1.1. The Loyalty Issue of Staff So what is loyalty? Which means the term itself, very pleasant to the ear. Loyalty (English and French Loyal - "faithful to duty and circumstances, committed to power") - respect for the authorities and loyalty to applicable laws. Besides,

2.4.4. Working conditions and loyalty Working conditions are a very flexible and amorphous concept. This is not a salary or fear of administrative sanctions. This is something else ... In connection with the question we are considering, it is appropriate to turn to the theory of motivation by F. Herzberg, which received

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. CONSUMER LOYALTY: CONCEPT AND METHODS OF EVALUATION

1.1 Definition of customer loyalty

1.2 Methods for assessing customer loyalty

1.3 The pyramid of loyalty

CHAPTER 2. LOYALTY IN THE COMPANY

2.1 Creating a loyalty program

2.2 Evaluation of results and adjustment of the loyalty program

CONCLUSION

LIST OF USED LITERATURE

The intensification of competition, an increase in communication costs, the emergence of the effect of a shortage of consumers and an increase in their expectations determine the development of the concept of marketing of relationships with consumers, which is replacing classical marketing. If several years ago marketing strategies were focused on attracting new customers, then recently the emphasis is shifting to retaining existing ones, forming their loyalty and loyalty to the enterprise. The reason for this change is the realization that long-term customer relationships are cost-effective because guarantee regular purchases, require lower marketing costs per customer and, through the recommendation of loyal customers, help to increase their number.

However, most Russian companies have no experience in establishing partnerships with their customers. The main difficulties for them are the lack of systems approach to the management of customer loyalty and the lack of scientific and methodological knowledge on the formation of enterprise management systems focused on retaining customers and increasing their loyalty.

All of the above determines the relevance of the development in the field of marketing of scientific and practical recommendations for the formation of programs to increase consumer loyalty.

Approaches to defining loyalty, its structure, types, factors that determine the choice of types of loyalty, as well as questions on the theory and practice of managing customer loyalty in various industries are disclosed in the works of foreign experts such as D. Aaker, K. Bazu, D. Brierly, FROM. Butcher, I. Bushken, J. Guise, T. Glova, T. Gokey, A. Dick, S. Coyle, J. Cote, W. Kumar, S. Lawson, R. McDougall, S. Park, F. Reicheld, W. Reinartz, W. Sesser, T. Teale, N. Hill, J. Hasketh, R. Chestnut, J. Sheth, J. Schlessinger, J. Jacobi.

Most of the works of domestic authors are devoted to certain aspects of customer loyalty management, such as measurement methods, loyalty programs, personnel incentive systems, while recommendations for the development of comprehensive programs for increasing customer loyalty, developed abroad, require adaptation to Russian practice.

The aim of the study is to analyze practical provisions and recommendations aimed at the formation of programs to increase consumer loyalty.

To achieve this goal, it is planned to solve the following research tasks:

determine the place and role of the concept of "consumer loyalty" in modern marketing and identify the problems of its use in Russia;

to clarify the structure and nature of consumer loyalty, types and indicators that characterize them;

to identify the factors of choosing the type of loyalty, which determine their specificity and variability in the formation of programs for increasing consumer loyalty;

analyze existing research methods and measure consumer loyalty, identify the most effective for Russian enterprises.

The objects of research are enterprises and organizations, as well as consumers of goods and services.

The subject of this study is a set of economic and organizational relations arising in the process of implementation of relationships by marketing enterprises, expressed in the creation and implementation of programs to increase consumer loyalty.

A key goal of the relationship marketing concept is to achieve and strengthen customer loyalty. The researchers note that having a large number of loyal and paying customers can provide it with a number of significant advantages, both in the short and in the long term.

In the modern literature on marketing, two approaches to the interpretation of the concept of loyalty can be distinguished: 1) based on the fact that loyalty is considered as a certain type of consumer behavior, expressed in long-term interaction with the company, in the repeated purchases. Regardless of the fact that such an ease of assessing loyalty, this approach has an obvious gap: it does not reveal the reasons why the consumer chooses in favor of one or another service provider, but only takes into account only the results of behavior (repeat purchases).

Scientists tried to eliminate this shortcoming, who proposed a completely different approach. According to which, loyalty is a consumer's preference, formed as a result of generalization of feelings, emotions, opinions regarding a service (or its supplier). This type of loyalty is sometimes highlighted as more significant because it is not considered to reflect the customer's past experience, but rather to indicate his future behavior. But this approach, firstly: it gives preference to subjective opinions - the determining factors of loyalty, it does not prove their influence but a purchase. Second, there is the problem of measuring this type of loyalty.

Traditionally, in the relationship marketing literature, customer loyalty is divided into behavioral and perceived. Monitoring of behavioral loyalty metrics is carried out by observing the actual behavior of a client and is a method of implementing a retrospective transactional analysis of his consumer activity. In turn, the emotional loyalty of customers is expressed in the level of their awareness of the activities of the organization and what their needs they can satisfy by using its products or services, as well as in the level of customer satisfaction with the company's offers, their quality and the service provided by the organization. In addition, an important component of perceived customer loyalty is the level of emotional perception of the firm. It seems that for the most complete and comprehensive assessment, it is most appropriate to use an approach that involves monitoring both behavioral and perceived metrics of customer loyalty.

Consumer loyalty is a figuratively positive attitude of consumers regarding the activities of the organization, as well as the products and services sold, produced or provided by the organization, the company's personnel, the image of the organization, the brand, the logo, etc. It is the presence of consumer loyalty, that is, his favorable attitude to a given company or its product, that is the foundation of a stable volume of its sales. Customer loyalty is an indicator of the company's stability and success. Loyal consumers can be called those consumers who for a fairly long time (compared with the life of the product) of time remain "loyal" to the company and make repeated purchases.

One of the foundations of loyalty is a positive experience that a consumer has in the process of buying or consuming a particular product or service. For example, if a consumer is completely satisfied with the quality of a product from a particular firm, then, with all the factors unchanged, the next time he will most likely make his consumer choice in favor of this particular brand. In turn, when choosing another product included in the range of products manufactured by the company you like, his favorable attitude will carry over to new products of this company.

In the practice of modern business, loyalty is often understood as customer satisfaction, which is not entirely true. As noted by S. Sysoeva A. Neiman, “satisfaction appears when the customer is satisfied and does not regret the money spent. But the client does not necessarily become loyal. A loyal customer is always a satisfied customer, but a satisfied customer is not always loyal. Although customer satisfaction is the first step towards winning his loyalty. " T.I. Herpott, who believes that one hundred "satisfaction with a service is not identical to customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction should be understood as a set of ordered assessments of individual characteristics of services (which can be positive and negative), and these ratings are infused with individually perceived and expected quality characteristics. Positive assessment of the service ( customer satisfaction) increases the strength of the intention to re-purchase, but does not fully determine it, since it depends on the technical, functional and economic connection of the client to the company, the overall attractiveness of competitors' services, and the overall assessment own business"A number of studies have shown that customer satisfaction does not necessarily translate into repeat purchases and increased sales. During implementation, it was found that it is only the foundation for further building customer loyalty.

The difference between satisfaction and loyalty has provoked opposite conclusions from a number of researchers. Some authors believe that "only satisfaction, not loyalty, can act as an achievable goal for the company," and confirm their opinion by the presence of effective methods for measuring customer satisfaction, as opposed to the absence of ways to determine their loyalty. Others, on the contrary, emphasize that “loyalty, not satisfaction, should be the real goal of the company”, since the fact of customer satisfaction does not guarantee that he will make repeated transactions with the supplier, which makes it impossible to use the fact of customer satisfaction as a meaningful metric. It seems that the second approach looks more reasonable, therefore, it was taken as a starting point for further analysis of the factors that influence the emergence and strengthening of customer loyalty.

Consumer loyalty is based on an individual set of compelling arguments for a choice once made. One part of these arguments, such as the price of a product or a purchase bonus program, can be expressed in very specific numbers. Another part, the same likability or attentiveness of the sellers - is difficult to describe by the number, but it undoubtedly has an impact. Accordingly, to increase customer loyalty, both rational and emotional moves should be made.

