It’s time for some quintessential Carol Roth. I love when she talks about customer loyalty in her no-nonsense way and calls out the things that piss me off – and probably your customers as well.
You’ve heard of best practices in business and the number one worst practice for customer loyalty, in my opinion, is Carol’s first point: Never treat new customers better than old customers.
One of the most maddening things that can happen as a repeat customer is to know that you are paying more than some random person off the street for patronizing a business again.
Basically, it’s a slap in the face for returning customers.
I have embedded Carol’s LinkedIn post and also reposted the full text below so it’s easier to read. Please take a minute to check out the whole thing. Your customers will thank you.
As a 20+ year advocate for loyal customers/clients within organizations (Chief Customer Officer function), here’s 5 key learnings to cultivate loyal customers:
1-Never treat new customers better than old customers
2-Beware of the vocal minority
3-Make everyone happy some of the time
4-Make long-term choices for long-term customer relationships
5-Loyalty isn’t transactional
1-Never treat new customers better than old customers
This is the ultimate pet peeve, where a new customer gets a better deal or special offer not available to customers who have been paying you for years. Use your existing customers to help spread the word to new customers or give them both a benefit, but don’t snub your loyal customer base. Exceptions would be something like a free trial that becomes paying, but you may still want to do something nice to your customers if they were not given the same opportunity.
2-Beware of the vocal minority
They say the squeaky wheel gets the oil, but that can hurt your business. When you hear about something on social media or in other comments, is it pervasive or is it the same people causing a commotion that aren’t representative of your entire customer base? Listening to a broader cross-section of customers, issuing surveys and letting hard data guide you are key to avoiding this trap.
3-Make everyone happy some of the time
This is especially true if you have a lot of product or service features or if you offer a breadth of products and services to a large and varied customer base: you will not be able to make people with different wants happy at the same time or with everything. So, strive for making everyone happy some of the time, so that if something isn’t for them, there will be something coming along soon that is.
4-Make long-term choices for long-term customer relationships
Short-termism is a disease for companies that impedes investment and longer-term growth. If something costs you more today but pays off in the long run, especially with your customers, it can be a worthwhile investment.
5-Loyalty isn’t transactional
You can’t buy loyalty. Investing in real relationships with your customers is the only real way to create loyalty–the kind where someone doesn’t switch because of a slightly better price, etc.
If you are interested in developing or growing a customer-first approach to your business or fan base, reach out. (contact form)
Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash
