Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of April 14, 2024

Each week, I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comments about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Lessons from the Field: 3 Easy Ways to Customize Customer Experiences & Increase Brand Loyalty by Anand Subbaraj

(Fast Company) Personalization encourages customers to both return for more service and recommend that service to others. Customers want the attention on them—and they’re willing to walk if they don’t get it.

My Comment: This week’s TOP FIVE roundup has a theme: Customer Loyalty. All five of this week’s articles are focused on customer loyalty. So, let’s start with a Fast Company that has three tips. First, the subtitle of the article mentions personalization. It’s very hard to build loyalty if the customer has a generic experience. Many of the articles in these weekly roundups are tied to specific industries. This one focuses on field service, but it’s still worth the four minutes it takes to read.

Balancing Customer Loyalty in an Age of Growing Business Costs by Tom Behnke

(Retail TouchPoints) Consumers again and again have propped up the economy, fueling consistently strong growth in ecommerce and giving the retail industry an important edge in otherwise dark times. Those forces from the days of the pandemic look to continue well into 2024 as stubborn inflation and higher interest rates continue to burden brands and retailers, which are faced with the unenviable task of balancing increasing costs with what consumers can bear.

My Comment: As costs go up, we must charge customers. Even loyal customers don’t want to pay more if they don’t have to. However, if you tell them why, it could actually create even more loyalty. Here’s a great line from the article: “Every additional penny that is asked of a customer should be put through a rigorous test.” It also includes a short list of what to consider when protecting customer loyalty.

Loyalty Programs Should Encourage Competition. The Reality May Be the Opposite by Alexandru Nichifor and Scott Duke Kominers

(SmartCompany) Loyalty programs enable firms to offer significantly lower prices to some of their customers. You’d think this would encourage strong competition. But that isn’t always what actually happens. New research shows that paradoxically, by changing the way companies target customers, loyalty programs can sometimes reduce price competition. The research also points to solutions.

My Comment: This is a “contrarian article.” Loyalty programs typically offer their members savings or perks. I don’t agree with some of what’s in the article. For example, giving a lower price to a loyal customer erodes margins. Yes, the margin is lower, but the frequency of purchases could be higher. There’s much more here, and I think you’ll find it an intriguing and interesting read.

17 Tips For Building Brand Loyalty With Thought Leadership Content by Forbes Expert Panel®

(Forbes) For many companies, to achieve brand loyalty among their customers is the ultimate goal. Acquiring new customers can be difficult, and so gaining a loyal customer who happily returns to purchase your product or service again and again not only saves the company time and resources but ensures they have steady sales for a long time to come.

My Comment: The Forbes Communications Council has compiled a list of 17 tips for building loyalty. There really is something here for everyone – from small to large businesses and from B2C to B2B.

Unravelling the Code to Incredibly Effective Nike Loyalty Scheme by Webster Webmeridian

(WebMeridian) The eCommerce landscape is thriving. The primary challenge isn’t just drawing in users, but ensuring they remain engaged. Over 90% of businesses today offer a loyalty program. Some examples like a Nike loyalty program set the standard for rewards programs – and it’s possible to replicate the same in your store.

My Comment: Nike is a brand that we all know and many love. They have built an incredibly huge base of loyal customers. In this article, we have an opportunity to look “behind the curtain” of one of the most recognized brands in the world. The Nike loyalty program is an excellent case study we can all learn from.

BONUS

What Is Net Promoter Score and How Does It Work? by Foundever™

(Foundever™) For over two decades, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) has been the default means of understanding the strength of a customer’s relationship with a brand, but it’s not a measure without inherent flaws. Are organizations putting too much faith in it?

My Comment: A high Net Promoter Score (NPS) can indicate a positive experience that gets customers to come back. It indicates that the customer was happy, so much so that they would be willing to recommend the company, brand, or product to a friend, family member, or colleague. That may not indicate true customer loyalty, but that level of satisfaction is a pretty good start!

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.