home Business How to measure it and increase it. Key ways to increase customer loyalty The most effective tool for increasing loyalty is quality management

How to measure it and increase it. Key ways to increase customer loyalty The most effective tool for increasing loyalty is quality management

The topic of increasing customer loyalty worries many businessmen. For anyone interested in this issue, we offer an article by John Fraser-Robinson, which contains useful advice and interesting thoughts on how to conquer and increase customer loyalty.

Participants in the modern business space attach great importance to building relationships with clients. The entire field of marketing, sales and service puts the task of increasing customer loyalty at the forefront. It’s no wonder that experts from these areas assign such an important role to customer loyalty. But do not forget that the commitment and trust of customers will bring success to the entire enterprise, the company as a whole. Therefore, all employees without exception should worry about this indicator.

In the modern business world, one method of increasing competitiveness is replaced by another, and often such fashion trends pass without a trace, both for the company and for the business market as a whole (for example, the philosophy of total quality management - TQM). But such an indicator as customer loyalty is a measure of stability and reliability. Experience has shown that the pursuit of end-customer satisfaction did not bring the expected results, it only created unnecessary hassle for the buyer in the form of a huge number of questionnaires to fill out, and the policy aimed at building customer loyalty has stood the test of time.

In reality, being overly concerned with customer satisfaction metrics is like trying to measure the temperature of the water with your pinky finger before jumping into the pool. Customer loyalty and satisfaction are of different natures. When it comes to loyalty, we mean the actions of customers, and not their verbal assessment of a particular product. For example, if a customer repeatedly buys the same product, this is a specific action that allows us to talk about loyalty.

What factors can influence customer loyalty?

First of all, customer loyalty is influenced by:

Each of the above indicators plays an important role in the formation of a loyalty system. Loyalty management strategy developed taking into account logic and emotions. What does it mean? For example, the cost of a product and its quality can be logically justified. And factors such as quality of service and the client’s attitude towards the company lie strictly in the emotional plane. To effectively manage loyalty, marketers should balance the use of logic and customer emotions, as they mutually influence each other. Achieving a high level of business elements based on emotions will allow you to focus all your efforts on building relationships with clients.

The combination of these factors represents an integral system, but for a clearer picture, it is necessary to consider each of them separately.

The price of the product

Businessmen often attach too much importance to price. This is certainly an important factor, but don't go overboard in trying to influence customer priorities with price. Companies use a loyalty management strategy to minimize the impact of price on customer attitudes. When you earn the client's trust, price will no longer be the determining factor for him when choosing your product, the buyer will appreciate your product or services. This does not mean that price cannot be used to influence loyalty, but when setting the price, one should not forget about the benefits and prospects for the further development of the company.

Product quality

A customer will not repurchase your product if it does not meet the stated quality level. For example, if a device breaks down before the end of its service life, this will affect not only the client’s attitude towards a specific product, but also his attitude towards the manufacturer as a whole. Actions aimed at increasing customer loyalty will be crowned with success when the proposed products meet or even exceed consumer expectations.

Fulfillment of delivery conditions

Fulfilling delivery conditions is not just about delivering the goods to the specified address. Delivery is a way to create corporate reputation and identification; it is a kind of promise you make to the customer. There is a significant difference between supply and technical distribution. Distribution of goods is a chain of logically meaningful operations that occur at a stage far from the final consumer, that is, it is the process of distributing material flow between various wholesale buyers.

When it comes to delivery, it means direct, uninterrupted contact with the client. A policy aimed at increasing customer loyalty presupposes the uninterrupted functioning of the communication channel with the consumer and the readiness to respond to his request at any time of the day.

Quality of service

Experience shows that customer-focused businesses place a premium on service. This is difficult for large corporations and holding companies, whose “sluggishness” and deep-rooted connections often prevent them from delivering to the consumer. This cannot be said about representatives of small businesses, who have greater freedom of action in this area, since they are not burdened with various “protocols” and traditional structures. For example, it will not be difficult for a small company to satisfy a non-standard, unusual desire of a client, since it is free and dynamic in its decisions and actions.

The above does not mean that large companies do not have the opportunity to become as customer-centric as possible. They just need more effort and time to do this: create a competent management culture, properly organize the HR department, change the organizational structure, etc. To increase customer loyalty, large companies need to be more mobile and energetic.

Client's attitude

Any company wants to earn the recognition and respect of customers. And it doesn’t matter which clients we are talking about: individual consumers or other organizations. The approaches to loyalty management are the same in any case. In order for the client to prioritize in your favor, give each employee his own separate client base, this will make it easier for him to build a trusting relationship with them. The employee will be able to identify the individual needs of each client, which will have a beneficial effect on his loyalty to the company.

So, to influence customer loyalty and earn their respect, attention and trust, you need to systematically and diligently work on the five indicators mentioned above. Only an integrated approach to ways to increase customer loyalty will lead to the intended goal. We should not forget about the need to combine experience based on logic (issues of price, product quality, delivery) with experience based on customer emotions (service, subjective attitude of the client).

