In our last post “How To Attract and Retain Loyal Customers,” we looked at the different ways to create and build a brand that would entice and incentivize customer loyalty. But once you have a loyal customer how can you turn them into a vocal fan?
Fan vs Loyal Customer
Even though you may have “life-long” customers, there is currently a new, emerging category of customers– fans. But what’s the difference between a loyal customer and a fan?
Loyal Customer
This is a customer who is happy to continue to use your product or service for their life. Yet they may not be vocal about their loyalty to you. They likely don’t talk about you to their friends on or offline and they probably don’t leave reviews raving about your product or service.
Fan
This customer is someone who loves you the way some people love their favorite sports teams. They want to wear your merchandise, tell their friends, family, and social network about you, and they’re emotionally invested in your success.
So, how can you convert a loyal customer into an adoring fan? It’s easy with these tips!
Differentiate Yourself From Your Competition
An obvious starting point but providing a product or service that is uniquely your own. While there may be tons of other pet boarding facilities in your area, what are some ways you can set yourself apart? Here are some suggestions we love:
- Offer holistic treatments like acupuncture, massage, etc.
- Offer pool play time
- Host events for pet parents to enjoy time at your facility together with you and their pet
- Offer Kinn Kleanbowls
Creating a product or service that is uniquely you can help prove your value and help create customers that are fans! Additionally, by providing a product as unique as Kleanbowls can help you create stronger bonds between pets and their parents. Did you know that using Kleanbowls prevents the spread of germs and other diseases that washing with soap and hot water alone cannot get rid of?
Be Social
As in be social online. Today, everyone is online and they’ve got a lot to say. Make sure that you’re including yourself in the conversation. Having fun, friendly conversations online with your customers can quickly convert them into fans. These fun, short conversations can make your customers and followers feel like they’re more than just a customer, now they’re your friend.
Simply taking a few minutes out of each day to comment, like, and share content that is relevant to your brand and audience can help build that digital bridge. You can use this digital bridge to cultivate a fan base online and bring it offline as well.
Create Loyalty Programs
Developing a loyalty program will help link potential and current customers to your brand. Loyalty programs are a great way to reward customers for being a fan. A good loyalty program should have perks and rewards that make it worth being a part of the program. Some perks we like are:
- Discounts on products or services
- Free stays
- Exclusive ad-ons not offered to other customers
- Exclusive events to celebrate loyalty
- Exclusive merchandise
- Birthday perks
When creating your loyalty program, consider your fan base and what their interests are, how they spend their free time, and how they could really benefit from a program like yours. You’ll want this program to be as beneficial and unique to your customers as possible.
Guarantee Happiness
You’ve heard the phrase, “you can’t make everyone happy” and while that may be true, you can surely try. Developing a “happiness guarantee” and standing behind it no matter what helps show to your customers that you’re committed to making them happy no matter what. Going above and beyond for your customers is what truly converts just a regular customer into a fan.
Think about it this way, would you rather lose a little money to correct a situation or risk losing up to 15 potential customers? When a customer is unhappy they are likely to tell about 9 to 15 different people. This doesn’t even touch on online reviews which can reach up to millions!
Make it a priority to fix any problems a customer has in order to ensure a positive experience with your brand no matter what.
Make It Personal
You don’t like feeling like just another face in the crowd and neither do your customers. Creating a personalized experience in-person and online is an effective strategy for creating a fan. Sending birthday discounts, anniversary discounts, and just a “thanks for being you” discount can help create that warm and fuzzy, feel-good mood that converts customers into fans.
Creating that one-of-a-kind customer experience is what creates fans. When you can separate yourself from the competition, you create a distinction that is irresistible and undeniable. For more “How To” tips, subscribe to our email list!
