.svg)
9 ways to keep customers coming back.
Retaining your customers digitally can be difficult, but it still brings huge business benefits. Here are four major benefits of customer loyalty for your brand.
1. Increase business profits.
According to a study by the Harvard Business School, “increasing customer retention by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.”
According to Econsultancy, 82% of businesses recognize that retaining an existing customer is less expensive than acquiring new customers.
While striving to attract new customers is important, brands need to focus more on strengthening their marketing programs. customer loyalty in order to increase their profits.
Starbucks is a great example of a brand that runs a rewards program to keep customers coming back. In addition to offering customers personalized offers, brand customers can win free drinks and food.
2. Increase the probability of selling to existing customers
When you engage with your existing customer base, the probability of selling them something is 60 to 70% higher, compared to only 5 to 20% when it comes to a new customer.
One reason for this is because your existing customers know your brand and they have both the experience and the knowledge of your products and services. So when you recommend new products or services, they're more likely to try them than a new customer.
3. Lower the cost of acquiring new customers.
The cost of acquiring a new customer is 5 times more high than that of retaining an existing customer. Again, if acquiring new customers should be a business objective, your primary objective and a key business strategy should be to retain your existing customer base.
4. Increase positive customer feedback.
Customer ratings and feedback are one of the most powerful tools brands have today to build their image. Customers who are happy with your product, service, or brand interaction experience tend to relate to your brand more easily.
And if you've been successful in creating a bond with the customer, they're much more likely to give honest feedback about their experience or to answer your questions when you ask.
Brands can use these customer reviews to effectively improve and grow their business.
Customer loyalty programs are essential for any business that wants to benefit from long-term success and strong brand positioning on its target market.
Check out this guide for strategies that can ensure customer retention and loyalty this year.
5. Offer customers an omnichannel marketing experience.
Continuity or seamless brand experience across multiple marketing channels is a great way to provide great brand experiences for customers. But what is omnichannel marketing?
Your customers use multiple channels to interact with your brand.
While some customers use your mobile app, others prefer to go to a physical store, while still others use your website or social platforms to engage with your brand.
The aim of omnichannel marketing is to ensure that your customers have a consistent brand experience no matter how they choose to interact with your brand.
A consistent brand experience across multiple touchpoints means ensuring that your customers benefit from the same brand message across multiple devices and channels.
A customer's user experience using your small business mobile site should have access to the same promotions and offers, the same messaging, and the same shopping experience that you offer in-store customers.
Your omnichannel marketing strategy should also aim to offer omnichannel loyalty programs that reach customers everywhere and at any time, regardless of their communication or engagement channel.
6. Create a community of brand ambassadors through a robust customer loyalty program.
“The path to a customer's heart is much more than a loyalty program. Turning customers into evangelists means creating experiences that are worth talking about.” - Valeria Maltoni
Loyalty programs can provide brands with a powerful way to connect and engage with their customers in a way that can help them build a community of brand advocates.
For a long time now, airlines and hotels have established loyalty programs that offer their customers frequent flyer miles and discounts on hotel bookings or stays as part of their overall marketing plan.
However, loyalty programs need to go beyond a simple quid pro quo equation - if they want to build a loyal customer base.
There is no doubt that offering discounts and offers is an asset for any loyalty program. Whether it's an e-commerce brand, a SaaS company, or a local business, brands need to make a special effort to design loyalty programs that integrate into the lives of their customers. Programs should address their pain points and add value to their lives in a meaningful way.
One of these examples is Amazon Prime.
For $99 per year, Amazon offers its members value-added offers, including free shipping, faster delivery, a more personalized shopping experience, free music streaming, and movies and TV shows through Prime Video. The value of this offer far exceeds the 99 dollars that the customer pays for the one-year membership.
In exchange, Amazon has created a tribe of loyal customers who are willing to shop more often and are more willing to engage with the brand.
Another way to add value to your loyalty program is to associate it with a charitable cause.
Take TOMS as an example: the company says that for every $3 earned, it gives $1. The company and its community have managed to donate nearly 100 million shoes to people in need.
For a customer, knowing that their buying decision has an impact on the life of someone in need is a powerful reason why they align themselves with a particular brand.
Your mobile application is also an excellent platform for retaining your customers and should be an integral part of your loyalty program.
Design your mobile apps to score high on UX (user experience) and include a comprehensive menu of services and features that provide a seamless brand experience throughout the buyer journey, from discovery to purchase.
Then perform user testing, integrate mobile payment options and reward customers who use it regularly.
When you align your loyalty program with customer value, it not only keeps the customer coming back, but it can also encourage your customers to proactively promote your brand to family and friends. In other words, they can become loyal brand ambassadors.
7. Encourage your referral program.
If you carefully analyzed some of the best referral programs, you would find that they include three specific areas of interest;
- They use targeted promotions.
- They include personalized incentives for their customers.
- They have a strong network of brand advocates.
Before going any further, it's important to understand the difference between a loyalty program and a referral program. While a loyalty program encourages customers to make repeat purchases from you, a referral program encourages customers to encourage family or friends to buy from your brand.
In fact, it is a strategy that can be used effectively to retain existing customers while acquiring new customers.
