What is customer loyalty?
In the simplest terms, customer loyalty (from customer loyalty) is when a customer shops repeatedly at the same place, with a high degree of repeat business. A loyal customer not only returns to your store frequently, but also chooses it over the competition. One loyal customer doesn’t require as much financial outlay as constantly acquiring new customers.
Of course, giving up on finding new people to buy our products or services is not an option, but with loyal customers we can spend less energy and resources on this.
The crux of customer loyalty is a good relationship between the customer and the brand. Good service, fast shipping of products, properly secured shipments, low price or attractive promotions – any of these things can make a standard customer loyal to a company.
What are the benefits of attracting loyal customers?
In addition to the obvious reduction in customer acquisition costs, establishing good customer relationships has other benefits. What are they?
- A loyal customer spends more – this is obvious, but the more orders a customer places, the more your store will earn. If the customer’s experience is unequivocally positive, he will surely come back more than once to leave his money with you.
- A loyal customer doesn’t look for the competition – of course, you can’t rest on your laurels: if you’ve acquired a loyal customer, you must take care of him and make him feel how important he is to your company. If you don’t neglect to nurture the relationship, the customer won’t look around for your competitors’ offerings – he will make his next purchases from you, because he knows he will receive quality service.
- A loyal customer can be an ambassador for your brand – whisper marketing is an extremely effective practice, but only if it is natural and credible. Customers who are satisfied with their purchases from your store may tell their friends or family about them, which will certainly have a positive impact on sales. Remember, however, that also those closest to the customer will learn about slip-ups on your part – it is a good idea to keep your hand on the pulse and remain focused on providing the highest possible service.
How do you build customer loyalty?
In this part of the article, we will present several methods to build good customer relations and gain loyal shoppers and even brand ambassadors. We will tell you what to pay attention to in the customer service process, how to solicit feedback, how to communicate with customers, and finally how to encourage loyal customers to share their impressions of the store.
But let’s start with the most important one: promotions, discounts and collecting points are a small part of building a relationship with a customer – it’s not worth basing it on that alone. Instead, ensure a positive customer experience with your brand.
Think about what will attract loyal customers
Loyal customers are gained in various ways – one of them is to clearly communicate your values. If your company supports a particular initiative, make it visible. Many customers buy considering their beliefs.
It’s worth highlighting what sets your store apart from the competition. Instant shipping? How about carefully packaged orders with a personalized thank-you note? The most important thing is to show elements in which your company is sincere and conducts consistent operations. Making changes “under the radar” can seriously shake brand trust when discovered.
Provide exceptional customer service
If you want to win loyal customers, you can’t just provide good customer service – you should do it the best in the industry. If you promise something to a customer, try to deliver more than you promised. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should add a fifth free to the four products you ordered. Rather, we’re talking about behavior that will make the customer realize that you care.
If a customer asks a question and you promise to answer tomorrow, try to deal with the matter the same day – you will certainly leave a good impression. If a customer informs you of a problem or a mistake he has noticed, thank him for bringing it to your attention, but also try to solve the problem as soon as possible – and afterwards it is worth writing to him and emphasizing that the problem has disappeared and it was also possible thanks to his reaction.
If you provide customers with the option to contact you via chat on your website or instant messaging, such as Messenger, make sure that someone is always on the other end, ready to respond. Quick response time is key! You can also use a chatbot, but many customers are not fond of talking to an automated machine. A solution to consider is to set up a chatbot to respond to the customer a few moments after receiving the inquiry and ensure that the customer is redirected to a consultant.
Create a loyalty program
The main goal of loyalty programs is, of course, to encourage customers to make repeat purchases from our store. This is obvious and no one denies it – however, it is best that this is not the only goal of your program. Add to it the desire to appreciate your customers. When creating a loyalty program and allowing customers to collect points, take care not to impose too many restrictions and too high thresholds.
The simplest example of a loyalty program is awarding points depending on the value of the order placed. When you reward every zloty spent with a point, customers often have to leave fat money in the store before they can buy something specific with the accumulated points. It’s not very encouraging when, in a hobby store, an enthusiast has to spend £5,000 to get a product worth £100 in return. Alternatively, try an approach that rewards for much more than purchases. Referring other customers, signing up for an account, signing up for a newsletter, participating in a contest – you can reward all these, and many more, activities with points in a loyalty program.
Rewards for participating in the program remain a separate issue. Ask your customers about their preferences (participating in the survey also rewards them with points), and you may find out that instead of converting points into zlotys, they would prefer to get a fixed discount, the promise of free shipping, or free admission to an event related to their hobby? The ideal situation, of course, would be to offer customers a wide range of rewards to choose from.
Build a community
This is definitely one of the points that is easier to talk about than to actually put into practice. Building an engaged community centered around a brand is the dream of many a company – but in practice it often proves very difficult. There may be many reasons for this, but the most significant is that there are already many such communities, and the market is fragmented. However, this does not mean that these plans should be abandoned.
Community building can start on social media – encourage observers to interact. Create engaging posts, ask questions, and ask for customers’ opinions. Don’t forget to respond to them! If customers see that their answers hit a void, they will certainly choose not to interact again.
Tell stories about your products and services, showing their use in practice. Share tips, but also let customers talk about their experiences. Share feedback and be open to discussion.
Ask your opinion
This point follows from the previous one, but it is worth separating them. Customers are the people on whom the success of your store depends in large part. If possible, ask them about the direction of your business, the products they would like to see in your offerings, and their impressions of your customer service levels. Only a satisfied customer can become a loyal one – without satisfaction you certainly can’t count on that.
Customers aren’t the only ones worth asking what they think. Talk to your employees – especially those who serve customers. They are the ones who solve the problems of your store’s visitors on a daily basis, and they are the ones who will know what customers most often pay attention to, what bothers them, and what they are very satisfied with.
Also pay attention to reviews of your store. Don’t forget to thank them for their good word, but especially look at negative reviews. Don’t treat them as an attack – try to learn from them, and if possible, get in touch with their authors and try to improve their opinion of your company by solving the problems described.
Continue to grow
Continuous development of the store leads to an increase in customer satisfaction, as we have already mentioned. Offer the best possible experience with, for example, an intuitive interface or fast shipping of orders.
Create a simple and clear shopping process, offer a wide choice of payment methods and even deferred payment. Take care to describe products accurately and clearly. Divide the store’s assortment into clear categories and use filters that will allow customers to reduce the time they spend shopping and get maximum precision when searching for that particular product. In a word: keep developing and do everything to make shopping in your store a pure pleasure.
Summary
Building customer loyalty is a multi-step and never-ending process, but the satisfaction and real benefits that come from gaining loyal customers reward the effort. Remember, too, that you don’t have to apply all the methods discussed here at once. Start with one and gradually introduce the others – that way you’ll figure out on your own which ones are effective for your business.
