5 Ways to encourage brand loyalty

2. Reward loyalty – I don’t know about you, but every time I see a service – like Foxtel or Medibank Private – offering gifts or rewards for new members – I get a little miffed, as I have been a customer for years and I don’t get any gifts. Reward loyalty as well as using gifts as a new customer acquisition program.

3. Make their life easier – Offer eNewsletters and Social media posts full of advice and How To’ s that will help solve a problem for your customer. These are powerful tools – but used for endless self-promotion, they will yield little results.

4. Ask customers what they think and act on it – Customers are your best source of feedback about your products and services. Surveying your customers is one thing, but actually implementing their feedback into the business, and let that customer know that you have done so will help foster customer loyalty.

5. Turn the negative to the positive - 49% of consumers state that they are more likely to visit a business after reading a positive online review, and 69% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Customers have a range of options to voice their opinion of businesses and companies. But what about when the reviews are negative?

You have to make a decision, not as to IF you should respond, but as to HOW you should respond. Firstly, you should respond immediately and directly ensuring your response is empathetic and direct and not weighing into an argument with the customer. Remember, just as their review will be found by potential new customers, so will your response so turn this negative review into a positive.