Today, there are several brands that have managed to kill using creative ideas and innovative to conduct their sponsorship programs. Take Bombas as an example.
Their “referral” program is as follows: “When you let friends and family know Bombas and they buy Bombas, they get 25% off their purchase, and you get 20 dollars to spend on Bombas.
Riff Raff & Co. is once again a great example of how effective a sponsorship program is if planned strategically. The company offers a free toy worth $68 for each recommended group of five people, resulting in the sale of five of their products.
It's not hard to imagine why this would encourage parents to share the brand's sponsorship link with five of their contacts - especially if their own child is happy and can sleep better!
There are tons of examples like these where brands have effectively incited their sponsorship programs successfully. What's important here is that you plan and design your referral program with your primary customer in mind and that you choose an incentive that aligns with your business.
How you choose to encourage your referral program is also up to you. You can therefore opt for a “free product”, like what Riff Raff & Co. offers, or offer a cash reward like Bombas, or even opt for discounts and other freebies that suit your brand.
8. Use customer feedback to strengthen your brand.
The days of one-way marketing communication channels — where brands spoke and customers answered — are over. Today, it is the customer who speaks and brands need to listen to them carefully.
One of the best ways to show that you value your customers' opinions is to ask for their opinion and to actively incorporate their ideas into your products and services.
When you ask a customer to give feedback or share their brand experience, they get the impression that you care about them. Knowing that their opinion matters will encourage them to openly share their ideas and experiences and make them feel part of the brand, which can promote brand loyalty.
If they see that you're integrating their ideas, opinions, or suggestions to improve your brand, not only will you have earned their respect and loyalty, but it can make them the strongest advocates for your brand.
Even a customer who gives you a negative review can be converted — provided you can respond quickly to their disappointment or grievance. Always have an action plan for how you can deal with negative feedback and get the customer back to engaging with your brand.
There are several ways to gather customer feedback, including via email, satisfaction surveys, social media, your website, or online review sites. You can also use personalized email surveys to connect with customers - just make sure that the Your email deliverability is solid.
9. Personalize your marketing programs.
With so many brands competing for customer attention, personalized marketing is one of the most effective ways to speak directly to your customer.
It can catch the attention of your target customer and help build trust in your brand. Ultimately, you want customers to be able to distinguish between your brand and that of your competitors.
To deliver personalized marketing messages, you need a certain amount of customer data - this customer information, which may include information about their buying preferences, the history of their buying decisions, when they like to shop, or when they are most receptive to marketing messages, can help you personalize your marketing messages in a way that is consistent with what customers expect or want.
Also, if you have a loyal group of customers, they don't want to be fed generic marketing messages—they expect personalized messages and content that speak directly to them and meet their needs.
Through personalized marketing, brands can create offers, discounts, and promotions that encourage buying decisions. If you use email marketing, personalizing your emails can help you increase the number of leads compared to generic emails. In fact, personalized emails can generate 6 times higher transaction rates than generic emails.
Netflix is now a household name. Besides its epic menu of content, the reason the brand is popular with global audiences is that it uses an algorithm to provide users with personalized viewing recommendations based on the type of content the user is browsing and viewing.
The Coca-Cola “Share a Coke” campaign remains a great example of how personalization can draw customers to a brand. By encouraging consumers to replace the drink logo with the names of their contacts and friends and to spread the brand's message using the hashtag #shareacoke, the soft drink giant was able to regain a significant portion of its sales.
What are the challenges in retaining customers?
Today, customers have easy access to a wealth of information about brands, spread across multiple digital platforms, including social media. And they're actively using that information to make their buying decisions or to decide their brand loyalty.
That doesn't take away from the fact that retail customers continue to support brand loyalty. In fact, brands that manage to optimize the experience and satisfaction of their customers will undoubtedly reap the benefits of their loyalty.
According to InMoment, 75% of loyal customers will recommend a brand to family and friends.
However, you can't afford to make the mistake of assuming that a customer will be loyal to your brand forever.
Furthermore, given that customers now have more buying options than ever and their expectations are changing rapidly, it is not surprising that a significant percentage of customers do not hesitate to buy from a competitor.
Especially if they're not happy with a particular aspect of the brand, whether it's customer service, the quality of a product, or even the price of the product or service.
The proliferation of buying choices has given rise to a generation of picky buyers and consumers who not only have more buying choices, but also fewer reasons to remain loyal to a brand.
It's important to note here that even big brands that spend significant amounts of money on advertising face the challenge of maintaining brand loyalty and keeping their existing customer base.
What makes the loyalty Even more difficult for customers is the fact that customers don't hesitate to share their disappointment with a brand with others. And they do it across multiple digital platforms, which can make it very difficult for brands to control the flow of any negative narrative.
In today's hypercompetitive marketplace, where brands are fighting a fierce battle to attract new customers while retaining their current customer base, it can be extremely difficult to remain profitable and relevant without a solid group of loyal customers.
This only reinforces the need for businesses to aggressively develop their syllabuses and initiatives of customer loyalty if they want to continue to remain competitive in their target markets.
Summary.
Brands that want build a loyal customer base should actively invest their time and effort in strategies that encourage brand loyalty.
Regardless of the size of your business, by implementing customer loyalty measures, you can build a group of loyal customers who will become the best ambassadors for your brand.
