Healthcare Marketing- Advancing Consumers up the Loyalty Ladder
Customer loyalty is one of the most valuable elements of marketing. Loyalty is a measure of how much customers are likely to repeat business with a business. Higher customer loyalty means greater retention, which increases sales by the businesses (Ishak & Abd Ghani, 2013). Maintaining a high level of customer loyalty helps businesses to maintain consistent sales since their customers will be coming back. The loyalty ladder is a relationship marketing concept that provides a useful framework for moving customers to higher ranks of loyalty. Using this ladder can help to improve customer relationships to see them develop greater loyalty to the business. The purpose of this paper is to use the loyalty ladder to improve customer relationships in the marketing of a new nutritional service developed by a healthcare organization.
The Product
A local hospital has noticed a significant rise in the number of people who are overweight and obese. This problem is caused by poor dieting behaviors by the locals. Many people are willing to begin a weight-loss journey, but they have no idea where to begin. Therefore, the hospital has created a nutritional service. The service includes consultation with a certified dietician and a written meal plan that meets the needs of the consumers. This product needs to be successful so that people can come back when they adjust their nutritional plans or need a changed diet plan.
Techniques to Advance Consumers up the Loyalty Ladder
At the base of the loyalty ladder are prospects. Prospects are people who can become customers. These are people with a need for the product, but they have not bought it yet. It is the goal of the marketing process to identify the prospects and turn them into buyers of the product (Magatef & Tomalieh, 2015). The prospects, in this case, are people with nutritional needs. At this point, the recommended strategy is to get the potential buyers to know about the products. To achieve this, the organization should use social media to create awareness. Social media marketing is an effective approach to get the marketing message to a lot of users. The goal here is to get people to know that the product exists so that they can buy it.
On the second level of the ladder are the shoppers. These are people who were once prospects but now have decided to test out the product. The shoppers are at a level where they have not yet bought the product and are debating whether they should extend their patronage (Fortenberry Jr, 2009). The best approach to get them to buy again is to give them a reason to believe in the product’s effectiveness. The best strategy at this point may be sharing customer experiences. Showing people who have used the product for a while and achieved results may motivate the shoppers to become customers.
When shoppers go up the ladder, they become customers. Customers are people who have already decided to buy the product. The goal is to get customers to become repeat clients (Fortenberry Jr, 2009). Therefore, it is important to focus on making sure that they have the best possible experience. The recommended strategy at this part of the ladder is to offer support during and after the purchase of the product. There should be a good program to support the customers through their diets and follow-ups to ensure that they are easily following the recommended regimen. The hospital can have a program to update the customers on strategies that they can use to remain consistent with the diet.
With good customer experiences, it is likely that they will become clients. Clients are people who are now repeat customers of a product. At this point, they have developed a significant amount of loyalty to the brand (Fortenberry Jr, 2009). The best strategy to move them up the ladder is to maintain consistency in their satisfaction. The support that is offered to new customers should be consistently provided to the clients. They should always feel supported by the organization regardless of how long they have been purchasing the products.
Finally, the clients can become advocates. Advocates are people who are so impressed by the product that they start to recommend it to others. This kind of customers would tell their friends, coworkers, family, and others in their lives to try the same product (Fortenberry Jr, 2009). To turn people into advocates, it is important to make sure that they get some value every time they make contact with the company. This can include making offers to repeat customers. For example, the nutritional service should have a percentage discount to repeat clients. These are people who already love the product, but now they will be getting even better value from it. This value is what will motivate them to recommend the service to other people.
References
Fortenberry Jr, J. L. (2009). Health care marketing: tools and techniques. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Ishak, F., & Abd Ghani, N. H. (2013). A review of the literature on brand loyalty and customer loyalty. http://repo.uum.edu.my/16316/1/20.pdf
Magatef, S. G., & Tomalieh, E. F. (2015). The impact of customer loyalty programs on customer retention. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 6(8), 78-93.
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Question 
Read Chapter 23, pages 157 to 162 in Fortenberry. Select a healthcare product you choose for placement in your local market and envision its key features and benefits.
Healthcare Marketing- Advancing Consumers up the Loyalty Ladder
Then, in 3 pages prepare a detailed list of innovative techniques for advancing consumers up the steps of Raphel and Raphel’s Loyalty Ladder. Include an explanation of how you intend to keep patrons in and around the highest rung of the Loyalty Ladder.