The Loyalty Lady Drives Customer Retention

I’ve been given a few names throughout my career. From “sales pro” to “people person”, these names stuck with me. I am now known as The Loyalty Lady.

This name makes sense because I help small business owners improve customer retention by improving customer engagement.  As The Loyalty Lady, I do that by uncovering opportunities in your business to provide more value to customers and help you build customer relationships resulting in customer retention.

Customer Loyalty is complicated. But to simplify it, I’ve developed a simple equation that describes the components of Customer Loyalty. The equation goes like this:

Magic + Relationships + Value = Customer Loyalty

Magic is about creating an unanticipated, extraordinary experience that customers won’t forget. It brings to mind the experience my son just had in purchasing his Iphone at the Apple Store. First, Apple allowed people to pre-purchase the Phones so that when the pre-purchasers arrived to pick up their phones from the store, they had priority treatment with their own line. Apple also provided those who waited in line food, a drink and an umbrella to shield them from the Arizona Sun in June. It’s those special touches that help develop that loyalty.

Relationships drive customer loyalty as well. When people feel connected to you and your business, loyalty is right behind. People no longer want to be treated like sheople. Customers want to be noticed, appreciated and valued. Building these relationships takes time and are built with each experience a customer has with your business. Look for opportunities to strengthen the relationships with your customers from the first time they do business with you and beyond.

Do you provide Value through your products and services? In an MSN poll, customers were asked “what is your number one customer service expectation?” The top answer was product knowledge (over friendliness and readily available staff). Customers today won’t put up with businesses that don’t support their needs and wants. Given that, we want to be sure that our front liners have the product knowledge they need to provide value to their customers.

Customer retention and loyalty are the keys to your sustained growth. As your Loyalty Lady, I want to share with you innovative ways to drive loyalty and sales. Turn up the magic, build relationships and provide value to your customers and watch what happens. Wishing you all the success you can handle,

The Loyalty Lady

Norma Huibregtse

Norma is an innovative Customer Experience Strategist, Business Coach, Blogger and Speaker. Her goal is to inspire business owners to captivate their customers and turn them into raving fans so that their businesses can experience increased profits and more fun. Contact Norma at (480) 694-6940, by email at norma@captivatedcustomers.com or visit the website at CaptivatedCustomers.com

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Norma is an innovative Customer Experience Strategist, Business Coach, Blogger and Speaker. Her goal is to inspire business owners to captivate their customers and turn them into raving fans so that their businesses can experience increased profits. Contact Norma at (480) 694-6940 or visit the website http://captivatedcustomers.com.

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Customer Retention Builder – Need Customers for Life?

What would our businesses look like if we told our customers that we want to do business with them for life?  Whether you are the owner of a retail establishment or a micro business owner, this customer retention technique can make a difference. The best time to do this is when our customers first do business with us.

As a former cosmetics consultant, I would make it part of the sales process to communicate with my new customers that I not only valued the initial sale, but I let them know that I wanted them to be customers for life.  It made a huge difference in building that customer relationship.

Just think about it for a minute.  Let’s say you went to a coffee shop and the counter person said to you as you were purchasing your coffee: “Thank you for coming in. We want you as a customer for life as long as you’ll have us.”

To boost customer relationships and customer retention in your business, tell your new customers that you want create a lifelong relationship.  You’ll be glad you did!  And when you do, tell us all about it by leaving a comment below.

Norma is an innovative Customer Experience Strategist, Business Coach, Blogger and Speaker. Her goal is to inspire business owners to captivate their customers and turn them into raving fans so that their businesses can experience increased profits. Contact Norma at (480) 694-6940 or visit the website http://captivatedcustomers.com.

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Text Marketing Campaigns that Build Customer Loyalty Part 2

Mobile marketing is exploding. In my last blog post, I wrote about the fact that Text Messaging Campaigns are becoming one of the most powerful, efficient, cost effective marketing tools we have today to build customer loyalty and relationships. I will share some specific examples of how text messaging campaigns have helped companies build customer loyalty and retention and also share tips to help you avoid the pitfalls of text messaging. Let’s begin by looking at three different companies who have successfully utilized this marketing tool.

Couch Tomato Café, a family style restaurant, used text messaging to send out a special 7-day offer just for text subscribers. They tracked the response for this campaign and estimated that they received 70 extra orders which increased sales by $1,050.

Viking Cooking School began a text message marketing program to keep in contact with students, instructors and staff. They use this service to help keep classes filled. One recent text message to students allowed them to fill open class spots. The cost to them was less than $15 dollars and resulted in an additional $632 in revenue.

UAS Properties develops and renovates affordable housing. They use text messaging to manage and collect rent for about 800 units. UAS sends text messages to alert each household that is behind in rent payments and includes a number to call for the subscriber to make an automatic payment. Read the full story for these three examples on Eztexting.com.

