So many business leaders today are searching for ways to earn customer loyalty that lasts, and maybe you're even one of them because you're reading this. You may have tried things like sales, discounts, loyalty programs, swag, and more, but the results are often short-lived, and it can feel so exhausting.

The truth is this: lasting customer loyalty doesn’t come from surface-level tactics. It grows from the inside out and is rooted in how you align your people (employees), culture, and operations every single day.

While reading ‘Keep Your Customers’ by Ali Cudby, I came across a case study that perfectly illustrates this idea. Cudby shared how ClusterTruck, a delivery-only restaurant, built loyalty through a powerful internal mantra that shaped every part of their business.

ClusterTruck’s mantra: ‘Don’t Ship Maybes’

ClusterTruck’s guiding principle is very straightforward: Don’t Ship Maybes.

At first, it was a rule for their kitchen team. If a meal wasn’t perfect, it didn’t leave the kitchen – they remade it. But over time, this mantra expanded beyond food prep. It became the standard for menu creation, hiring, vendor selection, and quite literally how the business was run every day.

From top to bottom, the company aligned on one shared expectation: excellence in everything. No maybes.

Alignment across the organization

What struck me most about this story is how ClusterTruck’s mantra worked like what we call an operating big idea in our customer loyalty framework.

An operating big idea is what allows us to:

• align the focus of every team member across multiple departments toward delivering a great customer experience

• re-shape customer journeys and touchpoints so that every interaction is truly memorable

Basically, the big idea captures what must or mustn’t be done for the customer to have a highly satisfying and memorable experience interacting with the brand and what it offers. It makes it easy for everyone to stay focused on what matters most.

And that's exactly what ClusterTruck did. They didn't just tell their team to care about customers, they made it easy for everyone to focus on what mattered most.

How this impacted loyalty, market share, and overall growth for ClusterTruck

Customer satisfaction and reorder rates soared because people could feel the difference. It’s also worth noting that at the time, the food delivery industry had a high rate of customer dissatisfaction. The food, delivery, and overall experience often fell short, yet customers kept ordering because there weren’t better alternatives.

By aligning their daily operations with the Don’t Ship Maybes mantra, ClusterTruck set themselves apart. They consistently delivered above industry standards, creating an experience that customers genuinely valued.

The result? ClusterTruck generated $1,600 per square foot, far exceeding the industry average of $300 to $600.

Takeaway for business leaders

What ClusterTruck achieved wasn’t luck or magic. It was clarity. They defined what we call an operational big idea, lived it daily, and let it guide every decision and action. Coupled with their back-end tech, they earned the loyalty of their customers.

Customer loyalty isn’t something you can buy with discounts or lock in with points. It is a response to how your business operates on the inside, how aligned, clear, and consistent you are. It is the care with which your manufacturing or production team makes products. It is the standards your procurement team upholds when sourcing suppliers or materials. It is how you speak with your team and how they, in turn, speak with customers. It is the little, seemingly insignificant things done with care, over and over again.

Credit: This case study of ClusterTruck is shared from Ali Cudby’s book, Keep Your Customers, which offers wonderful insights on building lasting loyalty.