Having had to deal with a bunch of different companies of late, it got me thinking about customer loyalty.  There are some companies, true service companies, that really get the gist of taking care of their customers, they understand the symbiosis of the relationship, and then there are those companies that just take, take, take.

Sarah Worsham wrote a brief blog post recently on the difference between saying thanks and showing customers you really appreciate them – there is a difference – and it touched on a valid point, that few companies really know how to reach out to their loyal customers and say thanks.

Those Who Just Do

I have been with Orange, my mobile provider since 1997, they have done little to reward me for over 12 years of month-on-month payments.  To them I am just a number, but then again Orange is a HUGE corporation.  My gym, Market Sports, on the other hand is a small business, a 1-stop-shop for blood, sweat and tears, but even there, as with just about every gym I have ever been to and despite 2 years worth of membership, I am just another guy walking through the door dressed in his track pants and holding out his membership ready to go through the turnstyle and onto the treadmill.  As if we need more examples, here’s a dreadful story of the way one US chain of gyms, Planet Fitness, treats the family of a dead man, and this isn’t even a case of trying to build customer loyalty, it’s basic decency we are are talking about.

The problem in both these cases is that the monthly payment is a given.  They draw it from my bank account, and whether they provide good or bad service, I will always be there, at the end of the electronic payment transfer come rain or shine.  Alas it’s a similar story it seems with the datacenter I use for my hosting business, The Planet, despite 6+ years of custom.  Clearly, businesses that have to work for their monies and to keep attracting customers get the notion that they have to chase customers, reward them for their loyalty and give back as much love as they get.  Taking your customers for granted, as businesses on monthly revenue cycles seem to do, is a very slippery slope.

Generating Loyalty

Sixt, the car rental company, know how to keep my custom.  In spite of the fact that there are a multitude of other rental places closer to home, I always go to their Kings Cross branch, because the manager is friendly & welcoming and because, with no paperwork, they signed me up and gave me a little plastic card, first a gold membership and then a platinum one to reward loyalty and provide better deals.  I didn’t ask for this, the card and pertinent membership details just arrived one day in the post.  The overall benefit to them is invaluable, and to me, it helps me where it counts, in the wallet.

Alternate tricks for generating loyalty, giving thanks and not devaluing your brand include FREE postage or free postage to specific parts of the world during a specified period of time.  eBay used to drive sales by giving super cheap fees or freebies on specific days of the week or month.  Charles and Marie have started doing FREE shipping Friday and flaunt it on Facebook and everywhere else.  Generosity goes a long way, and Aquarius Records in San Francisco recently started a late night in-store hullabaloo as a way to drive sales aand to reward loyal locals.  The shindig basically extended to a longer day and free drinks and food for anyone who came in off the street, and though I don’t know the exact results, I am sure it was appreciated by those who took advantage of it.  Similar things have been done for museum visitors with funny notes and FREE chocolate by way of thanks and appreciation at the end of an exhibit. Who says no to chocolate!

In terms of start-ups, Last.fm used to have a pretty loyal fan base, and a great API which meant there were a ton of people creating applications that tapped into it.  To reward those hardened fanatics for their good work and helping to promote the service, free subscriptions, which cost nothing, were given to each and every developer on a project and the project featured in a showcase gallery.  Needless to say they were happy and banged on about it till the cows came home.

Beyond mere generosity other attributes that are likely to induce loyalty are consistency and reliability.  Knowing that you can depend on a business when push comes to shove is critical, and making yourself indispensable is the best way to know you will be the first business to come to mind when they need something in your line of work.  By way of example, the datacenter I use has an SLA and although it is expected, they also live up to it, and go above and beyond the call of duty when disaster hits.  The downtime over the last 6 years has been negligible and when they suffered an explosion in one of their buildings, the affected servers were up and running again in 24-48 hours.

Staying in touch with customers, talking to them and being a respected and reliable source of information is also key.  Back to my favourite record store, their fortnightly New Arrivals lists are invaluable, both in terms of being a source of reviews and being a source of music samples for new music.  They make the sometimes painful and drawn out task of new music discovery super simple by bringing all the required information into one place every two weeks.  If it wasn’t for all the effort they have made over the years I wouldn’t have bought as many CDs as I have from them, and believe me, it is thousands.  Like a friend they have remained relevant to me, and they have reflect upon me the kind of image I wish to portray and that again is key in building relationships and loyalty.

Where To Start

There’s plenty of food for thought here, from generosity, to consistency, reliability and on to pure communication, and there are plenty of resources out there giving yet more details and tips on building customer loyalty, and staying in touch with your clientbase via social media, amongst other things.

Above and beyond all this discussion though, the reality is, it doesn’t matter whether you are an online retailer, a purveyor of information or even a cultural institution with a physical presence, the means and ways of generating customer, visitor, or member loyalty still stands, and, at the end of the day, don’t make the mistakes of some entire industries by taking your entire customer base for granted!