The two concepts to keep in mind are: customer retention and loyalty. A happy customer is a loyal customer and there’s an increasing need to engage customers with content which they relate to and enjoy. Being loyal to a brand means that a specific customer has a positive feeling towards that brand and maintains a certain consuming pattern.
According to Capgemini’ study “Loyalty Deciphered - How Emotions Drive Genuine Engagement” there’s an extremely high correlation between brand loyalty and the emotions caused by that brand in a consumer.
The study compared emotions with other factors which impact loyalty such as:
- Rational — delivery, customer service, promotions or price competitiveness
- Values — specific company’s good practices towards the environment, socially responsible and ethical behavior
Emotions are a factor which really stands out from the others. Unfortunately, there’s still a big gap between what executives and consumers say. The same study states that 80% of executives say their brand understands the emotional needs of consumers but only 15% of consumers believe that to be true.
How can your company or brand create emotional bonds with the customers? Here are some tips which are proved to work amongst different types of customers:
1) Ask for opinions and reviews
Customers love to feel like they are part of the whole process and that their opinion matters. Ask for suggestions of topics to write in your blog, ask for reviews. When you receive a bad review interact with the customer and understand why you didn’t match their expectations. Always provide an amazing customer support after the purchase. Try launching a competition for innovative approaches and improve your business based on your consumer’s proposals.
By doing this, you engage with the customer, making him feel like he is not indifferent to your brand and that you care.
2) Underpromise and overdeliver
If you have a timeline for a launch date or assume any kind of public deadline you must do everything you can to fulfill that accomplishment. When you say you are going to include a new feature or giveaway prizes, stick to it.
This is something which arouses reliability amongst your customers. They will consequently trust the company and the products sold.
3) Benefits from continuous usage
Give the customer benefits from using your products in a continuous way to keep them engaged. Discounts, personal emails thanking for the time they are using the products and other premium benefits show that you care about their experience.
4) Change the old ways
Stop using monetary ways to attract customers and learn about new ways to do it. Customers value customer service, ethical behavior, good practices and not only monetary compensation as many companies seem to think.
Nowadays, having a great product is not enough because there are tons of good products. Even if you sell a great product, being known for unethical practices and polluting the environment will lead customers into buying a greener product rather than spending their money with companies which they don’t like.
Managing relationships with your target audience may be a difficult process to accomplish. With the big amount of substitute products, building good relationships with your customer is not enough and you really have to work on the way the market sees your company.
Focus on your clients and make them your business’ core, ask them questions, make them feel like they matter to you and manage that relationship through the long term. A happy customer will talk about your brand with other possible customers and that will always make you grow.
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