Loyalty Law #2: Don't just talk to customers … listen

Return to: Loyalty Law #1: Drive community participation

Faced with a deluge of marketing messages, increasing resistance and negativity towards advertising and marketing in general, and a growing array of communication channels, the conversation between the brand and customer must change. A one-way, marketing-driven conversation no longer engages customers. Building trust and earning loyalty is the act of creating a dialogue with customers: talking, sharing and, above all else, listening. 

Marketers have at their fingertips an array of technologies (such as blogs, forums, chat rooms and online communities) to facilitate conversations with their customers. Being able to easily contribute opinions and ideas connects the customer to the brand, but what strengthens this relationship is when the brand embraces the customer as a partner in the dialogue, and truly listens to what he/she has to say, and acts on it. In fact, experts say that the very act of listening deepens customer loyalty.

Ducati, the Italian motorcycle company, is putting customer-driven innovation and participation at the crux of its marketing efforts. Ducati engages its customer community to provide feedback on design, performance and general customer experience. Blogs have replaced formal research methods, and through new media communication tools, Ducati is embracing its customer community in an ongoing, real-time, informal feedback loop. In fact, the company now calls itself a tribe of employees and customers who share emotions and fight together.

Next: Loyalty Law #3: Meet customers' expectation of honesty