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customer loyalty
When customers consider making a purchase, they rarely start by speaking to a sales rep. Long before reaching that point, they go online, compare-and-contrast products and seek opinions on social media. Then they might consider picking up a phone or walking into a store.
Small things business owners can do to provide personalized service. From the AOL Partner Studio
Showing your customers that their voice counts for something helps to create an emotional bond between your customers and your brand. If you want to progress from selling a product to building a brand, this is invaluable.
A new season means a fresh start, and what better way to make things fresh and organized in your home than cleaning out your closet. I bet you'll be surprised by how much you can accumulate in a year. The rule is, if you haven't worn something in a year, you probably won't wear it again anytime soon - get rid of it and make room for a few new items. Donate it to your favourite local clothing drive or sell online if it's worth a pretty penny!
Today we know that the state of the planet affects the way we are doing business. With climate change comes risks and opportunities. We all know the risks. The opportunity for brands starts with marketing leadership, and the reward is an improved brand and reputation.
First there was the obligatory second credit card everyone said I needed as an emergency backup. But it wasn't long before the card slots in my wallet began rapidly filling up. One soon held a blue Air Miles card, the one that requires years of collecting to get a one-way trip to Hamilton. From then on, the acquisition of cards continued unabated.
Knowing the source of the virus, the team sent out an advisory to the general public concerning the risk of consuming the berries and hoped they would not be dealing with a large-scale problem. Thankfully, only a few more cases appeared; they too had come into contact with the contaminated culprit.
You gotta have a lot of confidence in your offering if you can recommend a competitor to a loyal client. It may appear counter-intuitive at first -- just like setting free something you hold dear -- but "Customer-first/Business-second" behaviour is refreshing and genuine.
I recently returned home from grocery shopping with a new loyalty card. All I needed to do was go online and register the card I was given in store. When I went to register my new card, I got the message "registration is temporarily unavailable" with apologies from the company. I tried a few more times for a couple of days and got the same message. The experience led me to think about the cost of downtime to a business.
