There is huge misconception that because you have an audience for your business that they will be loyal to your business and your business only. Truth be told it is very rare to find a customer who is ONLY loyal to your business in your specific niche. For example, I write a business content based blog, consultant business owners and curate paid products for them. However, I would be naive to believe that I am the only source of information for my audience. Especially since I know that I am not everyone’s cup of tea.
There are a plethora of women who are in my niche market and I am glad they are here. We all bring something different to the table. There is no point of competition when we can build a community that breeds loyalty.
Be Okay Them Supporting Others
As a small business owner, I can be frustrated that my audience supports other creatives like me. If I was frustrated I would be looking at this in the wrong light as a business owner. We all know that every customer is not your ideal customer. You want to service your ideal customer if you are a product or service based company. This creates less friction and issues for you. Community over competition is important if you want to build customer loyalty. Teaching your customers to foster relationships with other business owners will help grow the small business market.
The Elephant In The Room
So, no small business wants to talk about bad customer service. Well, they will talk about someone else’s bad service, but will not mention their missteps. When I first launched a online boutique I had a long list of bad customer experiences. From clients thinking I scammed them because USPS misplaced their items. To venting on social media regarding a customer and how they treated me. Remember this you are always one tweet, Facebook post or another social media share from closing your doors. If you want your customers to be loyal to you, you need to treat them with respect.
Do The Right Thing
Awhile back, I order a product from a popular woman on Instagram who runs a wildly successful company. Here and there I would hear something negative about her customer experience. This is what made me weary to order from her in the beginning. However, I put those thoughts to the side and spent $300 with her, this include 2 day shipping cost. Well, guess what USPS misplace my order. Completely frustrated by this because so many women in her comments had said this and mentioned how she never refunded them or replaced it. Regardless, of their experience I chose to email the customer service and explain what happen. A team member email back saying how sorry they were about this and they would be overnight me my order again. In addition to that, they told me to keep the products I already had.
We live in a world where there are 100 companies just like yours out there for your customers to chose from. You must know its okay for your customers to support others in your niche, especially when yo do not offer what they need. In addition to that customer service should be a top focus if you want to build loyalty.
Images by Style Me Pretty
