Orange County Advertiser is pleased to welcome guest blogger, Norm Van Wieren, Chief Executive Officer Social Media Merchant.com

Ask customers why they remain loyal to a product or service, and they will give you one critical answer more than all of the others combined. Do they mention excellence, quality, skill set or service? Nope. The answer is “comforting piece of mind…..comfort.”

Why do top college football recruits join one college over another or why one company gets the consulting contract over the other?

Nine times out of ten it has to do with how “comfortable” the client or person feels about that product or service. Comfort!

Today we are barraged with multiple choices and messages with trust declining splitting communities and connections. That’s why social media when correctly applied is so powerful. It brings the right people with the right connections to the right community. Peer to peer is comforting.

With multiple choices involving products and services and often no ability to touch or see the product or service offered, the customer is becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Customers essentially want to feel comfortable. Comfortable with the brand, the solution the product or service can offer.

Perceived expertise is a feature that can be comforting too. Companies that look and sound expert-that look and dress the part professionally or get published or have strong social proof of that expertise- is comforting.

Basic business communication like returning phone calls, timely customer service and integrity is also comforting.

Integrity correlates with predictability.

Customers associate integrity with the fact that you will do what you say you will do. In the customers eyes that feeling is rare- and because it is rare – it is valuable.

Being personally connected to your customer is also very comforting. Expressing interest in a person’s well being and being helpful gives customers comfort that you will protect their interests as well as yours. Expressing interest in others also demonstrates trust- the underlining of comfort.

Enthusiasm and passion is also comforting. When you can communicate why you love what you do it increases the chances of delivering your product on time and performed well. That’s comforting.

Comfort is what keeps your clients coming back. Make them comfortable and you can keep a customer for a lifetime.

Posted by Norm Van Wieren, Socialmediamerchant.com