Ignorance is not Bliss
We took some time to recharge the old batteries but we’re back, dear readers, refreshed and raring to share more elements of customer engagement and customer empowerment techniques.
We’ve decided to mix things up a bit and hopefully bring an even more useful resource to your inbox every week. So, as well as sharing our own thoughts and top tips around this subject, we will also be including some of our favourites among other people’s articles.
We hope you enjoy it. ⏩ Please do share with anyone you think might be interested in receiving this kind of information ⏩. Equally, if there’s anything else you’d like to suggest we cover, please do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
Are you ignoring your most loyal customers?
We never fail to be amazed the way many brands pretty much ignore their most loyal customers. We’re not talking about the ubiquitous loyalty cards or the early access to the mid-season sales - we mean actually appreciating and recognising customers’ loyalty.
Those customers are happy, right? They evidently love what you do / your product, so why bother them? Let sleeping customers lie. I remember once asking my then CMO for some budget for a campaign to thank our most committed customers. He dismissed the idea peremptorily: we don’t need to spend on them, they are “with us” already, so spending on them would simply eat into the profit margin they’re generating for us. No - any additional spend should be exclusively for wooing new customers so we can continue to grow.
Trouble is, as with any relationship, if people don’t feel appreciated or their commitment isn’t acknowledged, sooner or later their enthusiasm may wane. They might love your product now, but if (authentic and personal) attention isn’t given, sooner or later they may have their eye caught by the next, possibly better, thing - maybe a competitor spending big to attract them as “new” customers. Oh, the irony!
It’s important to note that appreciation this isn’t always necessarily about money - sometimes the most effective rewards don’t need budget - just imagination and and a degree of thoughtfulness.
This doesn’t just apply to organisations selling products. Time and again we see organisations failing to acknowledge the contribution of their most loyal employees. We all know the type – those in the team that work the hardest and longest, often coming up with great ideas to help your business thrive. If pressed, employers would naturally claim to appreciate them, but it’s rare that they actually tell them so or offer some concrete gesture to underline it. Much more commonly employers lavish all the attention and spend the big(ger?) buck on new hires, who may turn out to be poor performers or ambitious job hoppers who’ll be on their way again soon. Even if the longer-serving loyal soldiers don’t complain, it’s dangerous to assume that they don’t observe this pattern and won’t eventually come to resent it. There’s another difference between the loyal ones and the job hoppers. You usually get early warning that a hopper may hop because, aware that squeaky wheels get oiled, they will demand pay rises / promotions or solicit an offer elsewhere, just so you can match or outmatch it. The loyal types rarely play it that way, and the first thing you will know about it is when their resignation letters lands on your desk. At which point it’s a bit bloody late to start babbling on about how much you appreciate them.
Next week we look at some of the more creative ways we have seen companies reward loyalty, both internally and with their customers. Stay tuned.
Our top picks from around the web:
This is a few weeks old but a good ‘un from David Spinks (as ever) – Find the Turpentine.
Are you involved in or interested in learning more about customer-empowerment and engagement? Why not come to the next Community Unconference on 5th September. Both hybrid and in person (London). Full details here. It is set to be a great event.
Jimmy Daly shares his motivation and process for moving his free offering to paid. Will have 16,000 members come with him?
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