What are these moves? Like most any other marketing ploy, the development of customer loyalty is built on two human vices: greed and flattery. Second most important are indulging laziness and stirring up curiosity. By skillfully playing these four strings, you can bring the consumer closer to the opinion that there can be no better choice for us. To do this, you only need to accurately and clearly highlight the benefits that are significant for this person. And it is obvious that the combination of benefits that is meaningful for each person can be quite individual.

For a long period of time, scientists believed that customer loyalty is determined solely by his satisfaction, but modern research has revealed that customer satisfaction does not always entail repeated purchases and, in general, an increase in sales, in principle, at least half of “satisfied” consumers change service providers. This gap between loyalty and satisfaction means the possible presence of other components that influence the formation of loyalty.

The components of "behavioral" loyalty (the values \u200b\u200bof which can be obtained from the customer database) are defined as follows:

Cross-selling is an increase in the number of additional products of a company that were purchased by a consumer in a specific period in time;

Increase in purchases is the total amount or a share of a given amount of increase in the purchase size of the same product certain period time;

Repeat purchases - the number of repeat purchases;

Maintaining the achieved level of interaction between the consumer and the firm is the comparative constancy of the purchase amount of one product for a certain period in time.

Since we are dealing with consumer preferences and opinions, it is much more difficult to measure the components of perceived loyalty. In this case, surveys of consumers and experts will be the main method of obtaining information. Consumer loyalty indicators will be:

1) His awareness, which is defined as the degree of awareness of the firm's activities in the service market. Also, consumer knowledge can be measured in the form of the number of recommendations from other consumers, such recommendations lead to attracting new customers.

2) His satisfaction, since regardless of the highlighted limitations of satisfaction - an indicator of loyalty, it would not be logical to reduce its value. Satisfaction is the most challenging factor listed above. It consists of the following main components:

The quality of the key benefits;

The quality of the service delivery process;

Perception of the value of the service.

Moreover, the consumer's attitude to the product, service, price of the company's product is formed under the influence of:

Personal factors;

Social change;

Situational phenomena.

The most famous and widely used methodology for assessing the quality of service is "SERVQUAL", which was proposed by Parasuraman, Beri and Tsaytaml in 1985. The "SERVQUAL" methodology is a questionnaire that is developed on the basis of summarizing data collected from five different types services, including 22 pairs of questions with a Likert scale. These questions were developed according to five main parameters of service quality, namely:

Responsiveness - that is, the willingness to promptly help the consumer and provide him with the necessary service;

Persuasiveness is the competence of the company's personnel and their ability to instill confidence in consumers;

Reliability - the presence of a commitment to the work of staff, the ability to perform the promised service on time;

Empathy - the degree of individualization of the approach to the consumer, giving him personal attention;

Tangibility - all physical, tangible objects used in the process of providing a service (furniture and interior items, condition and specifications equipment, etc.).

Methodological issues are divided into two parts, of which the first part served to identify consumer expectations for a particular service, and the other part - to identify the level of conformity of the quality of the offered service.

Very often this technique was criticized, especially with regard to the following points:

The methodology does not provide for a comparison of variables that are clearly of different importance to consumers;

Separate dimensions of the methodology are in contact, especially with regard to empathy and responsiveness;

The technique uses statements that begin with denial.

There is a clear repetition of questions;

Since the composition of each dimension is highly dependent on the specifics of the industry, this methodology is not applicable to all services.

The share of criticism was taken into account by the authors of SERVQUAL and subsequently amendments were made to the methodology. Other scientists have also tried to deal with differences in methodology, they have tried to create better tools for measuring the quality of services, mainly by improving SERVQUAL. For example, the SERVPERF methodology, which was developed by Cronin and Taylor, but it also has a number of gaps in service quality measurement.

Since, to measure satisfaction, it is not enough to assess only the quality of a service, today attempts to develop a tool for measuring satisfaction are to supplement SERVQUAL modifications with units for assessing perceived value and additional satisfaction indicators and, in general, correspond to the procedure proposed by Lamben. Additional indicators usually include: the overall satisfaction score (which is then compared with the total results for individual parameters) and future intentions of the buyer, such as the willingness to recommend services to friends and the intention to refuse the services of the company. In addition, socio-demographic and general satisfaction questions of the respondents with life should be added to these.

Thus, we will draw the following conclusions: 1) complete customer satisfaction in creating loyalty is a more significant factor than simple satisfaction; 2) it is necessary to monitor the state of consumer dissatisfaction.

Since the company needs to study the dynamics of satisfaction, the latter should be surveyed regularly, at least once a year. Behavioral loyalty and perceived metrics need to be compared to measure loyalty. The values \u200b\u200bof the components of behavioral loyalty can be obtained from the database, in fact, for each consumer at any time. However, it is impossible to measure the perceived loyalty of each customer on a regular basis. Therefore, it is advisable to assess both behavioral and perceived loyalty by segment.

Depending on the level of behavioral and perceived loyalty, one can distinguish different types loyalty:

Absolute loyalty - a situation in which a high level of consumer loyalty is associated with a high level of perceived loyalty - is most favorable for an organization. Consumers with absolute loyalty are easiest to retain. Moreover, for this it may be enough to maintain existing standards quality.

Latent loyalty means that a high level of perceived loyalty is not reinforced by consumer behavior. That is, it highlights this company from among competitors, but purchases its products not as often or not in such quantity as absolutely loyal consumers. The reasons for this are primarily external factors, for example, insufficient income. In such a situation, the organization needs to strengthen the achieved position by developing behavioral loyalty. For this, price incentives can be used, for example.

False loyalty occurs when behavioral loyalty is matched by a low level of perceived loyalty. This situation is threatening because the customer is not tied to the organization. His purchases may be the result of a limited supply, habits (other family members traditionally use the services of this company), therefore, as soon as the consumer finds an organization that satisfies him to a greater extent, he will refuse the service. To validate consumers exhibiting this type of loyalty requires a mandatory effort of perceived loyalty.

Finally, a lack of loyalty provides minimal opportunities for retention. An organization should either refuse to retain this part of consumers, let us note, beneficial for it, or take special measures to increase, first of all, perceived loyalty.

It seems that it is most expedient to consider the process of customer loyalty formation through the prism of their life cycle development. In this case, it becomes possible not only to determine the list of factors affecting the emergence and strengthening of loyalty, but also to formulate the range of marketing activities that need to be carried out, depending on the stage of development of the relationship between the consumer and the organization. A description of loyalty factors is proposed based on a tool called the "Loyalty Pyramid", in which perceived loyalty includes:

High value in relationship with the company;

Satisfaction of all functional needs and expectations (including open ones) of the client;

Perception of the company (brand, market awareness). Client awareness of the company's activities / products.

Behavioral loyalty includes:

Stability and active use of the company's products and services.

According to this method, loyal customers are those who have a positive attitude to the company's activities and are well aware of the opportunities that the organization provides them. Knowledge of its products and services leads to their active consumption, which is a factor in the behavioral loyalty of consumers. This behavior is characterized by the stability of the client's transactions over a long period of time or the growth in consumption of the company's products and services. This demonstrates the customer's satisfaction with what the company offers him. On the basis of satisfaction, the prerequisites arise for creating a positive emotional background for interaction with the organization, which, in turn, leads to customer loyalty.

It seems that the definition of loyalty using this method includes all the most significant factors that should be taken into account by an organization seeking to orient its marketing activities to build long-term mutually beneficial relationships with their clients. So, when considering the formation of loyalty from the point of view of this tool, one of the stages that the client must go through in the process of forming his positive attitude towards the organization is to achieve a high level of his satisfaction from the consumption of the company's products and services. In addition, this tool considers the phases of building customer loyalty by stages of his life cycle in relation to the organization. As their relationship develops, the “Pyramid of Loyalty” phases do not replace, but complement each other.

The first stage of the described tool implies the formation of a positive image of the organization in the client. This stage of the formation of customer loyalty is the first from the point of view of both the beginning of the client's interaction with the company, and the emergence of the customer's perception of the supplier. It seems that the most significant at this stage are the efforts of the organization aimed at a general positive perception of its activities by the target audience of consumers and at informing customers about the products and services that they can use in the company, what their needs they can satisfy through the consumption of its products. This includes such areas of the firm's activities as branding and effective communication with clients.

