Want to Build Brand Loyalty? Listen to Your Customers

The current wave of D2C brands is known for it’s clean, incredibly branded, often minimalistic, and typically cheeky design and approach. But, stellar design, beautiful packaging, and fun IRL experiences is not all there is to it. Successful D2C brands have something in common: They listen to their customer. And we mean actively listen. They change products, add products, and make decisions with their customer and for their customer. They think of their customers like strategic business partners.

Give Your Customers Opportunities To Speak

If you don’t give your customer opportunities to communicate, then they won’t be able to share feedback that could be vital to your brand’s growth The key is to make the communication and feedback loop as easy and convenient as possible. The more ways you give your customer to communicate with you, the higher your chances are of getting their valuable insight and feedback.

When They Speak, Listen

Part of encouraging community participation is acknowledging that you’ve heard your customer. What happens when they speak out? Your response to their outreach defines how they will reach out in the future and if they will reach out in the future. If your customer’s voice is heard, responded to, and ultimately making a difference, then they will continue to offer their valuable insight!

Ways to Listen:

Instagram Stories

Four words: Use the poll features. Seriously. Wanna launch a product that your customer is actually going to buy? Ask them what they want. We guarantee they have opinions, so make it easy for them to share with a simple Instagram Story poll!

@adidasrunning

Social Media Comments

Treat every comment as an opportunity. An opportunity to improve, an opportunity to begin a conversation, an opportunity to learn, and an opportunity to not only listen to your customer but to acknowledge that you hear them. 

@glossier

Exclusive Facebook Groups, Slack Chats, or Instagram DM chats

Create an exclusive community via Facebook Groups, Slack Chats, or IG DM chats. If the community is fostered well, these communities can organically create conversations among important members of your customer community. This is a place where you can offer surveys, contests, and exclusive beta programs to get real feedback from your beloved community!

@peloton 

Pop-Up Forms and Email Surveys

Surveys are a fantastic way to gather information about particular topics. Through website pop-up surveys and email surveys, you can learn about whether your checkout process is easy or difficult, what email content your customer wants to see, why a user browsed but didn’t make a purchase, and more!

Courtesy of Zen Mountain Gear

In-Store + IRL Interactions

This is where you can really get to know your customer. You can learn more about who they are, who their friends are, and why they want to meet you IRL. Be sure your IRL team is trained to learn about your customer and build real relationships with them. Your store associates can be wellspring when it comes to true customer insight.

Photo Courtesy of The Sill

Product Reviews

Product reviews are a great way to know what your customer likes about your product and what they dislike. Take product reviews seriously. Think of them as group case studies. Sometimes winning a repeat customer is as simple as making shipping free on your site!

It’s important to listen to customers because they can offer valuable input and insight on things you might have overlooked or not considered. Seriously, we see this all the time! Utilize social media outreach tools, engage with customers offline, IRL, and don’t be shy when it comes to the comments section on social media. After all, your customer’s loyalty truly is everything.