In today’s fiercely competitive business world, a dedicated customer retention program has become utmost importance. A positive bond between a business and its customers can help in spreading word of mouth which is considered extremely valuable. So, how customer loyalty begins? Well, when every customer starts feeling that he or she is indispensable, that’s when customer loyalty starts to begin.
Many businesses today are already carrying out and many others are on the way to build a loyalty program to differentiate themselves from their competitors and maintain their customer retention.
Statistics and Facts Related to Happy and Satisfied Customers
Below mentioned are some of the statistics and facts on how you can keep your customers happy and satisfied:
• It costs 5 times as much to draw a new customer than to keep an existing one.
• Around 68% of people leave brands because they are upset with the treatment they’ve received. (Source: U.S. Small Business Administration)
• On average, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase. (Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs)
• About 48% of customers who had a negative experience shares with 10 or more other customers.
• About 64% of customers cited shared values as the primary reason for a strong brand relationship.
• On Twitter, over 80% of customer service-related tweets are negative or critical about the brand in question.
• A large majority of customers expect a reply in less than an hour.
• About 78% of customers have bailed out on an intended transaction because of a poor experience.
• It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. (Source: Ruby Newell-Legner, Understanding Customers
• About 68% quit because of the attitude of indifference toward the customer by the owner, manager or some employee. (Source: Michael LeBoeuf, “How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life\”)
• It’s 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one. (Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs)
• 3 in 5 Americans (59%) would try a new brand or company for a better service experience. (Source: American Express)
• About 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated. (Source: McKinsey)
• Customers usually don’t want to hear things like- We\’re unable to answer your question, We\’re sorry, but we\’re experiencing unusually heavy call volumes. You can hold or try back at another time, etc. (Source: American Express)
• Employees only ask for the customer\’s name 21% of the time. (Source: ContactPoint)
• Customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20 to 40% more money with those companies than other customers. (Source: Bain & Company)
• 89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience. (Source: RightNow)
• 50% of consumers give a brand only one week to respond to a question before they stop doing business with them. (Source: RightNow)
• U.S. consumers prefer to resolve their customer service issues using Telephone (90%), Face to face (75%), Company website or email (67%), Online chat (47%), Text message (22%), and Social networking site (22%) (Source: American Express)
• Consumers are 2 times more likely to share their bad customer service experiences than they share their positive ones. (Source: American Express)
• Top two reasons for customer loss include- Customers feel poorly treated and Failure to solve a problem in a timely manner (Source: RightNow):
• A 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 100% increase in profits for your company (whether it is through upsells, repurchases, or even Customer Referrals) (Source: Fred Reichheld, author of the Loyalty Effect)
In order to survive in today’s competitive era, businesses are required to build a customer-centric culture. Below mentioned are some of the most effective ways to develop this kind of culture:
#1. Treat your Customers Properly
Always remember that happy customers are satisfied customers. Talk to them very sincerely, especially with your regular customers. Be personal in your approach as a personal touch makes them feel more valuable.
#2. Don’t Come on Too Strong
Impolite customer service often results in creating a negative impression of business over their customers. Most of the customers are likely to share their negative experiences with their friends and families. This can have a worse impact on a business’s repute. Therefore, it is very much essential to be well-mannered to your customers when dealing with their issues regarding your company. Maintaining patience is very important to give your customers the opportunity to vent their problems. This also enables you to resolve the issue and build their faith in you.
#3. Remember Your Best Customers
It is a good idea to design a monthly calendar to note down activities that will fortify your relationship with your best customers.
#4. Always Listen to Your Customers
Customers are the main source of support for any business to thrive, if you’ll not take actions on their sensible requests, it may result in backlash. Making sensible changes based on the responses of your customers will make them feel important and valuable, which will further help in boosting customer loyalty. Nowadays, there are several tools available such as surveys, social media, communities and groups, focus groups, point of sale, web forms, emails, and more, which can be used to collect feedback from customers.
#5. Provide High Quality Service
Always provide high quality service to your customers. Answer to all their queries promptly. Additionally, be ready to give away some offers or deals in the form of discounts, coupons, gifts and more to encourage your customers to buy more. Provide special care to your best customers by enthralling and rewarding them by designing appealing multi-channel promotions consisting of discounts, giveaways, and contests. You can share these offers through social media pages, printouts, brochures, emails, and other marketing channels to get complete publicity and visibility.
Conclusion:
Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance for today\’s businesses as it provides marketers and business owners with a metric that they can use to manage and perk up their businesses. On the whole, customer satisfaction is the leading indicator to evaluate customer loyalty, recognize unhappy customers, reduce churn and amplify revenue.
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