On the issue of emotions. How does the client feel when he deals with your company, how does he feel about it? The answer to this question should concern any company. The emotional aspect should not be ignored. Many methods of building customer loyalty are ineffective only because they pay insufficient attention to factors based on emotions and feelings.

How to measure loyalty?

Here are some questions that will help you measure your customer loyalty:

What do customers say about the company? – indicator of customer satisfaction;
How long ago was your last purchase? – an indicator of the relevance of a product or service;
How often are purchases made? – an indicator of how regularly the client uses your services;
How long has the person (or organization) been your client? – indicator of the duration of the relationship with the client;
How much do customers spend? – value indicator in monetary terms;
What reviews do consumers leave about you? – will allow you to consider the advice and suggestions of your clients;
How much of their spending do customers keep with your company and your competitors? – an indicator of the share of the client’s expenses.

Why do you need to know what part of your expenses customers “keep” in your company? It is necessary to analyze your customers’ expenses on your products in order to build the right marketing policy and assess the level of consumer loyalty. The client is loyal and committed to your company as long as the share of your products in his expenses is 70-80%, when this figure is below 50%, the client will easily accept the offer of your competitors. This indicator requires accuracy, not approximate calculations. This question can be asked directly to the client, and based on accurate data, a strategy for further development can be built.

Another important question every businessman should ask himself is: are customers willing to help your company? Customer help primarily lies in their desire and willingness to spread positive or negative reviews about your company. People are often more willing to answer a question about their willingness to make recommendations than a question about their desire to purchase more of your products. This valuable type of information will also help calculate moves in creating a loyalty system.

Results:

To develop an effective strategy for increasing customer loyalty, you need to constantly study and analyze their needs. In addition, studying the opinions and recommendations of customers will allow you to understand the shortcomings and strengths of the company, be it a corporation or a small organization. Being sensitive and interested in your customers will help you earn their trust and respect. In addition, you should take into account the costs that the company incurred to acquire a new client and the real value of the existing one. This information will allow

A way to increase loyalty

To increase the reliability, devotion, loyalty, and sympathy of employees for the organization, it is necessary to develop various organizational measures that will increase the level of loyalty among staff to the required level. Include these activities in the overall program for developing the loyalty of the organization’s personnel.

Types of events

To develop and increase the level of loyalty, develop activities that will allow you to: create a working atmosphere with respectful and attentive attitude towards employees; introduce norms of organizational justice into organizations; instill in employees a sense of pride in working in this organization with these colleagues. It is also important to develop activities that will increase employee loyalty during selection and adaptation; training, assessment, motivation, rotation, dismissal, and in other areas of personnel management.

Respect and attention to employees

It is possible to increase the level of loyalty only if employees are treated with respect and attentiveness by both management and HR staff. This is where you need to start developing activities to develop loyalty.

It is important to celebrate the successes of employees in material and intangible form, congratulate them on their birthdays, family celebrations, take care of comfort in the workplace, provide mandatory (and, if possible, more than mandatory) sanitation standards, comply with labor safety standards, listen to requests and recommendations for improving conditions labor, life and health insurance, etc.

The sincere interest of the immediate supervisor in the employee as an individual often has a very strong motivational effect, which increases the employee’s loyalty to the organization as a whole. It is important to convey to the employee the idea that he is important and the organization cares about him. To do this, it is necessary to pay attention to this fact to the immediate supervisors of employees, and, if necessary, train them in tools for motivating staff.

Organizational justice

The higher employees rate the fairness of organizational decisions, the more they believe that the organization cares about them, the more they identify with it, demonstrate greater involvement in the process, and the more proud they are of it.

This behavior of management instills in employees greater trust, respect and affection for him, and also sets employees up for a more positive attitude towards colleagues of equal status, which improves the overall psychological climate in the team.

The management of the organization in daily affairs when making decisions must maintain neutrality, goodwill and give subordinates the opportunity to maintain their reputation in any situation. It is this behavior that employees regard as proof that the manager has accurate information about what is happening, understands the needs of his subordinates, is polite and respects his team, and this in turn increases loyalty to him and the organization as a whole.

It is also important that employees feel that they are receiving fair pay for their work. This concept of payment fairness is most fully described by the theory of Equity.

Cultivating a sense of pride

The emergence and strengthening of loyalty is helped by a sense of pride in the organization. This feeling arises, of course, based on the understanding that the organization is not only advanced, well-known, a strong competitor, occupies a leading position in the market, etc., but also takes care of its staff, the environment, is engaged in charity work, participates in social projects, that is the scope of her activities goes beyond the goal of making more money.

Also, pride in the team is often caused by smaller factors: high salaries, a strong benefits package, implemented advanced innovative ideas, lifelong employment, the history of the fall and rise of the organization, etc.

Specially designed internal and external PR campaigns help instill a sense of pride. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the fact that if PR companies do not have real achievements and great deeds, then they will give rise to distrust and disrespect for management in the team, which will reduce the level of staff loyalty.

Loyalty in selection

Even at the stage of searching and evaluating candidates, select and hire only those who, in addition to mandatory professional requirements, share the corporate values of the organization and were loyal to the previous employer.

