3 Ways to Build Customer Loyalty in the First 3 Months
The GTM Newsletter
With the end of the year fast-approaching, two inevitable events emerge on the horizon:
The dawn of a new calendar year (hello 2024!).
Contract renewal dates.
A spotlight falls on customer loyalty, an influential force on the revenue secured during contract renewals.
While the obvious and important way to build and cultivate customer loyalty is to build a product that people love, the reality is that it takes time.
In tandem with the sustained efforts in product excellence fostering long-term loyalty, are there supplementary ways to build customer loyalty - more quickly?
We’ll dive into 3 ways that revenue leaders are successfully doing so - let’s get into it.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Demandbase.
Build Customer Loyalty in the First 3 Months
3 ways to build customer loyalty…quickly👇
1. Deliver value early - in the product and external to the product
In the product
The concept of delivering value early is not just a philosophy; it's a quantifiable metric known as "Time to Value." This metric gauges the duration for users to realize the benefits, measuring onboarding efficiency.
Measuring "Time to Value":
Quantifiable Benchmark: This metric provides a benchmark for onboarding efficiency. Tracking the time users take to derive value offers insights into initial user experience effectiveness.
Identifying Bottlenecks: Analyzing this metric helps identify potential bottlenecks in the onboarding journey. Whether it's a convoluted sign-up process, unclear feature exploration, or a steep learning curve, measuring this metric pinpoints areas that may need optimization.
The "Aha Moment" in the Product Experience:
Defining Critical Milestones: The "aha moment" is pivotal, representing when users grasp a product's unique value proposition. It could be the successful completion of a task, the realization of a time-saving feature or any experience that resonates with the user.
User Activation and Retention: Swift realization of the "aha moment" fosters activation and retention, building immediate trust - the cornerstone for customer loyalty.
Expediting the Timeline:
User-Centric Iteration: Analyzing these metrics prompts a user-centric approach, refining onboarding based on feedback and analytics.
Guided Onboarding and Resources: Providing intuitive onboarding accelerates the user journey to the "aha moment."
Rapid recognition of product value → increased customer loyalty.
External to the product
While intrinsic product value is crucial, adding external value enhances customer loyalty. For example:
Supporting Thought Leadership:
Identifying Opportunities: Actively monitor industry trends for opportunities for customers to showcase their expertise. This could include speaking opportunities, article or blog post contributions, or other thought leadership platforms.
Attending Beneficial Events:
Personalized Recommendations: Keep a pulse on industry events and recommend relevant ones, showing understanding of their interests.
Making Proactive Introductions:
Connecting with Relevance: Leverage your network to make meaningful introductions, showcasing your commitment to their success.
Combined intrinsic and external value becomes a dynamic force for rapid customer loyalty.
2. Provide a flawless onboarding experience
Not smooth - flawless.
The onboarding experience serves as the gateway to customer loyalty. Factors to consider for achieving a flawless onboarding process:
First Impressions:
Decisive Impact: Initial impressions set the tone for the customer journey, shaping perceptions.
Every Touchpoint Matters:
Holistic Evaluation: Evaluate every touchpoint in the onboarding process, identifying pain points for improvement.
User-Centric Design: Prioritize user-centric design to ensure a seamless experience.
Continuous Improvement:
Iterative Optimization: Treat onboarding as an iterative process, evolving based on feedback and analytics.
Data-Driven Decision Making: Leverage data analytics to inform decisions for continuous improvement.
A flawless onboarding experience demands commitment to executional excellence.
3. Build a relationship that goes beyond the bounds of a typical onboarding experience
Here are examples of ways to foster relationships beyond onboarding:
Thoughtful Gestures:
Personalized Kickoff Gift: Instead of a generic welcome, consider a personalized kickoff gift that reflects a genuine understanding of the customer. This could be based on their interests, recent experiences, or preferences. The key is to make it thoughtful and tailored to the individual.
Above and Beyond Examples: Take notes of customer details for personalized surprises. Wes Yee (Head of Growth at Flex) provides examples: If they mention a recent trip to NYC - send them Levain cookies. If they are a huge Swiftie - surprise them with an autographed album.
In-Person Engagement:
Face-to-Face Meetings: If feasible, in-person visits deepen connections, demonstrating significant commitment. This is something that strong operators such as Farlan Dowell (GTM / Sales Coach / Advisor) suggest.
Building a relationship beyond onboarding involves a commitment to personalized, meaningful interactions. It goes beyond the transactional and enters the realm of genuine connection and understanding.
Establishing customer loyalty early is crucial for both short-term and long-term growth, fostering invaluable customer advocacy. Andy Mowat (VP of GTM Ops at Carta) defines customer advocacy as engaging your customers to turn them into champions for your product and brand. Whether your company is B2B or B2C, catalyzing your customers’ passion helps inform your roadmap, boost your brand, attract new customers, and accelerate their time to decision.
🍿 Upcoming Live Digital Event:
GTMnow’s inaugural live digital event is coming up at the end of the month. Led by Lars Nilsson, who coined the phrase account-based sales development himself, this will be both a strategic and tactical session.
👀 More for your eyeballs:
Humane officially unveils the AI Pin, a wearable powered by OpenAI 🤖
The Ai Pin connects to AI models through the company's software, AI Mic. Humane's goal with the Ai Pin is to streamline technology interfaces, eliminating unnecessary clutter. Check out the video in the linked image below👇
👀👀 More for your eyeballs:
Enough hunch-based selling. At Demandbase, data wins every time. Their B2B sales intelligence platform delivers accurate company, contact, technographic, engagement, and intent data right in your CRM, browser, and more. Learn more about their Sales Intelligence platform today here!
👂 More for your eardrums:
Scott Gifis is currently the CEO at NoFraud, formerly the President and COO at frame.io (bought by Adobe) and prior to that, he was the president at AdRoll for 6 years. Scott is an experienced executive operator, investor, advisor, and board member with a proven track record of building and scaling great companies, globally, from near zero to $100M plus. If you want to grow your career, this is the episode to listen to. Tune in 🎧
🚀 Start-ups to watch:
The Default team announces their $6.6 million Seed round along with the launch of their all-in-one Inbound Leads Platform 🎉
Check them out!
🔥Hottest GTM jobs of the week:
Senior Director, Enterprise Sales at CaptivateIQ - more details here.
Enterprise Account Executive at Seso - more details here.
GTM Total Compensation and Rewards Manager at Vanta - more details here.
Growth Engineer at Coast - more details here.
See more top GTM jobs here.
Manifesting closed contracts for you all as we approach the end of the year!
We’ve been looking past the end of the year into 2024 this week with a team offsite. Big things ahead.
Excited, energized, and appreciative of you all rocking with us till the end.
Have a great weekend!
Barker ✌️