Your Most Important Customer Loyalty Metric: Do Your Customers Come Back?

In this week’s Asking for a Friend, I talk with Shep Hyken, author of I’ll Be Back, discusses how to build customer loyalty and getting customers to come back again and again.

The Basics of Customer Loyalty

Karin and Shep talk about how they first met a decade ago while they were both keynoting the International Customer Service Association Conference.

2:40 Shep discusses his current book, I’ll be Back, and the importance of measuring beyond the metrics – measure the behavior and cadence to determine customer loyalty (i.e. Do they come back? Do they return again and again?)

4:30 What is an “Arnie?” Arnold Schwarzenegger made that phrase famous and in this situation it means a customer giving you an “Arnie” (i.e. Emmy/Oscar) because they want to keep coming back.

5:23 “Customer loyalty is not about a lifetime. It’s about the next time, every time.”

Thinking lifetime is too daunting. Instead, what are you doing right now to make sure they are coming back the next time?

Moments of misery, mediocrity, and magic.

7:16 Misery – bad experience

7:24 Mediocrity – mundane, ok, ordinary experience

7:50 Magic – just a little bit better than average. Doesn’t have to be over the top. Create customer amazement.

8:08 Where do you start to ensure your customers return? Seven principles including:

8:47 Everyone in it to win it

9:18 Hiring right and let people do the job they were hired to do is a key step in creating customer loyalty

9:37 Define, in writing, the experience you want to give.

10:00 Is there a leadership approach to Arnies?

10:49 Put it in writing, communicate it over and over, train everyone to it, role model it, keep everyone in alignment, defend the culture, celebrate it when it works.

Becoming a Role Model for Creating Great Customer Experiences

12:13 A story about William – who turned out to be Bill Gates – the value of executives spending occasional days in the field.

16:29 How can I build relationships with clients if they are not there?

17:01 Repeat business vs. loyal business – repetition doesn’t necessarily mean loyal (emotional connection.) Example: deciding based on location or frequent flier miles when perhaps they would choose somewhere else if these elements didn’t exist.

19:14 Clients vs customer. “Client” implies some type of ongoing relationship – B2B. “Customer” tends to be more B2C. Do things not to sell them, but to check on them. Reach out to them. Build a relationship as a partner, not just someone selling something.

Why Many Customer Loyalty Programs Don’t Work

20:39 ” Customer Loyalty” programs, discount programs, and punchcards don’t necessarily mean a loyal customer. Sometimes they come back for the perks, not for the place.

22:27 Nothing has changed in customer service. The methods may have changed, but the basic goals and desires are still there. Don’t make it difficult to get a human to help!

24:42 Why would customers terminate you? Making it hard to find ways to contact you, slow response, being apathetic, etc.

27:13 Shep’s 2-minute keynote: Be nice! It’s not so common. That’s how to build customer loyalty.

Your turn: What would you add? What are your best practices in creating customer loyalty?