Customer loyalty can be likened to a marriage. So, let’s consider a potential mate – They have to have met some basic expectations (I hope!) before you considered marrying them. Do they shower often? Do they know how to do their own laundry? Do they want kids? Do they have some ideas for their future? There are some basic fundamentals you need to know you can expect from someone before you can really commit to being their one and only. And when building customer loyalty, you as a business are getting down on one knee to say, “Will you make me the happiest business in the world? Can I be the only candle company you agree to buy from? Can I be the main shoe place you spend your money at? Will your house be the house where those adorable toddlers only ask for the ‘blue box’ of mac and cheese ?” Can you see the silly parallels between marriage and customer loyalty?

For your business, your audience’s basic expectation of you is that you have consistent branding across all platforms. This is a HUGE deal. For 90% of consumers to say they EXPECT consistent branding across all platforms, means that if you don’t have it, you better have an out of this world product or concept you are selling, to get them to even consider going with you as a brand they have loyalty to. I mean, come on, that one kid who doesn’t shower all the time? He’s probably not going to the one you declare your undying love for… basic expectations, people…

This means, every interaction that a customer has with your brand needs to be consistent in the voice, visuals, and vision that you are setting before them, in order to even begin gaining customer loyalty.

The most obvious place to begin is your website when working on building customer loyalty. Did you know that “75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design”?

Quick tips for your website:

• Do your images load in under two seconds?
• Are your images high quality, clear, and consistent with the quality of images that you post on social media?
• Is your mobile site responsive and easy to navigate? (Are you sure? Have you checked recently on your phone and other types of phones (iphone, android, whatever other kinds of phones there are?!) Use THIS website to test yours.
• Is your website experience user friendly, aka does your audience know what you want them to do on your website? Are they able to find important information? Are they able to make purchases easily? Is their experience aesthetically pleasing as well as functionally pleasing?
• Does your website clearly state your company’s brand strategy: Why, Vision, Values, Mission?

Quick tips for your social media page:

• Are the images used consistent with the quality of images from your website? Or vice versa?
• Is your brand voice easily recognizable in every post? Do you have cohesive, clear messaging throughout every post that is consistent?
• Do your images have similar product shots, lighting, angles, objects, filters to bring about a mainly similar looking feed, even though you may be sharing different content at different points?
• Are your stories and videos consistent with how you would talk to a high-paying client on a video call or meet them in person?

Quick tips for your emails:

• When you are sending out emails, does your audience find comfort in knowing what to expect from you visually, and verbally?
• Are your call to actions clear and in alignment with your brand values?
• Is your email signature on brand?
• Is your email profile picture updated?
• If you have merged email accounts into gmail, are your “send from” email addresses consistently sending out from the correct work email, and not your personal one?
• Do you have automated welcome sequences for new subscribers that introduce them to your brand and welcome them in?

Try This:

A helpful exercise is to pretend to be your own customer (or better yet, have several others who aren’t familiar with your brand do this). If you are doing this, list out all of the steps a customer could take to engage with your brand. If you are having other people do this, give different starting points to engage with your business. These could be from an introduction at a conference or networking event, to an online ad, or perhaps social media or your website. Ask them to explore your brand, and see if they can report back to you all of the places they interacted with you, along with what their experience was like. Bonus points if you offer gift cards for them to actually shop and receive products. Then gather data from them about your brand. What did they learn from your brand? In their opinion, what is your main message to your audience? On a confusion to clarity spectrum, how would they describe your brand? Is it clear and cohesive? Are there points of confusion in your messaging, brand voice, imagery? If you are giving out gift cards, ask them to list out places they felt they were lost in the process of purchasing a product. Each customer touch point by your brand should be clearly felt by the client and understood by the customer.

These are just some of the ways to increase brand consistency and customer loyalty! If you are serious about taking your brand to the next level and creating a clear brand strategy to ensure that not only is this basic expectation is met from your audience, but their entire experience with your brand is enhanced and heightened, then get in touch with me below! I’d love to talk about how we can take your customer’s experience with your brand to a whole new level, helping you stand out in your industry and gain dream clients!