Whatever happened to the times of 1993 when companies were big on customer retention and the first loyalty scheme was introduced to us by Tesco (who then went on to knock Sainsbury’s off the no 1 supermarket spot) now a days we tend to focus more on customer acquisition so much that we lose focus on retaining our current clients…
We have so many options to advertise and promote to get new clients; re-targeting, Facebook & Twitter Advertising (PayPerClick), email marketing, google keywords and online banners. Why don’t we sit down and think about our current clients? They are gold, because of them our front doors open every day, because of them we wake up every morning and go to work.
In 5 years from now who will be there for you? Your most loyal clients. You can’t buy loyalty, in order to get loyal clients it takes a lot of effort and time. You can say that you can win clients other ways. Of course you can win clients by creating a special offer, people will come and buy. Do you think this develops loyal clients? Loyalty is created by winning people’s heart not minds. With special offers you win people’s mind not the heart.
We all have to care more about our clients, our clients are the most important people in business. I don’t understand why some brands forget a fundamental part of being genuine interested in other people. When you are interested in other people everything changes, people start talking to you, opening to you. With all social media tools that we have now we should be taking full advantage of listening rather than ‘promoting’. I’m guilty of it as well, sometimes it’s easier to tweet a new blog article or something to say rather spend 20 minutes and listen what is happening with your followers.
Below are some tips:
1. Create a Twitter List. Add your clients into a VIP list and engage with them on a daily basis.
2. Download LinkedIn Connected App. Engage with your clients and potential clients. Comment, share and interact. If you are a B2C brand you can add your clients to lists as well, reply to each person that interacted with you. If they interacted with you on your YouTube channel reply to them on there as well.
3. Run a re-targeting campaign. Thank your clients for making a purchase. Just a simple thank you will do.
4. Collect 360 data. You need to collect everything about your best clients, when I say everything, we need to know everything about them. Your data-collecting campaigns should include purchase data, pages viewed and the number of site visits, as well as how these figures have changed. You should also track the customer lifetime value, which measures the predicted profit each individual will earn you. Together, these metrics paint a detailed picture of your customer and identify where you should be investing.
5. Test & Analyse your messaging. Once you gather your data. With real-time feedback — positive or negative — you can optimize your approach by targeting your marketing strategy more precisely toward your top customers.
6. Reward. Use reward systems to reward your best clients. You don’t have to do a mass campaign but a personalised, when it’s personalised it’s much more better because it’s personalised. Feeling noticed and rewarded for loyalty will incite clients to connect with your brand on an emotional level and when we connect with clients on an emotional level we win a client for life.
7. Send a ‘Thank You Card’. By a simple thank you card you can show how much you care about your client.
You always have to think beyond of just posting and tweeting, impress your clients, caring always pays off. The future of business comes down to one word, change.
If you want us to help you take your brand beyond, please do email me or give me a call at 020 3130 0451 and I will be more than happy to help you.
In the meantime you can follow me on Twitter for daily business inspiration or subscribe to my YouTube channel.
