Loyalty from customers is a lot less common than it used to be. What with free offers of everything from ebooks to free coaching sessions, the average consumer today has a lot of choices to hop around. Check out this article about how other businesses big and small turn that loyalty train around and create lifelong lovers:

Beat your customers to the punch.
About 10 years ago, I flew JetBlue from California to New York. I liked the airline for its comfy seats, fair price, and convenient ticket-change policy. Even when the plane had to sit on the runway for four hours waiting for a repair, I still liked JetBlue, because the airline quickly informed passengers what was happening in a clear and detailed way, and then brought lunch on board.
But the next morning JetBlue really surprised me. The airline’s customer service team sent me an email apologizing that my flight had been delayed, and offered me a $250 flight voucher.  At this point, my like turned into love.
Make shopping easy.
A few months ago, my husband ordered a cabinet from Restoration Hardware. A Restoration Hardware employee asked what day would be convenient for delivery, and when my husband requested a date only three days away, she agreed to it.  On the day of delivery, the cabinet arrived within 15 minutes of the scheduled appointment time.
Resolve issues without a fight.
At my company, Metal Mafia, we surprise customers by the way we handle products that are damaged during shipping.
We tell them to throw away the defective item, rather than waste valuable time returning it to us. At first, they usually don’t believe us.  When we insist, and then ship out the replacement or credit their account with no strings attached, you can hear how happy they are–all because they did not have to fight for us to make something right.
via Surprise! You Can Win Customers For Life.

So think about ways that you can surprise your customers to turn them into loyal lovers for life.
Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

Related articles

• Why 70% of Your (Former) Customers Disagree (365daysofmarketing.wordpress.com)
• People Loyal to Your Brand (personalbrandingblog.com)
• Want Customer Loyalty? It’s The Experience, Not Price! (customerthink.com)