True customer loyalty IS emotional. When you respond to your customer’s changing needs (and they’ve really changed over the last 3 years), when you listen carefully to what they may need or desire in the future and when you create experiences that make them FEEL good about doing business with you, you’ll get rewarded for your empathetic response!
The kind of emotional loyalty that turns customers into unwavering advocates and raving fans rarely just happens. Rather it’s a carefully nurtured connection that demands a conscious effort and ongoing mindfulness.
When you create meaningful interactions and personalized experiences customers can FEEL your caring. They feel seen and heard, and maybe even loved.
I don’t use that word lightly. Neuroscientists have discovered that when someone is exposed to a picture of a brand they “love,” it lights up the same area in the brain as when they see a picture of a person they love.
Here are 5 amazing things that happen when you make an investment in building customer loyalty and customer love.
1. Your cause has purpose.
Your team pulls together for a really worthwhile cause. It becomes a purpose. In learning more about customers, understanding empathy and creatively stimulating the “repeat buying behavior,” people enroll themselves with enthusiasm! That means your company gets stronger and your team gets more committed.
2. You start attracting the “right” customers.
As your brand gets stronger you start attracting the right customers to you. Loyal customers share their positive experiences and build a word-of-mouth reputation for you. They tell friends and spread your message on social media, they give you endorsements and wear your “merch.” Life gets easier for you when customers are “on board.” They resist the urge to jump ship for a flashy price.
3. Customers give you valuable feedback.
Loyal customers help you grow. They will take the time to give you the feedback you need to make the changes that matter to them. The more you engage them in this process, especially in a fun and interactive way, the more intel they share. When they bond with you emotionally, they want to help you be successful, so that you’ll be around for them.
4. You’ll have customers who are more forgiving.
Loyal customers are more forgiving. When you and customers share similar values, understand each other and build “emotional bank accounts” they bond to you and give you a chance to make things right if things were to go wrong.
5. Your ties to the customer become stronger.
Loyal customers resist the pull of the competition and make you stronger. Your investment in their needs pays off! There is less customer loss, giving you more strength. There is less money needed to be spent to replace departing customers and more money to invest in your internal customers – your employees.
And of course, the most amazing thing of all is your belief and your investment in loyalty creates an “Appreciating Cycle” of value that spirals up to a more successful future. The Appreciating Cycle spills over into the lives and homes of your customers, employees, and community. I call it the “Positive Spillover Effect.” How does it get any better than that?
Editor’s Note:
JoAnna Brandi has been speaking, writing, and consulting on customer care and helping brands create lifetime customer loyalty for over 30 years. She brings a fresh perspective to Customer Experience with practical tips to help marketers transform their CX. JoAnna is a Certified Happiness Officer and Coach. You can find her at https://returnonhappiness.com/ and https://Positiveenergizer.com. She is the author of two books on Customer Loyalty and the illustrated gift book “54 Ways to Stay Positive in a Changing, Challenging and Sometimes Negative World”.
