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Every business needs to create a loyal customer base for their brand growth and stand out among competitors. Especially with the tight business competition amidst the many online marketplaces, we cannot just rely on word of mouth strategies. To build customer loyalty, you need to build trust so that they support your brand even though technological developments or competitors continue to emerge overtime. SMEBrother has collected some of the best ways to get customer loyalty, check this article until the end. What inspires customer loyalty? Customer loyalty can be inspired by creating an emotional connection with customers, providing excellent customer satisfaction, helping customers solve problems with your products or services, and making things easy for them. Creating an emotional connection with customers can be done in various ways such as making customers feel appreciated and valued, creating reward programs, providing promotional products, or answering customer questions and needs through social media. To provide a great customer experience, you need to provide consistent service, listen to the customer's feedback, and quick problem resolution. All of these things are to build customer loyalty, make your brand stronger and have many supporters for your brand to grow bigger. What is the most cause of customer loyalty? The direct cause of customer loyalty is that customers meet their expectations when using your services or products. This can be achieved by providing high-quality products and services, addressing customer needs, and excellent customer service. Customer loyalty can be measured by tracking the customer retention rate, what percentage of existing customers continue using your products or services over time. 5 Effective Strategies to Increase Customer Loyalty To find the direct cause of customer loyalty, you must prepare a combination of personalized interactions, convenience, trust, excellent customer experience, and quality products. In addition to taking time, you must be consistent in fulfilling what is lacking in your brand and what needs to be improved. The more satisfied your customers are with your products, the higher customer retention and their loyalty will be. Tips to build customer loyalty We know that loyal customers will spend more than new customers. Plus, loyal customers are more forgiving of companies for mistakes after they receive excellent service. For this, we have provided some tips on how to build customer loyalty. Let's check it out. Exceptional customer service For all customers, both new and existing customers, you need to provide the best possible experience. The experience can be obtained from the way customers interact with you, from the moment they ask through social media or your website, or call your brand for assistance. People have high expectations for customer service. When your brand can provide a quick response and match with customer's needs, customers will find it easier to make purchasing decisions. A helpful experience will build trust, and illustrate how your brand handles things professionally. Communicate your values Every brand must have something that makes the brand worthy of customers' loyalty. Team up with your staff, think of a marketing strategy that outlines what makes your brand stand out, what its purpose is, and how your brand values ​​align with customers' needs and beliefs. Your marketing must focus on the uniqueness of your brand to make a stand. Don't feel safe when you have common values, because you have to show that your brand value is reliable and different from the others. Build a loyalty program To show your appreciation to customers who have repeated purchases or used your services, you need to incentivize it with special offers like perks or discounts. You can use a point system, or free products for certain purchases. By giving rewards to existing customers, they will be motivated to keep coming back. Loyalty programs are a sign that you value any customers and they feel appreciated. These tactics can provide long-term results, because the more customers who feel the benefits of the loyalty program, the more they will start to attract other prospects to get the same program, or just proving that your brand is great for them. Ask for customer feedback Asking customers for feedback is one way to increase customer loyalty. You can ask directly when customers come to your store, or you provide surveys as an indication of how satisfied they are with the service you provide, and what values ​​of your brand need to be improved. Discuss with the customer service team how to share feedback surveys with customers, how to handle customers who respond to it and if they have issues when delivering feedback. Although negative reviews are hard to receive, as long as it increases your brand value, then it can be a valuable improvement. Plus, when you try to work customer feedback seriously, customers will get a good experience and satisfaction. Focus on quality Many companies have the wrong concept and think that low prices will bring in many buyers and are the sole driver of loyalty. While competitive pricing is a problem, the quality of a product or service is the main key to lasting relationships. It is useless if you rely on low prices but not many customers value your brand in terms of quality. Brands with high quality and uniqueness in each product will become top-tier products because they are commensurate with the price offered, and can be a long-term value for customers because of prolonged quality and security. Customer loyalty is essential for your business progress. You must continue to nurture customer loyalty over time by providing authentic, consistent, and value-driven experiences. Customer loyalty requires a long step, but the stronger your relationship with consumers will make your brand bigger and more people will trust to use your services or products. Hopefully, some of the tips above can be a reference for you in building customer loyalty, and start to stand out among your competitors. SMEBrother provides you with a lot of information on how to attract customers, how to retain them, and make them loyal to your brand. Check our website for other important information about business, starting from business licensing, how to attract top talents to the organization, raising the business level, auditing, managing company money, and much more.