Such candidates can be found if the organization has defined core organizational values, a developed corporate culture, and its rules and regulations are clearly defined and described in the organization’s regulatory document. Based on this document, it is necessary to develop questions to evaluate candidates and insert them into the interview plan, candidate questionnaire, questionnaire and other documents that help evaluate candidates.

Tell us, what were your relationships like at your previous places of work?
Were you comfortable working in previous organizations, why?
What in human relationships at previous places of work was important and positive for you and what was unacceptable?
What do you think is the ideal relationship between employees of an organization?
What do you think the relationship between an employee and an organization should be?
Should there be mutual obligations between the employee and the organization, what are these obligations?

During the interview, check whether the candidate shows any signs of disloyalty. Strive to avoid hiring employees who are unable to adhere to corporate rules and regulations.

Loyalty during onboarding

Separate the employee adaptation process into a separate HR management unit, which requires special attention from HR specialists and direct supervisors of newcomers. Develop a regulation on the adaptation of the organization’s personnel, and, if possible, develop a mentoring system.

If during adaptation the organization conducts an introductory course, then include in its program a separate block with the corporate values of the organization. Tell employees the history of the development and growth of the organization, its mission, success stories of employees, etc. Strive to instill in newcomers pride in working in this organization at the very beginning of their work in it.

Loyalty in learning

If an employee sees that management plans his professional development and career advancement, then he will be more loyal to the organization.

In this regard, it is necessary to develop a development strategy for your organization, individual groups, departments, and divisions. Draw up a general plan for staff training, develop an individual development plan for the most valuable employees.

Loyalty in evaluation

Personnel assessment is often a procedure that, if not properly prepared, can harm staff loyalty. If employees do not have clear information about the purpose of the assessment, do not understand its consequences, are not familiar with the assessment procedure and do not trust the appraisers, then this event will only cause negativity and fear, and these emotions always affect the general attitude towards the organization and management.

In this regard, when conducting an assessment, it is important, first of all, to observe the principle of “do no harm”, that is, set a goal - to maintain the same level of loyalty, not to reduce it after the completion of the assessment procedure. In this regard, it is necessary to pay the main attention of the assessment organizers to conducting preparatory information work to reduce stress and dissatisfaction among employees.

Only after all the preparatory work has been completed can you think through measures to increase the level of loyalty. For example, hold a post-evaluation meeting with employees, provide them with high-quality positive feedback and tell them about further actions of management in relation to employees. Also, an assessment can increase loyalty if, after it is carried out, the organization revises the system of remuneration and incentives and introduces new fair improvements, etc.

Loyalty and Need Satisfaction

Regularly check your employees' job satisfaction and identify their immediate needs. Employee loyalty is almost always high when he is satisfied:

remuneration (he considers it fair) and social package;
leadership (his behavior, values, attitude towards himself, etc.);
working conditions;
intensity, content and effectiveness of work;
career and personal development;
relationships in the team;
quantity and quality of information about the organization’s goals and development plans;
feedback from management and team, etc.

The system of material and non-material incentives for personnel is designed to increase employee satisfaction in the organization.

Loyalty and corporate culture

Conduct regular corporate events aimed at uniting the team and instilling in it corporate values, rules and norms of behavior. Such events include both serious team-building events - trainings, team-building, focus groups and brainstorming sessions, as well as informal communication, for example, at corporate parties, during joint leisure time. You can also organize all kinds of competitions and contests.

If you think that conversion optimization ends when a user converts into a lead, you are sadly mistaken. And this misconception will cost you a lot of money. Conversion is good, but you shouldn’t stop there: stable income comes not from “one-time” leads, but from loyal customers.
Customer loyalty is a nebulous concept, but no matter how experts define it, one thing is clear: loyalty promises long-term benefits.

What is customer loyalty

In general, loyalty is the repeated choice of a consumer in favor of one company or product given the available alternatives. This attitude is often measured using various indicators, such as cross-purchase (intention to buy another product from your company), brand/company recommendations to other consumers, etc.

The European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) is probably the most popular of all non-financial KPIs. Essentially, it is the average of all the components that contribute to customer satisfaction.

Marketers use a variety of tools to measure customer loyalty, but they all say the same thing: a loyal customer will continue to use your product.

Customer loyalty is sometimes confused with customer loyalty, as well as retention, but there are significant differences (albeit small) between these terms. Retention is one indicator of behavioral loyalty, while customer satisfaction with a product or UX is not always related to loyalty (that is, it is not a guarantee that the customer will definitely choose you in the future).

Why Optimize Your Customer Loyalty Program

Loyal customers tend to spend more, buy more often, and tell more people about your brand.

Every study conducted by marketers in this area proves the undeniable cost-effectiveness of customer loyalty. However, experts pay very little attention to it. Why is this happening? Firstly, increasing customer loyalty often depends only on the company’s corporate policy. Loyalty is the responsibility of not only the marketer, but also every employee of the company. This is the only way the program can become truly effective. Secondly, the cost of a loyalty strategy is not so easy to “justify” to management due to the fact that it will not pay for itself in a day or two; the results are sometimes not so easy to measure, which means it is more difficult to prove the return on investment. But if you want customers to choose you again and again, providing you with a stable income, it's worth stepping over these barriers. Let's look at 6 tips to increase customer loyalty.

