Customer loyalty means giving people a reason to use your products and services again and again. If people have a very good experience, they are likely to recommend your business to friends, family and colleagues too. In order to gain customer loyalty, the products and services you provide must be exceptional. Small businesses can rarely compete on price alone, especially compared to large corporations and, as a result, must build a reputation for going the extra mile.

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Customer loyalty is important for profitability. Honest, friendly and customer oriented business owners and managers, who engage their customers, will always have repeat customers.

Customer Service

Your customer service should be outstanding. It may seem obvious, but this is one area where businesses fail. Each and every customer must be treated as if they are the only customer – promptly, efficiently and courteously at all times. There is never room for bad service. Customers are much more likely to tell friends about a bad experience than a good one. So don’t take the risk.

Buying decisions are typically highly emotive. Get to know your customers. If you can, try to remember significant details about them. Make your customer feel important and that you genuinely care about them. Make sure employees also take on this ‘people person’ attitude.

Service Recovery

No business gets everything right, 100 per cent of the time. Accepting that there will be times when your product or service does not match up to customer expectation is essential. Even more important is how you resolve issues. Research suggests that excellent service recovery is critical and can actually increase customer loyalty in the long term. Always ensure problems are rectified above and beyond customer expectation.

Stay in Touch

Touch base with your customers regularly. Reward them for their loyalty with special offers, discounts and even freebies. Let them know you are there when they need you but don’t be annoying. Membership management systems, such as http://www.ofec.co.uk/membership-management-system-portfolio.aspx, can help with this.

Don’t Oversell

Being too pushy will have your customers running for the door. Focus instead on how you can help your clients – not what you can sell them. They will begin to trust your advice and judgement, happy in the knowledge that you have their best interests at heart.