Building customer loyalty is a challenging task both for B2C and B2B. As a Futurist I'm constantly searching for the best case studies and tactics within this field and what I found so far together with my research team is that it's essential to ensure that you as a business is providing value to your customers at every touchpoint. Here are four intriguing examples of businesses that do this really well:
The moment right after purchase is crucial because that's when your customer is the most engaged and excited about your product or service. And how your customer will use your product or service will effect how much value they will get out of it, which in turn will impact their level of satisfaction. So, at this stage it's important to ensure that your customers use your product or service in the most efficient way. One company that's successfully managing to do this is the accounting and bookkeeping company Xero - to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty they started Xero U, a educational platform for both small businesses and accountants & bookeepers.
This tactic is closely related to the previous one above. Our point here is that you should focus on going beyond guiding your customers on how to use your product or service - instead you should explore how you can educate and inspire your customers in the long term and help them get new insights that could be valuable for their business in the future. One way to do this is by creating inspirational and relevant content that truly resonates with the needs of your customers. This is exactly what Qualcomm Incorporated, a world leader in 3G and next-generation mobile technologies, are doing through their platform called Spark where they share stories about investors and insights about the technologies and trends that will shape the future for their clients.
One of the major challenges with creating long lasting and prosperous relationships with business customers is that you often have several people to communicate with; the influencer, the decision maker and the user. This is why it's essential to create opportunities for dialogue where your customers feel like they can actively reach out to you and ask you anything. In this instance I think a lot of B2B companies can learn from B2C who generally are really good at providing many different communication channels at once. General Electric is one amongst a growing number of big companies that have started to realise how social media can help you position your brand and open up communication channels where customers can interact with your brand. They have proven that companies within "boring" industries also have a chance to stand out and truly inspire people. Check out this article for further readings on GE's social media strategy - How 122-Year-Old General Electric Is Killing It on Social Media. Another company that's worth mentioning in this context is Maersk which we have previously written about; Why Customer Experience and Content are Essential for B2B.
What could you possibly do to improve customer loyalty when you're already guiding, educating and communicating with your customers? Build a digital community! Enable your customers to become more than just customers. Turn them into brand advocates by giving them the opportunity to discuss your product or service. This can be done by hosting physical events where your customers can meet or by arranging forums and platforms where your customers can interact and share ideas, advice and thoughts about your products or services. HubSpot's inbound.org is a fascinating example of a successful community where like-minded customers meet and help each other. This is of course beneficial for both HubSpot and their customers.
On a final note I would like to encourage you to not only limit yourself to these 4 tactics, but instead try to expand your thinking even more and put yourself in the shoes of your customers and consider what he or she actually needs and which problems you can solve in a more seamless fashion.