How turning customers into champions accelerates growth

When it comes to growing your business, there are a few avenues that business owners commonly take—whether it’s creating new products and services or finding new customers. One growth strategy that may be faster and more profitable than you realize is selling more to existing customers who already know, like and trust you.

Building relationships with existing customers can be more cost-effective than spending time, money and effort to find and convert strangers into paying customers. Additionally, satisfied customers have the potential to become brand champions. Those champions can advocate for you and help attract new customers without any effort on your part.

So how do you turn prospects into customers and customers into champions? A number of marketing tactics will help entice customers to spend more with you and encourage others to do the same.

What you’ll learn:

• How to create connections that lead to sales

• What a formal loyalty program looks like

• Why an online community of champions can be a secret sales force

• How to know what customers really think about your company

The best way to strengthen loyalty and encourage repeat purchasing is to incentivize repeat customers with rewards. Positive reinforcement goes a long way toward forming a bond with customers that can bring them back in more frequently. But loyalty programs don’t have to be complex.

• Create a points-based system that tracks purchases across all channels tied to a phone number. If that’s not possible with your current point-of-sale (POS) system, punch cards can also work.

• Make earning points or rewards easy when customers make purchases or engage online, such as sharing posts or commenting.

• Set up multiple loyalty rewards tiers with increasingly attractive rewards to invite regular visits.

• Regularly update customers on points status and potential rewards to stay top of mind.

• Send unexpected gifts, such as new product sample packages branded with the company’s logo.

You can learn so much about what keeps customers coming back for more simply by analyzing customer communications. Studying messages behind the scenes is smart, but don’t be afraid to ask for feedback directly.

• Review customer service emails for clues regarding what upsets and thrills customers. What words are most frequently used?

• Read chat logs to spot frequent complaints or recurring issues. Sentiment analysis can summarize how customers are feeling.

• Pair internal comments with social media interactions to understand sources of friction or delight.

• Send out questionnaires or surveys to find out what’s going well and what could be improved from your customers’ perspective.

Set up a safe space online where customers and prospects can bond over their appreciation for your brand.      

• Creating an online group for customers and fans on social media is free. You can also use paid platforms, where you can gather more data about participants.

• Share insider information, such as new products and service details, to make members feel elite and in the know. 

• Offer exclusive deals and discounts or early access to community members.

Bring your best customers and biggest fans together in one place for camaraderie and activities. One global automotive brand hosts off-roading days in various parts of the U.S. for its customers. What better way to reinforce the smart decision that drivers made in buying that car brand?     

• Offer deep discounts on excess inventory to reward customers and clear out dead stock, as one home decor manufacturer does every July at its annual barn sale or as some retailers do through factory outlet stores.

• Provide access to facilities that are otherwise off-limits to visitors. For example, a business might offer tours of manufacturing facilities or set up special events with product demonstrations or samples.

• Invite customers to classes or training sessions related to your products or services. One national home-furnishings retailer hosts in-store interior design workshops.

Customers can tell when you’re interested in them and when you’re just after the sale. Give something of value before you ask for something in return.

• Make sure the majority of messages are service-oriented rather than self-promotional.

• Ask for feedback on new product ideas or advertising campaigns.

• Offer free individualized recommendations, as one Canadian professional coaching company does, to achieve exceptional conversion rates.

Cultivating customer loyalty helps your business in various ways, including building repeat business—an important part of growth—giving your business a reliable source of feedback and creating business “fans” who may promote your business for you. You don’t need a large budget to make customers feel valued and appreciated, but the payoff in terms of sales and profits can be substantial. 

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