1. Where to start

If you provide, say, software, in an environment with limited or no competition, then customer loyalty will not be very relevant to your business.

If you are trying to convert a regular customer into a loyal one using a service, you will get a customer with a “lifetime” marker (in most cases). If you do this using social networks, then in addition to this you can create word of mouth.

At the initial stage, your efforts can be focused on improving the user experience; as a bonus, you will receive not only an increase in loyalty, but also an increase in the conversion rate.

2. Reduce customer effort

One way to improve user experience, as well as customer loyalty, is to reduce cognitive load and make everything as simple as possible.

Harvard Business School research shows that reducing customer effort is a key factor in building loyal relationships. Why? A simple pattern creates a habit, and habit plays an important role in loyalty.

For example, if the application is easy to use, the customer is more likely to become a repeat user. If even the main menu for him is Chinese writing, you can say goodbye to dreams of his loyalty.

Ease of use is what A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin call "cumulative advantage" and is the foundation on which a company builds its initial competitive advantage. Our brain is very lazy. He does not want to waste energy on operations with a high level of complexity if competitors offer something simpler and clearer, experts say. For example, the best way to declare that a phone is waterproof is not to provide cumbersome calculations of some formulas for a new material, but simply to show it in practice. In this case, simplicity is the key to success.

Why are hundreds of users opening Amazon's website right now? Because it is intuitive and because they are used to it. Why do you use a certain search engine? Because you understand it and you are used to it. Your brain doesn't want to look for other options unless absolutely necessary.

Of course, these thoughts are more typical for the B2C market, but in any area, decisions, first of all, are made by real people.

3. Repetition is critical to habit formation.

If a user bought your product, but then disappeared into the fog, this is a huge loss. Don't let him get lost!

Every time a customer selects your product, it gains an advantage over all alternatives that were not selected. And this gap widens with every purchase. Everything is important in habit formation, but one of the most significant aspects is design. You shouldn’t develop it just “to be”; create it from scratch in order to form a habit. Of course, this is not an easy topic and you won’t be able to get one single correct piece of advice on how to achieve this, but it’s worth thinking about it at the “before” stage.

Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover described the “hook” model: a four-step process that should be used to create consumer habits (investment - trigger - action - reward)

Your ultimate goal is to lead the user to the point where he does not think about the choice and does not analyze it, but makes it automatically.

4. Loyalty and gamification

Of course, in optimizing a loyalty program, the product itself plays an important role (because if its qualities leave the best, it is not so easy to encourage the client to make repeat purchases), but the methods themselves, for example, the use of gamification principles, should not be overlooked. How to apply them in practice? There are many ways, here are just a few (by the way, the popular Duolingo application successfully uses them):

Points/points in a variety of variations
Achievements
Competition (comparison with other users)

5. Invest in fans

Always take care of your customers and don't let current challenges overshadow this fundamental principle. But in reality, there are so few companies that can be called customer-centric.

What does customer centricity mean? There are several main principles:

Peep Laja, founder of CXL, has repeatedly spoken about the importance of shared values. This is an incredibly powerful mechanism for creating long-term customer loyalty (assuming the values are real and important, of course).

Marketing research shows that customers are loyal not to the brand itself, but to the values that the brand promotes. As researcher Aaron Lotton notes, there is certainly an emotional attachment to a brand, but loyalty begins with shared values that unite a particular consumer and a brand.

In 1983, Harley-Davidson was on the verge of going out of business, but by 2008 it was valued at $7.8 billion and had become one of the most recognizable brands in the world. The success was caused, in particular, by the brand strategy: Harley-Davidson is not just a brand, it is a brand that has its own spirit, its own history.

Within the framework of this recommendation, you can go from the opposite: find the “enemy,” that is, the opposite of the brand. Users want to feel like they are part of a group anyway, and this can be a group for or against something. For example, if Apple positions itself as a brand chosen by the young and progressive, it turns out that Microsoft users become the opposite, and vice versa.

Instead of appealing to a sense of group cohesion, you pit the group against another (hypothetical, of course), real or imagined. An example of such a strategy is Chubbies and its antagonism to office plankton.

By positioning itself against these ideals, the company forms its own cohesion groups.

There are many ways to measure loyalty, but one of the most popular is (Net Promoter Score). This index for determining consumer commitment to a product or company includes several steps.

Consumers are asked to answer the question “What is the likelihood that they will recommend the company/product/brand to their friends/acquaintances/colleagues?” on a 10-point scale, where 0 corresponds to the answer “I would not recommend under any circumstances”, and 10 corresponds to “I will definitely recommend”.
Further, based on the data obtained, all consumers are divided into 3 groups: 9-10 points - supporters of the product/brand, 7-8 points - neutral consumers (passives), 0-6 points - critics (detractors).
As a result, the NPS index is calculated. NPS = % of supporters - % of detractors.

