Brand trust and customer loyalty are the two core elements of a successful business. That is why brands and companies strive to establish trust with their elite clients. But bear in mind, “Trust is something you earn.”
We, humans, follow a simple approach, “if someone listens to our pain areas and serves what we need, we trust them.” Also, according to the survey report of Edelman, nearly 88% of participants stated trust is the key factor in deciding whether they purchase.
From the above statement, it is clear that brand trust and customer loyalty should be businesses’ prime goals. To build loyalty and trust, brands must be strict about values and foster communal relationships with clientele.
However, it’s not something you get in overnight. You must maintain patience and take some actionable steps to achieve trust goals. In this post, I’ll explain to you a few ways you can use to build brand trust and long-term relationships with customers.
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Publish Testimonials and Reviews
A good reputation and positive reviews are everything for a brand. When a customer speaks or shares their experience after having your services or product on your behalf, other customers trust their opinion. Think this way: Which do you trust– a brand with no reviews or ample positive testimonials and reviews? You prefer a brand with a positive response from clients.
Trust me; there’s no better campaign strategy than positioning your company as customers’ favorite. For instance, if you’ve got an eCommerce website, encourage buyers to post a review about their recent purchase on the product page. However, if you operate a service business, connect with past or recent customers to share testimonials on the website. You can use answers to make testimonials.
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Be Consistent on Various Channels
Instant replies help to build long-term relationships with customers. They want quick answers to their queries and solve their problems with minimal effort. Try to be active on social media, attend phone calls, and be available through live chat.
This is another way to build your business’s brand trust and customer loyalty. You can also use answering services for the callers to leave a voicemail. Depending on your business size and customer requirements, choose desired social media channels where you can stay in touch with clients.
Most importantly, your executives must see the queries from these channels as omnichannel views. Hence, there are lesser chances of back and forth between customers and the mediator.
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Be Transparent
Customers have the potential to drive your business to the sky or ground. But retaining customers for a long time can be challenging because they’ve plenty of alternatives. Hence, if they find anything odd with products and services, they immediately divert to others or leave a negative comment.
The only way you can retain customer loyalty is to maintain transparency. Getting straightforward about what you provide and how you offer is critical. But it’s the customer’s right to know what they can expect from you before placing an order, signing, or doing business. So, try to provide relevant information and timely update clients about customers.
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Offer Loyalty Program
Brands that create loyalty programs generate more sales and enhance lifetime value. The loyalty programs improve emotional bonds with rewards and repeat incentives. Discounts are great for catering to customers’ attention, but an innovative approach still creates a significant impact in comparison to incentives.
For instance, companies can offer third-party incentive coupons or promotions such as spas, cinemas, and retailer coupons. This helps create a faithful customer community and connect your elite customers with the brand. You can play smartly by combining promotional offers with personalization. The impact of customization is more prominent and helps to hold customers for longer.
The eCommerce websites also offer bonus items for free to frequent purchasers. Some retailers also give early sales access. Regardless of your approach, the ultimate goal is to keep your customers bound to you.
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Nurture Relationships
An eternal customer bond helps improve sales, grow morale, and reduce customer abrasion. Relationships with customers last longer only if you nurture them. For a good relationship, continue communication with customers. No matter what strategy you opt for, the aim is to listen to customers’ demands, understand what they want to convey, and appreciate their decision.
Implementing cord-cutting technology to communicate with clients may seem pricey, but you get all the investment because of a strong client bond. You will likely see positive outcomes and improved revenues when you bind yourself in a long-term bond. This again helps to set a base for customer loyalty and trust.
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Focus on Feedback
Feedbacks are always appreciable because it guides businesses to bring innovation in products. This also benefits in measuring customer satisfaction. If you know what your buyers think about services and products, you can use such information to scale up new strategies. This also helps to move your business in the right direction and run a profitable business.
Remember, customers, look if brands are concerned about the requirements and suggestions given by them or not. Hence, the best way to stay connected is to ask for valuable feedback. Periodically, ask buyers to share their experiences about their recent purchases. Conduct a feedback survey to get valuable responses from clients.
You can add some questions, such as; have your services and products satisfied their needs? How was your experience of using our services? Are you able to receive the support you need? The answers to the survey help to know what your customers think about your services. You can record their responses and change your strategies to build brand trust.
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Follow Customer Centric Approach
Always follow a customer-centric approach to build customer loyalty. Always encourage your employees to adhere to customers’ requirements. Stay on the front step with your staff to attend to queries of customers and solve them on the spot.
Adhering to the customers helps build a positive culture and improve your customer bond. Convincing customers isn’t a piece of cake, but keep trying to win their trust.
Final Thoughts
Brand trust and customer loyalty are the flipsides of coins. More than this, they act as a building block of customer acquaintance. Therefore, you must take care of their needs and show you care for them. Essentially, the final goals are prioritizing your customers and winning their trust to keep them for a long time.
Try new strategies to build brand trust and customer loyalty to lay a strong business foundation. For more information on branding, check out what are the four pillars for building a personal brand.