One of the best ways to retain customers is through customer loyalty. However, according to Beyond Philosophy, a customer experience consultancy, “there are many definitions of customer loyalty. Yet each of them fails to realize that loyalty runs hand-in-hand with emotions. Customer loyalty is the result of consistently positive emotional experience, physical attribute-based satisfaction and perceived value of an experience, which includes the product or services.”

While you may realize that establishing customer loyalty is a crucial aspect of your business, it can be hard to decipher which strategies will drive the best results. So we asked fourteen entrepreneurs to crack the code behind their customer loyalty strategy.

What is your #1 tip on establishing customer loyalty?

1. Offer exclusive benefits.

“To establish customer loyalty, let your customers interact with your brand to obtain exclusive benefits and personal attention. Giving your most loyal customers exclusive benefits that you don’t offer to everyone else makes them feel special, which creates a solid foundation to build customer loyalty.”

– James Duchenne, CEO and Director of Mplifyr, LLC 

2. Create tangible value, early.

“It’s critical to create tangible value for your customers greatly in excess of their willingness-to-pay. If early customers come away from your business delighted, then they will not only come back but will refer their friends. It’s a virtuous cycle.”

– Rob Biederman, Co-Founder of HourlyNerd

3. Get personally involved.

“I encourage entrepreneurs to focus on customers… Getting personally involved in customer questions and feedback early on enabled us to make feature updates on a weekly basis to address issues in a timely manner and ensure customer satisfaction. To this day, I continue to read all of the customer requests and support tickets that come in. The feedback informs product development.”

– Jesse Lipson, VP and GM of Data Sharing at Citrix and Founder of ShareFile

4. Be helpful without being a salesman.

“Be helpful without being a salesman. The buyer knows that a perfect solution doesn’t exist, so if you try to sell one, you’ll only come across as less trustworthy. The single best way to be good at sales is to do something you’re really passionate about. That’s why most entrepreneurs are actually great salespeople.”

– Kasper Hulthin, Co-Founder of Podio

5. Genuinely care about your customers.

“Care. Nothing secures loyalty like genuinely caring about your customers. You can say anything you want, but your customers will decide what they think about your company by your actions, not by your words. If they know you care, then they will be loyal to you.”

– Dan Vuksanovich, Owner of Website Traffic Increaser Guy

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The customer’s perception is your reality. – Kate Zabriskie, founder of Business Training Works, Inc.

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6. Stay connected through email marketing.

“My #1 tip for establishing customer loyalty is to produce a monthly newsletter. Studies show that your brand loses 10% loyalty-equity per client per month… unless you stay connected with value-driven content.”

– James Clouser, Freelance Copywriter and Marketing Consultant at JamesClouser.com

7. Talk to customers.

“The best way to establish loyalty isn’t something fancy or complex; it’s as simple as actually talking to your customers, even when they’re perfectly happy. Talking to our own customers has dramatically increased retention, customer happiness, and the amount of money that customers spend.”

– Aaron Harris, CEO of Tutorspree