Embracing Social Media: Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter can provide businesses with specific information on how their target market thinks and acts. The informal, non-threatening environment is an ideal place to engage with customers about anything from buying preferences to promotions to customer feedback. Real-time sites like Twitter and Openbook can also provide you with lead generation ideas; a quick search can help find people who are looking for a company just like you, actively seeking a product or service you provide, but aren’t aware of you. Engage Consumer Communities: Almost goes without saying but customer service can always be improved, especially as customers become increasingly savvy and demanding, and quite rightly too. Consumer action and money-saving sites are there to help consumers get the best possible deals, but don’t treat this as a threat. Embrace it, get on board and interact with these sites for heightened exposure and positive reputation management.
Tap Into Emotional Psyche: Loyalty will continue to centre on emotional thought processes rather than rational, incentive-based initiatives. Psychological economists have often spoke of economic decision-making being 70% emotional and 30% rational which perfectly sums up why tactical incentive-based loyalty campaigns, that are based on rationality, do not always work so well. Tapping into the feelings behind customer decisions will ultimately create connected, passionate and engaged customers, which is key. Relevant Targeted Loyalty Programs: Customers of today are increasingly demanding which is a good thing for all involved. Listen to their needs and wants, and carve out loyalty programs for customers who are always thinking about me. This will make them individual, relevant and most importantly, personal, which is the most frequently chosen reason for spending more with a company. Show customers you are listening, use data effectively to build on your targeted personalised loyalty programme.
Think differently: Not everyone wants to see more me too points based customer loyalty schemes. Challenge yourself and dare to be different. Non points based loyalty programmes are more cost effective, allow you to control spend, don’t have huge liability issues and will get you a faster ROI. (You can reach the writer at info@vitabella.fr)
Which Customer Loyalty Trends Should You Consider in 2011?
Customer loyalty is the Holy Grail in business and each year were faced with new or adapting challenges that threaten our ability to attract new customers or, crucially, maintain relationships with existing ones. According to a recent study from Uber UK – a company which specializes in marketing and customer loyalty – one of the ongoing challenges successful businesses face is optimising customer satisfaction and developing the customer relationship management strategy. This year is no different, so what should you be looking out for in 2011?
