How To Create Raving Fans, Not Just Customers: 5 Strategies Enterprises Must Embrace To Win Customer Loyalty

This article was originally published on Forbes through the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), where Sal Rehmetullah shares insights as a member.

Do you remember the last time you were so thrilled with a product or service that you told a friend, left a five-star review or became a walking billboard for the brand? Chances are, it wasn’t because the company had the flashiest website or the cheapest price. It was because they did something remarkable, something that made you feel seen, heard and valued.

For enterprises navigating the increasingly complex world of customer expectations, especially in industries like fintech and software, creating “raving fans” is more than a nice-to-have. It’s mission-critical. Why? Because in a market full of features and dashboards, loyalty is earned at the edge, where experience, responsiveness and emotional connection are met.

I’ve spent the better part of my career helping enterprises rethink how they build digital experiences, and one thing is clear: You can’t just build more. You have to build better.

So, how do large enterprises move from a mindset of control to one of connection? How do you build an experience that gets your customers raving about you at dinner parties?

Here are five ways to start:

1. Stop building everything in-house. (You’re not that special.)

Harsh? Maybe. True? Absolutely.

There’s a temptation inside big companies to treat every problem like it’s uniquely theirs. But building your own CRM, KYC system or onboarding workflow is like baking your own bread when you live next to a world-class bakery. It’s admirable but unnecessary and time-consuming, and frankly, the end result probably isn’t as good.

Raving fans don’t care whether you built the thing yourself. They care that it works, it’s intuitive and it saves them time or money (or ideally, both). The smartest enterprises are moving away from “control everything” and toward “curate the best.” They’re integrating best-in-class solutions from nimble partners who’ve solved specific problems better than they could.

Your job isn’t to invent every wheel. It’s to create the smoothest ride.

2. Make the first five minutes magical.

Think of the last product you fell in love with. The kind you couldn’t wait to tell someone about. I’d bet it won you over in the first five minutes.

Customer experience isn’t linear anymore. The moment someone logs in, signs up or gets a welcome email, the clock is ticking. Enterprises often get caught up in grand strategies and forget that magic happens in micro-moments.

If your onboarding feels like tax season, you’re doing it wrong. Whether you’re serving small-business owners, consumers or enterprise buyers, the first few steps should be frictionless, personal and even fun. Don’t just tell people what your product does; show them the transformation they’re about to experience.

The companies that win? They invest heavily in that “first five.” Not just the onboarding UI but also the narrative, the emotion and the feeling of momentum. It’s less about workflow and more about wow.

3. Turn compliance into confidence.

Let’s be real. No one gets excited about compliance. It’s the broccoli of the product world: necessary but often forced down with a grimace. But what if you could make your customers feel safer, smarter and more empowered by your compliance processes?

Enterprises tend to treat regulatory requirements as a back-office headache. But your customers experience it front and center. Identity verification, document uploads and permissions are all part of the journey. So rather than bury them behind clunky steps and legalese, bring them forward with clarity and care.

If you want raving fans, don’t just “check the box.” Help customers understand how your compliance actually protects them and unlocks their ability to use your product with confidence. Use plain language. Offer real-time support. Transparency isn’t just ethical; it’s strategic.

Remember, trust builds advocacy and advocacy builds market momentum.

4. Design for humans, not committees.

Enterprise design often feels like it was built by a room full of stakeholders who all got half of what they wanted. The result? Frankenstein UX that’s technically complete but emotionally void.

The antidote is simple: Design like you’re trying to impress one very smart, very busy customer—because you are.

Whether you serve SMBs, consumers or internal teams, your users don’t want to navigate labyrinths or guess how to use your product. They want clarity. They want speed. They want the product to feel like it knows them.

And that doesn’t happen with 50-slide strategy decks. It happens with empathetic product leaders, designers and engineers who spend time talking to real users, watching how they behave and obsessing over the small things that turn “meh” into “marvelous.”

Build for one, and many will follow.

5. Earn the right to be shared.

People rarely share something they’re merely satisfied with. Satisfaction is table stakes. Delight gets shared.

To create raving fans, your product needs to deliver something unexpectedly awesome. Maybe it’s how fast it works. Maybe it’s the way support follows up. Maybe it’s the human touch embedded into an otherwise digital flow.

But here’s the real unlock. You have to ask for advocacy at the right moment, in the right way. Build shareable moments into your experience. Create surprise-and-delight moments. Give people stories to tell, and they will.

One of the best compliments I’ve heard recently was from a customer who said, “I didn’t even know I needed this, but now I can’t imagine doing my job without it.” That’s not just loyalty; that’s love.

And love spreads.

In a world where CAC (customer acquisition cost) is rising and attention spans are shrinking, your best growth strategy isn’t more ads or more features. It’s creating experiences that make people feel something. Experiences that earn trust, deliver value and inspire your customers to advocate for you.

Because the truth is, raving fans don’t just renew contracts or click buttons; they build your brand.

And if you’re not designing for that…you’re designing to be forgotten.

Read more from Sal’s Forbes YEC blog here.