If you’re looking to keep your customers and clients happy, it’s worth investing some time and energy into how best to nurture and build up your relationship with each of them. You will no doubt have spent a considerable amount of effort and possibly money to bring them on board in the first place, whether it was through the sales team, a marketing initiative or advertising campaign. But they will only stay loyal if you put the correct amount of effort into keeping them happy for the longer term.
Nurtured customers become loyal customers
So how can your business nurture its customers and clients to ultimately create a better sense of customer loyalty? You must look at each customer as an individual entity and see what matters to them most. Only then will existing customers become repeat buyers and feel loyal enough to choose you over the competition each time. If you’re not quite sure where to start, here are some simple ways to make sure your customer service offering is consistent and will keep your clients satisfied.
Offer each customer a ‘VIP’ treatment
Your most loyal customers might be those who are spending a considerable amount of money with your company. They may be those who have been using your company for a long time. Or maybe they are brand advocates who can influence other potential buyers. Take a look at the key indicators that give you this information, so that you can identify who exactly these ‘VIP’ customers are. Then you can work out where you should be putting your efforts when it comes to nurturing them. Perhaps you could offer them an exclusive and personalised service, or reward their loyalty with bespoke incentives or special offers.
Respond to each customer query as quickly as you can
When a customer calls, a swift reply in person on the telephone can often bring a speedy solution to each question that might arise. We know, however, that it’s not always that simple. So if you can’t give a customer the information that they need straight away, make sure that they know when they’re likely to be able to expect an answer from you. Managing customer expectations is very important. Most people really still prefer a personal touch and would rather speak to a person rather than a robot to get to the bottom of a question and to feel like their query is being managed properly. With this kind of contact, you’ll also benefit from getting to know your customers and their expectations better too.
Offer your customers a range of support channels
The Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath saw us doing business at all different times of the day. Even if everyone in the office has gone home, it’s important that you offer your customers a channel to reach you on. These days we’re not just limited to a telephone. If the customer support line is only live during the working day, you can make sure to offer an alternative out-of-hours option. This could be a telephone-answering service, a ring-back service, a web chat box, or a contact form.
Why nurturing your customers pays off
Nurturing your customers and creating a customer-retention strategy can take time and effort. It’s not usually a quick fix, but a long-term solution for creating loyal and trusting customers who keep coming back, time and again. Research shows that improving your customer retention rate by just 5% can increase profits anywhere between 25% and 95%.
Put simply, a loyal customer will become a repeat customer. If they’re already happy with you, there’s no reason for them to go elsewhere. They may even give you favourable reviews and feedback that you can use to prove your credentials and attract new customers. You can be sure that giving them the VIP treatment, offering them top-quality service and supporting them the best you can will all pay dividends over time.
