Your customer base is one of the best assets you have as a small business owner. From repeat business to spreading the word about your brand, satisfied clients can catalyze business growth all on their own. All you need to do as a business owner is to encourage and reward the behavior that benefits your company.
Keeping your customers engaged is an effective way to boost business while beating out competitors. Some of the same tactics that energize your existing customer base will also help to attract leads and persuade your audience to become customers. Here are the best strategies to boost loyalty to your brand.
1. Understand Your Audience
Creating loyalty is about deepening the relationship you have already started with your customers and audience. To do that, you need to know them inside and out. Learn about their preferences, buying habits, and which communication channels are most likely to reach them. Get to know how they found you in the first place and why they purchased your products. Find out this valuable information through analytics, surveys, and research.
Create customer personas. These detailed descriptors define your ideal customer segments. Synthesize information from your research like profession, industry, family life, hobbies, interests, age, location, and gender to create model customers that represent each of your segments. Use these customer personas to develop effective communications, sales strategies, and new lines of business.
2. Create Communications That Connect with Your Audience
After you get to know your audience better, you will be able to communicate with them easier. Develop a brand voice that is attractive to your audience. Match their enthusiasm, concern, and openness. Rather than creating communications based on the information you want to deliver, focus on what your customer base wants to know. Draw them in with this information and then share about your brand.
Engaging on a personal level, especially while servicing your customers or on social media, helps you to create a deeper level of engagement with your customer that they will remember. Consistency in branding also helps your customer feel more connected to your brand. That means choosing a brand image and sticking to it. This way, each time your customer or audience interacts with your brand, brand recognition is strengthened.
3. Provide Added Value
Provide value to your customers beyond your products and services. Think about what support you can provide outside of the typical transaction. Information is a great place to start. As the expert in your field, you have knowledge to offer. What information or content would be helpful to your audience? Would a how-to guide be useful? Or a video demonstrating the best way to use their product or service? Even better if you deliver this content straight to your customers’ inboxes without them asking.
The goal is to make your customers feel that you provide outstanding service worth their patronage. Another way to provide added value is through unexpected bonuses or deals. Receiving a surprise coupon by email can make your customers feel appreciated and more likely to keep spending money with your company. If you run an ecommerce business, throw something extra in orders. Your customers will be excited by the surprise and feel that they are getting more for their investment.
4. Optimize the Customer Service Experience
Prioritizing the customer service experience helps you gain the trust of your customers. The more positive experiences they have, the more they will comfortably depend on your company to solve their problems or provide support. Develop positive sentiment toward your brand through great customer service. When your customers love you, they will recommend your brand to their friends and leave excellent reviews.
A satisfying customer service experience comes down to empathy. Understand where your customers are coming from and meet them halfway. If you make a mistake, own up to it and find out how you can make it right. If your customer has complaints about your product or service, take their notes seriously. Chances are other customers feel the same way. By actively addressing issues, you’ll be making more than just that single customer happy.
5. Pay Attention to Details
Attention to detail makes your customers feel like they matter to your business. Pay attention to your packaging, branding, and print materials. Make sure they look professional and match your brand image. Think creatively to come up with small touches that will impress your customers. Perhaps you offer warm cookies when customers enter your shop or balloons for children. Maybe you share funny videos on your website or run monthly trivia contests on social media. Make sure these details make sense for your business and align with your mission statement.
Include personal touches to elevate the customer experience. Add personalization to your emails and any deliverable that your customers receive. Handwritten notes go a long way, especially when your customers are used to receiving everything virtually. Consider adding a note in your product packaging, sending birthday cards, or reminding your customer of their anniversary working with your business.
6. Reward Loyalty and Referrals
This might be the most important step! Once your customers begin demonstrating loyalty to your brand, recognize and reward it. Make a habit of asking new clients and customers how they heard about your business. This will give you an idea of which customers are forwarding new business to your company. Also, keep track of how frequently your customers buy from you. Reward repeat customers and referral sources with surprises, whether that’s a high-value coupon, a free gift, or an unexpected upgrade. Make sure to inform your customer why they are receiving this special treatment so they keep up their support in the future.
Formalize this process with customer loyalty and referral programs. This way, your customers will know the benefits they will receive from ongoing purchases or referring new business. Invite customers that you already have strong relationships with to participate in these programs. That will make them feel like they are part of an exclusive group with perks just for them further incentivizing them to spread the word about your business.
Happy Customers Make a Happy Business
Your customers are likely already excited about your brand. Harness that goodwill to keep your company growing. Not only will it help your numbers, but it just feels good to give back to the people who make your work possible. Striving to meet their needs is always a win-win.
The strategies in this list are helpful, but only if you have the time to use them. When you’re a busy entrepreneur focused on running your business, setting aside that time can be challenging. With the help of a virtual assistant, you can streamline your workday and ensure your customers are receiving the highest quality experience with your company. Not only can a virtual assistant help with your marketing and communication initiatives, but they can take tedious tasks off your plate so you can focus on the work that will help you grow your business. Getting the help you need is often the first step to making your customers, and your business, as happy as possible.
About Lauren Gall and Melanie Ammerman
VaVa Virtual Assistants is a boutique Virtual Assistant agency with one simple goal: connecting growth-oriented business owners with high-performing Virtual Assistants (VAs). VaVa is a team of network builders, overhead eliminators, and freedom creators for those who believe business success and quality of life are not mutually exclusive goals. Lauren Gall and Melanie Ammerman launched VaVa Virtual Assistants in 2011 helping clients achieve their personal version of work/life balance. Their future-focused, VA hiring model prioritizes sustainability while empowering business owners to source proven remote talent, break the vicious cycle of hustle culture, and reclaim what brings joy, personally and professionally.
Lauren Gall is a native Midwesterner with over 10 years of experience in the business services industry. As a graduate of The Ohio State University where she studied Strategic Communications, she has excelled in the areas of sales, leadership, and public relations as it relates to business development within her firm. Melanie Ammerman is originally from Wisconsin and has a background in Clinical Psychology with a bachelor’s from DePaul University and a master’s from Pepperdine University. Through starting and growing VaVa Virtual Assistants over the past 10 years, she discovered the perfect fit in her leadership role where she’s able to utilize her background and natural skills of big picture thinking, strategic planning, as well as understanding and connecting with people on a deeper level. Both Melanie and Lauren currently reside in Atlanta. They have been featured in California Business Journal, Startup Nation, Frugal Entrepreneur, Authority Magazine, Home Business Magazine, Small Business Currents, Business First Family, Voyage ATL, The Conversation, One Big Tip Podcast, Simon Says, Let’s Talk Business Podcast, and many more reputable media outlets. Learn more at www.vavavirtual.com or schedule a free consultation here.