Thinking about customer satisfaction is important in a business, to ensure they become loyal to our brand, when we provide the best customer service for them. Every business will not be free from criticism, even though the customer has used our services or products many times. As a good brand, you need to deal with customer criticism with kindness, fairness, and respect. The better you accept criticism and suggestions, the faster your business will grow. SMEBrother will explain how to handle criticism well to improve your relationships with customers. Do we need to accept criticism for business? Deal with customer criticism is a must for any business scale. Accepting criticism provides valuable feedback to correct areas that are still lacking, ideas for improvement, adapt to changing customer needs, and grow the company gradually. Not all criticism is bad, because customers can see the side that we don't see. Take all criticism and handle it constructively by highlighting potential issues that have been unnoticed. The better you handle customer's feedback, the stronger the customer's trust in us. Is criticism bad for a company? It depends on how the company receives it. If the company considers criticism as constructive, it can be beneficial. Every criticism can be valuable for the progress of the company, but if poorly handled, it may have negative consequences.  For example, if employees receive criticism in an unconstructive way, it can demotivate employees or damage relationships with customers. The more a company receives negative criticism publicly, the worse the company's reputation. In some cases, companies that are resistant to criticism or consider feedback as something personal will prevent necessary changes and hinder progress from being made. Every time there is criticism from feedback or direct delivery from consumers, we need to listen with respect and think about what the next steps are to handle this. Deal with customer criticism professionally We have prepared several things that companies can do to deal with customer criticism. Handling customer complaints professionally will increase the company's reputation and show that we are ready to change bad things, adapt to consumer needs, and become a reliable brand. Let's look at some of the ways companies can deal with criticism. Active listening and empathy When customers complain because they show dissatisfaction, you must actively listen and empathize. Listen to every customer's story without interrupting, acknowledge their feelings, and offer solutions if you can. For instance, when customers complain about your product causing them harm, instead of dismissing their issues, you need to tell the customer that you will find a solution together or offer your other products that match their problems. Apologize and take responsibility Apologizing for the mistakes you made shows respect to customers. You need to accept responsibility for any issues caused, avoid blaming any condition by external factors. You can communicate to the customer to offer a replacement service or product in the next appointment, while offering a form to the customer as full feedback on what your brand should change. Sometimes, customers will feel relieved and lose their emotions after they are heard properly by you. Find a middle ground for the existing problem, so that it becomes a win-win solution between you and the consumer. Learning and improvement Every complaint is an opportunity for improvement. Analyze the feedback, identifying recurring issues or patterns, immediately think of necessary chances in processes or products to prevent similar complaints in the near future. But remember, solving problems collectively will not resolve individual customer issues, but contributes to overall customer loyalty and satisfaction. Plus, every business must continue to learn and never feel safe with their position, by prioritizing customer concerns and build a strong reputation. Documentation Handle every criticism by recording it like a complaints log. Categorize them by severity, type, and resolution. This data informs your business about what steps you have taken, what is still in the development stage, and what has been resolved. Train your team to resolve complaints by providing a complaints log, ensuring they can answer customer questions if they ever have the same question. By continuing to document every complaint, you can keep track of what is happening, and can transform criticism into opportunities for growth. Swift action Customer trust will increase drastically if you can take swift action on any complaints. Even if you don't have an immediate solution, you need to show that you care about their concerns and provide a revised delivery timeline. You can talk directly to the customer or send an email about a revised delivery, ensuring their problem is handled. The longer you let a complaint sit, the lower the customer's trust. Personalization Respond to every customer feedback or complaint by saying their name or reference their specific concerns. Customers love it when they are given special attention, feels like they've been heard and handled well. By personalizing, you can provide trust even though there is no immediate solution. But make sure you try to resolve the issues quickly to increase customer satisfaction. Offer compensation If consumer criticism in a high level to the point of harming them, you need to offer compensation such as discounts or refunds. Although this cannot be implemented for every complaint, you can ensure that the issue level is worth your compensation. You must ensure that the problem is truly fatal, and the consumer experiences visible losses. Next, you need to get their approval, to accept compensation from you as a form of fair responsibility. Another complaint from the customer will not be any concern, because you have made an agreement with this kind of compensation. 5 Effective Strategies to Increase Customer Loyalty Every criticism or complaint must be handled carefully to bring many benefits to the progress of your business. SMEBrother prepares everything for the progress of your business, including tips and tricks for handling customers, attracting new customers, how to survive in a business market, and much more. Visit our website to get everything about SME, and we hope this article can tackle your problems when facing criticism from consumers.