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So you want to reward your existing customers, but how do you go about it?

You could go for the obvious one and give discounts on future purchases – but loyalty is very rarely just about money. People who shop for the cheapest price are not loyal to you – they are loyal to the cheapest deal and will move from supplier to supplier to get it. Before you jump in to a loyalty program – make sure you consider all the factors.

Customer loyalty is very subjective. To have a good loyalty system you need a variety of strategies that will suit different types of customers – depending on what their current and potential value is to you, referral value and their motivators.

1. Information is king – Haven’t you found a time when you keep going back to the same supplier because they know your history – and going to someone new would involve the hassle of filling them in and providing them with all your documentation all over again?

Knowing your customer can be one of the best loyalty programs you will ever invest in.

But once you get to a certain number of customers, it is easy to forget what they spoke to you about last, or what their partners’ name was. The key is for you to be able to show the customers that you know them better than the competition and that you will deliver better service. This perception can easily be destroyed if you can’t recall details about your past relationship / conversations.

But we aren’t super heroes – we can only remember so much, so keeping up to date and accurate records of conversations, interests, partner names, services/products used in the past and ones they have expressed an interest in for the future.

Depending on the size of your business, this can be done with a spreadsheet, small database or a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

2. Have loyalty programs that address your customer’s motivators – For example – if your customer is only interested in money, the loyalty program will need to be dollar related. If your customer is interested in feeling valued, your loyalty program should be able to meet that need.

3. Make sure your loyalty programs are not defeating the purpose – Having loyalty programs is great – but at the end of the day, loyalty programs are about profitability – so ensure your loyalty programs aren’t costing you more than you are making by keeping that customer. You may need some loyalty strategies that are low cost, and some that are a higher cost for more profitable customer segments.

4. Value your service – Finally – remember that you are offering a valuable product / service. You don’t need to “bribe” your customers to talk to you or to use your services again. That kind of relationship only ever ends up one way – the customer will go with whoever is offering the “biggest incentive”.

Loyalty programs target genuine customers with the aim of showing your appreciation of their continued support and to reinforce the fact that they are a valued and important part of your business.

Rewarding customers will secure you repeat business and ensure they feel they are getting a return for their continued support.

It happens to everyone. Once you have a customer, your attention shifts to how you are going to get more of them.

You have built a personal and strong relationship with the small number of customers that you do have partly because you have plenty of time to dedicate to them… what you are short on is more customers.

But more customers mean you have less time for each of them, and the important task of maintaining those relationships slowly shifts to the back seat. After all, it is a necessity to get new customers if you are going to build a sustainable business. But some people are getting it right. One particular consultant has had the same base of customers for over 15 years, and has never had to promote themselves. This scenario is not always possible in every industry, but it shows the potential for loyalty to contribute to your business.

When you look at it objectively – it is a pretty simple concept:

• New customers cost more money. First you have to find them, then you need to promote to them which can involve advertising, non-chargeable sales visits and collateral (e.g. brochures).
• Keeping existing customers costs a lot less – mostly a bit of time (which you would have to spend on new customers anyway).

So – if you spend excessive time gathering new customers at the expense of your existing client base, you could end up losing some loyal customers. You can start to see how the indirect and hidden costs start to mount up.

And of course getting those previous customers back is near impossible.

Further, if you look after your existing customers in the right way, it can also mean:

• Referrals – if the customer loves what you do for them, they will recommend you to their peers
• Testimonials – many new customers will judge you by what your existing customers think of you. Testimonials are a great tool to use on collateral.
• More work – if they like what you are doing for them, they will be more encouraged to use you for other parts of their business. Remember that as you maintain your relationship, your customer is growing, and their needs will grow and change.

So when you are looking at your business processes and the amount of time dedicated to each function, make sure you take into account the importance of keeping those existing relationships.

Click Here To Read Start-Up Businesses – The Importance of Customer Loyalty: Part 2

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