Customers are the lifeblood of any business. Without them, it’ll be impossible to grow. Therefore, putting them at the top of your priority list is in your best interest.
Of course, selling your products or services is essential to growth. But to sell, you must recognize the impact your customers have on your ability to do just that. No customers mean no sales, which is where a customer loyalty base comes into play.
According to American Express, satisfied U.S. customers are more likely to not only share their positive brand experiences with others, but they’ll refer an average of 11 people to a business. What’s more, a report from InMoment found that 60% of customers will purchase more regularly from their “preferred” companies.
In other words, not only can your existing customers bring you more business, but they will likely be your biggest supporters.
But what can brands do to improve their customer loyalty base? There are many ways to approach it, but one of the best methods being strategic review management.
Before we dive into how you can strengthen your customer loyalty with review management, let’s discuss the impact your customers have on your business as a whole.
How do your customers impact your business?
It’s not enough to sell to a customer then move on to finding the next prospects. There’s tons of value in your existing customer base.
Engaging with your existing customers—or building your customer loyalty base—is critical to creating a profitable business. Let’s take a look at some of the most significant ways your customers directly impact your bottom line.
Cost vs. retention
Attracting new customers is critical in growing your business, but there’s a lot of value within your existing network of customers.
According to a report from the Temkin Group, loyal customers are five times more likely to purchase again, five times more likely to forgive a poor brand experience, four times more likely to refer new customers to said brand, and seven times more likely to try a new offering from said brand. That’s a lot of value.
You spent so much time, money, and effort trying to attract those customers to your business in the first place. Letting them go—or pushing your customer loyalty tactics to the wayside—will cost you in more ways than one.
Word-of-mouth marketing
Your customers could be sharing their brand experiences with others at any given time. Those “others” could be potential customers of yours. With 77% of customers recommending companies to friends and family based on positive experiences, you want to make sure you’re on your customers’ good side.
In short, what your customers say about your business matters. It has a direct impact on the growth of your business and your reputation. Being aware of what your audience is saying about you (and engaging with them after the fact) is all the more important.
How to build customer loyalty base with review management
Each of these methods serves a different purpose, but it’s essential to keep your customers’ best intentions at the center of everything you do.
With that being said, let’s dive into how you can improve your customer loyalty base with review management.
Leverage customer feedback
How can you make impactful changes to your business or customer experience unless you know how your customers feel? Customer feedback goes far beyond praise and complaints; it’s an opportunity to learn things about your business that you may otherwise not know.
At the core, customer feedback guides business decisions and helps you make improvements for your customers (and future customers, too). Even the smallest customer suggestion can have a profound impact on your business, so it’s important to pay attention to everything.
Take the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan, for example.
A customer left a great review on Yelp after their stay. The customer mentioned that the coffee selection could be improved—something that seems pretty minor in the scheme of things, but for the hospitality industry, this is important.
The GM of the hotel replied to the customer’s comment thanking them for their review and saying that he would take her coffee recommendation to their food and beverage team.
This is a prime example of how one customer review or suggestion can make future customers’ experiences better, which only snowballs from there.
Prioritize customer service
Listening and responding to your customers’ feedback shows you care about them and their experience with your company. Mistakes happen, but if you can show you’re working on a solution or have resolved the issue entirely, that goes a long way with customer retention.
The Hotel del Coronado, which is owned by Hilton/Blackstone Group, is a great example of customer service in action.
At the time of this review, the hotel was undergoing construction while simultaneously trying to provide customers with a fantastic experience despite the fact. One customer, in particular, was not happy with their stay.
But Hotel del Coronado was quick to reply, encouraging the customer to reach out so they could right the wrong.
Because the customers are the ones immersed in the brand experience, what you may think to be the solution may prove not to be enough, which is where customer feedback comes in handy.
With review management software, you can be sure you’re up to speed on everything your customers say. That way, you can be quick to respond and make things right or praise them for the positive review.
Manage reviews with integrated software
As your business grows (and especially if you outright encourage customers to leave reviews), it’s important to have a pulse on what your customers are saying. Plus, with 86% of customers reading reviews before they proceed with a purchase from a business, it’s all the more important to stay up-to-date on your reviews.
Whether you have multiple channels, location pages, or receive a high volume of reviews, using a review management software can make a positive difference.
Review management software helps in several ways:
- Improve your response times
- Organize your channels and gain insight into which are most popular for reviews
- Respond to reviews all from one dashboard
- Save time on review management
Use review management software to keep track of what your customers are saying about certain aspects of your business. With an all-encompassing dashboard, you’ll never miss a beat. You’ll improve your response times, and—most importantly—keep your customers happy.
Use social proof in your marketing
Social proof, like word-of-mouth marketing, plays a massive role in building brand loyalty. But how do you know about all the positive things your customers are saying about you unless you have some way of keeping tabs on it?
That’s where review management comes into play.
Cherry-picking your best reviews and using them in your marketing can make a significant impact.
For example, the direct-to-consumer turned brick-and-mortar mattress company, Casper, knows a thing or two about social proof. After all, before they opened up their first physical store, they had to convince customers to buy a mattress without having laid on it first!
From their website to their social media posts, Casper incorporates social proof at key customer touchpoints. They do a great job of not only leveraging their social proof but delivering it in a way that makes it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for all in one place.
What’s unique about Casper’s social proof usage is their ability to incorporate both helpful, tactical feedback and fun, playful feedback on the appropriate channels.
Not only does social proof validate claims your brand makes about your product or service, but it can help reduce customer objections (or the things that make customers run in the opposite direction).
Customer loyalty can make or break your business
Just as you spend time working on your products or services, you must put just as much (if not more) effort into your customer service strategy. Keeping your customers front and center of every business decision will have a sizable impact on your success.
Ready to get serious about your review management strategy? Book a call with us today, and our team will help you find the right solution.
