Developing Customer Loyalty

According to a recent issue of American Demographics, “American consumers find themselves caught in the middle. They want to give loyalty, but no one’s earning it.” Jill Griffin, customer loyalty expert and author of Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It, How to Keep It suggests the following process for earning and maintaining customer loyalty—

Serve today’s buyer. Today’s buyer is smarter and more informed, and has also been trained to “want it his way.” While this saying was born out of the fast food industry, the expectation now spans all industries. Consumers are transferring expectations from one area into every aspect of their purchasing behavior.

Know the loyalty password. Know what your customers want and what they expect. How do your customers define value? What are their expectations? The best way to find this out is by listening. Customers are constantly telling you what they want. The key is listening and implementing those wishes.

Get in the mind of your prospect. Positioning your business in your customer’s mind counts. Stand out from the crowd. Think of your product or service on three levels: basic, expected and unanticipated.
Go back to the “have it your way” Burger King sandwiches. The basic product (level 1) is a good quality hamburger. The expected product (level 2) is a good quality hamburger on a fresh bun with lettuce, tomato, pickle and condiments. When Burger King was the first in the industry to add the option “have it your way,” they introduced the unanticipated (level 3). It is the unanticipated that will earn a business big points on the loyalty scoreboard. So how do you know what to add as your unanticipated? You guessed it: Listen to what your customer wants. It is important to realize, however, that after awhile, the unanticipated becomes the expected. Nowadays, everyone expects to be able to order a burger “their own way,” and new measures must be taken to maintain customer loyalty.

Manage your customer “life cycle.” Customers move up the loyalty ladder in the following manner: suspect, prospect, customer, client and, finally, advocate. The business owner’s goal should be to move a “one-time customer” to a client (someone who buys a second time) and then to an advocate (someone who believes in and promotes your business to others).

Barbara Cunningham, CunninghamB@missouri.edu
Business Development Specialist
Clay County, Missouri
University of Missouri Extension