How to Build Customer Loyalty
So we have discussed the Importance of Customer Service (CS) and the Benefits of Customer Loyalty, let’s now look into how we can Create Loyal Customers. Before we can discuss that, we need to think as a customer for a bit first. We as individuals are customers everyday, even at work. We are customers to our vendors and to our internal departments. How many times have we come across bad customer service? Many right, but every so often, we come across a service interaction that is memorable because something happened that left a strong impression of that service on us.
That event is called a Defining Moment, which by definition; is any point in time when a customer judges the service your company provides, thus judges your company as a whole. When a member of your company greets a customer, answers a question, offers options/suggestions, offers to solve a problem/issue, or even tries to recover from a service breakdown, can all be defining moments.
Depending on how your company handles each defining moment, your customer can have a positive or negative experience. Your company’s action, in short, in each defining moment can either strengthen or weaken customer loyalty. When your company strives to create Positive Defining Moments (PDM’s) you help build loyalty. This is the heart of Stellar Service, your company’s effort to create PDM’s.
Your company is defined in the eyes of your customers. Your company’s actions, moment by moment, either build or erode customer loyalty. When your company creates PDM’s, you help ensure that your customers will want to remain loyal to your company, thus helping in its success.
However, it takes more then simply being aware of defining moments and making them positive ones as much as possible. On my next discussion, I will go over The Three Dimensions of Service, in which PDM’s are created.
