Businesses spend a lot of time and money honoring and reaching out to their so-called “loyal customers” every year. There is a great emphasis placed on this loyalty – but why? What is the importance of customer loyalty, and what does this term really mean for your business?

Here, we examine all of that – and why you should be making an effort to retain customers and keep them happy!

The Importance of Customer Loyalty: Repeat Business, Higher Customer Satisfaction

By definition, loyal customers are consumers who have been satisfied with your company’s services and have brought their business to you time and time again. These consumers are more likely to participate in surveys asking questions about customer satisfaction, making them a huge asset to your business regarding that metric. While it should go without saying, nurturing your relationship with these consumers is as good as nurturing the soil from which your business grows. Your success is rooted with them, and an investment of time and effort toward their loyalty will only continue to benefit your company and those you partner with for years to come.

Increased Receptiveness, Higher Volume Sales

The establishment of a sense of trust is an important part of creating customer loyalty in your consumers. Why? Because once a consumer trusts your agents and your brand, they are more likely to spend more of their time and money with your company. From a business standpoint, your investment of time to create a more satisfied and loyal customer can lead to major increases in the volume of sales you make to each individual.

How? Think of the following as an example:

A longtime customer calls with a question about a product they have been buying for several years. Your agents alert them to a special deal your partner company is running on that product, in which consumers can save a nice percentage of they buy in bulk for the next few months. The delighted customer agrees to do so, and their order triples in size that same month. They are happy to receive more of their favorite products at what they perceive as a great price, and your contact center and partner company both see big sales benefits from the exchange.

Leniency for Mistakes

Let’s face it: when dealing with other human beings, mistakes are going to happen. No matter how hard you work, you and your staff re going to make those mistakes, and so are the companies that you may represent. Thankfully, the more familiar with and fond of your brand a customer is, the more likely they are to overlook or forgive these mistakes.

This is an often overlook aspect of the importance of customer loyalty. Establishing those relationships with your consumer base allows for more wiggle room when things go wrong. Your customer will have more patience, giving your staff more time to do what they do best – serve that customer and make them happy!

Increased Opportunity for Cross-Selling

Cross-selling and upselling are both important factors of success in the world of contact center sales. Working with loyal customers opens the door for more and better opportunities for doing both. When your consumer trusts you to make recommendations for them based on the fact that you know them and have a track record of successfully meeting their needs, they are going to be more receptive to whatever suggestions you make regarding other products, package deals, or services that might work well with or instead of what they are already purchasing.

Competition Protection

Keeping up with your competition is just part of being a successful business in the modern day. However, keeping yourself protected from your competition should also be at the top of your priority list.

What does this mean? If you own a brick and mortar store and your customers are dissatisfied, they will simply walk out without purchasing any items and take their business to one of your competitor stores. To prevent this, stores run sales and specials, but they may also make efforts to establish brand loyalty from their customers. This delivers a shopping experience that consumers are happy to pay a little more for to enjoy.

You must do the same thing when you run any other type of business. Protect yourself from your competition by creating an experience that your consumers prefer over others. Keep them “in your store” by making them want to be there in the first place. It’s about more than just great products or low prices. Delivering excellent customer service is equally important.

Organic Marketing

Regardless of what type of business you run, marketing is important. However, there are some types of businesses for which traditional marketing isn’t usually prudent. This may apply to call centers in some circumstances. You don’t often see advertisements or commercials for contact centers, unless it’s for employment opportunities.

However, that doesn’t mean that marketing doesn’t still need to happen, and that presents a challenge for these businesses. For that reason, the word-of-mouth style marketing that is offered by satisfied customers talking to other people is a great solution for these companies. This organic type of marketing allows for promotion that doesn’t feel like true advertisement – and gives consumers the freedom to share their experiences, rather than just information. Not only does this empower consumers and help to increase business, it delivers an option for marketing where one might not otherwise exist.

When it’s time to reinforce the importance of customer loyalty to your staff and work on dialing up the satisfaction those loyal customers have with your service, talk to the experts at ChaseData. We have the tools and technology your contact center needs to keep your customers coming back – and keep the companies you partner with happy, too! Give us a call to let us guide you through choosing everything you need to deliver an excellent experience for every consumer you serve.