ONLINE CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Bhavana Sundaraj 

II B.com (MM) 

            Marketing is the process involving various sales techniques and business strategies by which one ascertains the products and services which may be of interest to the customers. There are many ways by which a product can be manufactured. In today’s competitive world, there is one particular way which has caught up with the marketers at a very rapid pace. This is Web Marketing.

            Web Marketing can be referred to as E-marketing, Internet Marketing or Online Marketing. In a nut shell, this indicates marketing of products and services using the World Wide Web. This trend was something which was not prominent in the initial days of marketing of products and ideas. As days went by, with sharpened innovations, many companies have fit this concept into their marketing agendas. Social Networking Sites have a major share in terms of factors which have lead to the development of Web Marketing.

           There are many factors which actuate the success of internet marketing for a company. However, contemplating the market scenario and the various factors, there is one which is very pivotal for the rise or downfall of the enterprise and that is Customer Loyalty.

          Customer Loyalty is about beguiling the right kind of customers, inducing the desire in them to make a purchase and ensuring repeated sales with the customer. Customer loyalty can be best defined as treating people how they want to be treated. If the buyers are satisfied with the products and services offered, they aid in increasing the sales for the company by getting more customers for them

Ø BUILDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY ONLINE:

         With advancing technology, the degree of availability of channels for marketing of products and services has risen with the most conspicuous being E-marketing.

          The development of search engines and social media sites has enabled companies to captivate the attention of prospective and potential visitors to their online websites. The main point of obstacle comes here wherein; the customers have to be retained.

        The main factors like trust, personal touch to services and customer satisfaction are more plausible to achieve through offline marketing. Online marketing has no way by which one can welcome a customer with a warm greeting or explain verbally the features or attributes of the selling object. Thus, the web designing and appeal have to be State of Art to remain on par with offline marketing techniques.

         A simple welcome message on the website or a welcome back message to an already existing customer makes a huge difference. If it’s a new visitor, all measures should be taken to encourage them to register and become a member of the website.

       Any business enterprise wishing to achieve Customer Loyalty should first identify important and profitable customers and then understand their behavior and needs.

Ø BENEFITS OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY:

· Get more sales from existing customer base

· Increase profitability

· Spread Word of Mouth marketing

· Provide competitive advantage

Ø FACTS:

· According to the Customer Service Institute, 65% of a company’s revenue is generated from existing customers and costs 5 times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one satisfied.

· According to a study by the Technical Assistance Research Program Institute, 91% of unhappy customers will never buy from a company with whom they were displeased. They voice their opinion to at least seven other people.

· A 5% increase in customer retention results in a 75% increase in customer value according to Fred Reichheld, author of “Loyalty Rules”.

Ø TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER LOYALTY ONLINE:

1. User friendly: When a buyer goes physically to purchase a product, there is lot of cost and effort involved because of which, mostly the customers zoom down on their choices in one shop itself. But, if the website does not allure the visitors, if the search engine is slow or what they want is not available, it would not cost them anything to navigate automatically to another website. The search box should be tuned to facilitate any search and display efficacious results.

2. Prompt and responsive service: Amidst today’s busy and competitive world, many prefer to complete all work and transactions online. Customers turn to online purchase in the anticipation of quick response from online service providers. Thus, speed in online marketing industry is more imperative in comparison to offline. If suppose, the aftermath is not as per the foresight of the website visitors, there has to be a clear contact method displayed along with efficient and effective attendance to the customer calls to clinch the goal of establishment of long term customer loyalty and trust. While answering customer calls, the message communicated should be made as personalized as possible. If it is a standard reply, the customer may feel unwanted and unimportant. Personalized and agile responses help in building a strong customer loyalty.

3. Privacy: Online Marketers should make sure that the visitors before registration as a member of their website are educated about the need for their information and also should be given ample assurance that their personal information would remain private and not public. If both of these are not assured to the website visitors, there is no reason as to why they should abstain from their temptations to become a member of another website where there is a statement mentioning that their details will not be resold. Thus, there should be a prominent display of the privacy statement on the website.

4. Fresh and Active: It is highly imperative that a website should be updated often with new techniques, innovative and creative ideas. The design, style, information and colour are some of the basic attributes that embellish the visual appeal and remembrance value for the customers.

5. Employee Loyalty: Unless the employees are satisfied with the brand they are marketing, it is not possible to satisfy the customers on the same brand. Thus, employees should be motivated through incentives, appraisals and should be made to feel satisfied with their job and brand. They should also be trained on appropriate etiquettes and mannerisms while dealing with customers.

          The companies should have their target customers set through effective market segmentation so as to design the website in the most apt way for the target group. Apart from the above, Social Media marketing through sites like facebook, twitter and youtube help gain better customer insights and interaction on a level unlike through any other media.

           Throwing light on the above discussion, we can certainly conclude by saying that Customer Satisfaction is very crucial for an E-marketing undertaking to be a successful and eminent one.

        "There is only one boss- The customer and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."