As exciting as text message marketing sounds, we need to respect the subscribers who opt into the service. Here are some of the pitfalls facing business owners in using this mobile marketing tool.

1. Sending too many messages to customers causing them to opt out. I was working with a restaurant client who wanted to send a text 4 days out of the week to their list. Big mistake. Too much noise and subscribers will opt out left and right. Let your customers know how often they will receive messages from you and stick to it.

2. Using text message for general announcements. The messages should be a novelty. Your customers want to know that they are a select group and that they will receive special offers that others won’t. Use Facebook and email for general announcements and keep your text message campaign to drive business.

3. Not getting opt-in approval to text message your customers. Just as with email marketing, anti-spam rules require us to get subscriber opt-in. The last thing you want to do is take your database of customer cell phone numbers and blast out a message. Instead, send them an email, post a signup widget on your website, or provide this information at your place of business and invite them to join your text message service. As important as an opt-in, make sure that you have an opt-out message with each text you send. It lets customers know that if they don’t find the service valuable, it is easy to opt-out. Don’t worry. There are more customers on the horizon.

Mobile marketing can help even the smallest business owner communicate more effectively, drive sales, and develop customer loyalty and retention. Don’t wait to get started because the early adopters will win over their competition. Contact me today at (480) 694-6940 if you are interested in customizing a text message campaign for your business.

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Text Marketing Campaigns that Build Customer Loyalty

Imagine a day in the life of a 19-year-old student with a cell phone.  She starts her day receiving a text message from Starbucks offering her 15% discount on a Carmel Machiatto because she is one of their loyal customers.  An hour later, she receives a text from her community college that a class was cancelled for the day. Later on, she receives a text from her bank about the status of her personal loan. She’s saved both time and money receiving information that she personally wants to receive through text messaging.

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Look Who’s in Your Customer Base

Do you know who your customers are?  They can be identified by the relationship they have with your business.  They are either Promoters, Passivists, or Punishers.  Once you identify who’s who, you can accurately target your customer engagement to these specific customer segments.

Promoters are your fans and advocates who love doing business with you.  They purchase the most, they buy more, and they provide the bulk of your referrals.  Your Passivists can take you or leave you.  If a better offer comes along, they are the first to shop elsewhere.  Your Punishers are your customers who are your repeat complainers who like to tell others about the poor experience they had with you.

Our job is to take a look at our customer base and identify each of these customer segments.  Make a list of your Promoters and ask yourself how you are engaging this group.  They want to be in your VIP Club, they want special offers, they want to be part of a customer focus group.  Engage them differently and watch what happens.  They will be even more excited and motivated to tell others just like themselves that they should do business with you too.

There could be several reasons why your Passivists are not loyal.  Make a list of these customers, the ones who do business with you sporadically.  Find out why they haven’t been purchasing from you as they did before.  Determine which of their needs aren’t being met and fix what you can.

The third segment is your Punishers.  We’ve all had them.  They complain frequently and they return products often.  Get in front of these customers and have a conversation about their needs.  Often, you can convert these dissatisfied customers straight to Promoters if you can resolve their issues. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to let them go.  But take the high road.  If you know of someone else in your industry that would be a better fit, be willing to arrange an introduction.

Customer engagement includes knowing your customer segments. Your goal should be to identify these segments and follow this plan:  keep your Promoters engaged, fine ways to move your Passivists to Promoters, and move your Punishers to Promoters or move them out.

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Jump on the Video Bandwagon

We all love video.  We jump on YouTube to find videos to entertain and educate ourselves.  As a small business owner in the service industry, you can change the customer experience through video marketing.  Here are 5 videos that small businesses can use to engage more customers.

1)      Introduction Video – Create a video that allows you to personalize your message about you and your company.  Let them see who you are as you tell them about your products and services.  Remember that people do business with people, not companies.

2)      How-To Videos – These videos tell your customers how you can get more out of your products and services.  For example, one of my carpet cleaning clients is creating a video about “How to Prepare for our Visit” that will explain to her customers how to prepare the carpet, which furniture to move, how long the appointment will take, etc. This video will be included in the appointment confirmation email she sends to customers.  Once an appointment is completed, another email will be sent that shares tips for after-care.

3)      Facilities Tour Video – To increase anticipation (or reduce anxiety) over a visit to a new service provider (such as a dentist, chiropractor, or veterinarian), allow your customers to see your facility before they arrive.  Let them know what it will be like when they walk in that front door, what they can expect to experience and how they will be treated.

4)      Event Videos – Rev up the excitement about an upcoming event that you are having with video.  Recently, I participated in a Social Media event that included video to market to potential participants.  It was an interview format and allowed the host to share the details about the event in a fun, engaging way to audience.

5)      Video Testimonials – We all know testimonials help us build credibility about ourselves, our products and our services. Taking it to video is even stronger.  Being able to see and hear a customer share their positive experience they had with you is invaluable to your business.  Guide your customers as they prepare a video testimonial.  Ask them to use the P.S.S. system which is to share the problem they had, the solution, and the savings in time, money, etc.

