What brings customers back to a brand, creates loyalty, and strengthens financial performance? Price incentives? Loyalty programs? Big investments to build brand awareness?
A Harvard Business Review article on customer service highlights two key elements that should remain “top-of-mind” for businesses:
- Delighting customers doesn’t build loyalty, but reducing the work they must do to get their problem solved does.
- Acting deliberately on this insight can help improve customer service, reduce customer service costs, and decrease customer churn.
A company that wants to solve every customer’s need in a personal way is Amazon. The company does consistently well in customer surveys and performance rankings because of a strong focus on fulfilling customer needs. If there is a problem, it is quickly fixed, with the goal of getting the right product to the customer as soon as possible.
Amazon was ranked the most trusted brand in the US in a recent Millward Brown Study. The model at Amazon is to create a place where customers can find or discover anything they can imagine buying online.
“When a person recommends a brand they put their own personal trust and credibility on the line. They are only willing to recommend brands which themselves have proven reliable and trustworthy,” said Nigel Hollis, EVP and Chief Global Analyst of Millward Brown.
“Amazon.com, the brand ranked first in the U.S. by TrustR, has achieved that status through exceptional service and providing its own recommendations to users. This combination has made Amazon the gold standard of trust and recommendation in the U.S.”