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What Makes a Sticky Customer?

There has been some interesting research completed recently which needs to be reported. One of the key findings was that the most important factor in getting customers to return to your site or company or business was identified as “decision simplicity.” Decision simplicity means the ease of getting the information the customer is looking for in the midst of marketing propaganda or advertising that is being offered at the same time. In other words, customers come back to you when you make it simple (not complicated) for them to make a decision or a purchase without overwhelming them with other information.

Another study has found that companies can increase loyalty by helping customers make their buying decisions with the least effort. Another way of saying that is customers don’t want to work hard in making a decision or to complete a purchase. This conclusion came out of a study by Francis Frei and Anne Morriss in their study of service businesses.

Your company will become more appealing to customers as you find ways to simplify the policies and procedures that your employees are instructed to follow when dealing with customers. Customers are your best consultants, and they are free. Listen to them about how to simplify your processes. Simplifying your organization and your processes for dealing with customers is often constrained by internal politics and personalities. Customers, on the other hand, do not have these constraints.

The bottom line is that every company should strive continuously to simplify the policies and procedures of their customer contact personnel. This also includes simplifying all social media that influences or guides customers to your business. By keeping it simple, your customers will appreciate the efforts you take to make it easy for them to do business with you. Some call this stickiness, which is another way of saying making it easy for your customers to stay and come back is the best way to create customer loyalty.

This article was originally published by The Customer Institute

Published: October 29, 2013
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Bill Bleuel

Dr. Bill Bleuel is an award-winning Professor of Decision Sciences at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. Dr. Bleuel’s expertise lies in the quantitative aspects of business. He specializes in the measurement and analysis of operations, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer retention. He has held senior positions in engineering, marketing and service management at Xerox, Taylor Instrument Company and Barber Colman Company. Dr. Bleuel has also experience as general manager in two start-up companies that he co-founded.