Long term, sustainable increases in customer loyalty require trusting relationships between customer and companies. As a customer, I'll keep doing business with you if I believe your goal is to help me. The more I trust you, the easier it is for me to believe you're in business to help. The two go together like chocolate and peanut butter.

So if you want to increase customer loyalty, plan to build trusting relationships with your customers. A powerful way to do this is by being consistent. Consistency equates to reliability and quality. The more your brand screams adjectives like reliability, quality and consistency, the more people will feel they can trust you. When you make a promise they will believe you. When others speak highly of you, they will concur. When problems happen, they will be understanding and tolerant. They will work with you to resolve them.

Make time to talk to your customers and employees. How consistent and reliable do they feel your company is? Do employees follow through? Are promises kept? Is the customer experience consistent over time and across many customers? Take notes and make plans to improve on what you hear.