By: Kenny Thompson, National Director of Business Development at BASYS Processing
Your customers have more choice now than at any previous time in history. If someone is unhappy with your product or service, an alternative is usually just a quick internet search away. And if someone has just started their software search, they’re more empowered than ever to make an informed decision. With so many options, how can you make sure that your existing customers stay with you? Let’s talk about brand loyalty.
Brand loyalty is the positive association consumers attach to a particular product or brand. Customers that exhibit brand loyalty are devoted to a product or service, which is demonstrated by their repeat purchases despite competitor’s efforts to lure them away. –Investopedia
Customers might feel loyalty to an ISV for two reasons:
1. Because they have an emotional connection built on trust and experience, or . . .
2. Because the ISV’s software offering is functional, practical, and suits their needs.
An increase in customer retention of just 2% can reduce costs by as much as 10%, so you can see why cultivating brand loyalty is so crucial to the fiscal success of ISVs. And if you want truly loyal customers, you’ll need to build both emotional and practical connections. Here are 3 ways integrated payments can help your software do just that:
Keep Your Product Relevant
Technology is constantly evolving, and that means you need to frequently reassess, refine, and expand upon your software. This is even more important for customers that have a practical, not emotional, connection to your software. Practical loyalty is more fragile. These customers are vulnerable to your competition if you don’t consistently demonstrate that your product is the best on the market.
Integrating a payment processing solution within your software shows customers that you are working to anticipate and accommodate their needs. Choose a payment processing partner that will help you stay ahead of the competition with helpful, cutting-edge features like point-to-point encryption (P2Pe), simplified PCI DSS compliance, recurring payments, transaction reporting, and more.
Provide Outstanding Customer Service
Customer experience is the proving ground of brand loyalty. 80% of customers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience.
Offering integrated payments increases value and convenience for your customers, improving their overall customer experience. But what happens when something goes wrong? According to the 2017 Customer Service Barometer, 60% of Americans would consider switching to a different company following two to three instances of poor service. Your choice of payment processor will determine whether that statistic is harmful or beneficial to your company.
The right processor will consider every customer support call a chance to build brand loyalty. So, when another company’s customer reaches their breaking point after a few bad experiences, they’ll come running to you.
Increase Dependency
Customers that rely on your software are customers that are less likely to leave you. Expanding the functionality of your software to help your customers with one more facet of everyday business increases their dependency on your product.
Consider a medical office that uses a CRM system to track their patients and schedules, but also to collect payment. If they’re approached by a competing software that doesn’t offer integrated payments, they likely won’t even take them into consideration.
In short, the more needs you address for your clients, the better. And customers will see the benefit of integrated payments almost every day. When they use your software for everything, they’ll rely on you even more. Customers recognize when you make their day-to-day operations run more smoothly, and that fosters loyalty.
Final Thoughts
In his book More Loyal Customers, author Kevin Stirtz writes, “Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.”
Brand loyalty is built over time and relies upon delivering the best experience every time. Aligning yourself with a like-minded payment processor will ensure that your customers are receiving the same great service they would receive from your company. That world-class service combined with innovative and relevant solutions will guarantee that your software is one worth being loyal to.
