Monthly Archives: June 2010

Customer Loyalty

Customer Loyalty Concepts

June 29, 2010 – 11:48 pm

In times of recession and hardship customers worldwide are becoming more frugal with their money and are looking more carefully at products before they buy to ensure they get better quality and value for their money. Despite this fact a high percentage of customers will still remain loyal to businesses they trust and who provide them with good customer service.

Retailers and businesses have therefore found it necessary to refine and improve their customer loyalty programs in order to retain the trust of their loyal existing customers through improved customer service and to attract new customers.

If you want to increase business turnover and sell more products off the shelves then the obvious overall aim would be to get customers to buy more products. By implementing tried and true customer loyalty ideas and programs that are already being used successfully by other enterprises, businesses are finding that they have another strategy to attract and get customers to buy more often and therefore provide return repeat business through loyalty.

Customer Loyalty Cards are becoming increasingly popular as an effective business tool to attract and retain customers through a loyalty program that rewards customers for their business. For example, there many supermarket chains provide shoppers with loyalty cards that offer discounts on a wide range of products, coupon specials and petrol discounts. There are also loyalty card programs offered by bakeries, sandwich bars, cafes, butcher shops and a wide range of specialty stores all designed to give the customer something free after a certain number of purchases.

Another popular customer loyalty concept designed to attract customer loyalty is through a combined loyalty program where a number of different businesses band together in one customer loyalty program. This concept has the advantage of offering customers a number of benefits and discounts on products that can be obtained from a wide variety of different businesses.
Businesses have clearly discovered that building long-term connections with the customer is vital and a very important customer loyalty concept.

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Customer Loyalty

Customer Retention Strategies – How to Keep Your Customers

June 26, 2010 – 11:37 pm

With producers finding better and cheaper methods to produce good quality and more environmentally friendly products onto the market, businesses are looking to implement better customer retention tactics to keep their consumers more informed so that they will continue to retain them as valued customers.
One of the most widely used customer retention techniques used by businesses these days is by using the consulting skills of a proven marketing firm who are able to utilize mass media advertising through Newspaper, television and radio campaigns.

This type of customer retention marketing strategy through advertising can be costly for a business but because it has the potential to reach a high percentage of the population but in terms of attracting buyers it can generate and improve sales and increasing bottom line profits.

There are of course other customer marketing techniques that can also be used such as offering free interest on the purchase of big ticket products, discounts on goods and buy one product and get the second free type arrangements.
The question of retaining customers after all the expense and hard work has gone into attracting them in the first place to the business should not be overlooked.

The following is one of the best customer loyalty strategies that can be applied to ensure loyal customers will want to return to your business.

1. Make available for customers a small loyalty card so it can be easily slotted into a wallet.

2. The loyalty card can be printed with a total of 5, 10 or 20 small squares and are stamped by the shop assistant each time the customer buy’s a product or is provided with a service over a specified value. This could be anything from $5 to $100.

3. When the total number of stamps on the card reach a designated number (from 5 upwards), the customer would then be entitled to a free product from the store, again set at a specified value

4. By providing a loyalty card, customers will be encouraged to shop at your business knowing they will after 5 or 10 visits the opportunity of getting a free product

5. A container of the loyalty cards should be easily accessible for customers on the front counter
The above are some of the key customer retention strategies that any business can adopt to help ensure customers are provided with exceptional good customer service.

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Customer Service Tips

Customer Service Tips For Success

June 25, 2010 – 11:47 pm

Providing good customer service should be a number one priority for any company or business because in very simple terms without them we would not be able to survive.

In simple terms it is vital for small and large businesses to have in place proper guidelines for staff members to follow so that a customer leaves the place of business satisfied with a feeling he has been provided with excellent service and a desire to return or continue doing business with your firm.
In many cases a customer’s first experience with a business is through telephone contact. The following are a few telephone customer service tips that will assist staff at first point of contact.

1.  Be friendly, welcoming and build a rapport with the customer by informing the caller your first name so they are not left with the feeling they are just talking to a voice.
2.  Be attentive and listen carefully to what the customer wants.
3.  Explain what your business can provide if necessary so that the customer is kept up to date and assured their requirements can be met.
4.  If your business is out of stock of a particular product or is unable to provide the service required ensure the client is informed of the reason why and try to find an alternative that might satisfy the customer’s requirements.
5.  Lastly, always thank the customer for calling.

A call center can be another problem area for businesses particularly where they need to rely on this type of arrangement to take messages by telephone. Here are some key call center customer service tips that can be followed to ensure customers are felt valued by your business.

5 Call Center Customer Service Tips

1.  Calls should be answered promptly.
2.  Staff should always be courteous and friendly.
3.  Avoid switching a customer to another staff member to sort out a problem. Place the customer on hold and try to find out the answer for the customer yourself.
4.  If a customer is placed on hold (for example while the person the customer wants to talk to is on another line) ensure the customer is informed every now and then what is happening and the reason why their call cannot be put through.

The above customer service phone tips as outlined above are only a sample of what staff can do to provide good customer service. Remember, any improvements or changes that can be made to existing systems or processes in a business that will have the positive impact of eliminating poor customer service should not be overlooked.

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