In Carol’s latest post, “Customer Loyalty 3.0 Is Never About Transactions. It’s About Getting to Know Your Customers” on entrepreneur.com, Carol talks about the future of customer loyalty, and why it’s so important. She begins:
“At Entrepreneur and Microsoft’s Accelerate Your Business Event, I was able to talk to attendees about how to grow their businesses using what I believe is the future of customer loyalty — and I call it Customer Loyalty 3.0.
I wanted to share some highlights of that discussion here.
1. Why customer loyalty is important.
When it comes to growing your business, customer engagement is the holy grail. Engaged customers who love your business provide a base to grow from. In a world where it is difficult to get someone’s attention, the customer who loves you provides you an opportunity to go deeper. That means selling to them more frequently or in larger order sizes via upselling, because you are already engaged in a dialogue with them.
Additionally, people tend to hang out with other people who are a lot like them. Whether you have a business-to-consumer (B2C) business where your raving fans tell their friends and colleagues, or a business-to-business (B2B) operation, where your raving fans know other potential business customers, your existing customers are your best advocates to cut through the noise and help you to reach your target market.
2. Why old-school loyalty tactics don’t work.
In trying to create customer loyalty, most businesses tend to do something that looks more like bribery. They give you one point per dollar spent or “buy nine, get the 10th free” type of programs in the name loyalty. But neither is loyalty at all.”
You can read the rest of the post here.
