Building and maintaining customer loyalty can increase revenue and long-term profitability. Loyal customers create consistent revenue streams by buying products or services from the same brand. Improving customer loyalty typically increases the average customer lifetime value and decreases the importance of costly customer acquisitions.
In today’s competitive convenience store industry, your corporate culture values and what you stand for are just as important to customers as the products you sell. More precisely, it defines your brand in the community and to the customers you serve and drives customer loyalty.
As such, brand culture is something convenience store retailers need to satisfy constantly. Still, many c-store owners talk about their company culture but often can’t identify what it is. That’s a concern because a well-defined culture is crucial for attracting top talent and keeping customers returning to your stores.
This culture begins at the top of your company’s organizational chart. Being a good leader and grooming young employees for leadership positions is vital to a company’s success. Study after study shows the main reason employees jump ship is a bad manager. And while you might think of a bad boss as lazy, mediocre bosses usually have good intentions. They’re just poorly trained.
Here are six best practices for growing customer loyalty and improving your corporate culture:
Improve customer service by taking care of employees. In a tight job market, you must do everything possible to create a company where employees want to stay. Managers have a hand in almost every aspect of how your employees perceive their job — from how meaningful the work is to how appreciated they feel.
Enhancing customer service experiences, such as conducting returns and asking questions, may help customers connect with service staff. If customers develop a relationship with a specific employee, they may continue purchasing from that company.
Create a rewards program. Rewards programs benefit customers who consistently purchase goods or services from a business. These benefits may be monetary, such as reduced prices or free products. For example, a convenience store may give customers a free coffee after they buy six. Rewards may also give loyal customers access to additional products or services. For example, stores may allow loyal customers to member-only specials. This customer loyalty strategy may give customers substantive reasons to purchase products or services from your company. Happy customers spend more money and return more often.
Seek continuous customer feedback. If you ask, customers may tell you what actions will motivate them to purchase a product or service. Besides price, customers may give feedback about product design, features and other product or service elements that organizations can change to improve customer loyalty. For example, customers may provide feedback that they’re more likely to purchase a smartphone from a company that offers color options. You can seek this feedback by asking customers to complete a survey to describe their experience or satisfaction with your company.
Use consistent branding. Consistent branding, such as the tone and language you use when interacting with customers, can help foster increased customer loyalty. Many customers enjoy a consistent customer experience because it boosts their confidence in the products or services they’re purchasing and provides a routine. A sustainable footwear company may use renewable materials, provide current environmental content on its website and discuss the footprint of each shoe, helping its customers feel they’re making responsible purchases.
Establish meaningful missions or values. Many consumers become loyal if they believe in the mission or values of a business. Values and missions often have social, ethical, moral or political motivations. If 10% of a company’s profits go toward supporting a charity, customers who support that charity may have more incentive to stay loyal. Reward customers who volunteer for a specific cause may receive product discounts or gifts.
Develop marketing campaigns. By consistently advertising to a specific target audience, customers tend to remain loyal to a business. Customers may react better to specific advertisements, such as videos at the pumps or social media ads. Develop advertising content that encourages the benefits of becoming loyal customers to your company, such as rewards programs, the organization’s values or mission, or positive customer experiences.
Companies must invest in customer loyalty programs to expect to keep loyal customers and to attract new business. This isn’t always easy to figure out. It requires research, data and some testing, trial and error. But at the heart of it, your customers want to know you care about them and want to be involved with your brand.
Elie Katz is the president and CEO of National Retail Solutions (NRS). For more visit: https://nrsplus.com/.