Customer loyalty

How do you create a customer experience that is so distinctive and valuable that it commands not just customer satisfaction but also customer loyalty? Customer loyalty doesn’t just happen; it must be systematically designed and created. There are four key steps to doing this:

Find out what drives customer loyalty for your organisation
Be clear who your most profitable target customers are and what they value. Forcusing primarily on the needs of your most valuable customers keeps them loyal. Creative organisations use this data to find innovative ways to serve them. Review your brand promise and customer experience against these expectations.

Define a customer experience that will build customer loyalty
The key to customer loyalty is to exceed the promise to target customers in every interaction. This requires customer empathy – feeling what the customer feels and making it better. Each interaction with will either strengthen or weaken the relationship. Ask what would make the interaction outstanding. Design this into the experience.

Create the capability to deliver this experience
Enable employees to deliver this experience consistently. Ensure they know what they need to do to command customer loyalty. Ensure they are rewarded for doing so.

Deliver a customer experience that sustains customer loyalty
Customer values are not static. The key to keeping your best customers is to know them. Develop ongoing customer research to determine the expectations, experiences and behavior of your most important customers and the extent to which you are meeting their needs.

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