Maintaining customer loyalty is you top most priority, but how you do you do it?

by give customer good items

serve after sale

contact with customer from time to time to get satisfied service

Customer loyalty schemes are an effective way to improve your customer-retention levels. The high cost of bringing in new business compared to retaining existing clients is undisputed so increasing your customer retention can significantly boost bottom-line profits. And yet many firms are missing a trick when it comes to building customer loyalty.

In a competitive marketplace where customers find it easy to switch supplier, loyalty schemes are an effective way to increase customer retention and improve your profitability. If you want to build a loyal clientele, keeping the customer satisfied isn't always enough. The fact that your customers are satisfied doesn't stop them from taking their business to a competitor who offers them something extra.

To increase loyalty, you need to recognise and reward your best customers. A loyalty scheme can be used to incentivise and delight your most valued customers. That in turn can do wonders for your profitability.

Loyalty initiatives allow you to focus on your best customers and improve customer satisfaction levels. Loyal customers buy more and are often willing to pay more, which boosts your cashflow. By increasing loyalty, you can increase profitability and extend the time they place their business with you.

Loyal customers are also good for your business because they become your best advocates. They recommend you to others, saving you marketing costs. A loyal customer's endorsement is more powerful to their friends and family than any advertising campaign.

Customers like loyalty schemes because they feel they are getting rewarded for giving you their business. So your scheme needs to offer customers something they will appreciate. However, it should also be devised with profit in mind.

Remember that you're trying to reward customers for behaving in the way that you want. Focus on specific goals. For instance, are you looking for repeat business or do you want your customers to spend more?

The rewards you offer to regular customers can vary from fixed discounts to extra goods or prizes. A hairdresser, for example, could offer a simple card scheme whereby customers get a free treatment for every ten visits. A mail order firm may offer a discount for bulk orders.

Above all, the scheme should be simple to use and the rewards should be attractive and attainable. If customers have to spend a lot to get a small gift, they will be insulted. At the same time, make sure you can recover the cost reasonably quickly.

The data generated by a loyalty scheme can also be used to improve your bottom line. Loyalty programmes put the spotlight on customer behaviour. They can show you your best clients - and highlight your worst.

It can be more profitable to lose bad customers than to gain new ones. While your best customers may be bringing in the lion's share of your profit, your worst customers - bargain-hunters that spend little and only buy discounted goods - can actually cost you money. Your loyalty scheme can significantly improve this scenario by rewarding customers and actively dissuading the worst.

Loyalty schemes can also be used to win back lapsed customers. These customers are much easier to win over than cold prospects. They know you and you know them, their buying history and where and how to reach them.

The data generated by a loyalty scheme can offer other valuable insights. It can highlight defection patterns and can also help you improve your product range and stock selection. Knowing what your best customers frequently buy helps you choose which lines to stock - and which lines to expand.

i fully agree with the answers been added by experts..........thanks.

While I agree with the rest of the answers mentioned earlier, I must add that maintaining customer loyalty isn't just about delivering what you promised to them but exceeding what was said or exceed their expectations. Because if you keep delivering the same thing over and over again, the tendency is customers might get bored or fed up with the same service or product, that's when innovation comes in hand. You need to innovate, modify the product that will satisfy their wants and delight them. Continuous innovation is a great tool in retaining your customers. 

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Building customer loyalty is hard, but it is one of the most important things for your business. As I discussed in my video on how you can increase customer loyalty, it can cost nearly seven times more to acquire new customers than to keep existing customers.

There’s a lot of information around the web on how you can build customer loyalty and retain more customers, so instead of reinventing the wheel, I’ve combined the best 18 strategies from five recognized authorities in the space, and popped them all into a simple, single post for you.

1. Let customers know what you are doing for them

This can be done via a quick informal phone call or a friendly email newsletter – either way, you want to subtlety let your customers know about all the work you have been doing for them. For example, you may have spent part of your weekend fixing up a few problems for a customer – you can hint about this when you follow up the next week. It’s important to realize you are not being cocky here; you are simple letting them know you value their business and are willing to go the extra mile for them.

2. Write a personal letter

For long time clients, get personal. Tell them you value their business. Send them a letter like this. “I was grabbing a coffee the other day and your name popped into my head. How has business been for you? Are you on track to hit your targets this year?” Be genuinely interested in their business and life, be personal.

