What Happened to Customer Loyalty?
I recently read an article that describes many marketers’ recent shift in focus from customer acquisition programs to customer retention programs to help strengthen business and maintain profit in these ‘tough’ economic times. As noted in the article, marketers historically follow this pattern when the market slows because the ‘core audience tends to stay loyal and sustain the business especially through those downturns.’
The article made perfectly good sense from a numbers standpoint. However, it got me thinking about the big picture regarding how companies treat consistent customers. Shouldn’t loyalty programs be a standard throughout the life of a business, not only when they’re experiencing slumps in revenue growth?
As one person in the article states, “It’s about creating experiences and recognition with programs versus just making (loyalty programs) a plastic card inside a wallet.” Ultimately, loyalty programs are about honoring customers that keep on coming back and showing them value in the services and offers that your business provides. It’s about making each customer feel like a valued individual important to the success of that business. That could include superior customer support, a simple and unsolicited ‘thank you for your patronage,’ an unexpected reward or unique promotional offer.
I remember a time when business didn’t need to come up with ‘special programs’ to thank and celebrate their customers. It was just a part of practicing good, honest business all year long. Isn’t that how it should be?
Referenced article: Bush, Michael. “Marketers Put Emphasis on Loyalty.” Advertising Age®, July 09, 2008
Bob Salvas - July 11th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
It is definately true that paying attention to your core customers is something that should be happening all the time, not just in a down economy. The problem of course (in all economies) is that businesses tend to ‘covet’ the new customer (think cell phone offers)… Nothing is more frustrating to an existing customer than to receive a great offer that they don’t qualify for because they are an EXISTING customer.
As for the plastic cards- the real purpose of those is simply to identify who the customer is (especially in a retail environment). The world is a bigger and busier place—gone are the days of the mom and pop store owner who knows everyone in town.
That being said, we can learn a lot from those ‘old times’. If we do thank and celebrate and recognize our customers all year long, we will surely be successful. Use high-tech, but be high-touch!