April 2020

The Customer Loyalty Loop: Part 7

Out With the New & In With the Old

Why new customers are not necessarily the best customers.

Getting new business is fun. If you’re a small business just starting out or if you’re a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, there is a certain thrill in attracting new customers. Humans innately prefer the adrenaline associated with new things, whether it’s clothes, cars, or customers… But, why do we get more excited about new business than we do about returning customers?

We all know the old adage - repeat business is the best business. This is one saying that has held the test of time. Repeat business is the best because it’s expensive to attract new customers. It costs up to five times as much to attract a new customer¹³ versus keeping an existing one. Financially, it makes much more sense to initiate customer loyalty than to spend advertising dollars informing and convincing new people to buy from you.

On the other side of the equation, customers want to be loyal to you. They invested a lot of time researching and comparing brands during the active evaluation phase of the customer loyalty loop, so they are emotionally invested at the time of purchase. What happens immediately after the purchase is the ultimate opportunity in creating customer loyalty. Continue the conversation and give them a reason to keep coming back. Go beyond the transactional purchase and create a lasting relationship with your customers.

13 FKhalid, Saleh. “Customer Acquisition Vs. Retention Costs – Statistics And Trends.” Invesp. Date unknown.

UPDATE: Google Updates Status of Reviews

Last month we reported that Google had provided a bulletin stating their Google review functionality had been temporarily halted due to COVID-19. This month, Google states that most review functionality will be turned back on.

“Review replies are now available. New user reviews, new user photos, new short names, and Q&A will gradually return by country and business category.”

You can read the Google post here.

LoyaltyLoop From Home

The Coronavirus combined with a digital economy has a record number of people working from home, and if you are one of those people, this can cause a disruption to your usual workflow. LoyaltyLoop remains available via web browsers on computers and mobile devices so you can continue a routine and normal feedback loop between you and your clients.

The good news is many other software systems are cloud-based or accessible over the Internet, which could allow you to send your data to LoyaltyLoop without much issue. But if your back-office customer transaction software is not accessible over the Internet and is captive to a computer located at your physical business location, you may need to solicit the help of those who remain on-site with running a file export. A little guidance from you can walk them through the process of exporting your data. If something doesn’t go right, we’re glad to offer a helping hand. If you or anyone at your location needs assistance generating your survey data file, give us a call or send an email to support@loyaltyloop.com, and we'll be glad to help.

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

Another thing to consider is whether there is a file export automation available for your business. Depending on your industry, you may use industry-specific software to manage your business and customer transactions. However, you may also use accounting software like QuickBooks Online. If you’re using QuickBooks Online, there are existing automations we can explore. Provided your QuickBooks contains the minimal customer details, such as email address, name, etc., we may be able to configure an automation for you. We encourage you to contact ourSupport Team and let them know if you’re also using QuickBooks and they can help determine if your data export can be automated.

Once your survey invites go out, and the feedback starts to come in, as always, we recommend reviewing and following up on client responses. Sometimes a simple "Thank you for your feedback" is enough, or responding to any questions or comments submitted. If your client had a problem with an order, we recommend contacting them as soon as possible to iron out any wrinkles in the spirit of customer retention. Remember, if you’re working from home and calling customers from your mobile phone or other non-office phone, be patient and professionally persistent in reaching them as they may not recognize your Caller ID!

For the duration, we hope you can continue to operate, and help those who may need your services. It is always important to be the best partner you can for your clients. It is more important than ever to find ways to support your clients during these unusual times. One simple way to do this is to continue to solicit and gather customer feedback, so you can listen and respond to their needs.

Adapting Your Feedback Process for COVID-19

As we work through this unique period in the history of our respective businesses, consider updating your LoyaltyLoop service to include COVID-19 related messaging.

While many of us may wish we could just erase the last several weeks from our collective memories, the impact of the pandemic will likely effect business for months to come.

There are a number of likely new opportunities that will emerge as a result of this crisis. Be on the lookout for new opportunities. For example, if you’re in the printing and graphics business, there is talk that States and localities may require restaurants to use disposable menus. If you’re in the promotional products business, is there an opportunity for you to produce and provide masks?

Understanding how COVID-19 impacts your customers will help you to serve them better. Updating your survey may not be appropriate for every business, but here are few ways you could adapt your feedback process to be “COVID-19 sensitive”, and gain valuable insight along the way.

Our team is ready to help you make any changes you need. Just drop us an email at support@loyaltyloop.com or call us at 401-560-0311 option 3.

Viewing and Printing Your LoyaltyLoop Receipts

Admin Users, when you log into LoyaltyLoop, go to Settings and in the Admin grouping, click on Billing & Payments. This section will allow you to view/print your receipts, verify the receipt recipient, and update your credit card on file.

To see who is set to receive receipts, look at the Billing Contact section in the bottom-left. If the information there is incorrect or if you need to add an additional contact click on the edit icon and make your changes. If necessary, click on the add icon to add additional contacts. When you’re finished click “Save”.

Back on the main Billing & Payments page, look for the money icons on the right-hand side of the screen under Billing History. Click on the receipt icon next to the billing event of your choice to be presented with a preview of that billing event’s receipt. Click on “Send Receipt” to send an emailed receipt to the Billing Contact(s) who are displayed on the main page. Alternatively, you may also print a copy by clicking on the “Print Receipt” button. When finished, return to the main Billing page by clicking on “Done”.

Below the detail of your account plan(s) you’ll see a credit card summary. If you need to update your card on file, click on the edit icon and enter your new card’s details. Click the “Save” button when done.

And lastly, under the Billing History column, where you can view your receipts, you’ll see all of the green icons that have been successfully billed. If you have icons that are red or black, click on them to see what happened in that event. If you have updated your card on file, click on the “Retry” button to retry charging that billing event.

A special note about printing receipts from your email client. Each email client (e.g. Gmail, Outlook…) handles printing a little bit differently. In some cases, the email client cannot print the receipt format correctly. To address this, email receipts include a link that will allow Admin Users to click-through to the receipt in your LoyaltyLoop account, from where you can print it as mentioned above.