What Builds True Customer Loyalty? 6 Business Leaders Share Their Best Tips.

Entrepreneur

13 hours ago

This story appears in the July 2025 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Customer loyalty is tough to earn and even harder to keep.
You want your customers to feel heard and valued, but it's not always simple. We asked six business leaders from six successful companies to share the strategies they use to keep customers happy, engaged and coming back for more. No matter your industry, these insights are practical, impactful and worth borrowing.
1. Take the hit in hard times.
"Loyalty is built not during times of success, but when things don't go as planned. One client's business model needed to pivot due to unforeseen challenges. Despite the significant cost to us, we helped them restructure their team and adapt their strategy, at no additional charge. This decision reinforced our long-term commitment to the relationship, and as a result, that client has since expanded their team with us by 5X and continues to grow the scope of services they trust us with." — ALEX ROSS, cofounder and chief operating officer, Horatio
2. Lean into unexpected places.
"In the summer of 2023, a TikTok trend exploded our business and created an entirely new consumer set. It was called the 'flat belly challenge,' and in it, women in southern states showed each other that if they drank kombucha on an empty stomach for seven days, they felt less bloated. It yielded a huge uptick in sales at Aldi and Walmart, places we hadn't considered to be hotbeds of demand for kombucha. It taught me that loyalty can come from anywhere — we can't be too precious about who we target or speak to — and that real, actual benefits can be a driving force." — CHARLOTTE MOSTAED, chief marketing officer, Health-Ade
Related: Want Loyal Customers? Try These 5 Ways to Inspire Them
3. Make customers feel heard.
"A product like tea is tied to experience, ritual, and the feeling it brings people. So when we make customers feel heard and valued, they keep coming back. Once, a longtime customer reached out about their favorite tea we had discontinued. They were disappointed. So we took the time to understand what they loved about it and our team then curated a selection of teas that closely matched what they were looking for. They were so moved by the effort that they became an even more loyal customer, and shared their experience with others." — STEVE SCHWARTZ, founder, master blender, and CEO, Art of Tea
4. Relentlessly improve your product.
"We've always been hyperfocused on establishing a deep understanding of our customer and providing purpose-driven products that embody our 'fewer, better' ethos. We've done this by constantly listening to our audience and evolving our product selection, which allows us to foster long-term relationships. A great example is our iconic System Tote. While it's been a bestseller for years, we've refined it over time to grow with our customers and consistently exceed expectations." — KARLA GALLARDO, cofounder, Cuyana
Related: Your Business Doesn't Need to Be Perfect — Here's How Customer Loyalty Really Works
5. Treat customers like partners.
"When we started out, barely anyone in our industry offered transparent pricing. But we committed to never nickel-and-diming customers and publishing our prices online. We answer the phone in 45 seconds or less, 24/7 — whether to help customers move through a win like adding a new hire they've been courting for a month to their team, or go through something painful like a workforce reduction. These things might seem small, but together they really matter to the small businesses we serve." — MICHAEL SECKLER, CEO, Justworks
Related: Customer Loyalty Is Your Holy Grail for Success. Here's How to Cultivate It.
6. Watch for customer pain points.
"One of the most painful yet valuable things you can do is watch a customer use your product in real time. It can be humbling, even frustrating, to see where they struggle or get confused, but it's also one of the fastest ways to understand their true experience. The moments where a customer stumbles are the biggest opportunities to improve, and fixing those pain points is what builds long-term loyalty." — VIVEK RAGHUNATHAN, senior vice president of engineering, Snowflake
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