3. Remember special occasions

Send regular customers birthday cards and holiday cards. Try not to be boring (like all the other companies). If you can make these special cards/gifts unique in your own way, that will go a long way to building customer loyalty. Use your creatively and find a way to tie the gift ideas into your business, the customers’ business or his/her personal life.

4. Pass on information

If you read an article, see a new book, or hear about an organization that a customer might be interested in, drop a note or make a quick call to let them know.

5. Follow up calls with customers is business development opportunities

When you talk to your customers, they’ll probably have referrals to give you. Make sure you take an open approach to every contact you have with each of your customer, you never know what new business you can get out of it.

6. Go to where you customers hang out

If you want to create customer evangelists, you need to hang out where they already are. If they’re on Facebook, or Pinterest – jump on there and engage them. If they are on a wildly popular body building forum, start contributing discussions on there.

7. Strive to empower and educate your customers

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

Become your customers go to adviser on all things relating to your industry. For instance, if you’re in IT, be their IT Guy. Help them with choosing the best mobile plan, let them know about upcoming compliance regulations. Go the extra mile.

8. Invest in a self-service channel

Create a knowledge-base or FAQ section of the common questions and problems that your customers encounter. Direct customers to specific answers – this will save you from answering the same question 100 times, plus it will give your customer a solid response to their problem.

9. Make customer retention a priority

This may seem pretty obvious, but I’m serious. Make a commitment to put customer retention at the top of the list. If you spent as much time   retention rate!

10. Owners must lead from the front

Let’s face it; everyone loves dealing with the business owner. There’s something about dealing with the face of a company, the number one man, the boss in charge. As the business owner or CEO, you should be the one engaging existing customers and building customer loyalty. Make this your priority and not anyone else’s.

11. Understand the true purpose of marketing

Effective marketing is about building trust and developing relationships. Too many times people think marketing is just push a bunch of ads and they will come. Well, it’s not that easy. Tom Asacker, marketing author, explains the purpose of marketing it to ‘create and maintain a strong feeling with customers so they are mentally predisposed to continually choose and recommend you’. Building customer loyalty is about building trust and developing relationships – you see how it’s all interlinked?

12. Tap into what your customers want

By understanding what you customers actually want, you can build relationships that are memorable and set you apart from the competition. Focus on understanding each of your customers on an individual level and find out what really makes them tick, and why they like doing business with you.

13. Focus on integrity, which leads to trust and loyalty

Integrity involves fundamental behaviors such as keeping your word, being honest, providing a consistent level of service, and being reliable. Businesses that demonstrate a high degree of integrity are seen as trustworthy.

Building trust requires businesses to continually put customer’s interests ahead of their own. Customers will see this, and you will earn their trust and go a great distance to building customer loyalty.

14. Never take loyalty for granted

A successful marketing strategy will bring customers through the door, but only a successful customer loyalty and retention plan will keep

them coming back for more. Never take customer loyalty for granted.

15.  Create enlightening experiences

A successful business is about more than just selling stuff. It’s about selling experiences. Chris Zane of zane Cycles knows this all too well. He focuses on making his customers feel good, and does this by not charging for every add-on, and now gives away free drinks at his in-store coffee bar. His customers walk away with an experience, an experience that will keep them coming back for more, and telling their friends about. This will go a long way to building customer loyalty.

16. when you do wrong, make it right

Resolving customer complaints is the best way to build customer loyalty. By handling complaints in a professional manner, you earn the opportunity to fix the problem and regain customer trust. In doing so, you engage your customer on an emotional level. Providing you resolve the problem, you customer now has a very unique experience with you, and you have shown first hand your willingness to recognize the problem and go out your way to ensure it is fixed and won’t happen again. Customers love this.

7. Quantify Customers’ Love

Talk to your customers; ask for their opinion on your service. It doesn’t have to be extravagant; a simple customer satisfaction survey will do the trick.

18. Build a loyalty program

Whether you want to use old school punch cards or new mobile apps, a loyalty program can go a long way to keeping your customers coming back. These programs are a great way to engage your customers, build a relationship and drive repeat business.

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I amagreeing with my colleague’s answer Ms. Ghada Eweda