How to increase customer loyalty to your business

What is customer loyalty and why is it so important?

Regular customers have developed a habit of trading with certain brands and finding them a little uncomfortable, or even if competitors offer similar products at a lower price. Customer loyalty has a number of benefits, including but not limited to:

• Business recommendations from satisfied and loyal customers
• Positive customer feedback on social media sites and in other ways
• Understanding customer buying behavior
• More targeted marketing to existing customers
• Better understanding of customer needs

Why is customer loyalty important?

Customer loyalty is the ability for customers to have a repeat business relationship with you. It has to do with customer satisfaction and usually outweighs availability, price and other factors that influence purchase decisions. When customers are loyal to a product, service or brand, they are willing to wait for inventory or pay a little more for it.

“Customer loyalty means the difference between a one-time sale and a potential customer who will come back to you for a lifetime,” said Tyler Reed, CEO of PTPioneer, a personal training company. “If you do what you need to do to increase customer loyalty, your customers will continue to invest in your business. When your business is struggling, your customers can stay bankrupt.”

This is especially important and evident in the face of the worldwide pandemic of Crown 19.

“I think this pandemic is a test of customer loyalty because it forces consumers to honestly evaluate which service providers they trust,” said Bill Zinke, senior vice president of marketing for Belpopranchise Group. “So one of the key lessons of Pandemic is that increasing customer loyalty in good times can make you faster and more profitable, and in tough times or hard times can be the difference between survival and closure.

Customer loyalty is important for several reasons. The main content are:

• Regular customers tend to spend more than new customers. Existing customers tend to spend more than new customers because they already trust your business and its products or services. In fact, the amount they spend usually increases depending on the length of time you’ve been trading with your brand.
• Loyal customers give higher conversion rates. Existing customers have an average conversion rate of 60% to 70%, while new customers have a conversion rate of 5% to 20%. So you can get more value from loyal customers who visit the site.
• Customer loyalty increases revenue. The higher the customer loyalty, the higher the revenue. In fact, increasing customer retention by just 5% can increase business revenue from 25% to 95%.
• The cost of customer retention is lower than the cost of customer acquisition. Attracting new customers is also important, but it can actually be about five times more expensive than retaining loyal customers. Simply retaining loyal customers is much more cost-effective because it yields a higher return at a lower cost.
• Regular customers make purchases on a regular basis. Regular customers tend to shop much more often than new customers because they’ve already had a positive experience with your brand. This is especially true during the holidays, when consumers buy gifts and spend more money than they usually do the rest of the year.
• Customer loyalty allows you to plan ahead. If you have loyal customers, you can make more predictable decisions and effectively plan your financial and marketing efforts.

How to increase customer loyalty

Knowing the tools and metrics for analyzing customer loyalty is just the first step. Now you need to develop and practice ways to increase customer loyalty. There are several steps to get you started.

Increasing customer satisfaction.

This seems natural, but it’s one tip worth repeating because it’s very important. Customer service is very important. A 2021 survey found that 86% of customers are willing to pay more for good customer service.

Customers remember when they were treated well and when they were treated poorly. Either way, they tend to communicate with their friends and family, which can mean more business for you or loss of business opportunities. It is important for your experience to pay more attention and identify areas where you can improve.

Providing value

Before you can build customer loyalty, you first need to understand what aspects of your brand are relevant to your loyalty. Sit down with your team and think about a marketing strategy that describes what makes your brand stand out, what your purpose is and how your values align with your core beliefs.

In particular, your marketing should focus on the unique attributes of your brand and how you can stand out from your competitors. Sometimes hitting the mark can mean a position that becomes more and more prevalent. According to Edelman research, two-thirds of today’s shoppers shop according to their beliefs. But you don’t have to be a politician. In fact, it may not align with your values. Your brand value should be your guiding principle. Reinforce your beliefs and communicate them truthfully.

Create a Customer Loyalty Program.

Confession: Too many credit cards. Every time I’m on a plane or in a retail store, they ask me if I participate in their customer rewards program. I hesitate. Spend $1,000 the first month and get $200 back! What a deal! And then I’m stuck with a credit card that I had to pay a $1,000 fee on. This sounds like a sneaky way to lock in your customers, but if you honestly understand what it means, credit card rewards programs can be great.

If you’re not interested in a credit card, copy the book from Starbucks. Customers can get stars for purchases, double rewards on certain days of the week each month and move up the loyalty tier. All you need is a Starbucks gift card and a smartphone. This rewards program also helps Starbucks get to know its customers better by keeping all their order and payment information in the app. Never misspell your name on a Starbucks cup again!

Create an introductory program.

Like a loyalty program, a referral program rewards customers for their participation in the business. In this case, customers receive some benefit by introducing your company to friends or family. Not only does this help attract new customers (referral marketing is effective and affordable!), now that existing customers have an incentive to do business with you, you can attract more customers.

Look for customer testimonials.

One of the biggest secrets to increasing and maintaining customer loyalty is to look for customer reviews. Keeping track of your ratings when you send surveys, ask questions on the phone, and ask for as much feedback as possible will ultimately help you tremendously in improving your customer service.

Online reviews and comments or tags on social media or other online forums are a great place to respond to both positive and negative customer feedback. It shows that we take real criticism seriously in order to communicate with all of our customers and provide our customers with the best service possible.

Sometimes it’s best to respond negatively through private channels. After a particularly negative comment, you may be asked to go to a private message or email to better meet your needs.

You can ask your customers to show you messages for positive feedback. You can even ask for a follow-up interview or other form of participation to get more great feedback. It’s also a good idea to always reward customers for positive contributions!

Engage customers on social media.

Social media is a great way to build relationships with customers. In fact, if you don’t show up on social media, many consumers will recognize you as an irrelevant person. It’s important to have an active business profile on various social media platforms.

Sharing behind-the-scenes information about your brand, product or service and interacting with your followers will create a powerful online community that encourages customers to come back for more. Think about the companies you often trade with and how they behave on social media. Do their posts resonate with their target audience? Are the brand’s voices aligned with their values and products? Are they engaging followers in a genuine way? It’s likely that you answered that question in the affirmative.