Using handwritten cards to thank donors can be a lovely gesture and is much more appreciative than an email. It gives a personal and thoughtful touch that just cannot be conveyed over email.

Unlike a review, referrals are a bit more intimate since the customer is personally vouching for your business, so they are very loyal customers.

There is an increased cost to gaining new customers than keeping your existing ones. So having loyal customers is the best way to grow your business.

To build customer loyalty, you have to foster a relationship with your customers. There are several ways to build customer loyalty and numerous benefits to increasing it.

Loyalty is not just a question of pure financial benefit, nor is it solely emotional or a product of habit. It stems from one encompassing metric: value.

This is Part 1 of a 2-part series on the impact of customer reviews. In Part 2, we’ll walk you through how to leverage your good reviews and deal with the bad ones.