Don’t Insult Your Customers By Treating Them Like Customers

March 17, 2013 by Kevin Jordan 3 Comments

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Customers are not just dollar signs and don’t want to be seen that way. Companies can’t just provide a customer with a good or service, and then hope they come back. There is no sense of loyalty or dedication in an exchange like this between the brand and a customer. When you can’t tell Kate from Kim and you treat all customers the same, you might as well stop calling them by name and refer to them by their credit card numbers.
Turning customers into fans establishes a personal relationship that invests something in the people who care the most about your company.
Customers Are People, Too
People want to be viewed by businesses as individuals with their own shopping histories, purchasing habits, and personal loyalty system. People who frequent a store, repeatedly use a company’s service, or often buy a business’s product should be easy to convert into a fan. A fan will not just click “Like” on Facebook, but follows a company’s social media page and stays engaged with recent updates. A fan will light up when a notification comes on their phone about discounts at their favorite store, rushing over to capitalize on the deals. Fans have loyalty to a brand that keeps them coming back for more because the company can offer something exclusively tailored to the individual.
Fans Are Always Fans
The concept of customers isn’t coming back; that’s a 20th-century way of doing business. The customer has a one-time exchange with a company where the relationship ends when the cash register closes, where a fan is a loyal brand ambassador.
Customers want to feel attached to something and want to be dedicated to a brand, company, or organization just as much as they do their favorite sports teams, musician, or popular icon. Customers are no longer just customers anymore and this term is almost insulting to the people who buy and use a company’s products and services. Companies must have a deeper relationship with their customers in order to retain them and make them into fans.
A fan is more than just a cheerleader standing on the sidelines promoting a brand. They remain devoted and actively involve themselves in the business from a buyer’s perspective. They want their companies to do well and prosper so they can keep enjoying their goods or services. It is up to the business to convert the customer they once had into the fans that will keep coming back.


Source:http://www.thetibcoblog.com