High conversions to you!

In conditions of high competition among producers of goods and services, the consumer becomes the key figure, and the concept of loyalty basis, which contributes to sales growth, the formation of a positive image of the enterprise, and increasing its competitiveness, comes to the fore.

Is customer loyalty a fashion brand or the real basis for success?

Researchers were able to prove that a new buyer costs the company several times more than one who has already made a purchase and is ready to continue cooperation - and because of his loyalty.

In marketing, customer loyalty is fidelity, commitment to a particular company, brand, product. The first attempts to achieve this attitude from buyers were made almost a hundred years ago in the United States. However, this process flourished in developed countries in the last decades of the 20th century.

Western marketers linked customer loyalty with the company’s customer focus, rightly believing that these are two sides of the same coin. Customer retention programs were built to meet the specific needs of target groups - and this led to the desired result: the share of loyal customers grew and the company's profits increased.

In the 21st century, loyalty marketing began to gain popularity among Russian manufacturing and trading companies. This was due to a change in the economic situation in the country: domestic industry started working, real incomes of the population increased, and effective demand increased. And so, focusing on Western experience, Russian enterprises began to implement ready-made programs that have proven themselves well in developed countries. But not all of them achieved the final goal and a significant increase in customer loyalty was not always observed.

The lack of impact from these programs is not due to their ineffectiveness. The reasons lie on a different plane: companies did not study their consumers, did not understand their priorities when making purchases, and did not motivate their staff to provide quality customer service.

Portrait of a loyal customer

In its activities, the company must focus on the target audience - those people who will be interested in the goods or services offered. However, only some buyers can become loyal customers. Their main features are:

satisfaction with cooperation/purchases;
a friendly attitude towards the company and its products;
formation of a positive image of the organization in private conversation or social networks;
regularly made purchases;
loyalty to the company when competitors appear with similar offers.

From these criteria, the conclusion suggests itself: a regular customer is one who periodically makes purchases at the company; loyal is a customer who receives satisfaction from regular purchases from a given company. Consistency has rational roots and is based on the convenient location of the store/company, low prices, constant discounts, and high quality of goods. Customer loyalty is his behavior associated with an emotional component. It arises as a reaction to friendly and prompt service, quick resolution of problems, and attention to the needs of the buyer.

Factors of loyalty formation

Potential buyers want to see a set of certain characteristics in the offered products - high quality, a wide range of possibilities for its use, novelty, optimal price, etc. In addition, they expect a positive attitude from the company towards themselves and their problems associated with the acquisition and consumption of goods.

The task of management is to study the needs and requests that affect customer loyalty. This will allow you to determine the main factors that contribute to the formation of customer loyalty. Practical experience shows that such factors include:

company priorities in the field of quality;
breadth of assortment;
the ability to order (produce) goods that are not in the catalogue;
positive experience of interaction between the client and the company’s staff when placing an order;
flexible system of discounts and bonuses;
related services required by the buyer (delivery, including free delivery; setup, installation of complex equipment; packaging or processing of products, etc.);
success, fame of the company, its participation in projects.

This is not a complete list of loyalty factors, since buyers differ in their ideas about the ideal seller or manufacturer. To understand the priorities of clients, it is advisable to periodically conduct opinion polls in the target group. Only in this case can you understand what is most important for the buyer - discounts, assortment features, additional services or the nature of the relationship in the chain “buyer - company employee”.

Loyalty indicators

Buyer commitment to a particular company can be measured using various techniques. The main indicator of customer loyalty is the NPS (Net Promoter Score) index, which was proposed only at the beginning of the 21st century.

Its essence lies in the fact that the client must decide how much he trusts the company, brand or product, how confident he is in it in order to recommend it to his best friends and close relatives. The answer is selected from the lowest probability of a recommendation (1 point) to the highest probability (10 points).

The customer loyalty index allows us to highlight three:

critic/detractor - a dissatisfied client who leaves bad reviews (probability of recommending to close people - from 1 to 6 points);
neutral - the buyer is satisfied with the cooperation, but generally does not show recommendation activity (from 7 to 8 points);
a loyal client (also called a promoter) is a satisfied client who recommends the organization to his family and friends (from 9 to 10 points).

NPS is calculated - customer loyalty as the share of promoters in the total number of respondents.

Another, no less important, indicator of customer loyalty is the level of their outflow. It is equal to the ratio of customers who refused to cooperate (purchase) during the year to the total number of customers. Repeat purchase rate is calculated based on the number of times a particular brand is purchased per 10 total purchases.

Levels and stages of building customer loyalty

Marketers identify three ascending levels of loyalty, namely: satisfaction with the purchase, commitment to a particular brand, and the formation of partnerships between the client and the organization.

Forming consumer loyalty involves the following stages of developing customer loyalty:

Focusing the attention of potential buyers through advertising on the company's products or services.
Accompanying a new client from the moment of purchase, using discount systems.
Working with regular customers based on creating additional emotional value associated with repeated contacts. Signs of attention and small gifts are important. The reasons for the persistence should be determined.
Maintaining high quality products and service by the company, studying and satisfying customer requests in order to transfer him to the category of adherents.

