#199: Loyalty Ideas for Small Companies by Creating Customer Connections (Short Summary Show)

PAULA: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for Loyalty Marketing Professionals.

PAULA: I’m your host, Paula Thomas, and if you work in Loyalty Marketing, join me every week to learn the latest ideas from Loyalty Specialists around the world.

PAULA: This episode is brought to you by Epsilon, and their award-winning People Cloud Loyalty Solution.

PAULA: Personalization should be integrated into the entire customer experience, including, of course, your loyalty program.

PAULA: With this in mind, Epsilon recently released a guide outlining six key components that will put you on the path to personalizing your entire loyalty experience.

PAULA: This guide challenges you to do some housekeeping and reconsider how you think about your current and future loyalty personalization efforts.

PAULA: So, to download your copy of the report, visit epsilon.com forward slash let’s talk loyalty.

PAULA: Hello, and welcome to this week’s short summary episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

PAULA: Today, I’m looking back on an interview with Ali Cudby, who’s the bestselling author of a book called Keep Your Customers.

PAULA: And she’s also the managing director of a company called Alignmint Growth Strategies in the United States.

PAULA: Ali specializes in working with small and medium-sized businesses to create and nurture loyalty with their customers.

PAULA: And she explained to me that the first step is creating a feeling of connection between you and your customers.

PAULA: She believes that when people feel seen and heard and valued by organizations, that’s when they stay engaged, and when of course they don’t choose to leave.

PAULA: With larger companies, sometimes the over-reliance on technology is expected to create this connection.

PAULA: But in fact, it’s more difficult to make that work.

PAULA: One great example we discussed was an online retailer that made returning a purchase extremely difficult and expensive for Ali, a process which probably was very efficient for the retailer.

PAULA: But the effect that process had not only made her upset, even as a loyal customer, but also caused her to tell all her friends and family about it too.

PAULA: From originally being a truly loyal customer, Ali became someone who was no longer certainly feeling connected to what they offer or how they do business.

PAULA: Ali also highlighted how important it is for companies to empower their staff to take every possible care of their customers, especially the most loyal ones.

PAULA: She admitted it’s often a greater short-term cost, but ultimately it’s a long-term investment.

PAULA: And of course, that’s essential if you want to keep those customers returning again and again.

PAULA: Another idea she shared is what she calls random acts of celebration.

PAULA: The idea of doing something special and unexpected for your customers.

PAULA: She really believes it’s often these smaller actions that your customers remember for years to come.

PAULA: Of course, all of these ideas are included in Ali’s book, which she wrote to encourage small businesses to create an organizational culture that delivers on the company’s mission statement.

PAULA: When the team share the mission and it’s visible for customers, it also empowers employees to take actions that aspire to these high standards.

PAULA: Just as in larger companies, Ali really believes that smaller company teams really often do become siloed.

PAULA: And sometimes they start focusing exclusively on acquiring new customers, sometimes at the expense of product quality and often at the expense of retaining the customers you already have.

PAULA: We then discussed subscription-based programs, which Ali refers to as renewal-based businesses.

PAULA: As we all know, in the past, these would have been traditionally offered by the likes of magazines and perhaps software companies.

PAULA: But now, as we all know, lots of new types of retailers are starting to offer these subscription ideas.

PAULA: It’s definitely an important model for businesses to consider.

PAULA: And as we discussed earlier, it requires plenty of patience, understanding and flexibility when customer issues or questions arise.

PAULA: Lastly, we talked about the importance of getting the basics right.

PAULA: We acknowledged, of course, loyalty programs can’t fix either the product or the overall consumer proposition.

PAULA: So of course, they have to be working as well as possible before you layer on an investment in loyalty.

PAULA: As an example, Ali shared a company called Soapbox in the US that had spent so much time and effort working on its social impact that it failed to pay attention to the core product.

PAULA: Unsurprisingly then, it didn’t actually sell.

PAULA: It was only when the team pivoted away from building the marketing ideas and went back to basics to focus on the product when their sales increased exponentially.

PAULA: I came away from this conversation and from Ali’s book with some great reminders of how any organization of any size can think about customer loyalty.

PAULA: So I hope you’ll go back and listen to the original interview.

PAULA: You can find it at letstalkloyalty.com forward slash 67.

PAULA: Now of course we have three shows a week.

PAULA: So firstly, I want to invite you to join me tomorrow when we’re talking about the success of subscriptions for the world famous convenience retailer Circle K.

PAULA: Then on Thursday, we’re back with Epsilon talking about the idea of using your loyalty program to help you acquire as well as retain your profitable customers.

PAULA: Thanks for listening guys.

PAULA: This show is sponsored by The Wise Marketeer, the world’s most popular source of loyalty marketing news, insights and research.

PAULA: The Wise Marketeer also offers loyalty marketing training through its Loyalty Academy, which has already certified over 245 executives in 27 countries as certified loyalty marketing professionals.

PAULA: For more information, check out thewisemarketeer.com and loyaltyacademy.org for information Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

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