Every business owner wants to find more methods of promoting customer loyalty. Getting there can be a challenge, but once you have obtained an individual’s ongoing support, it is incredibly worthwhile. Here are a few small ways your business can retain customers and encourage future engagement.
Adapt Your Tone
It can be incredibly frustrating for customers to interact with your business if the person on the other end seems as if they are doing everything by the book and refusing to apply some humanity to their situation. You would be amazed at how easily a potentially aggressive conversation can turn out when a customer is treated with genuine respect, not just bland customer service jargon. Even if someone has a negative experience with your business, the way their complaint is handled could, in fact, encourage them to become a loyal customer. Teach your employees to speak to customers politely but not stiffly.
Listen and Respond
Feedback is essential for any business. Listening to what they want is key if you want to boost return customers and increase long-term loyalty. When customers feel as if they are being listened to by a business, they see potential and want to keep coming back. Use emails, surveys, polls, social media, and any other channel you can think of to gather feedback so you can improve a customer’s experience for the next time.
Play Music in Your Stores
If your business encompasses one or more in-person stores, you could make several subtle changes that would encourage people to spend longer and return more frequently. People enjoy being in pleasant spaces, so make your store a pleasant place to be. Use a service for Streaming In-Store Music for Business | SiriusXM for Business. This will help relax your customers while reinforcing your business’s mood and brand. A rounded experience is more likely to cause a customer to come back, and appealing to multiple senses is a great way to do this.
Encourage Referrals and Use Rewards
There is nothing wrong with directly rewarding someone for their repeat custom. Reach out after the initial interaction, then offer a reward such as a discount on top of their next purchase or exclusive offers if they refer a friend to your business. It may not be a subtle way of gaining a customer’s loyalty, but it is definitely effective.
Offer Accessible Support
Make it easy for your customers to get in contact with your business. This might be as simple as installing a chat function on your website or taking calls for specific queries. Offer a variety of channels through which your customers can get in touch in case they experience an issue with your service or product. Being accessible will reassure them that you truly care about their experience and want to keep them on board.
Hopefully, some of the above tips have given you an idea of how to make small changes to improve your business’s chances of increasing customer loyalty.