Customer Loyalty
I travel around the world. It’s not as glamorous as most people think, but I enjoy the opportunity to learn about local culture and connect with people in the local area.
Recently, I had a rather amusing exchange with a large hotel chain. If you travel as often as I do, you likely have a member number for every major hotel chain. I have been a customer of this chain for many years.
The other day I tried to make a reservation online. It would not allow me to log into the system. It forced me to call a toll-free number. When I did, I was told that my account had expired due to inactivity three days earlier. “That’s strange,” I thought, “I have never had this problem in decades with this number.”
The friendly representative told me that she would reactivate the account, but it would take ten days before I was able to make an online reservation.
I said something like, “You are telling me that I can make a reservation online without a number, but because I have a number, I am unable to make one.”
“You can only make a reservation with us on the phone” is my version of what she said.
After a back and forth exchange, I kept expressing my surprise that I could not just make a reservation online. Why would the fact that I am a loyal customer prevent me from making a reservation?
Finally, I asked for a supervisor. After waiting several minutes for someone to answer, the line went dead. Has that ever happened to you?
The hotel chain I am referring to is a great brand. Their hotels are usually excellent. They have good staff, clean rooms, and generally good service. I am a fan, which is why I was trying to book a hotel room. They just lacked a customer-centric attitude.
Policies that Harm the Most Loyal
But it did make me wonder how often organizations work against their very best customers. How often do our good intentions create policies that end up hurting the most loyal?
Ironically, after I lost my connection, we tried again and I was able to enter my number. I tried again because I really do enjoy their hotels. Days later, with more email and calls behind me, I still am not able to log into my loyalty account, but at least I can make a reservation.
After my less than satisfactory interaction with this department, I thought about some best practices to create loyal customers.
7 Best Practices for Customer Loyalty
- Review your policies regularly and change any that are suspect, questionable, or illogical.
- Treat your loyal customers with, as my friend Shep Hyken would say, an amazing experience. If you have a loyalty program, make sure that those people receive the best service.
- Strive to make it easier to do business with your company, even more so with regular customers.
- Do what you say you are going to do.
- Commit to exceeding expectations.
- Resolve problems quickly or at least communicate your intentions.
- Work hard to resolve your loyal customers problems immediately, with little pain, and add an extra perk because of the hassle.
If you adopt the 7 best practices, chances are that you will end up not only keeping your loyal customer, but enhancing the relationship as well. Failing to do so gives your competition a window of opportunity that you want to avoid.
Why not follow the journey my friend Scott McKain teaches, the one that creates distinction? It begins with a customer-experience focus with your very best customers.
