Focus on actions that encourage customers to return

…aim at measures that will ensure that you transform repeat customers into loyal clients

The rationale of a well-thought-out customer experience strategy is to deliver an out-of-world experience that will make the customer want to come back for more and even beyond that be an advocate for your brand. Ensuring that your customer experience strategy is mature enough to attain this goal takes great effort and endeavour. Being deliberate about how you deliver unique services to your customers takes much more than lip service. It requires careful planning and execution with actions that are aimed at responding to the customer’s needs intuitively. Francis Ademola of the minutes of English fame in my boyhood days nailed it.

She shared the expression “Good better, best, may I never rest, till my good is better, and my better best”. You will need to strive to build incomparable experiences and keep your customers loyal to your brand by developing empathy for them. To empathize with customers means to understand their feelings, emotions, motivations, and frustrations. It means seeing them as “people” and not just “users.” The customer journey begins with first recognizing where your customers are before they start considering your product. The journey starts from awareness through to purchase and beyond.

The goal of any customer engagement should be to retain customers over the long term. It is obvious that in any marketing campaign what is top of mind is more about achieving the sale and much less about retaining that customer over a long spell. According to recent research the 80/20 rule is a key reference for addressing customer retention. It emphasizes the need to invest in and nurture to maximize customer loyalty. Not doing this can potentially cost you a huge chunk of your potential revenue. According to recent research 93.1% of respondents who measured the impact of their loyalty programme ROI said they saw a positive ROI.

Efficient data management is your trigger to transforming first-time customers to become your brand’s biggest advocates and to contribute significantly, to your customer acquisition. To do this effectively you need to understand your customers’ preferences so that you can deliver personalized content to them. Building customer loyalty is often lowly regarded as a method of generating revenue however it is the magic formula for keeping customers engaged and motivated to return to your brand. There is no magic wand here, what you need is to apply tried and tested methods to strengthen your relationship with customers.

If you provide your customers with great products, services, and experiences they may even feel confident to try new products. Here are a few suggestions to encourage your customers to return and ultimately become loyal. First, find ways to insulate your best customers from competitive attack. Second, harness your supply chain to deliver enhanced customer value. Third, find effective ways to demonstrate “I know what you need”. Fourth, ensure that you hire and train for loyalty. Fifth, motivate your staff to build and sustain a culture of loyalty. These are some of the nuggets to help your quest to develop loyal customers.

Insulate your best customers from competitors

Jill Griffin in her book Customer Loyalty, opines that your loyal customers are your competition’s potential targets. Therefore, you need to protect them from being poached by the competition. I recall years ago in the UK my personal experience with utilities. They would be quick to entice you with juicy offers as the year draws to a close with the hope of getting you to switch to their brand. The enticing offers got me to switch once or twice however I discovered with time that the situation was no different with the new company. The story is told of two competitive supermarkets (let’s say A and B for our purpose) that moved into a new neighbourhood on the same day.

Supermarket A went ahead quickly to insulate its best customers from a potential attack by Supermarket B having a record of outperforming their competitors in their seventy-five-year life span was in no mood to watch the competition take away their valuable customers. To secure their market position their director of information quickly reviewed the list of best customers by department (meats, bakery, etc.). She then composed a letter thanking them for their strong patronage and enclosed a gift card tied to each customer’s favourite department and handed the gift card in a basket to each customer to say thank you.

This act alone was enough to make the store “hold its own against the competition” as the loyal customers were touched by the gesture. Attached to the gift was a message from the CEO thanking them for their loyalty to the brand. The Covid-19 era saw a few shops do the same to retain their loyal customers. Watching the founder of the A and C Mall at East Legon I learned some very valuable lessons about how to retain your loyal customers. During the lockdown period, he negotiated a freeze of rent with his tenants until the situation eased out. By rewarding your loyal customers, you will keep them committed to your brand for the long haul.

Harness your supply chain for customer value

Popular brands such as Amazon, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, and Nokia, depend heavily on using supply chain expertise to enhance their customer experience strategy. In today’s world, we are experiencing large volumes of interactions within the value chain and this requires that organizations be proactive in how they derive value from various touchpoints during transactions. Experts recommend that businesses pay attention to the full chain when managing the experience throughout the journey. In Ghana, many businesses suffer reputational damage when dealing with third parties in their value chain.

Perhaps one of the flaws leading to the weak link in the chain is the low use of state-of-the-art technology to manage the journey.  The key is to create efficient digital links to enhance their capabilities to deliver services and products efficiently and in real time. Therefore, if you buy an item from the digital brand Hubtel, you will require a delivery within good time unfortunately this doesn’t happen most of the time. The frequency of late deliveries and in some cases, non-deliveries, has a damaging effect on the brand’s reputation. How many times have we had to wait out delivery from third parties when the transaction had long been executed?

With the right technology, the supply chain can create a seamless experience for customers. Furthermore, insights learned can lead to fresh revenue opportunities with the same customer. However, these opportunities are missed due to unconnected adjacent opportunities. Unfortunately, the average small business in our ecosystem lacks the capacity to manage the chain in ways that create and deliver seamless services to customers as should be the case when third parties are involved in the journey. Businesses must learn to increasingly use technology to empower their customer-facing staff to personalize the customer experience.

