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Lesson 17: Customer Loyalty
Looking back:
In the last two classes we covered what is important for a good marketing
campaign, namely: a singular consistent message and the imaging of
your brand. We also brainstormed several ways to spread your content to
the outside world.
Today: Keeping them coming back
(20 Minutes)
Lesson Summary (What you need to know!)
 Market ing helps you gain cust omers, and you need t o follow up t o
keep t hem and build t heir loyalty.
 Trust is t he cornerst one of cust omer loyalt y.
 Incent ives, loyalt yprograms and cust omer communication are
ways t o keep cust omers.
Let’s imagine your marketing message found its target. People outside
your immediate community are seeking your product and/or service.
More people begin to use your business’ services, and sales steadily
increase.
Mission completed, right? By no means! Depending on the nature of your
business, people might be willing to come back for a second, third and
maybe even fourth time.
To do this you need to come up with a strategy to keep your customer
base. As we discussed in previous lessons, your enterprise is a solution to
an already existing problem or need - but odds are there are others with
competing solutions. So you must keep your existing customers coming
back to your proven solution.
You make loyal customers by gaining their trust. Your business provides a
service that is beneficial to everyone, and you make money when they
purchase that service. This exchange of value is based on a solid base of
mutual trust. Customers will typically return if your business shows a high
level of courteous professionalism along with the high quality product. The

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following is a list of tips to further and enhance trust between yourself and
the customer:
 Maintain helpful and efficient customer support
 Be timely
 Listen and be attentive to issues
 See complaints as an opportunity to get better
 Keep finding ways to improve
 Produce top-notch material
 Always go the extra mile and give more than expected
These are ways to keep up the image and reputation of your company.
But what do they think about you, the owner, personally? Customers will
involve themselves with your business if they like and trust you. So make
sure all of your business dealings are legal, open and honest. If folks see
you partaking in shady activities outside of work, then they might question
your integrity – your ability to do the right thing when no one else is looking
– while you’re on the clock.
You are the face of your company. You’re now responsible to live in a
way that will help and strengthen the reputation of your business, not hurt
it.
In addition to creating good workplace practices and reputation, here
are several more tools to keep customers coming back:
 Email updates about sales events, promotions and product or
service upgrades.
 Use contests and raffles to actively involve current customers.
 Offer loyalty programs, for instance: after five service purchases
making the sixth free.
Programs like these offer incentives – motivations – for customers to return
for more. Customers receive more than just what they’re purchasing.
They’re getting a real added value, a bonus with their purchase. Actions
like these will motivate customers to return.

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Case St udy
Mart in and his friends’ bicycle service business has really t aken off. An
increasing st ream of cust omers has come t o The Spokes People shop in
Mart in’s garage. Their market ing strategies have really paid off, and with
t heir consistent messages t heir brand, too, has grown t o have a good
reput ation.
Mart in’s grandfather told him that most anyone can learn t o fix a bike, but
not everyone can fix a bike and do so with good cust omer service,
t imeliness and integrity. That , he said, is where The Spokes People can
beat out t he compet ition: by keeping a good reput ation of
dependability.
So Mart in makes sure he and his t hree friends are kind and professional in
t heir work dealings. Even out side of work at school, Martin has t ried to
polish up his act ; after all, he is t he face of his business, and his act ions
eit her help or hurt The Spokes People.
More t han acting with integrity, Mart in has undert aken several st eps t o
ret ain clients, namelyemail updat es and a cust omer loyalt y card. After
each bike is fixed, Martin has t he cust omer provide t heir cont act
information – name, email address and phone number. At t he beginning
of each mont h he sends out promot ions and updat es. This keeps The
Spokes People in t he front of people's’ minds and offers a means of
communication, buildingtrust.
To creat e The Spokes People loyalt y card, Mart in laminated rect angular
pieces of paper with The Spokes People logo and printed squares t o hold
a punch mark. He dist ributes these t o new cust omers, punching a hole in
t he card for each purchase. After t hree services, Mart in and his friends
offer a free fourt h servicing. Since bikes are prone t o break and need re-
fixing, the card offers an incentive to cust omers to ret urn solely t o The
Spokes People.
Bet ween t heir character and t he cust omer incentives, Martin finds that
many people keep coming back. This allows for a st eady st ream of sales,
t hus providing a st eady st ream of income.