The main purpose of branding within the framework of relationship marketing is to differentiate an organization from its competitors. With the help of the brand, the company has the opportunity to convey to its target audience the necessary emotional values, thanks to which the emergence of a positive perception of the organization by the customers is carried out. As S. Davis notes, a brand is a way of demonstrating the values \u200b\u200bthat a consumer can receive when interacting with a firm. The author emphasizes that "a brand is a set of strong promises. It implies trust, stability and a certain combination of expectations." Branding is the main tool for creating a positive image of an organization in the eyes of its consumers.

Effective communication with the target segment of consumers at this stage of building customer loyalty means, first of all, informing customers about the products and services that the organization can provide them, and what their needs it can satisfy. From the point of view of operational activities, this includes the entire spectrum of the company's activities related to its information interaction with the external environment - from advertising that conveys primary information about the company to consumers to individualized messages sent to specific customers. It should be noted that as the relationship between the supplier and the consumer develops, the degree of individualization of information exchange increases. In addition, this process is characterized by a change in the channels of information transfer: if in the case of advertising, traditional tools are used to convey information to large segments, such as television, billboards and advertising in the press, then within the framework of individualized communication (person-to-person ) channels such as telephone calls and e-mail are used. It should be noted that, in general, the availability of information about the company is an important component of the relationship marketing concept not only at the stages of initial customer acquisition and development of relations between him and the organization at the early stages of cooperation, but also in the process of further interaction. Only if the client knows what his needs he can satisfy by interacting with the company, it is possible to develop his cooperation with the supplier.

The next stage of the "Loyalty Pyramid" is associated with ensuring a high level of consumption of the organization's products and services by customers. At this stage, the most in demand are tools for influencing the behavioral loyalty of users, implying the use of the full range of the company's capabilities to provide clients with financial privileges. This implies the participation of consumers in various bonus promotions, receiving discounts for using the company's services, gifts for purchases, as well as various loyalty programs based on discount-bonus schemes, and offers to join the club. This phase is characterized by the customer gaining an empirical sensory experience of consuming the organization's products and services. The level of customer satisfaction will depend on how well this experience matches his expectations. Therefore, in order to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction, it is important to ensure a consistently high quality of the company's products.

Even a successfully developed loyalty program may not give the expected result if the people who directly work with the client and are responsible for implementing the program do not fully understand what is required of them. The task of the manager is to find how to motivate these employees, as well as correct their attitude to this duty in time

The concept of "loyalty" has long been familiar to players retail market... It is not as important as they understand it, it is important that loyalty programs allow you to reach a qualitatively new level of work. It is absolutely clear that this is good and it is necessary.

Who? First, customers. People like it when they smile, give gifts, give discounts, congratulate them on their birthday - in general, they distinguish them from the crowd and make them pleasantly happy. Secondly, it is financially beneficial for the company: it costs four times more to attract a new client than to retain an old one. Thirdly, according to many business gurus, the future belongs to companies building long-term relationships with customers.

Let's consider the process of creating loyalty using the scheme shown in Fig. 1, as well as the main stages of the loyalty program implementation.

Fig. 1 Loyalty building process

Stage 1. Analysis of the current situation

At this stage, research is carried out on all target groups that influence the formation of loyalty. We consider as target groups:

consumers of the product;

company employees;

partners of the company (suppliers of goods and equipment, marketing and financial intermediaries, mass media).

As part of the study of employee attitudes, the company conducts in-depth interviews with employees, as well as analysis of internal information, the results of previous research, etc.

To study the opinion of consumers, in-depth interviews with regular and abandoned consumers, a quantitative survey of consumers are used. It also analyzes the customer database using questions such as: Which customers contributed the most to the company's revenues last year? From whom does the company expect the main income this year? Which of key clients most susceptible to the temptations of competitors? An important indirect indicator of how satisfied a customer is with a particular business is the frequency and average size of purchases. The more often and more a client buys, the more loyal he is to the company and its products.

Research of competitors is carried out by analyzing various actions of competitors to form loyalty (by observation methods, analysis of secondary information), quantitative survey of competitors' consumers. Competitor analysis will help in formulating a program for developing relationships with your customers.

Stage results: 1. Satisfaction index (including comparative with indices of satisfaction with competitors' products (services)).

Segmentation of consumers (by loyalty, frequency of purchases, other characteristics of consumer behavior and socio-demographic criteria).

Assessment of the degree of loyalty of the company's personnel.

Stage 2. Development of a preliminary version of a loyalty formation strategy

Based on the results of the study, a preliminary version of the loyalty formation strategy is being developed. It includes the following sub-steps.

1) Description of the current situation and the main barriers to the formation of loyalty

Based on the data obtained at the first stage, it describes how the target audiences are satisfied with the work of the company and are loyal to it. If the target audiences are completely dissatisfied, it is hardly worth pursuing a loyalty program. Obviously, in such a situation it is necessary to take completely different measures and try to change something in the company's activities. Or the opposite situation - the satisfaction of target audiences is very high. Since loyalty is based on a sense of satisfaction, it is very important to describe the degree of satisfaction with the merchant's goods and services and how loyalty depends on this. This section contains information that is the “starting point” for assessing the effectiveness of the proposed loyalty building program. Subsequently, the data obtained after the proposed activities will be compared with it.

2) Setting program goals

The goals should be set absolutely precisely and, if possible, expressed quantitatively, so that the degree of their achievement lends itself, if not precise measurement, then at least assessment. To do this, it is necessary to formulate the goal in real units of measurement: percent, rubles, number of buyers, etc. Only then will it be possible to assess its success in the future. Of course, the key goal is to increase the company's profits, revenues and market share. Among other important goals is the ability to retain customers and attract new ones, accumulate an extensive database of them and provide information support other divisions of the company, create an opportunity to exchange information between the organization and its customers, increase the loyalty of not only customers, but also employees and partners of the organization.

3) Determination of target audiences of the loyalty program. Segmenting customers, employees and partners

The main target group of the loyalty program is consumers. First of all, these are regular consumers who provide a large share of the profit. They should be the main focus and, when creating a loyalty program, meet their needs first. Do not exclude less profitable or potential clients from the program. They should also benefit from the program.

A successful customer loyalty program is impossible without a team of loyal employees. Therefore, the second target audience of the loyalty program is the company's employees. Employees can also be segmented based on loyalty levels. The more expressed the level of employee loyalty, the more reliable the employee is.

Creation of loyalty programs can be effective not only in the field of relations with consumers and employees, but also for working with partners of the company. The target groups of such programs are relatively small and consist mainly of business partners or firms.

4) A set of measures for the formation of loyalty

For each target group of the loyalty program, a set of measures is developed to build loyalty.

The set of measures for the formation of consumer loyalty includes:

a set of financial incentive measures (for example, discount programs and bonus programs, special offers, etc.);

a set of measures of non-material incentives (special conditions for regular customers, clubs of regular customers, etc.);

communication with consumers (magazine covering the loyalty program, newsletter or newsletter, hotline, website, member meetings, program events).

The set of measures for building employee loyalty includes:

informing and involving employees;

organization of team-building events;

development of an objective and transparent system of material and non-material incentives;

improving the working conditions of employees;

consideration of possible disloyalty in the selection of personnel;

job satisfaction monitoring.

The set of measures for building loyalty of counterparties includes:

participation in joint sales promotion projects;

holding regular meetings and negotiations to discuss current commercial issues;

providing information about end customers.

6) Calculation of costs for the proposed activities

Loyalty program costs consist of initial costs (for program development, including staff training, technology acquisition, etc.) and operating costs. The amount of these costs depends largely on the level of the program and its scale.

There are many ways to make a profit that can cover most, if not all, costs. These include, for example, customers submitting annual membership fees, sale of products and special offers under the loyalty program, receiving commission from external partners or companies that hold credit cards, placing advertisements in magazines covering the program, paying for participation in events or for using certain privileges.

The most complete cost control can be achieved by limiting the number of loyalty program participants to a certain limit.