Find ways to empathize with customers

Note that the relationship with customers during the customer journey is influenced largely by emotional feelings as opposed to informed rational judgments. The customer is glad to buy from you if you understand their needs and what their preferences are.   It makes them feel appreciated and will keep them coming back for more. Today’s competitive business landscape makes it imperative for us to provide exceptional customer experiences to differentiate our offerings.  Empathy is pivotal in by fostering positive emotional connections between organizations and customers.

Empathy plays a vital role in customer experience. customers who feel understood and valued, are more likely to develop loyalty and advocate for the brand. A brand that Empathizes is one that understands and shares the feelings of its loyal customers. Applied to customer experience, empathy can transform interactions into meaningful engagements, leading to improved customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately business success. Here are some suggested ways to improve loyalty. First, empathy training programmes in active listening, and emotional intelligence to enable staff to respond empathetically to customer needs and concerns must be encouraged.

Second, by mapping the customer journey organizations can identify touchpoints where empathy can be infused to address customer pain points, desires, and emotions at each stage of the journey. Third, businesses should prioritize empathy in designing products, services, and processes. Fourth, regularly Collecting customer feedback and insights is crucial for understanding their needs and emotions. These include surveys, feedback forms, social listening, and customer interviews to gain valuable insights. Fifth, businesses should foster a culture of empathy as a core value and incorporate it into their mission statements and company culture.

Hire and train for loyalty

The people on the frontlines are the ones who directly engage with customers therefore employers must recognize their pivotal role in representing the company’s products or services either positively or otherwise. Simply put if your frontline staff understands how to manage the experience, they can win loyalty for the company. Conversely, they will turn customers away from you if they are poor at managing the experience. I cannot resist sharing the story here again about the young man who saw me admiring clothes and came to direct me to the other shop. A disloyal staff is a potential power keg with enough arsenal to destroy your brand.

Employee teamwork and empowerment are critical for any company seeking to build a loyalty-focused culture. It is said of Disneyland when they are recruiting prospective employees, that they interview in groups of three so they can watch how they interact with each other. Do they show respect? For example, by paying attention when other employees are speaking? At Four Seasons Hotels and Restaurants, it takes four or five rigorous interviews to sort out applicants with a friendly nature and teamwork. When the chain opened its Los Angeles Hotel it interviewed fourteen thousand candidates for three hundred and fifty slots.

According to Jill Griffins, companies that develop strong customer loyalty have the following in common; first, management clearly understands what builds loyalty for a company and trains its staff to encourage customer loyalty. Second, the required behaviours are articulated in clear, straightforward, and easy guidelines. The behaviour is measurable. Third, the company has a written credo that is reinforced constantly at staff meetings, in memos, and in attention-getting displays. Frederick Reichheld the best-selling author says “in a service business, knowledge and information are the raw materials and the assets are loyal customers and employees. Accounting systems don’t measure these”.

Motivate your staff for loyalty

The average company in focusing on techniques to inspire employees uses things such as compensation, a benefit plan, and motivational seminars. However, these are not as effective today as they used to be. The average employee is hardly excited about generating profits for someone else. The key is to encourage them to be participants in the building process. They are more responsive if they can see some of their own ideas put into action. What’s in it for me (WIFM) is the clarion call. This sharing of goals by employees is what has leapfrogged Ricardo Semlar’s business  (Semco) into a High-performing entity totally managed by its workers.

Where there is accountability it facilitates communication from the top down. Where company executives spend time each year at frontlines alongside technicians and customer-facing employees they develop empathy for the employee involvement in business success. The goal is to work together to transform the customer from a person who does repeat business to one who has an emotional attachment is critical to the whole system of managing loyalty. When employee goals are shared similarly at all levels everyone takes ownership of the business’s success and is committed to playing their part to achieve success.

When customers are empowered, they are motivated to deliver excellent CX and are quick to act on customer feedback. Furthermore, training and coaching can help employees develop the skills, knowledge, and mindset that are essential for delivering excellent customer experience. Training on customer service, communication, empathy, problem-solving, and digital tools including coaching and mentoring programmes can help employees learn from each other, share feedback, and grow professionally. Backed by incentives employees are willing to collaborate and work in teams to deliver excellent customer experience.

Through the provision of Incentives and recognition employees feel appreciated, valued, and motivated to perform better. As we have reiterated unendingly the employee experience is critical to great customer experiences. when employees feel satisfied and valued they will put their best efforts into delivering customer value. Do you want loyal customers? Work hard to develop and manage a team of loyal employees.

Customer Experience Professionals Ghana Presents the Annual Customer Experience Professionals Ghana Conference, a cross-industry meeting place bringing together over 300 global thought leaders, professionals, and innovative solution providers in Ghana.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Customer Centricity: Reorienting Business, Technology, Process, and People Around the Customer.” 

Date: Friday, 6th October 2023

Time: 09:00 a.m.

Venue: Labadi Beach Hotel, Accra, Ghana.

Contact 0552760129,email:[email protected],online: www.cxpghana.com.