Creating a strong brand and earning customer loyalty goes both ways. With today’s hyper-connected world, businesses are able to engage with customers on many platforms, giving them a personal feel and creating an impact in their lives.

At the Activate forum hosted by Globe myBusiness on September 12, 2018, entrepreneurs gathered to learn how businesses can use digital solutions to create a better experience for their customers.

The forum, held at The Perfect Pint in Greenbelt 2, Makati City, featured speakers who shared how the latest digital technologies helped them connect with a massively growing tech-savvy consumer base.

Creating meaningful experiences

Sheree Gotuaco, founder and CEO of Stylist in Pocket (SiP), discussed how she used digital tools to create meaningful relationships with clients.

SiP is a web-based styling service, which lets the client contact them through their website, email or text messaging. SiP stylists would then deliver clothes to their client’s doorstep and offer free styling services in the comfort of the customer’s home.

Sheree said most of their customers are busy families and professionals who do not have time to shop for clothes. “You save the hassle, the time, the traffic, you have no confusion, no wrong purchase, and you look amazing.”

With their personalized styling services and home shopping offers, Sheree said they were able to give customers an experience they could enjoy.

“We’re giving them confidence. [We teach them to] be happy about who they are and how they dress,” she noted. “That’s what we’ve seen in many of our clients. One thing that they like is the stylist telling them ‘Hey, you know, this fits you!’ even when they’ve never worn it before. That’s the value of the stylist.”

In addition, Sheree said SiP uses customer data to provide better services tailored for their clients.

“We get [the customer’s] gender, their job position, their size; we note if they’re married or not, their birthdays, et cetera,” she said. “Because of that we’re able to service our customers much better.”

Reaching across platforms

Laura Verallo de Bertotto, Creative Director and CEO of VMV Hypoallergenics, shared how her business enjoys “borderless benefits” by reaching out to customers across all platforms.

With a mission “to save the world’s skin,” VMV Hypoallergenics is a company that offers safe and effective skin care products for men, women and children.

By establishing their presence on e-commerce sites, social media, and brick-and-mortar stores, Laura said her company was able to provide customers with a “friendly, impressive, and positive engagement” both online and offline.

“We can do really well online (and) in brick-and-mortar. We have customers that are multi-generational,” she said, adding that they were able to reach new markets through word-of-mouth.

“We have customers who are so loyal that when they go shopping on the counter, another customer will come looking (for something to buy), and they’ll help the other customer, which is great,” Laura said.

She added that her customers were also able to write positive reviews about her business.

“People write reviews, and people buy off of reviews,” Laura said. “Reviews are far more powerful than anyone realizes. When you’re online, you can really speak authentically, (with) your own voice.”

Driving customer loyalty

For Stephanie Kubota of Globe Labs Digital Ventures, driving customer loyalty should be the core strategy of businesses today. Following what Sheree and Laura said, she added that entrepreneurs should invest more in providing better experiences for customers.

Stephanie emphasized the need for Philippine entrepreneurs to create their own loyalty programs, saying that a good customer retention rate would result in higher returns.

“We see that the Philippines is ripe for creating loyalty programs,” Stephanie said. “Usually, our focus is to acquire new customers, but if we look at the revenues, there’s a 75% Return of Investment rate for acquisition versus the 200% ROI for repeat customers. […] It’s really shifting focus more on experience rather than the product. Your product should be able to sell itself. It’s more of giving your customers the personal feel and being able to establish your presence.”

This was why Globe myBusiness launched the RUSH Loyalty App, which allows entrepreneurs to foster long-lasting customer relationships by granting points and rewards to loyal customers.

“What RUSH is trying to do is provide more value to the customer,” Stephanie said. “[What customers want is] really a brand that ‘cares for me and spends time with me’. […] It’s really more of being an active participant in the customer’s journey. We provide on-demand access for them to drive relevance, show customers that the brand really knows what their likes and dislikes are, create impact and provide more value.”