Regardless of whether you are at the beginning of a business, or you already own a corporation with hundreds of employees, you need a well-designed customer loyalty model to bring abundance to your business. However, in 2024 the cheapest way to make sales on a conveyor belt would be to sell repeatedly to the same customer, rather than constantly investing in attracting new customers.
Before, however, talking about loyalty, let's make sure we are on the same page because you have two essential conditions to fulfill to be an eligible business when building loyalty programs, namely: you have a quality product; as well as having an impeccable and well-trained sales team.
So, if the feedback is positive and your clientele is satisfied, it's time to get serious about developing a step-by-step loyalty model. However, these two can also be viewed separately, because even if your client is satisfied, he will not necessarily be loyal to you, if you do not work on his loyalty.
The advantages of locating long-term customers:
- A loyal customer repeatedly buys products and services from you, bringing you constant profits.
- A loyal customer is a brand advocate, he defends your brand when it is attacked by upstarts and recommends your brand, which leads to the expansion of your customer base.
- A loyal customer has a high CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) (that is, the value of his purchases is constantly increasing).
On the other hand, we know very well that for several customers it is not at all difficult to change suppliers so the mere fact that you have a quality product or service is no longer enough to keep the interest of this consumer segment alive. They need attention, special treatment, and a constant bonus system to keep them motivated to do business with you.
When do you need to think about a customer loyalty methodology?
- When you are in a highly competitive market where supply exceeds demand.
- When you need a constant flow of orders.
- If customers in your market are sensitive to seasonal price fluctuations.
Activities leading to the preparation of the customer loyalty policy:
1. Remind customers about your services and products, in a friendly manner, to convince them to come back where tastes, sensations, and memories remain... Not too harsh, without aggression, but with a story that would awaken, periodically, emotions and habits a little dormant.
2. Invest in social media promotion and be ready to receive feedback and answer questions that come up, this will guarantee your customers' trust.
3. Actively use a CRM - Another good way to keep in touch with the clientele is to use a CRM and communicate with your clientele constantly: for systematization of communication with customers, efficient collection of customer information, automatic fixation of requests in the software and optimization of internal communication.
4. Work on your Customer Care strategy - take care of how people are treated when they interact with your brand. This includes all experiences with the company and its employees: before, during, and after the purchase. Your job is to build an emotional connection with your customers. Customer Relations is the process your company uses to interact with customers to improve their experiences with your brand. The purpose of customer relations is to get customers to engage with what your brand has to offer. What's more, by implementing ways to improve the customer experience, they can continue to support your company's goals. In what actions can good Customer Relations translate?
Assisting the client with his wishes and needs (related or not related to our services) leads to the creation of stable and loyal relationships with our clients.
We explain the small gratuities: we show him that we can do more, but let him understand not to abuse the kindness.
5. Encourage your customers to provide feedback - Asking for reviews from your customers is crucial to successful digital marketing in 2024, ask them to leave testimonials. It needs to go right into your company's internal scripts. Sometimes you need to make it clear to people what you expect from them: encouraging customers to leave positive reviews online (on Facebook and in Google My Business) is a good way to do this you show how to do it, step by step. This is the cheapest way to promote yourself and bring in new, qualified customers for your business.
Look, now you are fully prepared to make your customers loyal!
Here's what activities you can include in your customer loyalty strategy:
- Offer well-targeted promotions and discounts to your customers to keep them loyal. An important point is to give them the feeling of safety, care, and privacy.
- Cashback - give customers money back when they reach a certain amount spent, this will encourage them to keep buying from you.
- Offer time-limited vouchers to boost seasonal sales.
Treat big customers more carefully: you can offer them a dedicated manager or discounts and freebies just for them. - Go for gamification - set the levels and tiers of the loyalty program so that the rewards offered are tiered depending on how much they buy from you.
- Communicate with them - now it's much easier to communicate directly with your customers online. Make it a habit to respond every time, regardless of the comment or feedback, so the customer will see that you care.
- Follow up - email them personalized thank you messages, special invitations, seasonal offers, special vouchers, etc.
- Call on remarketing - remarketing (aka retargeting) is the process of showing targeted ads to people who have previously visited your site or otherwise interacted with your brand. It's an incredibly powerful tool for tracking the 96-98% of people who come to your site but don't make a purchase. Because these visitors already know your brand, they are more likely to convert than a random stranger on the internet.
Finally, we will leave you with a book recommendation, which will broaden your horizons in the sphere of loyalty, namely:
"Customers for Life: How to Turn the Occasional Buyer into a Lifetime Customer" by Sewell and Brown.
Here are some inspirational ideas from this book:
- Turn your employees into superstars. Motivate, stimulate, and thank them constantly.
- Communicate with your customers. I repeatedly get good ideas, even from customers, about providing quality services in your niche.
- Advertise yourself honestly, in a way that benefits you.