Page 319 - Duct Tape Marketing

Chapter 19

Fortifying Customer Relationships

In This Chapter

ᮣ Retaining customers through defensive marketing
ᮣ Knowing and delivering what customers want
ᮣ The difference between satisfied and loyal customers
ᮣ Nurturing your best customers

Especially during times of competitive or economic threat, developing
unshakable customer relationships is the smartest — and most economi-
cally efficient — way to proceed.

Strong customer relationships protect your business from competitive assault.
What’s more, they lead to customer loyalty, and loyal customers allow you to
generate repeat sales at a fraction of the marketing cost and effort required to
find, inform, interest, and sell new prospects.

Plus, loyal customers spread good will for your business, bringing along a
tide of new customers with their positive words.

Creating loyal customers is essential to business success. This chapter
shows why and how.

Why Customer Loyalty Matters

The U.S. Department of Commerce confirms that it costs five times more to
get a new customer than it does to retain a current one. Research from Xerox
Corporation shows that customers who claim to be “totally satisfied” are six
times more likely to become repeat purchasers than customers who claim to
be only “satisfied.” Other studies show that a loyal customer is worth ten
times the value of a single-purchase customer.