7 Ways to Build Real Customer Loyalty for Your Business

The most basic need of a business is acquiring customers and retaining them. Customer loyalty stems from a variety of factors that help in strengthening the bond between the brand and the buyers. It aids in bringing several repeat orders that prove more profitable for the business rather than finding and attracting new customers. Making the buyers come back needs developing a solid strategy that satisfies them. It also involves gaining a competitive advantage in the cluttered market with a superior proposition.

Thus, if you are planning to purchase a business for sale in Australia, you must be aware of the ways of building real customer loyalty. It is needed to increase profits and establish a solid customer base. So here is how you can build customer loyalty.

1. Connect with Your Buyers

Consumers remember their experience with the brand and the way they were treated by the staff. Thus, marketers must focus on building a relationship with their target audience, which will help them to connect with the brand. Communication and customer service must leave them with an emotional attachment that goes beyond advertising. The idea is to engage them in conversations, listening to their needs and desires, understanding their preferences and determining their expectations from the products and services.

Social media is an excellent tool to take the relationship forward through constant interactions. It helps in two-way communication with the target market and creates opportunities for enhancing the fan following of the brand. Involving them in discussions of product enhancement and testing of prototypes is yet another way of making them a part of the process and developing an emotional connection.

2. Offer Outstanding Customer Service

The customer touchpoints should be managed by efficient, proactive, and friendly customer service representatives. The art of influencing requires offering personalised service. Thus, the customers must be addressed with their name to make them feel recognised, and the tone of the conversation must be warm and supportive.

Resolve their issues and problems without wasting any time through swift customer support. They should be able to contact the support team through multiple channels, including email, phone, live chat, social media, etc. Respond quickly with the solution. If the redressal of the issue is going to take time, provide them with incentives that make them forget about the inconvenience. You can offer a refund or a free upgrade in case of problems with the product.

3. Exceed Their Expectations

The primary reason for customers opting for competitor’s products is their ability to satisfy their needs better than your products. Thus, the only way to get repeat orders is to make an offering that cannot be resisted. Find out what is missing in your product in comparison to the leading brand in the market and speak to customers about the same. Conduct focus group interviews to understand the gap and how it can be filled. Ask for suggestions from the buyers to make improvements to the product to achieve a better version that exceeds their expectations.

Create a unique selling proposition that distinguishes your product and creates a high recall value. The experience of using the product must ignite positive reactions and gratification. Although it may not be possible to satisfy the entire target market, you can still try to grab a bigger share than others.

4. Maintain Consistency

Many businesses start off by offering a high-quality product at a low price to attract customers. However, this strategy often backfires as they are unable to generate profits with this model. Eventually, they have to either reduce the quality or increase the price. In both cases, the consumers become dissatisfied and look for other alternatives. Thus, maintaining consistency of quality and service is extremely vital. Customers remember these aspects of the business, and it helps in building trust and credibility.

The most successful brands have retained their position because they have been maintaining the standard of their service, quality, marketing communication and branding. From Telstra and Woolworths to Westpacand Bunnings, all brands follow standardisation across the retail chain to build loyalty.

5. Use Celebrity Endorsements

Customers are highly influenced by the use of celebrities in advertisements and promotions. They help in attracting the attention of the buyers instantly and lend a sense of dependability to the brand. However, it can be challenging for small businesses to hire movie stars or athletes for promoting their brands. Thus, they can rely on social media influencers who have a massive fan base on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or Facebook. They are capable of swaying consumer sentiment and help in brand promotions.

With more and more consumers spending time online and looking for product reviews on the internet, such affirmations can work wonders in brand awareness. Social recommendations have helped various small businesses to boost their sales and generate substantial profits.

6. Give Back to the Community

Although corporate social responsibility is different from customer loyalty, it helps in building the latter. These days consumers are more inclined towards brands that are ethical and are working towards the greater good. They want to purchase from companies that are creating a sustainable organisation and reducing their carbon footprint. From wildfires and droughts to the current COVID-19 pandemic, there have been various calamities that have made consumers rethink their priorities. They are turning towards brands that uphold qualities like waste reduction and minimising air and water pollution.

The marketer can also conduct fundraisers in the community to help with an ongoing local problem and support local sports teams to encourage the youth. All of these activities help in building an emotional bond with the consumers.

7. Start A Loyalty Program

Rewarding your repeat customers is an exceptional way to repay their loyalty. All businesses leverage this scheme to foster long-lasting relationships with their customers. The loyalty programs work like a bonus. They incentivise customers and motivate them to make new purchases. There are a variety of loyalty programs, such as the points or credits system, wherein the customer gets reward points on every purchase and can redeem these points to get a discount in future.

Discount programs include offering a price cut on a minimum purchase order. Some brands offer exclusive club memberships for loyal customers where they have to pay an annual fee to become the member. It allows them to get first information about upcoming sales and make purchases before others in a defined time slot.

Conclusion

Loyal customers are needed by brands to enjoy word-of-mouth publicity and brand advocacy from satisfied buyers. Thus, if you are planning to purchase a business for sale in Australia, you must utilise the tips mentioned above to create a strong fan base.