At the first stage, the buyer learns about the existence of a product (service) with the required characteristics, and he also creates an image of the product. If it is positive, then the purchase is made. For loyalty to arise, it is necessary that what is acquired corresponds to established expectations.

The second and third stages are marked by the fact that they lay down and consolidate the idea of the organization and its relationship to customers. The fourth unites and cements everything positive that was previously offered to the client.

Basic approaches to building customer loyalty

There are several basic approaches that allow you to create a loyal customer. The most common ones are the following:

stimulating consumption, aimed at constantly studying the demand of target customers and developing offers that allow them to most fully satisfy it;
differentiation of the offer, allowing a product or service to create a unique value for the client and stand out among competitors, for example, through the use of new technologies;
identifying customers who can be the most loyal and building long-term cooperation programs with them;
erecting high switching barriers through loyalty programs.

These approaches are interrelated with each other. Thus, the most advanced loyalty program will not work if the buyer is offered products that are not interesting to him and are not in demand. When a brand stands out among its peers, distinguished by quality and special beneficial properties, the number of its adherents will only grow.

Loyalty programs

The loyalty program is a combination of various marketing activities. It allows you to stimulate the buyer’s commitment to both the company itself and its products, declared life values. This leads not only to repeat purchases, but also to the consumer maintaining a positive image of the organization.

The most common are bonus programs that give you the opportunity to receive points when making a purchase. When a certain amount of them is accumulated, they are exchanged for any product of the corresponding value. Some advanced foreign companies award points for a healthy lifestyle and its promotion on social networks based on personal example.

Sometimes the amount of purchases is taken into account; when it reaches a given threshold, this will entitle you to free shipping, participation in a win-win lottery, priority access to new products, an increase in the percentage of discounts, etc.

Instead of a conclusion: the main rules for creating a loyal customer

The main indicator of customer loyalty is their loyalty to the enterprise and brand. Therefore, when developing measures for its formation, it is necessary to take into account the following simple rules:

the product or service offered must fully comply with the buyer’s idea of its quality, characteristics, and benefits;
staff behavior must be customer-oriented - friendly, helpful, aimed at solving customer problems;
you should choose a loyalty program that provides both material benefits from regular purchases (saving money) and moral satisfaction from the purchased goods and services (prestigious brand - a standard of quality; purchasing products from a company that cares about environmental protection, etc. .).

This approach will bring results in the form of a noticeable layer of loyal customers who can increase the organization’s profits and strengthen its positive image.

Oksana Butorina, managing director of a recruiting company Pride Consulting Group:

Recently, especially during the crisis, it has become fashionable to talk about building employee loyalty to the company. This is motivated by the fact that, according to managers, which they borrowed from trainings and books, loyal employees work more efficiently and more easily make unpopular decisions aimed at stabilizing and preserving the business. And indeed it is. However, no matter how actively loyalty programs are developed and implemented, according to ongoing surveys, employee loyalty and productivity have been steadily declining over the past year.

Why is this happening? St O It is important to pay attention to the fact that the formation of loyalty begins not with the development of a special program, but with the consistent construction of the company’s policy in relation to its employees, clients, and partners.

First of all, it is important to honestly adhere to the accepted mission and principles. If a company openly declares democratic principles of management, but in fact implements an authoritarian leadership style, if the company talks about customer focus and at the same time customer service managers are rude on the phone, then a new employee will very quickly catch this tendency of “insincerity”, in which all attempts to form loyalty will be reduced to nothing.

In fact, building loyalty- this is not so much a consequence of the implementation of a specific program, but the result of a well-thought-out company policy, a mirror reflection of the attitude of the company management towards its employees.

To form true and effective loyalty, the basic principles of any business must include sincere respect and concern for the needs of people. What do people need?

Firstly, clear and transparent management system. Understanding the hierarchy, delimitation of powers, areas of responsibility and decision-making give employees a sense of stability and confidence. In addition, a system of two-way communication within the company is important, which allows you to create an atmosphere of trust and, as a result, responsibility for business development.
Secondly, all people want to be proud of what they do, so business competitiveness will definitely affect the increase in employee loyalty towards the employer.
Thirdly, sincere respect from the leader And friendly relations with colleagues and who will quickly form a desire to work for the benefit of this particular company.
Fourthly, opportunity to be heard. Loyalty will be formed if the company provides any employee with the opportunity to develop personally and professionally, and will notice and appreciate the contribution of each employee to the overall success of the company.
Fifthly, decent reward. If an employee receives wages below the market wage, then he will always consider himself undervalued. In this case, loyalty and, as a consequence, labor costs and efficiency decrease very quickly.
At sixth, confidence, which is especially appreciated by mature, qualified specialists. This can be expressed, for example, in self-management, the ability to choose a work schedule, ABOUT greater independence when making decisions, personal responsibility for the results of the project, etc.

In addition, the loyalty of employees depends on the loyalty of the leader (the example of a leader is very important), his attitude towards work and the disloyalty of subordinates.

