CitiXsys conducted a webinar on 5 ways to manage and enhance customer loyalty on 29th Sept. and it was a resounding success.
The topic and discussion on Customer Loyalty is quite pertinent – more so after the businesses, especially retail have come out of serious recessionary times. As much important is to acquire new customers, it is equally important, if not more to retain the existing ones. Cost and the time value of money required to acquire a new customer is over 6 times more than what is required to retain an existing one.
Customers who are loyal are happy customers. In today’s world where Social Media is an integral part of one’s being; it very soon transforms into evangelism. A happy customer narrates his experience on his social network and soon the experience/testimonial becomes viral.
The webinar also discussed different techniques and ways by which customer retention can be managed and enhanced. The one important building block is to have an integrated loyalty and customer management system – A system that is tightly integrated with the other operational processes for example retail, customer support, finance, sales and logistics.
The webinar and the discussion that followed emphasized that customer loyalty is not about points and their redemption. Customer loyalty in today’s context is more about relationships and their longevity. This is more so considering there are over 1.2 Billion loyalty programs in North America alone and every household being a member of at least 6 loyalty programs. Obviously customer loyalty is about top-of-the-mind-recall of one of these 6 programs when the customer decides to purchase. Moreover a loyalty program should lead the customer to purchase more and more often.
Brand building is one of the many ingredients to enhance customer retention. A customer feels good about his purchase not only due to excellent quality and service, but also by seeing his brand in media – print or online.
The importance of having a clear strategy on why would an organization want to launch a loyalty program was greatly emphasized. While it is important to reward customers and their loyalty, it is equally important to clearly define the purpose of the program.
To know more about the subject and the discussion in the webinar, please click here to download the presentation slides with notes.
[…] are a happy or dissatisfied one, is an exponential tool for public relations. Did you know that acquiring a new customer costs over six times what it takes to keep an existing customer? That’s why every retailer should […]