[eCommerce Africa] Brand loyalty: Give to get

Galatis gave the final keynote presentation on the final day of the recent eCommerce Africa conference. He spoke of unconventional approaches to winning loyalty, inspiring passion and earning love from your customers, all based on Yuppiechef's business journey so far.

Start at the beginning with your brand's loyalty story

Galatis has always been passionate about food, and says Yuppiechef was started to bring people together to cook and share great food through an online channel.

While a brand's generosity creates trust among its customer base, an initial amount of trust is required in the first place, in order to acknowledge that generosity. Customers like to know their product and service provider, even if it's a great product or service to begin with.

Sacrifice is another crucial element of people's perception of generosity. To illustrate this, Galatis spoke of the fact that every single Yuppiechef order is sent with a personalised handwritten card. It started when the team were overwhelmed to receive their very first order from a non-family member many moons ago, and has blossomed to such an extent that new employees undergo a short 'card writing' training session when they first begin at the company, with 'card writing' time allocated each day.

@paulgalatis @yuppiechef a great company is a conspiracy to change the world #eComConfex pic.twitter.com/F99LrW7nRf

- eCommerce Africa (@eCommerceConfex) February 4, 2015

Putting kindness into action to build brand loyalty

Kindness and intent are important parts of generosity, because when giving, there shouldn't be any bitterness involved. Galatis spoke of how the Yuppiechef team came to win a gold Loerie for best digital campaign for their Woolies 'lovebirds takeover' from 2010 - click here for reminder of the altruistic approach Yuppiechef took in this campaign, in a situation that could easily have come across as hostile if not downright nasty.

© AlexF123 – 123RF.com

Galatis says that beautiful design is a variation of kindness, as is remarkability. To be remarkable is not just about being amazing but doing things worth comment that get people talking. Galatis says this is important for businesses as doing things that create a remarkable experience are worth the expense, especially in the ecommerce realm, where consumers are still learning to trust retailers.

That's why a revolution is taking place, driven by people emphasising generosity in business by treating consumers and the world around them with humanity, kindness and care.

Galatis ended with the advice to give yourself and your business enough space to be creative, as every little touch is appreciated by customers - and in so doing, you're giving yourself and your community enough time to trust your brand's generosity.

Afterall:

Take out: Don't lose sight of the fact that your customers are people too, treat them like it and they will return @paulgalatis #eComConfex

- Daniel Marcus (@DanMarcusSA) February 4, 2015