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The Key to Keeping Customers Happy and Coming Back

Posted: 21 Aug 2020 08:28 AM PDT

By Dean Horsfield

The idea behind creating a highly functional customer experience appears to be simple enough: Process, Product, and Price are three pieces of the puzzle that for years created the best customer experience.

  • Process: Brands need friendly customer service, an easy to navigate website, and industry leading technology;
  • Product: They also need a roster of unforgettable and must-have products;
  • Price: And let's not forget that by offering the lowest possible price you can put a lot of smiles on people's faces.

But what's missing for many companies is that fourth piece—an often elusive element: Purpose. Now more than ever, a brand needs to have a clear and recognizable purpose, not only as a differentiator, but as a core component to the customer experience.

Product, Process, and Price used to be enough

Product, Process, and Price were once the industry standard on which a company could build upon for future success. Marcus Lemonis built an entire show called The Profit around these three core concepts. He took derelict companies and proposed to fix them by figuring out which of the three elements was missing.

For a long time, the three Ps were all companies needed until a new consumer demographic came waltzing in, demanding just a little bit more—actually, a lot more. And these consumers have made sure to hold brands accountable that aren’t satisfying a desire for this new element: Purpose.

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Millennials set the stage

Generation Z accounts for 40% of global consumers, and this generation grew up with arguably the best customer experiences of all time. Over the past 20 years, companies have bent over backwards to deliver the three Ps to their customers: creating industry leading products; providing rock-solid processes through top-notch customer service, shipping and returns, websites, social media, etc.; and offering the lowest prices. This all came to be thanks to the generation which proceeded Gen Z: the millennials.

Brands that did not uphold the highest standards in Process, Product, and Price would be ripped to shreds in a matter of minutes by this highly connected and influential consumer group. Love them or hate them, millennials created a framework for the most accountable and responsive corporate society of all time.

Generation Z watched their older millennial siblings and parents cruise the online world with ease, cherry-picking products and brands at will. And in turn, this liberation became something that Gen Z has always taken for granted. They see the world through a different set of eyes.

Having an amazing Process, Product, and Price is like saying that a coffee shop serves coffee—it is expected. If your company doesn't already have a clear strategy on how to compete on these three Ps, then you might need to go back to customer experience 101. What we are talking about here is next level.

Back to Generation Z. Having grown up with the entire world at their fingertips, there are few tangible ways a company can improve upon their customer experience—that is with the exception of the highly intangible “Purpose.”

Purpose is something that is more akin to a feeling than a tangible element, yet to Gen Z it is just as important to their customer experience as the three Ps. Companies with a clear purpose are more likely to be successful versus those that don’t.

Brands with “Purpose”

Here are several examples of how companies have incorporated “Purpose” into their customer experience:

  • Allbirds Shoes is crazy successful because its purpose is sustainability. The company makes all of its shoes with natural materials, and if this lines up with your values, then buying the shoes can be an amazingly rewarding experience.
  • Interface makes carbon negative floor tiles. If you are all about reducing your carbon footprint, then going negative will make you feel like a million bucks. The experience of standing on a product in your home every single day that contributes to a greener world is a customer experience that extends well past purchase.
  • Patagonia released the now famous “Don't Buy This Jacket” campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of fast fashion. This was not to sell jackets but to help line up Patagonia’s purpose-driven company with customers who share a similar vision of the future.

The examples go on, but the point is clear. Without Purpose your customer experience falls short in the modern era of consumerism.

So what is a brand to do now?

This is the surprisingly easy part—figure out your “why” and then pour gasoline on it. There will be people who hate you for your position, and once that happens, you know you have truly found your why. The simple fact is in order to have people fall in love with your brand, you have to be ready to piss a few people off.

Having people hate you may seem like the opposite of providing the best customer experience, right? Nope. The more you can filter out those who do not fit with your brand purpose, and fill your social media and stores with people who do believe in your purpose, the more like-minded people who will show up. Being surrounded by people who share the same ideals, morals, and beliefs is the way that brands not only create the best customer experience; it is how they build brand loyalty.

So now, here is the real secret to this article. Of the four Ps, Purpose is the only one that will create brand loyalty in the modern era. That's it. People can always get a better product, a better service experience, and a better price, but a strong purpose that resonates with your audience can't be found anywhere else.

Now get back to the office, desk, beach, coffee shop or wherever it is you are working from and start developing a clear vision of your brand purpose. Communicate it, breathe it, live it, demand it. Your customers will love you for it.

RELATED: 6 Simple Ways to Humanize Your Brand to Better Connect With Customers

About the Author

Post by: Dean Horsfield

Dean Horsfield is the founder and CEO of Little Bear in the Forest, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency. Dean strives to tell incredible stories, bring the visions of each business he has the pleasure of working with to life, and finds an unmatched excitement in working with risk-takers. With over 20 years in the industry and many incredible stories to tell, digital marketing is not only Dean’s business, it is his passion.

