CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN A DIGITAL WORLD

The more options customers have, the less likely they are staying loyal to a brand and in the digital world your competition is just a click away. The world is changing, and people’s loyalty to a brand is also evolving.

In today’s business world, ‘good enough’ is no longer good enough.

Wow is the new good enough?

This implies for companies to stay in business, they have to understand what their customers want, and how to satisfy them. Customer loyalty is the willingness to continue doing business with a company.

Several factors affect customer loyalty:

• The customer service delivered:

Many customers have stopped doing business with a business because of poor customer service.

• How the business responded in times of crisis:

The response a company gives a customer when they are dissatisfied with a product or service plays a significant role in how loyal a customer will become. Suppose a business’s response is positive and helps the customer feel better after a service or product dissatisfied him/her. In that case, that customer will trust the business more, and therefore become loyal.

• A business’s consistency with excellence:

In today’s business, customers are quick to go to the competition. Although a company won’t deliver excellence all the time, still, a business must thrive on treating all customers — old and new — with the utmost respect and excellence.

On the days when excellence is achieved, the company should be humble enough about it. Customers know that every business can’t deliver top-quality all the time, but the ‘bad’ days should be far and few.

• Customers emotional attachment to a brand:

A brand specialist will always say that people buy into how a business makes them feel. For many people who are associated with a brand, it is the feeling the brand gives them that truly matters.

For example, people who use Apple products feel like they are superior, intelligent and productive. This feeling makes many run into apple stores on the release date to get the latest iPhone, MacBook or Smartwatches.

WHAT CUSTOMER LOYALTY MEANS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

In the digital age, customer loyalty is about connecting with the values and struggles that resonate with your ideal customers. The ‘cancel culture’ is prevalent these days, with young people quick to stop patronizing a brand once they feel offended or unheard.

Social media has made it possible for customers to give real-time feedback to businesses. What this means is that businesses who want to retain their old customers and win new ones have to be proactive.

Also, brands who speak up in support of their customers when the customers are going through forms of injustice are more likely to retain their old customers. and gain new ones

During the recent BLACK LIVES MATTER movement, brands who didn’t show solidarity with the protesters got terrible reviews online. Getting involved with social-political issues is no longer an option for brands; it is a necessity. It is now part of the norm.

In the digital age, if a brand doesn’t recognize the social-economic and social-cultural struggles of its customers, that brand is sure to lose market sales.

Customer loyalty is becoming fickle as the days roll by. Customers are no longer settling for the barest minimum; they demand a business goes the full length.

As a business owner, how are you ensuring that your customers stay loyal to you? Tell us in the comment section below.