Bob Williams

Getting beyond customer loyalty. Customer apostles.

April 5th, 2012 | One comment | Tags: , , , ,

Marketers love loyal customers. They are the customers that return to the brand without further considerations or market research. They are repeat customers and may develop a deeper relationship with brand associates which will keep them loyal.

I was thinking about brand loyalists in the context of social media sharing last week because of how easy it is now to share information digitally with our connections. Similar to my thoughts on how the news media has been transformed by social media, the same concept also applies to all businesses.

The idea is that the customer becomes a brand advocate to the extent that they also become a brand marketer. Before …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Doing it right with customer focus

August 27th, 2011 | Leave a comment | Tags: , , ,

Doing it right. I love seeing companies that are “doing it right” and reaping the rewards of success. By doing it right, I mean providing value driven products or services customers want and respect. Companies like Chick-fil-A, Disney, and QuickTrip (QT) come to mind. Wait a minute. Isn’t QT a gas station?

This week I read about QT, as an example of a customer focused business.  I live in the metro Atlanta area where QT stations and stores are booming with customers and business.  The description of brightly lit stations that are clean and well-staffed is accurate and to the point. While, the lower prices on gasoline are the hook …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

An idea to engage loyal customers

June 5th, 2011 | Leave a comment | Tags: , ,

A friend recently converted trinkets and memorabilia from his place of work into a photo album on Facebook. It was simply entitled “The Office”. He had each item placed on a white background for the photos. Then he tagged friends on Facebook who had some part in the historical story related to the item.

An example image from "The Office" photo album

As I looked through the album I thought about how this idea could be used by companies to create a virtual museum of historical artifacts related to their company. Imagine a longstanding company like Coca-Cola or General Electric with a series of online catalogs on their web …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Customer loyalty for banks and credits unions

April 22nd, 2011 | 2 comments | Tags: , ,

Customer loyalty can’t be talk about enough in the market place. I read an article on BankTech.com by Matt Gunn entitled 5 Things Everyone in Banking is Talking About. Matt discusses “Loyalty/Stickiness” as one of his five banking topics of the day. Reality is that customer loyalty is always a topic of concern for businesses despite their industry. But I think Matt’s point is about the urgency of loyalty at this time. New financial regulations are impacting fee income for financial institutions which is resulting in dramatic shifts in standard bank offerings.

Customer loyalty is made from customer focus. The articled triggered a thought about an blog post that’s been on …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Rethink Customer Loyalty

November 11th, 2009 | Leave a comment | Tags: ,

Customer loyalty programs are all around us. Points, miles, cash back, member-only coupons, additional discounts, etc. These are all tactics to get a customer to be a repeat customer. They do work. I’ll admit, I’m a member of more than one customer loyalty program myself and I’ve used the rewards on several occasions in the past. But I see a few challenges with the these types of rewards programs aimed at increasing repeat purchases:

They don’t differentiate a business from a competitor. There are many rules and restrictions for redeeming a reward. They focus on the reward rather than the purchased product or service.

Loyal customers want to be …Continue reading >>

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