting the spam folder - where possible and anticipate your clients needs so you can help the client before they are even aware of the need to speak to you, or so you can be ready to offer support when the times comes - giving them a real reason to come back. Be proactive. The client would prefer not to have to go through the process of finding a new supplier, but this shouldn’t mean that you get complacent.
REWARDING LOYAL CUSTOMERS
As well as building brand loyalty, there are also ways to reward your loyal customers and clients to help keep them on your side and coming back for more. Don’t forget that loyal customers are profitable customers, so rewarding them will help keep them loyal for longer.
Here are a further 7 ways of rewarding loyal customers.
1. OFFER IMPROVED PRICES (DISCOUNTS) TO CURRENT CUSTOMERS
Exclusivity is always positively received. This why (using the example in #5 above) organisations have always tried to offer new customers exclusive discounts; because those prospects are more likely to buy - but of course, this alienates current customers who should be getting this discount instead. So, offer your customers improved prices to show your appreciation, for them to, in turn, stay loyal to your organisation. This mindset does not need to be limited to monetary values, as it could be that you decide to offer your clients access to new products that haven’t officially launched.
2. …AND PARTNER WITH OTHER ORGANISATIONS TO OFFER MORE INCLUSIVE OFFERS
Similarly, if you can offer additional perks for being your customer, you will go even further on the brand loyalty spectrum. Are you able to partner with other like-minded organisations to offer your clients other offers such as discounted memberships or free food and drink? Consider what your clients would appreciate in this respect - what they value - and look to set up a scheme that offers them this need at a discounted price. Strategic partnerships should not be overlooked regardless of the size of your organisation and look at similar/local organisations to partner with.
3. BUILD A COMMUNITY FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS
We all like to feel a part of communities that offer mutual benefits, such as personal development support and opportunities for social interaction. Digital communities - LinkedIn/Facebook Groups and Forums - are a starting point, but you can also look to create physical events and communities that allow your customers to meet and discuss topics of their choice. Customers will always trust their peers more than they trust your organisation. Therefore, become the middle-man and create an environment that your customers can be a part of which they couldn’t if they weren’t your customer.
4. CELEBRATE THE CUSTOMER
Your customer, although helps to pay your organisation’s bills, is a real person and real people like to be recognised for their contributions. Can you celebrate the client or the organisation in any way to say thank you and to make them feel appreciated in the process? Using owned channels, you can feature stories or snippets about your customer and their role in what you do. This recognition could go a long way towards encouraging other customers who are fans of your organisation to get more involved in your success.
5. TAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS OUT FOR THE DAY
I like this idea because it helps achieve a number of the tips on both of the lists within this post. Many organisations decide to host a customer-focused event around Christmas and other seasonal milestones, but I think organisations can be more proactive in taking their customers on day outs. Taking out your customer reminds them of their importance to you and the day out also allows you to strengthen ties with that individual. Whether its a day out at the races, golf course or cycling event, or an annual customer day or a trip to a restaurant for food and drink, the outcome is the same: You are creating an event to show appreciation that your customers can look forward to.
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6. SUPPORT THEIR PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
We have touched upon keeping an eye on your client’s (the specific contact within your client’s organisation) social media feeds and becoming more of a friend rather than a service provider. The reason for this is to develop a stronger bond with your client. And what do friends do with each other? They support each other’s activities. Look to support your client’s activities, whether it’s helping with charitable fundraising or attending an event which they are organising, and make an effort to connect with that person outside of the working environment.
7. CAN YOU OFFER MORE FLEXIBILITY IN SERVICE TO SUIT YOUR CUSTOMER?
The final tip on this customer reward list is a big one: Flexibility. Your clients will know that you’re trying to run a business, just as they are trying to run theirs or their specific department. They are aware that processes help steady the ship and make this run more smoothly. But sometimes a process might not suit the customer or client who would prefer if you could adapt to their needs. If possible, this is the right thing to do. If a customer has the ability and the desire to refer a friend to the organisation, can you offer them discounts or free items based on what they want? Can you offer out of hours service to a customer if the customer is located on the other side of the planet? If you can find what your customer wants or can do, look to alter your processes just for them. This will not go unnoticed.
BRAND LOYALTY AND REWARDS: ENHANCING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Keeping your customers and clients happy plays a big role in the overall success of your organisation, not to mention its marketing efforts from an ROI perspective.
Of course, organisations need new to acquire new customers for growth purposes and to fill the holes of other customers who might have left for reasons completely out of your hands. New business in the B2B pharmaceutical and life science sectors is a must. But there is an opportunity to create brand loyalty and reward current customers so that the burden on new business and sales teams isn’t so heavy.