Bullhorn Live 2014: Improving Customer Loyalty
James Kane, the world’s foremost expert on what makes someone truly loyal, left the audience in stitches with his engaging presentation on loyalty. As with Art Papas’ keynote presentation, James emphasized the importance of the customer experience. “Customers have to enjoy the process” he said and “the culture of an organization must support the customer.” We at Bullhorn could not agree with this more, as it is reminiscent of our own rally cry, “delivering an incredible customer experience.”
James’ presentation focused on how companies can improve their relationships with customers by promoting customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is vital to the success of a company. Customers who possess positive and devoted relationships with your business are more likely to generate future revenue through word-of-mouth referrals. This relationship is built on a foundation of trust which can be gained through competency, character, consistency, and capacity. Once trust is formed, James defined the three customer needs that must be met in order to foster loyalty:
1. Customers need to feel safe
2. Customers’ lives need to be made easier
3. Customers’ lives need to be made better
Making customer lives better is the most challenging aspect of this trio. To make customers lives better, they need to feel fulfilled. Fulfillment means that companies need to stand for something greater than just the exchange of money. The challenge that most organizations face is that they think that this means sending a big check to a charity. Instead, companies must engage their customers and give them a greater sense of purpose in the value proposition. This is evident in the success of Tom’s Shoes, which donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair that is purchased.
Upon conclusion of his presentation, James explained that every customer wants to be loyal. For this to happen, customers need to feel included, wanted, and invaluable. By collecting information relevant to improving their customers’ experiences and applying this information proactively, any company can build a loyal customer following.
This Bullhorn Blog post was written by Samantha McPhall.
