Ever heard of The Five Love Languages?
We’re guessing yes, given the best-seller status of the book. But if not, here’s a 15-second summary:
Dr. Gary Chapman, the author, posits that there are five primary ways humans experience, express, and receive love. He calls them The Five Love Languages and they include:
1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Acts of Service
4. Gifts
5. Physical Touch
The idea is that the better couples get at understanding and communicating each other’s love languages, the stronger and deeper their relationship gets.
While the original concept dealt with romantic relationships, it has since been expanded to appeal to any type of relationship—including between businesses and their customers.
Yes, customers need love too. They long to be seen, understood, and appreciated. And when customers feel this love from brands, they come back for more, as reported by a Bain & Company study.
Furthermore, the same study shows that businesses that treat their customers with love generate good profits and outperform their competitors by a mile!
To emulate the same results, your business has to market with heart, right here, right now.
Let’s dive into how you can use the concepts outlined in The Five Love Languages to achieve this:
Love Language #1: Words Of Affirmation
Words of Affirmation is all about expressing love, appreciation, and encouragement to another person through spoken or written words. When applied in marketing, it’s really no different, except that the ones at the receiving end of your thoughtful messages would be your customers.
Ideas on How To “Speak” It:
Send personalized emails or notes to customers expressing your gratitude for their support of your company.
Give customer shout outs to thank them for their participation during live streams, webinars, or in-person events.
Respond to customer reviews letting them know how much you value their input.
Communicate with patience and empathy when servicing your customers.
Love Language #2: Quality Time
Quality Time refers to spending undivided and meaningful time with someone. In the marketing world, it can be interpreted as providing dedicated attention to your customers to show them how important they are to you.
How To “Speak” It:
Host one-on-one calls with your customers to discuss their needs and feedback, or even just to catch up.
During focus group discussions, dedicate the first chunk of time to simply getting to know your customer better as a person.
Take time to respond to customer comments and inquiries on your social pages.
Provide extended hours of customer support to show your customers that they are a priority.
Love Language #3: Acts of Service
Acts of Service are about doing tasks that can make your partner feel appreciated or that can help make their life easier. In the context of marketing, it can be translated as going the extra mile for your customers, whether that’s through additional services or support.
How To “Speak” It:
Offer FREE shipping or returns as a service to your customers.
Give additional resources or tools to help customers make the best use of your product (e.g. in-depth manuals, how-to videos, etc).
Provide complimentary trial runs on your product or service.
Send reminders when renewal time/option to upgrade your subscription or products is approaching.
Reach out to customers who are showing decreased usage and help overcome their issues or roadblocks.
Love Language #4: Gifts
As a love language, Gifts are all about giving loved ones tangible symbols of affection. When applied to marketing, Gifts look like offering special promotions, bonuses, or exclusive offers to customers to make them feel valued.
How To “Speak” It:
Throw in freebies or sample-size products with their purchases.
Wish your customers a happy birthday with special birthday discount coupons.
Implement a loyalty program where customers can earn points toward a free product or service.
Organize contests or giveaways to reward customers who engage with your brand.
Love Language #5: Physical Touch
Physical Touch alludes to physical forms of affection such as hugs, handshakes, or even a pat on the back. Obviously, this love language shouldn’t be taken literally when talking about client relationships. However, one way you can apply this concept is to create tactile experiences for customers through packaging, design, and other sensory elements.
How To “Speak” It:
Create visually appealing packaging for your products.
Offer hands-on demonstrations or trials of your products.
Design an interactive store or showroom where customers can touch, feel, and experience your products.
Come up with digital experiences that can immerse your customers into your world (e.g. Metaverse runway shows, Augmented Reality product testers, etc.)
Love Is In The Air—And Your Marketing!
The Five Love Languages is such a fascinating topic, and the fact that it can be used to make your customers feel that much more special is even better.
We hope that our suggestions above are useful starting points as you foster your business-customer love affair this year.
If you need a wingman to help you market with heart (and reap its awesome benefits), we’re a message away!
Drop a line at https://www.topva.co/ to get in touch!
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