In general, the cost of creating loyalty programs should not be viewed as a “cost”, but rather as an investment in marketing tools, which is a strategic necessity in today's competitive environment.

Stage results:

1. The initial version of the loyalty building program.

2. Business plan for the implementation of the loyalty program (including calculations of the necessary costs and planned income from the implementation of the program).

3. Proposals for the formation of a customer database (in accordance with the requirements for CRM-systems).

Stage 3. Finalization of the loyalty building program

At this stage, there is an active discussion of the proposed strategy for the formation of loyalty. The necessary adjustments and additions are made to the program. The principles of management of the loyalty program, the integration of the program into the structure of the company, software or IT-model of the database, an additional package of documents, including: instructions for working with the database, instructions for conducting various promotions, etc., depending on content of the program.

1) Solving organizational issues of the loyalty program

In order to properly manage the program and ensure its smooth operation, it is desirable to create a service center in which the main activities will be concentrated. Particular attention should be paid to the selection of personnel, technology and the formation of the infrastructure of the service center.

2) Integration of the customer loyalty program into the company structure

There are many ways to integrate a loyalty program into a company's organizational structure - from setting up a completely independent firm to implement the program or assigning these responsibilities to an existing department of the company itself, to completely transferring administrative authority to an independent agency. None of them are perfect, so the decision should be made solely based on the individual characteristics of the company organizing the loyalty program. But it is even more important that the company fully exploits the enormous support potential that the program can provide. A relationship of collaboration and support needs to be built between the business units and the personnel implementing the loyalty program, and the management must make sure that both parties understand that they are trying to achieve the same goal and help each other in this.

3) Technical support loyalty programs. The database for a loyalty program must be well thought out and designed. It is necessary to foresee what kind of information it should contain, how this information should be collected, what technical and human resources will be required, how the collected data will be analyzed and for what purpose it can be used.

Stage results:

The final version of the loyalty building program A package of documents allowing to start implementing the program.

Client database.

Stage 4. Implementation of the loyalty building program

At this stage, the following are carried out: carrying out activities to build loyalty; launching the client database; training employees to work with the base; development of instructions for company employees.

In the process of implementing a loyalty program, customer feedback is essential, including customer comments, complaints and questions. First of all, the company itself needs it - because it cannot solve problems without knowing what exactly they are expressed in. Among other things, it is important to listen to the opinion of not only those who have just become a consumer, but also those who have given up using the product. Key questions: What are the main motives that prompted the decision to buy the product? What influenced the decision to stop using it the most? It is these questions, or rather, the answers to them, will help in the future to avoid mistakes in relations with the consumer and increase the loyalty of the latter. This is where the questioning of store visitors and special polls help.

Stage results:

Adjustment of the loyalty building program based on the opinions of consumers and employees.

Debugging the client database.

Approval of instructions for employees.

In an increasingly competitive environment, many Russian companies are launching customer loyalty programs. But before putting this method into practice, you need to know exactly what they want.

As we noted earlier, the term "customer loyalty" (from the English loyal - loyal, devoted) marketers denote a positive attitude of customers to the company, its services, personnel, image, corporate identity. A loyal customer spends more, does not pay attention to price increases, and will tell his friends about his favorite brand, thereby attracting new customers to it.

Marketers point out several conditions under which it is advisable to launch a consumer and customer loyalty program. Some authors believe that the creation of such a program will support a developing business - it will not save a dying business. In the opinion of others, the trade mark for which the club of “friends” is organized should be well known. Otherwise, its creation may result in losses.

The need to create loyalty clubs for consumers and clients arises in markets where competition is strong and there are many similar products. For example, in Russia, this situation is now observed in the insurance market, in the sector mobile phones, in the publishing business.

Abroad, there has long been a tendency to create coalition programs, when several companies unite to create loyalty clubs for consumers and customers (sometimes with the help of an independent operator). This method is also used in Russia. For example, the company "Lovek.ru" in 2000 launched the project "Club Many. RU". Now almost 800 companies are participating in the program: shops, gas stations, restaurants, cafes, entertainment and consumer services enterprises. The companies that make up this community reward buyers with Mnogo.ru cards with bonus points (bonuses), and in return they receive marketing and advertising services.

The program allows its participants to exchange customer bases, whereas with an individual approach to the problem of loyalty, the company works only with its customers. Moreover, the club has turned into a channel of communication with customers, allowing to take into account consumer preferences in various aspects of consumption, highlight the most profitable customers and constantly remind them of yourself. About 700 thousand customers, half of whom live in Moscow, own the cards of the consumer and customer loyalty club.

Some customer and customer loyalty clubs become unprofitable over time, so the companies themselves are forced to abandon them.

Despite the attractiveness of creating fan clubs for consumer and customer loyalty, it is not always advisable to use this tool if there is an opportunity to highlight the product in some other way. For example, Wrigley chewing gum itself creates a kind of consumer and customer loyalty club due to a certain set of its properties, inherent only in it and based on high technologies. Therefore, a company that is considering whether to create a customer and customer loyalty club or not should focus on the question: will this have a long-term effect.

When the decision to create a customer and customer loyalty club has been made, several important criteria should be identified in the upcoming loyalty reward program. The buyer should be aware of the value of the consumer and customer loyalty club, see the choice of rewards and how realistic it is to receive rewards. In addition, when researching the requests of the target audience, you need to calculate whether the buyer really needs this reward.

But most importantly, by creating an original model of a customer and customer loyalty club, a company can nullify everything if its products and services are of poor quality and uncompetitive, and it itself is unfriendly with its customers.

You can evaluate the results of the loyalty program using a number of methods for analyzing the loyalty program:

Analysis of the development of the program (the distribution of program participants depending on the level of their card; an increase in the number of program participants in the current year compared to the previous one; coefficient of the intensity of the program development (the ratio of the number of program participants to the total number of buyers of the trading company);

Analysis of the dynamics of the arrival of participants in the program (determining the average number of participants who came in one month; determining the average increase in the number of participants per month; determining the coefficient of seasonality of the arrival of participants in the program);

Analysis of the activity of program participants (determination of the share of loyalty program participants among all buyers of a trading company; number of purchases per one participant; number of inactive program participants);

Analysis of the financial return of the program (change in proceeds from purchases of program participants; average amount of revenue per one program participant; coefficient of financial costs per participant; program return per 1 ruble invested per program participant).

Corrective measures are developed on the basis of the assessment.

Stage results:

The level of customer loyalty after the implementation of the loyalty program.

Evaluation of the achievement of the set goals of the loyalty program.

A set of corrective measures aimed at improving the effectiveness of the loyalty program.

As part of the course work, it is impossible to talk about all the aspects related to the development and creation of a loyalty program, but we hope that we were able to briefly highlight the main points. It is not easy to create and manage a customer loyalty program, but the effectiveness of such efforts is difficult to overestimate. A properly designed loyalty program can become the main competitive advantage of a company.

Several conditions must be met to create an effective loyalty program:

Constantly emphasizing the importance of the client for the company. In this regard, loyalty clubs are not so much encouragement of the client's contribution to the company's business (free ticket, discounts), as a constant mention of the client's importance for the company

Constant dialogue with clients, receiving feedback. Including through the so-called "hot lines"

Constant provision of any additional information.

The client can know everything about the company, he can be satisfied with the service and quality of goods and services, he can be satisfied with the price level - as a result, he buys a product or service. However, in order to become loyal to the company, he needs not only to reasonably understand the profitability of the purchase, but also to feel pleasure from cooperation with this particular company or from the purchase of this particular brand.

In the event that another company appears on the market with the same offers (prices, service, quality), it is the presence of this personal attachment or involvement of customers that will allow the company to win the competition.

So the involvement is keyword loyalty. It is this additional emotional coloring that distinguishes loyalty programs from more formal savings programs, in which the consumer simply uses a discount card or collects discount coupons.

At the same time, not only and, perhaps, not so much attracted consultants or even such an agency as ours should work. The success of the loyalty program lies in the regular management of the program within the company itself.

For the program to bear fruit, it needs to be pursued persistently and for a long time. It cannot be completed and completed in weeks or even months. And that is why all of the above makes it so responsible to make a decision to conduct a loyalty program.

