There are many factors that impact customer loyalty, beginning with product satisfaction and customer service levels. But an often-forgotten factor is communication — the foundation of any solid relationship.
Every communications interaction with your customers — every touchpoint — is an opportunity to win or lose a customer for life.
Many companies spend most of their marketing dollars attracting new customers. Yet studies show it costs five to ten times as much to win new customers as to keep existing customers engaged with your business. Savvy businesses put building customer relationships at the top of their priority list.
There are many factors that impact customer loyalty, beginning with product satisfaction and customer service levels. But an often-forgotten factor is communication — the foundation of any solid relationship.
Every communications interaction with your customers — every touchpoint — is an opportunity to win or lose a customer for life. Every communication, ranging from branding, marketing and call center initiatives to Web sites, extranets, point-of-purchase, sales process and customer service experiences, becomes a touchpoint that drives customer perceptions, actions and relationships, both positive and negative.
The Customer Relationship Lifecycle begins with awareness, where a potential customer becomes aware of a need or want, and moves through six further relationship stages: knowledge, consideration, selection, satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.
By mapping all of a company’s touchpoints according to their position in the customer relationship lifecycle (CRL), businesses can evaluate their current situation and develop a roadmap for greater success.
Touchpoints can be used as levers, moving prospects or clients from one stage of the lifecycle to another – say, from consideration to selection or from satisfaction to advocacy — driving them closer to your company along all the stages of the CRL.
Steps to effective TouchPoint Relationship Marketing
- Identify your prime target customers, what they perceive as value, what would induce them to buy from you, why they might leave, what would make them stay, and what would inspire them to buy more.
- Develop a comprehensive strategy to create and offer true value to attract, retain, and develop relationships with your target customers.
- Map the customer experience and develop an ongoing dialogue with your customers at every communications touchpoint to move them along the prospect-to-customer-to-advocate continuum.
- Train, motivate and empower your employees and channel partners to acquire customers and deliver superior service.
- Measure results, capture key lessons, obtain customer feedback, and use all this knowledge to refine the program.