Have a haircut and make a lot of money 

Whether you know it or not, you are conducting your business in an environment where almost 80 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are using the internet to shop online, according to a new survey from JupiterResearch. If you never did any online shopping for your business, then you belong to the other 20% and I think you should consider getting on board the other ship.

Now let’s consider this: you have just sold your service or product to a customer. You are happy and you count the money looking with the tail of your eye to the door for the next sale. What if I tell you that you can double the money you have just earned? No, not double, lets say triple. What the heck, why not say multiply the amount by ten?! And I am not teasing you. The strategy is out there and bears the name of “customer loyalty!”

If you manage to convince a customer that it really pays off to do business with you, purchasing over and over again the same product or service from you, or expanding the deal to even more products or services you offer, then your business is on the way to success.

Once doing business on the internet or using internet to support your business is a reality for almost 80% of SMEs, it becomes obvious that you simple cannot ignore the trend. On my previous articles you could find out how to run successful business 2 customer or business 2 business online/email campaigns. Now it’s time to find out a few interesting things related to what you should do or avoid doing in order to make those customers get through your door – may it be real or virtual – again and again. And if you succeed implementing an effective strategy, you have a Win-Win situation that puts your business on the path to success: you get customers over and over again and your customers are happy doing business with you.

Try to remember the last haircut you had. Most probably you are a loyal customer to a certain business that you are happy with, for different reasons. Probably you enjoyed the quality of the haircut, or the fact that after a long search, you finally found someone to really understand how you like to have your hair cut, or you just simply enjoy the conversation you are having with the hair stylists there (I will skip the fact that, pure coincidence, the lady looks so nice…). What is most important is that for one reason or another, that business succeeded in turning you into a loyal customer. And that is not a bad thing at all. You look nice and they are making money.

If you think about the email campaigns that you are just about to design and run, then why not get more from them, not just customers for your business, but loyal customers, people that will be happy to do business with you over and over again? Starting with this article and continuing on the next one I will reveal some of the most important things you should consider when running an online/email campaign to get customer loyalty.

Here are a few “Do’s” to guideline your efforts:

• You need to provide changing content on your web site to encourage your customers to return and exhibit greater loyalty to you so you achieve higher levels of customer retention. Often poor loyalty values are more the result of poor communication than poor products or service delivery. When you update your web site it is wise to notify your customers that you are doing this. Better they hear from you than from your competitors who interpret the changes you are making as suits them.
• Reward customer loyalty. Loyalty shown through re-visiting your web site must be rewarded. And there are a variety of ways to do this: offer incentives and rewards; gift vouchers, discounts, money-off, special-pricing, bonuses or gifts for ordering through your web site - with the associated low transaction costs. But measure the performance of these very carefully.
• Provide information of high value, perhaps even in a customer-only area of your web site. Keeping your customers up to speed with developments ensures that you remain their trusted supplier!
• Use the web to enable your customers to manage their own account with your business. Depending on your line of business, using the web site as an account management tool enhances your customers' loyalty and buy-in.
• Create a club and membership, but bear in mind that your customer has to gain something worthwhile from this exercise. “Belonging” is no longer enough.
• In addition to developing your web site, a very effective tool to build loyalty is an email program or emailed newsletters (e-newsletter).

Next time I will present you with the “Don’ts” of the customer loyalty efforts, things that you should avoid in order to become and remain truly effective. Now that I’ve finished this article, I’ll go get a haircut…

Antonel Neculai

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