One can also say about such an aspect as decent working conditions, extended compensation package etc. The latter, of course, requires considerable expenses, which, however, according to experts who practice such motivation, are paid off precisely by loyalty and high labor efficiency.

Yulia Gubanova, Head of the HR Department of the Representative Office in Russia and the CIS of the company BBK Electronics Corp., LTD.:

IN Copenhagen School of Marketing calculated that if loyalty workers increases by 1, then customer loyalty increases by 1.25. And if loyalty client grew by 1% , then profit will increase in the next quarter by 0.885%. Russian companies today are increasingly paying attention to employee loyalty and implementing various programs to increase the level of staff loyalty.

The main thing in the process of increasing employee loyalty is to constantly diagnose the state of affairs in the work team, conduct surveys, and write blogs in which employees can express their opinions. Having an active intranet portal helps a lot with this.

The company has an interesting project to increase loyalty Intel, which invites former employees to special quarterly meetings (optional), where senior management of the company is scheduled to speak. These employees are a real reserve for Intel, which can help the company in case of unforeseen circumstances. Even after employees leave the company, they maintain constant contact with it. Our company also has a similar micro-project: we periodically invite our former employees to internal events.

The most well-known tools for increasing staff loyalty are:

Communicating the company’s corporate mission to employees;
Internal corporate media (newspaper, newsletter, portal);
Corporate team building training;
Collaboration on projects;
Competitions and competitions in companies;
Activities that allow employees to feel proud of their company.

Pavel Tsypin, independent consultant in the field of human resources management:

As you know, employee loyalty can be external And internal.

External loyalty is characterized by compliance with all rules and procedures established in the organization, as well as the adoption of corporate culture at the level of behavior within the company.
Internal loyalty is associated with the employee’s way of thinking, with how close his personal values are to the company’s philosophy.

Based on this, it is clear that achieving external loyalty is quite simple. As a rule, this is achieved by introducing procedures for monitoring the activities of employees: from “entry-exit” control to multi-stage control over the completion of tasks related to the company’s business. In any case, the increase external loyalty mainly carried out through large-scale programs affecting either the entire company or its individual services.

Increased internal loyalty is achieved significantly O greater effort on the part of the company than achieving external. The main factors for increasing internal loyalty it could be considered:

Honesty from management. Whatever the difficulties the company is experiencing, truthful and timely information about it creates a positive impression among employees and, as a rule, wins them over to the side of management. Trust is the most important factor in growing loyalty.
Control of employee activities. Lack of control corrupts even the most disciplined employee. The understanding that his activities will be checked forces him to be more demanding of himself and try to perform his duties better. But here it is very important to ensure the inevitability of checks.
Fair reward. Although fairness is a rather subjective concept, there are still some generally accepted concepts. If a significant number of employees believe that the payment policy towards them is unfair, then their loyalty will gradually decrease - even to the point of “leaking” information to competitors.
Adequate tasks. The clarity and adequacy of work assignments to the capabilities and qualifications of the employee increases his satisfaction with his own work and respect for the company and its management (regardless of the employee’s status in the company’s hierarchy).
Properly organized working hours. Excessive and unreasonable workloads, as well as constant overtime, quickly kill the loyalty of even the most motivated employees.
Productive team relationships, mentoring. Companionship and friendly relations can compensate for many shortcomings of work and contribute to the growth of internal loyalty of employees.

Dmitry Monaenko, HR Director of an Internet hypermarket Dostavka.ru:

Question " How to increase employee loyalty?" - this is from the series "to be or not to be." The problem is urgent at any time of the year, in any organization and in any situation in the team. No matter how good it is, as they say, “there is no limit to perfection.” There are many options for measures and actions, the secret of their correct use lies in the consistency, timeliness and complexity of the projects being implemented.

However, the most important thing is why O Let's start with this - this is a “healthy climate” in the work team. After all, very often it is for the sake of a good team that people are ready to endure poor working conditions, meekly wait for the salary for the month before last, work overtime and believe, for the twentieth time, that now they will certainly not be deceived... now everything will be fine!

- So, the first step to unwavering loyalty is friendly staff, good attitude towards people And "healthy climate"
- This is followed by such banal “little things” as timely payment of wages, registration according to Labor Code and payment of all required compensations, payment of sick leave and vacations. You will say - but this is guaranteed by law! Is it true? Ask your friends which of them receives “money for children” (tax deduction), or better yet, start with which of them has a “white” salary...
- And now we come to real loyalty programs. Who is stopping you from feeding your dear and beloved employee? Expensive? There is no need to pay for dinner for two in a French restaurant - find a canteen on site and agree on tasty and healthy food “for an inexpensive price.” Taking into account the mass scale (if you have more than 5 people in the company), I believe that significant discounts are possible. Still expensive? Give people compensation for lunch, even 50 rubles!
- Is everyone full? And we still have travel and communications! And also options from unlimited to 50 rubles for compensation (from each according to their capabilities).
- All? Have the listed “delicacies” become the norm and have already become familiar? This means it’s time to look for a sports complex/swimming pool/solarium/kindergarten/sculpting club nearby (depending on the team, depending on what is closer to your spirit). And the fact that out of 100 applicants usually only 25-40% use the offered “benefits” will allow you to save significantly! Whether they use it or not, the main thing is that you have such a benefit! (The principle of any insurance company).
- Tired of wasting time on trifles? This means it’s time to move on to large-scale programs. If you can’t afford to take all your employees to a spa hotel on the seashore right now... BUT going with the whole team for a picnic (economy option)/for horseback riding/skeet shooting/to the nearby Romashka sanatorium - here there is already somewhere to roam!