Customer loyalty is one of the core concepts of relationship marketing. Problems highlighted in the work theoretical study consumer loyalty: discrepancies in the conceptual apparatus; unclear delineation of the terms “brand loyalty” and “consumer loyalty”; different approaches to the interpretation of the nature and structure of consumer loyalty; different industry specifics.

Differences in the conceptual apparatus are associated with the fact that at the moment there are several similar terms, which are used on an equal basis or instead of the term "consumer loyalty", or designate one of the types of loyalty - "commitment" and "satisfaction". In our opinion, commitment should be considered as the highest degree of loyalty development, and satisfaction as one of the conditions for its formation.

Today, there is a vague distinction between the terms “consumer loyalty” and “brand loyalty”. They developed at different times and within the framework of different concepts: the term "brand loyalty" was introduced into use in the early 1920s in the United States and developed within the framework of the branding concept, and the term "consumer loyalty" began to actively develop in the 80s. -ies within the framework of the concept of relationship marketing.

Loyalty programs and customer satisfaction programs are important elements of the set of measures to increase customer loyalty. The work separates these marketing tools, since they pursue different goals, but for any company a system to improve customer satisfaction is more important than a loyalty program, because the loyalty program is a barrier to switching only at a high level of performance of the most significant characteristics of a product or service. Customer satisfaction depends on the quality of the entire company, while the loyalty program should be considered as one of the alternatives to marketing communications. However, the role of loyalty programs should not be underestimated either; therefore, in today's environment, for most companies, customer loyalty programs need to be supplemented with programs to increase customer satisfaction.

Thus, the objectives of the research task received their logical conclusion in the development of theoretical aspects of consumer loyalty management and substantiation of the methodological tools for the formation of complex programs for increasing consumer loyalty.

1. Butcher S. Loyalty programs and loyalty clubs / Per. from English - M .: "Williams", 2004

2. Vasin Yu.V., Lavrent'ev L.G., Samsonov A.V. Effective loyalty programs. How to attract and retain customers. M .: Alpina Business Books, 2005

3. Volkov D. Unique loyalty program "Red cube" // Modern trade. 2008. No. 4.

4. Gaikalov A. Direct marketing as a way to increase consumer loyalty // Marketing and marketing research in Russia. - 2008. - No. 3.

5. Herpott T.Y. empirical research of customer loyalty / problems of management theory and practice. 2001. No. 3.

6.Z.V. Kulikova How it is not necessary to research satisfaction // Marketing communications. - 2005. - No. 5.

7.Z.V. Kulikova On the expediency of loyalty management // Practical marketing. - 2004. - No. 12.

8.Z.V. Kulikova On loyalty management // Proceedings of the Seventh All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference "Problems of Practical Marketing in the Service Sector". - M .: MGUS, 2006.

9.Z.V. Kulikova Increasing brand loyalty through sales incentives / Economics and management: theory and practice. Regional scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering and Economics. Yaroslavl, May 28, 2003: Sat. scientific. works. - Yaroslavl. - YaGTU, 2003.

10.Z.V. Kulikova Loyalty programs for B2B // Yaroslavl News. - 2005. - No. 17 (291).

11.Z.V. Kulikova Loyalty programs for industrial products // Marketing in Russia and abroad, 2005. - №4.

12.Z.V. Kulikova, E.A. Plotnikova Loyalty program - a tribute to fashion or an effective marketing tool? // Marketing communications, 2006. - №12.

13.Z.V. Kulikova, LA Bykova Measuring consumer loyalty: methods and classification / Business strategy and socio-economic development of the region: Sat. articles. 6th scientific and practical. conf. Yaroslavl: Remder, 2003. - S.682-686

14. Zefirova Yu.I. Battles for loyalty // Marketing in Russia abroad. 2003. No. 4.

15. Kuznetsov A. The client is ready or the loyalty of consumers and clients // Advertising Industry.- 2006.- № 4.

16. Kulikova Feasibility of loyalty management systems / Marketing in sales management: Sat. scientific. articles; under the general ed. N. D. Goldobin, N.V. Tikhomirova; MESI, YF MESI, MUBiNT. - Remder, 2004 .-- 360 p. - From 185-189.

17. Martyshev A.V. Relationship Marketing / Study Guide. - Vladivostok; FENU publishing house, 2006.

20. Pustynnikova Yu.M. Building customer loyalty // Store management. 2005. No. 1-2.

21. Raikheld F.F. Loyalty Effect: Driving Forces of Economic Growth, Profits and Enduring Value / Per. from English - M .; Williams 2005.

22. Rysev N.Yu. Active sales. - 2nd ed. - M.: BEK, 2009. - 416 p.

23. Spiridonova E. Programs for the formation of customer loyalty: with whom and how to implement // Business and sales. - 2009. - No. 6.

24. Fedko N.G., Fedko V.P. Marketing communications. - Rostov-on-Don, 2002-205s.

Kuryalov K. Event marketing, or a new tool to keep a customer // Marketing communications. 2001. # 5.

Spiridonova E. Programs for the formation of customer loyalty: with whom and how to implement // Business and sales. - 2009. - No. 6.

Gaikalov A. Direct marketing as a way to increase consumer loyalty // Marketing and marketing research in Russia. - 2008. - No. 3.

It is assumed that clients of companies that actively use loyalty tools should have a high level of loyalty; it should differ positively from the level of loyalty of clients of companies that do not practice such programs. The interest of our study is to establish the possible effect that the practices of customer loyalty management in companies have on the level of customer loyalty.

If this work did not suit you at the bottom of the page there is a list of similar works. You can also use the search button

Reading time: 17 minutes

We will send the material to you on:

One of the tasks of paramount importance for any company today is not so much attracting new customers as retaining existing ones. This explains the relevance of the topic of consumer loyalty. It is customer loyalty that ensures stable, long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with customers. The importance of this phenomenon for the successful development of an organization can hardly be overestimated.

What is the concept of customer loyalty?

To make sure of the increased interest in this topic, just enter the query "consumer loyalty" in the search box, and you will see how many articles, trainings, videos are devoted to this concept. It would seem that the avalanche of advice contained in all sources should simply sweep away the problem of attracting and retaining customers. But with an increasing supply, firms still have to fight for their customers.

First, consider the meaning of the concept of loyalty. According to one of the definitions, loyalty (from the French “loyal” - “fidelity”) is a correct, benevolent attitude towards someone or something.

Accordingly, consumer loyalty is a category of marketing science that implies loyalty and commitment of the consumer to one trade mark, brand, or specific product. We are not talking about one, two or three purchases, but about an attitude that has developed over a long time. This is not a whim, but loyalty to the chosen product (company). It does not depend on the abundance of alternatives offered and price changes.

Customer loyalty is based on customer satisfaction with the quality of products, the way they are presented (design, packaging, availability of the point of sale), service ( professional quality and seller behavior). The consequence of all this is repeat purchases.

An example of customer loyalty: Toothpaste is needed to brush your teeth. Any of the toothpastes on the market meets this purpose. However, the average family over and over again acquires a particular brand of toothpaste they love. This is consumer loyalty.

The logical chain “consumer loyalty (repeat purchases) - an increase in sales - an increase in profits - business success” becomes obvious. Loyal customers are the foundation of your success, because you no longer need to invest in them to attract. In addition, customers who are often loyal to your product voluntarily provide it with free advertising, and speak positively about it.

How is customer loyalty measured? Below we discuss in detail the different methods of measuring customer loyalty. Research usually consists of collecting and analyzing statistical data. Information is collected traditionally: polls, questionnaires, interviews.

They ask questions such as: “How long have you been using this product?”, “Why did you recommend our product to your friends?”, “What rating did you give to our level of service?”. Surveys are conducted both by contact, that is, directly communicating with consumers, and in absentia (leave paper questionnaires, call by phone after purchasing a product, send questions by e-mail).

Companies interested in retaining their customers are developing consumer loyalty programs. They include a variety of marketing moves and chips: discount cards, bonuses from every purchase, gifts and prizes for your favorite customers (for the birthday of a buyer or company, when making a purchase for a significant amount). All this has one goal - to "tie" the client, to encourage further cooperation with the company.