Post these videos on your website, social spaces such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.  Create a YouTube channel where your videos can be seen by others.  Through video, your customers will feel more in tune with your business and will help spread the word about their wonderful customer experience.

Tell us how you are using video marketing in your own business?

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Facebook Customer Engagement

Have you ever thought about how you are engaging your connections on social media sites?  Take Facebook for instance.  If you have a fan page and you ignore it, how often will those connections come back to the page? They come to your fan page for great content, ideas, insights, and fun. Turn up customer engagement on your social media spaces and watch what happens.

Last week, I held a “Where’s Walda” contest on Facebook after being inspired by one of my Facebook friends. I told my fans that I hid Walda on one of my website pages and that the first person to find it would receive a gift card from me.  My goal was to have my fans learn more about my business by driving more traffic to my website and rewarding one of them for doing so. It resulted in a 150% increase in site visits from the previous day and a 6-fold increase in the average time on site.  WOW!  One happy fan found it and said that she was so impressed that she was going to try it too.

I’m convinced that fans just wanna’ have fun.  Customer engagement happens when you create the unexpected and extraordinary in your service experience, both online and offline. Walt Disney said it best when he said:  “Do what you do so well, that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.”

What are some of the ways that you have engaged your connections/customers on your social media spaces?  Post a comment and you could be featured on my Facebook Page.

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Top 10 Customer Service Pet Peeves

Take a look at our latest list of Customer Service Pet Peeves.

1) Being ignored by sales staff (hey, I’m over here!)
2) Staff that have little to no product knowledge
3) Not standing behind your products (do I really need to buy a warranty?)
4) Putting people on the phone, help line, etc. whose English is hard to understand
5) Offices that aren’t available during lunch time (dental, medical, what are you thinking?)
6) Long waits on the phone
7) When a sales person says “it’s not my department”
Lengthy phone trees (is there a live person anywhere?)
9) Putting a caller before a live person (answer the phone, put them on hold, and deal with me)
10) Having to repeat myself to multiple service representatives when I have a problem

Can you sympathize with any of them? Is your company guilty of any of them? These customer service mistakes can be costing you sales. Now keep in mind that only 4% of your customers will complain directly, 96% just go away and 91% WON’T COME BACK.

As a business owner, spend time out on the floor of your retail establishment or spend time listening to service calls or ask your staff about customer complaints and what they hear from customers. If you run a micro business, you aren’t off the hook. Some of these customer service mistakes apply to you too. Ask your customers what bugs them about your business.

There is no better time than now to improve your customer service experience. Need help, check out our services at http://captivatedcustomers.com. Fix it, and they will come.

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I’m Smarter Than YouThink

As a customer experience strategist, I’ve noticed that some businesses still don’t understand the importance of transparency, open communication and straightforwardness.  Some continue to engage us in ways that make us say to ourselves “are you kidding me?”

Do you remember a commercial that featured a woman who just finished shopping, walks out of the store and yells to her husband “start the car, start the car”, because she thought they hadn’t charged her enough for the things she purchased?  What message does that send to the consumer?  In a roundabout way, it says that it’s okay to cheat.  What they wanted to convey is that their prices are so low, we can’t live without them. Call me crazy, but there are better ways to get the message out.

Here’s something else on my mind.  We’ve all gone to trade shows and conventions and have put our cards into drawings that promise something free.  Have you found that free isn’t really free after all?  I recently received a call from a company that said I had won $300 in free services.  But, I would have to come in and “talk” to a specialist before I booked my appointment.  So was it really free?  Not in my book.  I should be able to make an appointment and use my gift.  By the way, I never heard back from them.

This next example speaks again to dishonest customer engagement.  My online contact lenses provider often sends me emails to reorder my contact lenses.  One of the last emails they sent me reported that they had an overstock of my lenses and that they blamed it on someone in their company who had over ordered.  In the email, they specifically said they wouldn’t “name names”.  Wow!  They were willing to throw to someone in their company “under the bus” (or pretend to) so that they could sell products.  So I sent them an email asking them why they used this marketing tactic.  They kindly responded saying that it wasn’t what they meant.

I have seen more and more companies getting desperate and dishonest in their marketing.  I know times are tough but your customers deserve better.  If I were consulting with companies that do this, I would tell them to STOP, because it isn’t how customer engagement works.  We are smarter than you think and see right through these messages.  If you think I’m off base, let me know. If you need better ways to engage your customers, call me. 

Norma is an innovative Customer Experience Strategist, Business Coach, Blogger and Speaker. Her goal is to inspire business owners to captivate their customers and turn them into raving fans so that their businesses can experience increased profits and more fun. Contact Norma at (480) 694-6940, or visit the website at CaptivatedCustomers.com or email her at norma@captivatedcustomers.com

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