Chapter 4 Summary: Creating Long-term Loyalty Relationships

One of the key ingredients in any good marketing plan is acquiring new customers and retaining all of your customers. Building relationships with your customers is vital in this process and important in creating customer loyalty. As consumers, we make decisions on our purchases buy weighing the pros and cons, and evaluating the total value from our viewpoint. “This process is called customer-perceived value (CPV). CPV is the difference between the prospective customer’s evaluation of all the benefits and all the costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives.” (Kolter 54).

The first “real” job I had after I graduated college was as an Emergency Services Assistant for a hospital in Ohio. Part of my job was to work with the company we hired to monitor our customer satisfaction and I was the liaison and trainer for my company. When I first started this job, I thought why in the world would a hospital care about customer service; isn’t it all about taking care of the patients and healing them of their sicknesses?

      Come to find out, you can choose who your doctor is and what hospital to go to when you’re sick. Therefore, we needed to focus on customer service and create loyalty with our patients. Throughout the four and a half years I worked at the hospital, we monitored and improved our customer service responses to a 90% goal. We used the surveys to follow up with patients that had a bad experience and then helped to improve processes or establish new policies in hopes of creating better experiences for our patients.

Another example of using experience and customer service to establish loyalty is my favorite shoe store, Red Coyote Running and Fitness. It is a running store in Classen Curve in Oklahoma City. I had a co-worker that recommended that I buy running shoes at this store but I thought of course it would be expensive. I went to Red Coyote and the guy working there was so helpful. He first had me run on a treadmill barefoot while they videoed my feet while running. He was able to fit me for new shoes, allow me to try them out on the treadmill and outside until I found the perfect pair. Even though they were a little more expensive than Academy, I was willing to pay it because he was so incredibly helpful. Now, my husband and I have bought shoes, socks, clothing, and lights for our stroller. We tell everyone about Red Coyote and recently joined their running club. Thanks to their incredible one-on-one customer service, Red Coyote created a strong and loyal customer base.

 

Customer service is a main priority and should be taken serious in any consumer situation. Once you have loyal customers, whether it’s because of an experience or discount offers, etc. it is even more imperative to keep those customers through strong marketing.

Source: Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Lane Keller. A Framework for Marketing Management. 5th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2012.