Customer Management System - Customer Retention and the WOW Factor

Customer Retention and the WOW Factor

Create Customer Loyalty with Word of Mouth Marketing Techniques

Dec 5, 2009 James Clausen

It’s often said that happy customers will tell four people about their experience with a business. On the other hand, an unhappy customer will tell ten people of their negative experience with a business. Positive word of mouth marketing is one of the best methods of advertising. When a relative or friend states that they had exceptional service at a particular company, there’s a better than average chance that the recipient of this positive statement will patronize the establishment.

Customer Retention is the Key

In order for any business to succeed, they must focus on customer retention. Retention is the key to creating a large client base, where they return over and over again. The goal of any business is basically to have customers for life. Management and employees need to strive to ensure that the clients don’t have a reason to frequent another establishment.

Customer Retention, Loyalty and the WOW Factor

In today’s business world, simply satisfying customers is not sufficient enough to keep them coming back. Their expectations have risen to a level where they expect something above and beyond the norm. In order to keep a customer loyal and coming back, a company needs to exceed their expectations. This is where the WOW factor comes into play.

In order to exceed expectations, the customer needs to feel that the company went out of their way to make them happy. They should leave the clients thinking, “Wow, now that’s customer service!” In order to achieve the WOW factor, think of something out of the ordinary that’s related to the business. Take a proactive aproach to exceed the customer's expectations. Some random examples may include:

• Auto repair shop – wash and vacuum customers cars
• Restaurant – free valet parking
• Retail store – greet customers as they enter the store and ask if they require assistance

Customer Retention and Other Factors

Creating a WOW factor only works if other factors of good customer satisfaction techniques are used. A restaurant can offer free valet parking, but if the patrons receive slow service or negative employee attitudes, the chances of them returning are compromised. Management and employees alike have to have a positive attitude and provide superior service over the competition.

Consistently going above and beyond a client’s expectations will not only create customers for life but will create positive word of mouth advertising. If one customer tells four friends about their experience and they tell four friends and so on, it could escalate into a plethora of potential customers for life. It’s also extremely important to get the employees to buy into customer satisfaction efforts. Before implementing any WOW factors, create customer satisfaction surveys to learn what customers expect.

© 2009 James Clausen

Read more at Suite101: Customer Retention and the WOW Factor: Create Customer Loyalty with Word of Mouth Marketing Techniques http://customer-management.suite101.com/article.cfm/customer_retention_and_the_wow_factor#ixzz0tLb7sRYU