Nine ways to increase customer loyalty

Many online companies have put in place relationship management processes and have tightened up their feedback channels, email response and timings. However, is this enough to ensure the best possible rate of customer loyalty?

Not according to Kyle LaMalfa of CRM buyer, who recommends the following nine principles be put in to practice:

1. Know your customer’s expectations and meet them – satisfaction being the difference between expectations and the service received.

2. Don’t rely on points or rewards programs to increase loyalty, their effect is not long term.

3. Address complaints and turn them in to opportunities to further benefit your business.

4. Engage your customers – two-way dialogue promotes engagement and actively participating consumers often become your advocates.

5. Increase opportunities for repeat business by analyzing your customer’s previous purchases and offering complementary products.

6. Encourage feedback and survey your customers so that the data can be used to identify issues that need resolving.

7. Centralize your feedback using technology to collate a base of information that can be referenced when making business decisions.

8. Link business outcomes to loyalty and engagement.

9. Predict future loyalty using a variety of statistical techniques.

LaMalfa's more detailed recommendations can be read on the CRM Buyer website.

Tags: consumer feedback, loyalty, relationship management