What are the 6 Rungs of the Customer Loyalty Ladder?

A business is nothing without its customers, and the Customer Loyalty Ladder, which you see below, illustrates the intricacies of those all-important customers. From prospective customers to brand advocates, the Customer Loyalty Ladder is a visual representation of gaining, maintaining and utilising the customers that fuel your business.

I interviewed Cameron Phillips, KAYBE’s Customer Success Manager, to understand this concept better, and now it’s time to put Cameron’s expertise into words. So, let’s dive into the six rungs that make up this phenomenon.

Suspect

The Customer Loyalty Ladder is often taught as just four or five rungs, and this step doesn’t always make the cut. The first three stages fall into the ‘sales’ section, with a suspect being a consumer with no plans to purchase, but who might be interested in or in need of your products/services.

A suspect demands effective marketing strategies to climb to the prospect/lead rung. A strong example of that in B2B marketing would be an ABM campaign engaging a suspect with a whitepaper. Once they’ve downloaded the whitepaper, they’ve become a prospect/lead as they move further along their buying cycle and up the Customer Loyalty Ladder.

Prospect/lead

Once that suspect has engaged, they’re a prospect/lead, and there’s no debate as to whether a prospect/lead is on the Customer Loyalty Ladder. This is the stage between engaging with your brand, such as clicking your digital marketing content to view your website, and completing the buying cycle by purchasing a product or service.

In this stage, it’s critical to make your products/services as enticing as possible for the customer. They’re already aware of you and interested in your offering, so remove any obstacles and make that purchase decision as easy as possible.

Customer

They’ve made the decision to purchase your product/service. What now? They’re another rung up the Customer Loyalty Ladder – the final rung of the ‘sales’ section – and you’ve earned revenue from them.

But you could still gain a greater share of their wallet or even utilise them to gain more customers, so it’s time for some lead nurturing. Ensuring their first experience as a customer with you is an enjoyable one will be critical, since we know from our dragon-slaying article that 72% of customers will switch to a competitor after a single bad experience and 65% of a business’s sales come from existing customers. New customers only take you so far, and it’s not a sustainable business model.

So… Nurture. That. lead.

Client

You’re now out of the ‘sales’ stage and into the ‘customer success’ stage of the Customer Loyalty Ladder; managing customers to ensure they enjoy positive experiences and continue moving up the ladder. This is your reward for making that first purchasing experience positive: repeat customers. They’re critical to your success, whether you’re a small business or a global market leader. This could be as simple as a commuter stopping for coffee at the same place each morning.

One really effective way method of moving a consumer up the Customer Loyalty Ladder from customer to client is with a subscription service. This locks a customer into regular purchases; maintaining a steady, sustainable revenue stream over time.

FUN NOTE: Alfred P. Sloan of General Motors came up with the idea of upgrading a car to encourage customers to buy new ones, therefore creating clients, in the 1920s. In the following century, this ‘dynamic obsolescence’ idea evolved into the notorious ‘planned obsolescence’ that we see in brands like Apple today. There’s a debate for this being good and bad, but it certainly benefits marketers and increases revenue.

Supporter

This is when the customer starts doing some of the work for you. Supporter is another rung that’s not always included in the Customer Loyalty Ladder, but it’s a go-between from client – a loyal, repeat customer – to advocate.

If your customer success management has been particularly outstanding, a client will hopefully transition into a supporter by being willing to publicly offer their support for your business.

One example I’ve seen of this myself is when I travel home to visit friends and family. I might meet some friends for a round of golf and let them suggest a local course. A supporter of a specific golf club might say “I’ve played golf at X course a few times and it was good”. An advocate, on the other hand…

Advocate

An advocate would be telling every other golfer they know how great the course is at any opportunity. Likewise, a small village cafe or bakery usually relies on the repeat business of loyal clients, but some of those clients climb the Customer Loyalty Ladder into supporters and even advocates who sing the praises of the cafe/bakery to everybody they meet in the village.

Possibly the best example of advocates, however, would be Apple. For years, it has been commonplace for people to plead with users of Android phones to make the switch to iPhones. In fact, Apple’s ability to keep people buying new, upgraded devices (as mentioned in the client segment) shows their superiority in driving customers up the Customer Loyalty Ladder from customer to client to supporter and even advocate.

Is your ladder in place?

I might be guilty of making it sound far too easy to drive consumers up the Customer Loyalty Ladder. It’s not easy, but that’s why you can turn to experts like KAYBE to execute these steps for you.

From creating prospects to converting sales and earning loyal clients to having advocates shout from the rooftops on your behalf, KAYBE deliver marketing services that can revolutionise your business.