Building Brand Loyalty

Building Brand Loyalty Involves a Personalized Approach to Client Contact

Bylori

Maintaining a steady stream of new customers is important to your business, but in the rush to find new clients, don’t overlook the customers you already have. Here are some effective ways to make a personal contact with your existing customers and build brand loyalty that keeps them coming back.

  • Make personal contacts: Voice mail and email communication are fine for what they are, but they cannot take the place of a one-to-one phone call or in-person visit. Call your clients for a real-time chat or make an appointment for an on-site visit.
  • Keep your long-term customers in mind: Know your long-term customers and how much value they’ve brought to your company. Write them handwritten notes frequently to keep in touch. Ask about their family, cultivate their interests, or ask if there’s anything you can do to help. Follow up in-person meetings with handwritten notes to solidify the contact.
  • Honor special occasions: Send your existing customers birthday cards, holiday cards, and other acknowledgements of special occasions to inspire loyalty. If you know their child is graduating from high school, for example, send a card to celebrate. Send along a small, inexpensive gift that is relevant to the occasion and that has a connection to your business relationship.
  • Help them out: If you read an article or see a video that might be useful to your customers, send along a note and a physical copy of the article or a link to the site or video. Recommend new books, educational programs or other sources of information. Your customers will appreciate the gesture and will likely get some useful information from the article or video.
  • Tell them what you’re doing for them: Don’t hesitate to let customers know how you are working to solve their problems and make their lives easier. Send out a regular customer newsletter or provide a summary of your customer service programs. Utilize database marketing best practices to automate a client retention program.

How else can you build brand loyalty and improve the personal relationships you have with your customers?

Image via Shutterstock.com