Customer loyalty might be harder to come by than previously thought. According to The Challenger Sale, the combined impact of company and brand impact, product and service delivery, and value-to-price ratio accounted for just 47% of customer loyalty to a particular company. 47%?!? So if you are a company that has a solid brand and you sell an exceptional product at a fair price – you are still less than halfway to earning a repeat customer. Ouch right?
So where does the other 53% come from? The “sales experience”. Think about companies like Amazon or Ebay who have become giants in the retail space because they make it easy. These types of companies provide a seamless sales experience including one click purchase, stored credit and shipping information, plus recommended items that are actually useful. If these items make up 53% of customer’s loyalty, you better be sure you are spending at least half your time working to perfect them. Are you unsure whether or not your purchase route is seamless? The best way to find out is to test it yourself. And once you have done it – have a family member do it. Better yet, pick that technology un-saavy parent, uncle, or grandparent and get their honest feedback. It will help immensely in designing a better purchase path that will help you to hold onto those ultra-valuable repeat customers.
