No one is loyal for no reason. If you’re loyal to family, it’s because they’re family, and you love them and want the best for them, and they want the best for you. Same for good friends – loyalty is built on connections that are mutual and honorable. When you’re loyal to a sports team, it’s not (usually) because you picked one out of a hat. There are reasons that brought you to this state of fervor when your team takes the field.
Loyalty doesn’t just happen, in other words. It has a foundation.
For MegaMarketers, delivering exceptional customer service and providing quality products is fundamental to your foundation. That’s where you put your best effort and deliver an experience that gives your customers the main reason to return. Without a high level of service and quality, your retention efforts are squandered.
But after that’s been accomplished, you can take some fairly small steps to give your customers more and more reasons to stay. And the simplest is this: Write a thank you note after a service or installation.
A few personal handwritten lines on a real notecard will be appreciated. Not only that, gratitude has its own Return on Investment. An online fundraising platform did an experiment where they sent personal thank you notes to half of the individuals who gave money through their platform, and did not thank the other half. They found that, in the group that received thank you notes, 38% were more likely to donate again.
So, yes, being thankful pays. Reciprocity means that you give, and they give back. If someone receives a personal thank you note, it fosters a relationship. As you add more small touches (newsletters, holiday cards, discounts), people respond by giving back through repeat business and referrals.