5 Ways to win customer loyalty

Since social marketing has taken off, many companies are re-evaluating what customer service really means. Making your customers feel welcome, responding to their inquiries, and handling their gripes is more important than ever.

Here are five quick ways to win customer loyalty with very little effort:

1. Revise and improve your “Thank You” page
   After a customer orders, this page gives you the opportunity to say much more than this. Invite customers to contact you, promote your newsletters, Blogs, and other products or other customer service related actions, such as “requesting their feedback”. You can either build a feedback form into that page if you know how, or point them to a feedback form page. Many online merchants miss this Golden opportunity to engage customer to learn more about the positives — telling you what you have done right. And, the negatives, telling you what you could improve upon.

2. Listen to that feedback
   Don’t let any feedback fall between the cracks. Assign someone to monitor all customer feedback, and report on improvements, suggestions and potential problems. Take the good with the bad.

3. Monitor lost sales and cancellations
   The same applies. This is customer feedback time. Find out why and what went wrong, it will provide insight so you don’t lose that sale again.

4. Make it personal
   Any communication should be personalized. Even the order confirmation responders you send out, the tracking details email and “problem with your order” email you send out. The more personalized it looks — the more the customer gets the “squishy” feeling they are important to you as a customer.

5. Target high value customers
   Any customer who is spending regularly with you, ordering large volumes or high dollar amounts at one time is a HVC. Get even more personal with them. After they spend X amount of dollars in any period. Send them a discount out of the blue when they least expect it or send them a free product for being such a loyal customer. The word of mouth will pay for itself on the next order.