Company: Little Bear in the Forest Digital Marketing
Website: www.littlebearintheforest.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn.

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14 Unique Ways to Build Brand Loyalty Through Social Media

Posted: 21 Aug 2020 08:10 AM PDT

Brand loyalty is a key component of marketing in the twenty-first century. Thanks to social media, which gives companies the ability to interact directly with consumers, brand loyalty has become easier to achieve than ever before.

To help companies get started with a social media plan, we asked 14 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

What is one way companies can use social media to increase brand loyalty?

1. Develop a consistent voice and aesthetic

Developing a consistent voice and aesthetic across all platforms is critical to building brand awareness and loyalty. However, it’s important to post different content on different platforms to attract and engage followers. Just make sure your visual content, style, and tone are not the same, but are consistent. —Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC

 

2. Have a dedicated social customer care team

Have a dedicated team to handle social customer care. So many consumers use social channels for support, even if a brand doesn't officially "do" it, so it just makes sense to dedicate resources to it. Try to monitor your social channels regularly and let people know when you're online so they know when to expect a response. —Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

 

3. Focus on interacting more with people

Interacting with people online is key, whether it’s commenting, connecting via private message, or just sharing content and answering questions about your products or services. People appreciate communicating with a real person and not feeling like it’s just a robot responding to them. Engagement promotes brand visibility as well, as people will see that there has been recent activity on your social media. —John Hall, Calendar

4. Get active on Facebook and Instagram Stories

Audiences are foregoing the traditional news feed for more ephemeral content. With just small doses of visuals and copy, they’ll keep coming back for more. Other times, they may mute your in-stream posts, but many will still toggle through your Stories. It’s an easily digestible format, especially now that audiences have ever shortening attention spans. —Firas Kittaneh, Zoma Mattress

5. Offer giveaways, discounts, and exclusive content

Companies can provide giveaways, discounts, and even exclusive content through their social platforms. Consumer behavior changes from platform to platform so it's important that a company dedicates its time to serving consumers appropriately based on the platform. —Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC

 

6. Be responsive with customer service

When a brand engages with their audience and their customers on social media, they are able to show how they are adding value and serving customers. This is a great way to stimulate brand loyalty. —Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.

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7. Hire brand ambassadors

Brand ambassadors promote your brand and company from their personal social media platform, and this is a more approachable way to grasp the attention of the audience you are targeting. —Riccardo Conte, Virtus Flow

 

8. Share positive reviews and testimonials

Sharing positive reviews and testimonials (including during short video interviews) accomplishes two goals at a time: a strong and positive brand toward prospects and a thriving community whose voice is heard. The more you openly share success stories on social, the more incoming reviews you’ll receive as a result. —Mario Peshev, DevriX

9. Make the customer a hero

Make the customer a hero of every piece of content coming from your company. Don’t talk about your product or service. Shift the perspective to them. It should always be their needs addressed, their pain points solved. Instead of “Our product is great,” make it “Here’s how you will solve XYZ.” —Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS

 

10. Build an online community

Try to build an online group or a strong community. People thrive when they belong to a group they closely identify with. For your business, this could mean showcasing your values and speaking to the interests and passions of your users. When you build an online community, you’re more likely to get engagement and shares, and your audience will start to identify more with your brand. —Blair Williams, MemberPress

11. Educate your audience

Add value through educating. Don’t just promote your products or services on social—you will quickly lose your audience. Instead, look for ways you can educate your audience through sharing your own content that is educational or highlights others in your industry. —Kelsey Raymond, Influence & Co.

 

12. Share your fundamental values

Customers today want to support companies that share their values, so don't be shy about sharing your business's fundamental principles. Find ways to show customers what your brand stands for. For example, share content about causes and charities that are close to the heart of your company. Make sure you always focus on being authentic and genuine. —Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

 

13. Stand up for a good cause

With everything happening right now in the world, brands can stand out and easily build loyalty by standing up for good causes. People are passionate about social issues, whereas most businesses prefer to stay out of them. However, when you take a stand for what you believe in, it sets you apart and people can see that. They want to do business with brands that believe in something. —Jared Atchison, WPForms

14. Give your platform to others’ voices

Use your media source as a platform for others’ voices. Instead of simply sharing your brand, invite your customers and audience to share their opinions, stories, and insights on your page. The more you generate a community feeling, the more likely your audience is going to hang around and trust the brand you are building. —Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.

RELATED: How to Make Social Media Your New Sales Channel

The post 14 Unique Ways to Build Brand Loyalty Through Social Media appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about YEC. Copyright 2020 by AllBusiness.com. All rights reserved. The content and images contained in this RSS feed may only be used through an RSS reader and may not be reproduced on another website without the express written permission of the owner of AllBusiness.com.
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