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Loyalty Lab Inc. is a customer management and brand management company that specializes in designing and implementing customer loyalty programs. Its clients include Bally Total Fitness, 1-800-Flowers.com, TicketsNow and Smith & Hawken.Best customers are the lifeblood of a company, making up only 5% to 10% of customers but accounting for 50% -- or more -- of business. So it's a no-brainer to realize that you cater to them by offering special discounts and other privileges. But who are they? The answer used to be easy -- those who spent the most money and shopped the most frequently. But no longer.
In fact, your best customer may not have bought anything recently or even spent much at all. But they could have considerable influence over others, and in this Internet-driven retail age, they could mean more to the bottom line than big spenders. "While word of mouth is nothing new, its scope and potential impact grows exponentially with tools such as social-networking sites and blogs at the disposal of opinionated and authoritative consumers," the customer management firm Loyalty Lab advises. "Consumers are becoming brand advocates simply by setting up blogs, a process that takes just minutes, is free, and requires no programming skills. As others come across these blogs during their online searches, this self-published content is soon seen by millions of consumers who are often doing research before making a buying decision."
Loyalty Lab describes various ways to identify best customers, but emphasizes even more strongly the necessity of treating them well once you know who they are. "For example when a customer calls the customer service department, the representative should have rapid access to information about that customer and be empowered to exceed the customer's expectations," the paper says. "This could include offering free or expedited shipping or special offers and discounts." Loyalty Lab suggests four best practices for cultivating a "customer-centric culture," including data-driven identification of best customers and quickly spotting those customers whenever and wherever they have contact with your company.
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