In theory, everything is quite simple: interest the buyer - and he is yours forever. However, practice shows the opposite: it is quite difficult to manage customer loyalty.

What is customer loyalty management based on?

Modern marketing is relationship marketing. His position is to build such relationships with the client, which would entail not one deal, but long-term mutually beneficial cooperation. To make the complexes of marketing measures for ensuring repeat sales to be effective, consider some theoretical aspects.

There are five types of customers in terms of customer loyalty

1. There is no consumer loyalty.This means that a person has either never used the company's products, or its products are not at all included in the sphere of his interests and needs.

2. False type of loyalty.The reason for choosing a brand is emotional: I liked the good discounts, I bought it at a sale. In the same way, it will purchase competitors' products as soon as their conditions seem more attractive.

3. Latent (hidden, obscure) type. The company's products satisfy the client, but this does not lead to repeat purchases for a number of reasons (not satisfied with the price, inconvenient to get to the point of sale).

4. True type of loyalty. The consumer is completely satisfied with the company's product, for a long time acquires it. However, on occasion, he can use the products of competitors.

5. Committed type of loyalty - the dream of any company. The adherent is devoted to "his" (that is, your) company, is absolutely satisfied with the quality, service, is not interested in the proposals of competitors. Repeat purchases are made frequently, regularly, for a long time.

A customer loyalty program should be based on a differentiated approach to each type of customer. So, if it is enough for a follower to maintain business and human relations, then a latent form of loyalty needs to overcome obstacles that prevent repeat purchases.

Clearly, customer loyalty is a flexible concept as it lends itself to change. The goal of customer loyalty programs is to drive these changes in the right direction.

Submit your application

Stages of customer loyalty development

Stage 1. Potential buyer. He is not familiar with the company's products, he does not need it at this stage, but in the future the situation may change.

Stage 1. Casual buyer. I bought the product only because I "caught my eye", there should be no repeat purchases.

Stage 3. Just a buyer. He regularly purchases a particular brand of goods out of habit or deliberately. Does not exclude the possibility of buying products from another company.

Stage 4. Regular customer. Consciously uses the product of this brand for a long time, as he is satisfied with its quality.

Stage 5. Adherent.The highest point of customer loyalty. These are active buyers who not only purchase your products themselves, but also speak positively about it and recommend it in their environment.

It is necessary to approach the definition of customer loyalty in a comprehensive manner, taking into account the level of competition in your market segment, the availability of points of sale, pricing policy competitors and, of course, consumer preferences.

Some ways to manage customer loyalty

1. Motivation of the company team.Attracting and retaining a consumer is the task not only of the marketing department, but also of each employee, from management to an ordinary seller.
2. Defining your buyer and a differentiated approach to working with it. Regular clients are analyzed with high level loyalty. In the future, the main focus is on them.
3. Increasing the uniqueness of the product.It is almost impossible to show devotion to something that is no different from other similar proposals.

What are the methods for assessing customer loyalty

To develop effective customer loyalty programs, you need to have at least a basic understanding of how customers feel about your products. There are two groups of methods for assessing customer loyalty: mathematical and empirical.

• Mathematical methods imply the construction of a graph (curve) of loyalty, calculate the net support index.
• Empirical methods allow you to identify loyalty and determine its level.

Consider the common methods for assessing customer loyalty:

1. Separation of needs - a mathematical method, the essence of which lies in the numerical expression of the number of purchases of products of a certain brand to the total number of purchases. So, if a customer purchases office supplies seven times out of 10 in a particular store, his loyalty level is 70%. For this method, information is collected (how often the product is purchased, in what quantity, and so on).

   It is quite common, but it has a significant drawback: it is difficult to define a truly loyal customer, since a person can constantly buy products in this particular store, for example, because he is on the way from work to home, and not because of loyalty.

2. "Conversion Model" by J. Hofmeer and B. Rice. Using this method, they find out how satisfied the customer is with the product, whether he is susceptible to the opportunity to purchase another product if its quality or conditions of sale are better. The indicator of fluctuations is taken into account - how much the client is confident in making a purchase, or his uncertainty prevents him from making a decision.

   The negative point is that this technique is empirical, that is, its results cannot be represented in numbers.

3. F. Reicheld's method. The method is based on one single question: "How likely is it that you will recommend our company to your friends?" The answer is a score from "0" to "10": from "0" to "6" - critics, "7" - "8" - neutral, "9" - "10" - promoters (loyal customers).

Loyalty Index (NPS) is calculated using the formula:

Loyalty index \u003d "promoters" - "critics" / total number of respondents

Below we will discuss this methodology in more detail and clearly.

What is the consumer loyalty index

NPS (from English Net Promoter Score - literally, pure promoter index) is an indicator of customer loyalty to a company or product. The consumer loyalty index allows marketers to adjust the company's sales policy.

• 2006 year: "Business sharks" from the annual list of the world's largest companies Fortune Global 500 (American Express, Siemens, Phillips, Apple and others) are beginning to measure their NPS and use this method to make strategic and management decisions.
• 2011: NPS is being transformed into a management system, playing a significant role in adjusting sales policies and increasing profits.
• 2016 year: NPS is considered a leading indicator of a company's success and customer acceptance.

With the goal of figuring out what the customer loyalty is about, Reicheld analyzed an impressive amount of data and determined the close relationship of loyalty with a willingness to recommend a product (service) to his social circle. The article on NPS was titled "One Number You Need to Grow."

The author considered traditional ways determining the level of consumer loyalty is difficult and unreliable, since polls cannot produce a mathematically accurate index. The NPS calculation system he proposed was based on just one question. It is permissible to clarify with the client why he answered this way, in order to either reveal what loyalty is based on, or to determine the barriers to loyalty.

When is the best time to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty

The determining factor in the correct determination of the NPS of the company is the right time for research. Here are some "lucky moments":

1. Before the client finally cancels the company's services (Exit Survey). If a person has used the goods or services of the company for some time, and then decided to break off his relationship with it, this is a wake-up call. This means that the client did not become your adherent, something pushed him away.

   Try to take advantage of this situation to determine what you were doing wrong. Even if, after the survey, this consumer still decides to leave, you will still have valuable information on hand from which you can draw conclusions.

2. After the free trial period expires (Post Free Trial). The prospect may have used the trial version, the trial period has expired, but the consumer has not decided to buy the paid version. This means that he is not sufficiently involved in the buying process. Conduct a survey and this will help to identify the miscalculations.

What are the advantages of the most famous method of measuring customer loyalty

• Ease of application and evaluation of results.
• Ease of management. One question and a quick answer.
• Availability. It does not require the work of specialists, special equipment, so even small companies can use it.
• Profitability. There is no need to purchase expensive software or other investment of money.
• The ability to comprehensively determine the loyalty index and segment of your target audience.
• Provides direct dialogue with the client, which allows you to learn about the problem firsthand, develop a strategy for their solution, and prevent consumer churn.
• Promotes customer focus of the entire team of the company. Conducting surveys to determine the NPS serves as a good incentive for cohesion among employees, aims them to meet the needs of the client.
• Increases competitiveness. Unlike companies that do not use the NPS method, you have the advantage that accurate information provides the ability to remove loyalty barriers.

Step-by-step method of measuring the consumer loyalty index

Step 1.We are preparing a key question that will be the basis of our survey.

The question was already mentioned in our article: "Please rate on a scale from 0 to 10, what is the likelihood that you recommend our company or products to a friend or colleague, and why?"

Step 2.We send our question to our clients.

This is usually done by email, SMS, or by telephone survey. The best result will be achieved if you process the collected information within 24 hours. Sometimes to create a survey, as defined by NPS, they use SurveyMonkey, which provides a special online survey form for this.

Step 3. We sort all received answers.

Based on these estimates, we divide all clients by type:

• Those who chose the rating of 9-10 are promoters, that is, followers of the company who value your products, make repeat purchases and willingly recommend you to friends.
• Those who put 7-8 points - neutrals... Such customers use the company's products, are not negatively opposed to the brand, but will easily pass to competitors. Your company does not satisfy them enough that they readily recommend it to their environment.
• Those who gave low marks from 0 to 6 - critics... In these cases, there is no talk of customer loyalty at all. These consumers are not satisfied with your products and services. The problem is, they can tarnish your reputation with negative reviews.

