Irrespective of the size of the business or the industry vertical, customers will continue to be the king of the marketplace.They offer an accurate measurement of success, speak of the company’s efforts and stand as a testimony to the loyalty nurtured with the brand.

A lot of strategies have been implemented in the recent past to track customers down, however finding people who believe in your company’s products and services is quite challenging.

Many companies are investing their time, money and efforts to acquire as many customers as possible. Some businesses also go to an extent of implementing a common marketing strategy, hype the product promotion mix and spend millions on commercial ads and billboards.

These ideas are quite suitable for multinational conglomerates with great cash flows. However, for smaller businesses, even startups, implementing such a strategy is hard, just like rolling a boulder up a hill.

All companies, regardless of their size and verticals they operate in, have their own ways to acquire new customers. However, in the process of garnering attention and attracting new customers, most companies miss out on the most crucial asset they possess – their current loyal customers.

The statistics speaks for themselves, that customer acquisition costs seven times more than customer retention and 81% customers will do repeat orders simply because they were provided good service.

By nurturing loyalty among current customers, companies can develop relationships with people, who do not understand the philosophy of business, myriad range of products and service offerings. The satisfied customers, in turn would voluntarily inform their relatives, friends and families to use the same products/services.

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These testimonials and recommendations from loyal customers serve as an authentic mouthpiece to build the employer brand, while costing absolute nothing on building repute in the industry. This positive brand image helps the company achieve higher credibility and profitability in the competitive business environment.

Here are 5 affordable ways to nurture loyal customer relationship:

Keep an Ongoing Continuous Communication

One big mistake that most businesses frequently make is failure to follow up with the people they have met and failure to maintain intense communication with them. A single meeting or a professional name card is not enough for people to be impressed and remember you.

Instead of focusing more on networking meetings, employers and SMEs can remind customers subtly through simple gestures such as by sending an email, regular newsletters and updates, or greeting postcards during special occasions.

This will help build the company brand to be remembered, recognised and strike an emotional chord with the customers to promote loyalty.

Email Marketing Strategy

Email marketing is a low cost marketing strategy every business can adopt. Instead of merely selling products and services, companies can create intriguing aspects around the brand to promote using tips, advice, informative news, recent trends and more information related to the products and services offered.

Effective email marketing strategy provides more benefits to companies, such as loyal customers, higher reputation, effective branding and zero-cost mouth marketing, since customers tend to forward and share useful information with others.

Reward Loyal Customers

Rewards and appreciation are always a good idea to encourage employees at work and also promote customer loyalty towards the brand. Every business is challenged by competitors and carving a niche in the market as against the competition with products and services helps build a strong preferred brand of choice for customers.

Only when customer satisfaction becomes the topmost priority of business, customer loyalty towards the brand is ensured. This is the most valuable return that companies derive on investing in consumer-focused products and services to meet their needs.

Stay in touch with your loyal customers by giving them rewards. The rewards need not  be the most expensive ones. They can be in the form of coupons, gift vouchers, thankful e-cards, premium membership and affordable premium gifts during festivities. This could go a long way in making your brand remembered by the customer and thus win loyalty.

First Look Always Speaks Volumes

First look is always the way to win over hearts of customers by highlighting the series of product and service offerings, enlisting items on sale and providing gift coupons, discounts on purchases to make the offer seem more appealing and rewarding.

An attractive brand positioning in the market, helps create a buzz around your business, thus results in more customer acquisition, attracts new talent to the brand and hence a higher recognition for your products and services.

Get Feedback

People want to be heard and so do your customers. Seek critical feedback from customers in terms of suggestions for product or service improvements, to hold a two-way effective dialogue and build better understanding of your customer needs.

These inputs gathered from customers help the company rethink on their research and development programs to build more innovative products and service offerings to please customers to their utmost satisfaction.

Powerful relationships do not just happen at a single point of time. It takes time to build a strong trustworthy bond with a brand and only through constant nurturing does this bond and the brand grow to acquire more loyal customers and thrive successfully in the competitive business landscape.

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