Getting customers is great but retaining them is really the name of the game when it comes to keeping your business going. Return business and customer loyalty will continue to keep the cash rolling in and to keep customers happy.

Having a valuable, worthwhile product is obviously a huge part of this, but it’s only half the battle.

Below are five different methods you can try to enhance the loyalty of your customers:

1. PRIORITIZE CUSTOMER SERVICE
Listening to customers is absolutely a must when it comes to operating a business. When a customer has an issue or needs to accomplish something using your website, your product or the services you offer, making the process easy is extremely important. The response time is of key importance here, especially when the customer seeks help online. Customers often expect responses within just 30 minutes, so this can be a bit difficult to manage but it’s not impossible.

Helping a customer with a task and making this task as easy as possible can have the surprising effect of creating a return customer even when the interaction itself was initially due to an issue or a problem. Be friendly and helpful as well as efficient. Furthermore, be accessible. Customers don’t like feeling helpless.

2. DON’T IGNORE SOCIAL MEDIA
This step really goes hand-in-hand with the first one regarding prioritizing customer service. Like it or not social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are here to stay, and many customers are conditioned to bring up their issues on social media. Often, they will expect a response from the company, but even if they’re just airing grievances, it’s important to be responsive on social media. This will help the customer, and even if he or she is not expecting a response, the pleasant surprise of a helpful response may make them a return customer.

3. START A REWARDS PROGRAM
People like rewards, and they like being members of a club. Create one related to your business and the products and/or services that you sell. Reward customers for purchasing your product, and reward them for coming back as well. The simple act of making customers feel appreciated and valued can go a long way toward making them return.

4. ADD LEVELS TO YOUR REWARDS PROGRAM
Once you have a rewards program in place, it’s important to build on it. Add levels to it so that customers who shop at your store frequently or who spend a lot of money can earn more rewards by doing so. Not only does this encourage customers to return and potentially aim to achieve these higher levels of rewards, it also makes customers feel appreciated for their high level of patronage. Both of these factors can help make a return customer out of a shopper.

5. LISTEN
Listening to customers goes far beyond just focusing on customer service. When a customer provides you and your business with feedback, treat it as valuable information. Take it and use it. Collecting feedback can be a difficult task, so when someone offers it up to you, it’s a good idea to listen, take the feedback to heart and potentially implement it into the ins and outs of running your company.

You’d be hard-pressed to find something more important than customer loyalty in the business world. Returning customers are the lifeblood of what keeps a business running, and it’s important to find as many ways as possible to keep customers coming back. Take these tips and implement them into your business and reap the benefits of customers who return and continue to return.