Step 4. We calculate the NPS index using the following formula:

NPS \u003d (% of promoters) - (% of critics)

The index range is from –100 to +100. The ideal picture is when the NPS is 100 (all your clients are promoters). The worst scenario is when this value is -100 (there are no satisfied customers among your customers, only critics).

What can affect the consumer loyalty index (NPS)

At first glance, it seems that nPS score can tell everything about the company, but it is not. In fact, there are many factors that need to be considered in order to get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe business. Thus, a supermarket with NPS 40 can be an outsider among its kind, and an IT company with NPS 22 can be a leader in its segment.

Factors affecting NPS score

1) Competition in the market segment.

This factor includes the moments of filling your niche with offers and the uniqueness of your product (service) among them.

Let's say your business is part of a crowded segment (banking, insurance, healthcare, hospitality). Then you shouldn't expect higher NPS values, the average score will be a good result for you.

However, if you work in an unfilled niche with a low level of competition (for example, produce innovative developments in the medical or industrial field), then the consumer loyalty index for you should be high.

Example: one of the leading companies cellular communication in the US, Verizon Wireless has an NPS of 38 (average) but is the best in the industry. Other telecom companies competing with each other, AT&T and MediaCom, show NPS 15 and 22, respectively. And in this case, the consumer loyalty index speaks not of the low quality of services and customer dissatisfaction, but of the high competitiveness of the market segment.

2) Tolerance of customers.

Consumer tolerance is the lack of rejection that encourages negative comments about the company. Its influence on the NPS indicator is very noticeable, because usually buyers are quite discerning in relation to FMCG and do not hesitate to express their opinion about them.

3) The specifics of the enterprise.

For example, in order to become a client of a SaaS company (software as a service), you need to contribute a certain amount. This means that even if the consumer is not satisfied with your service, he can continue to use it, only to avoid additional monetary losses. It is quite difficult for a SaaS business to retain customers and their loyalty. Typically, SaaS NPS is below average.

Why Net Promoter Score needs to be monitored regularly

• This is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to identify customer attitudes towards your product.
• This method always has a feedback, allows you to track the re-purchase mechanism.
• The information obtained through this research allows you to predict the future development of your business.
• The NPS Index helps you see the prevailing market trends.
• Based on the NPS assessment, it is possible to timely identify serious shortcomings in the company's work, and prevent a critical churn of customers in advance.
• NPS research data is used to create projects to improve the quality of a product or service.
• Promotes proper team cohesion in relation to customers: Each employee will strive to promote satisfying long-term customer relationships.
• Provides a competitive edge. By analyzing NPS, you will always be ahead of the neglected companies.

How it is possible to increase customer loyalty

We will talk about increasing customer loyalty based on different types of customers. Let's discuss promoters, neutrals, critics, as well as those who didn't answer the question at all.

Promoters

Assuming that promoters are already committed to products, many do not consider increasing their loyalty, take them for granted. And in vain. Customer loyalty is a fickle quantity, and if you don't make an effort, you can lose your most loyal customers. It is necessary to show the promoters attention, to express gratitude for the commitment, which will serve to strengthen the relationship.

How to do it:

• Thank your followers. This can be done by sending a personalized thank you email. Some companies reward their favorite customers with small presentations from their products. The main thing is that the promoter feels your kind attitude towards him personally. Then his loyalty will be strengthened.
• Make them a personal offer, for example, to get acquainted with your other products or projects. Good discounts will attract your promoters. Perhaps what you offered them will like it, and then they will recommend this product to their social circle. And your profit will increase accordingly.

Neutrals

Usually this is the most numerous segment of customers: they have no loyalty to your company, but also no rejection of your products. Their attitude can be called even or expectant. But you can do something to help them decide in your direction.

Don't underestimate the impact of neutrals on your business. Since they are looking for the most profitable solution for themselves, involving them can increase your NPS.

How to do it:

• It is possible to influence the mechanism of repeated purchases of neutrals if you offer them favorable conditions, for example, exclusive discounts, a special level of service.
• Keep in touch. Your proactive stance will allow you to involve neutrals in the shopping process. They may not be interested in your product range. Why not send them emails periodically with a list of updates? This gives a chance to attract them again.

Critics

These are customers who are dissatisfied with something about your product or service. Some companies find critics lost to themselves as consumers, don't try to re-engage them. But it's wiser to look at critics as potential promoters.

It has been proven that at least seven out of 10 dissatisfied buyers will renew their partnership with you if the cause of their dissatisfaction is removed. Therefore, the goal of providing feedback to critics will be to demonstrate your interest in them and develop a relationship of trust. You can try to re-engage critics by emailing them with correct questions, such as:

• What difficulties did they encounter using your services?
• What exactly caused their displeasure?
• How can you help them to change their minds?

Sometimes it is appropriate to use a phone call for this. Effort will be rewarded when your critics become your most ardent adherents, seeing how ready you are to solve their problems.

How to do it:

• Extend your free trial version.
• Provide access to additional features.
• Provide free instructions on how to use the product by installing a download button on your website.
• Offer assistance in solving client problems by using third-party firms.

Those who did not answer the survey

By focusing on promoters, neutrals, and critics, it's easy to overlook the audience of those who simply didn't respond to your survey. Is it possible to somehow resolve the issue of feedback from this group?

If you consider that, according to statistics, the average response rate of the NPS system is 60%, it becomes obvious that 40% of people will not answer the survey. And this is more than the number of critics and neutrals. This means that this category cannot be ignored.

Keep in mind that while people who do not respond to the survey do not lower their NPS, they can negatively impact the company's future growth and profitability. In fact, it is easier to re-engage a critic than a non-responder. The only way to attract unanswered people is to reach out to them directly.

How companies abuse customer loyalty

Customers are well aware of the situation when an organization that has just appeared on the market produces a quality product. Then, when customers have already been "won", he begins to lower the quality of the products, hoping that people will not notice and continue to purchase their favorite product out of habit.

Confidently believing that customers will not go anywhere, such companies change the style of their relationship with the consumer: at first they were focused on the satisfaction of their customers, now they take on a dominant role.

Because of the investment in both product quality and loyalty strategies, some organizations find it impractical to spend huge amounts on product improvements. It turns out that the company retains loyal customers against the background of poor product quality. This is what abuse of loyalty looks like.

Consider several areas of business:

• Manufacture of footwear and clothing.In modern economics, there is a tendency towards frequent change of purchased items. Against this background, it is simply unprofitable for manufacturers to invest in improving the quality of goods, to produce shoes and clothes "for centuries."
• The market of technology and electronics.Here is another "disease": manufacturers improve not the quality of the product, but only its design. Smart PR campaigns present new items in a bright light, and loyal customers “buy” for the same product in a new package.
• Product repair services.This sector is a link between different segments of production, although today it is often more profitable and more expedient to purchase a new product than to repair a broken thing. For example: the price of some spare parts for cell phones can reach 80-90% of the cost of a new phone.

The current state of affairs in the market is as follows: the more “promoted” the brand and the higher the number of loyal customers, the more the company can feel its advantage over customers and abuse their loyalty.

This position is doomed to failure: over time, customer loyalty will come to naught, because people, like you, are interested in their benefits, convenience, and comfort. Over the long term, misuse of customer loyalty will unambiguously lead to a loss of customer confidence and their churn to competing organizations.

We sincerely wish your business success. And he, as we have seen, depends on the number of loyal customers. Any competent leader reads books on business issues of interest to him. Customer loyalty is one of the topics in which you need to broaden your horizons. Therefore, we have compiled for you a selection of books on how to raise the level of customer loyalty.

Some of the works listed below are quite famous in narrow business circles, others were written quite recently. Their authors are a wide variety of people from all sorts of countries, but they all know a lot about ways to increase consumer loyalty and willingly share their experience with you. We are also familiar with these books, so we took the liberty of commenting on them a little.