To summarize, I would like to note that the main thing is How the benefits offered will be accepted by the team. As practice shows, sometimes 50 rubles compensation for lunch brings more joy than taking your families to the sea. Therefore, in each specific case, it is necessary to take into account and correlate the specifics of the work team and your financial capabilities, because you are unlikely to be able to take back the offered bonuses peacefully. And by using a combined mixture of several inexpensive projects, you can not spend much, and sincerely please the entire friendly team! For the benefit of the common goal and His Majesty the result!

Evgenia Lyubimova, company HR manager VKS:

It’s no longer a secret that personnel decides everything! Especially during a crisis. Many companies have undergone and are still undergoing various changes as the number of employees has decreased and the volume of work has increased, tasks have become more complex, etc. Therefore, now more than ever, loyal employees can help companies survive and grow further without requiring salary increases or other additional benefits.

Loyalty is usually understood as loyalty and dedication of employees to the goals and values of the organization. In other words, these are employees who understand and accept the company’s corporate culture. How can we ensure that there are as many such workers in the company as possible? First of all, even at the personnel selection stage, it is necessary to pay attention to how well the applicant meets the requirements of the corporate culture, as well as what the candidate’s expectations are from working in this organization. After all, if expectations and needs are not met, then you cannot expect a good attitude towards the company either. O it.

To increase staff loyalty, it is necessary (at a minimum) to comply with the following conditions:

fair remuneration for work,
meeting the personal needs of employees in professional and personal growth and development,
honest and open employer-employee relationships, fulfillment of all contract terms,
a comfortable environment in the workplace and a favorable atmosphere in the work team.

Observing all these conditions, we try to pay great attention to the psychological microclimate in the company, to maintain a warm, friendly atmosphere in the work team, since it is good relationships that greatly influence the loyalty of staff. The VKS company was initially created by a team of like-minded people for people who want to learn foreign languages. We were able to achieve the results that we have at the moment thanks to our close-knit team. Of course, over time the company grew, the internal structure became more diverse and complex, but it seems to me that we still manage to maintain the general corporate spirit - the spirit of a single team. This happens primarily due to the fact that each employee can always offer some new ideas and see the results, that is, really feel their involvement in the common cause. To do this, we regularly hold brainstorming sessions, where everyone can express their ideas, as well as take a direct part in their subsequent implementation. As a result, in addition to the fact that the employee sees that his opinion is listened to, he also receives a nice prize from the company management for his contribution to business development. The developed system of internal training and career growth in the company also has a positive effect on increasing loyalty. We can say that such work with personnel allows us to avoid at least two problems: protest to any changes (in any form), as well as staff turnover.

Employee loyalty and engagement

According to a labor market study conducted by an international recruitment agency Kelly Services At the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010, the economic recession increased the loyalty of Russian workers towards their employers, however, at the same time, the level of people's involvement in the work process in Russia is the lowest in the world.

Research results:

21% Russians surveyed said that as a result of the economic crisis they had become more loyal to their employer;
64% have not changed their attitude;
15% They believe that the crisis has only worsened their relationship with their employer.

It is noteworthy that on average among European countries, also 21% respondents noted an increase in loyalty to their employer. However, globally, this is the lowest figure: in the Asia-Pacific region, 30% , and in the North America region 36% respondents.

The main reasons for increasing employee loyalty in Russia were:

Good morale in the team (48%),
Good leadership/management (47%),
Unchanged salary level (47%),
Opportunities for training and development (44%).

The main difference between Russian employees and the rest of the world is role of managers for our compatriots is several times less significant than in other countries of the world. For example, in Europe and North America, the role of managers for employees turned out to be 2 times more important, and in the Asia-Pacific region - 3 times more important than in Russia!

Perhaps the main question of the study was “ How committed are you to your current employer?”, reflecting how people are involved in the work process and are ready to “put their soul into their work.” In Russia these were only 16% of workers surveyed, while in Europe their average number is 39% , in the Asia-Pacific region 47% , and in North America almost 51% .

Interesting results were demonstrated by the question “ What is the most compelling reason for you to leave the company?? In Russia the situation is very different from the rest of the world:

Lack of opportunities for development (37%),
Low pay/benefits (23%) are much more important, while
Weak management is a good reason for changing jobs for only 8% of Russian workers.

Main conclusions of the study:

As a result of the crisis, employee loyalty has increased across the board.
Russian workers are least involved in the work process.
Russian workers are more motivated than others by salary and career opportunities.
The Leadership factor in Russia has a much lower value than anywhere else in the world.