Carl Sewell "Customers for Life"

Many consider this work to be the standard of a business book. The author, one of the leading American auto dealers, focuses on establishing emotionally close relationships with customers. Then you can keep your customers. He shares the system for increasing the level of loyalty and customer retention, which works in his business, which means that he managed to establish itself as effective.

Fred Reicheld, Rob Markey “Sincere loyalty. The Key to Winning Customers for Life "

The best recommendation for this book is the names of its authors. F. Reicheld and R. Markey - partners of Bain & Company - are some of the best marketing consultants. The book is addressed to those who wish to influence their customers.

Throughout the content, the authors' thought can be traced: the long-term success of a company is directly related to satisfied customers. Speaking about the consumer loyalty index (NPS), Reicheld and Marks very fully disclose the concept of measuring it and analyzing the results. A practical point is a step-by-step reproduction of the implementation of the NPS mechanism in the company's work.

Stefan Butcher "Loyalty programs and loyalty clubs"

The book is more like a methodological guide: all issues related to the development of loyalty programs (organizational, administrative, financial) are consistently discussed. However, information about intangible incentives for buyers can be valuable.

It is difficult to read. But if the topic of customer loyalty is close to you, this book will find a place on your bookshelf.

Timothy L. Cunningham, Terry G. Wavra, Lerzhan Aksoy, Henry Wallard “Marketing myths and customer loyalty. Vaunted strategies that will ruin you, and tried and tested techniques that work and deliver results. "

Consistently debunking 53 of the most well-known conventional myths about marketing techniques and consumer loyalty, the authors rely on current research in this area. For example, you will learn that “old” regular customers are not always better than new ones, and why trying to retain “wrong” customers is dangerous.

The main guideline in this book is not the consumer, but you and the success of your business.

Margarita Vasilievna Akulich “Customer loyalty. Concepts, program, analysis, examples, ways to improve "

The book was prepared by a candidate of economic sciences, associate professor and expert and is addressed to business coaches, marketers and company managers. Designed for a wide audience interested in increasing customer loyalty.

The book has both a good theoretical basis (contains almost all concepts related to loyalty) and practical value (it provides a lot of examples, effective advice, methods of analyzing indicators, incentive programs

But even after reading all these books, not everyone will be able to achieve increased consumer loyalty. There can be many reasons. One of them is a bad and low-quality company website. Yes, yes, because now everyone "sits" on the Internet and is the first to look for information about a product or brand on the Web. Professionals will help to find out whether the resource meets all the requirements of consumers by implementing.

A key goal of the relationship marketing concept is to achieve and strengthen customer loyalty. Likhobabin M.Yu. Advertising manipulation technologies (zombie methods). - Rostov-on-Don, 2004. Researchers note that the presence of a large number of loyal to the organization and paying clients can provide it with a number of significant advantages both in the short and in the long term.

In the modern literature on marketing, two approaches to the interpretation of the concept of loyalty can be distinguished: 1) based on the fact that loyalty is considered as a certain type of consumer behavior, expressed in long-term interaction with the company, in the repeated purchases. Regardless of the fact that such an ease of assessing loyalty, this approach has an obvious gap: it does not reveal the reasons why the consumer chooses in favor of one or another service provider, but only takes into account only the results of behavior (repeat purchases).

Scientists tried to eliminate this shortcoming, who proposed a completely different approach. According to which, loyalty is a consumer's preference, formed as a result of generalization of feelings, emotions, opinions regarding a service (or its supplier). This type of loyalty is sometimes highlighted as more significant because it is not considered to reflect the customer's past experience, but rather to indicate his future behavior. But this approach, firstly: it gives preference to subjective opinions - the determining factors of loyalty, it does not prove their influence but a purchase. Second, there is the problem of measuring this type of loyalty.

Traditionally, in the relationship marketing literature, customer loyalty is divided into behavioral and perceived. The monitoring of behavioral loyalty metrics is carried out by observing the actual behavior of the client and is a method of implementing retrospective transactional analysis of his consumer activity. In turn, the emotional loyalty of customers is expressed in the level of their awareness of the activities of the organization and what their needs they can satisfy by using its products or services, as well as in the level of customer satisfaction with the company's offers, their quality and the service provided by the organization. In addition, an important component of perceived customer loyalty is the level of emotional perception of the firm. It seems that for the most complete and comprehensive assessment, it is most appropriate to use an approach that involves monitoring both behavioral and perceived metrics of customer loyalty. Matantsev A.N. Advertising efficiency. - M.: FINPRESS, 2002.

Consumer loyalty is a figuratively positive attitude of consumers regarding the activities of the organization, as well as the products and services sold, produced or provided by the organization, the company's personnel, the image of the organization, the brand, the logo, etc. It is the presence of consumer loyalty, that is, his favorable attitude to a given company or its product, that is the foundation of a stable volume of its sales. Customer loyalty is an indicator of the company's stability and success. Loyal consumers can be called those consumers who for a fairly long time (compared with the life of the product) of time remain "loyal" to the company and make repeated purchases.

One of the foundations of loyalty is a positive experience that a consumer has in the process of buying or consuming a particular product or service. For example, if a consumer is completely satisfied with the quality of any product of a particular company, then, with all the factors unchanged, the next time he will most likely make his consumer choice in favor of this particular brand. In turn, when choosing another product included in the range of products manufactured by the company you like, its favorable attitude will be transferred to the new products of this company. Rysev N.Yu. Active sales. - 2nd ed. - M.: BEK, 2009. - p. 60.

In modern business practice, loyalty is often understood as customer satisfaction, which is not entirely true. As noted by S. Sysoeva A. Neiman, “satisfaction appears when the customer is satisfied and does not regret the money spent. But the client does not necessarily become loyal. A loyal customer is always a satisfied customer, but a satisfied customer is not always loyal. Although customer satisfaction is the first step towards winning his loyalty. " Pankratov F. Advertising activity. - M .: New knowledge, 2000 - 184s. T.Y. Herpott, who believes that one hundred "satisfaction with a service is not identical to customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction should be understood as a set of ordered assessments of individual characteristics of services (which can be positive and negative), and these ratings are infused with individually perceived and expected quality characteristics. Positive assessment of the service ( customer satisfaction) increases the strength of the intention to re-purchase, but does not fully define it, since it depends on the technical, functional and economic connection of the client to the company, the overall attractiveness of competitors' services, and the overall assessment of their own business. " Several studies have shown that customer satisfaction does not necessarily translate into repeat purchases and increased sales. In the course of their implementation, it was revealed that it is only the foundation for further building customer loyalty. Fedko N.G., Fedko V.P. Marketing communications. - Rostov-on-Don, 2002-205s.

The difference between satisfaction and loyalty has provoked opposite conclusions from a number of researchers. Some authors believe that "only satisfaction, not loyalty, can act as an achievable goal for the company," and confirm their opinion by the presence of effective methods for measuring customer satisfaction, as opposed to the absence of ways to determine their loyalty. Others, on the other hand, emphasize that “loyalty, not satisfaction, should be the real goal of the company”, since the fact of customer satisfaction does not guarantee that he will repeat transactions with the supplier, which makes it impossible to use the fact of customer satisfaction as a meaningful metric. It seems that the second approach looks more reasonable, therefore, it was taken as a starting point for further analysis of the factors that influence the emergence and strengthening of customer loyalty. Yaskevich E.V., Advertising activity. Uch.-method. complex. - Vladivostok: Far East Publishing House. University, 2006, - 230s.

Consumer loyalty is based on an individual set of compelling arguments in favor of a choice once made. One part of these arguments, such as the price of a product or a purchase bonus program, can be expressed in very specific numbers. The other part, the same likableness or attentiveness of the sellers - is difficult to describe by the number, but it undoubtedly has an impact. Accordingly, to increase customer loyalty, both rational and emotional moves should be made.

What are these moves? Like most any other marketing ploy, the development of customer loyalty is built on two human vices: greed and flattery. Second most important are indulging laziness and stirring up curiosity. By skillfully playing these four strings, you can bring the consumer closer to the opinion that there can be no better choice for us. To do this, you just need to accurately and clearly highlight the benefits that are significant for this person. And it is obvious that the combination of benefits that is meaningful for each person can be quite individual.