Loyalty is one of the most important, yet overlooked and ignored, aspects of marketing.
Did you know that after building a relationship with your customers, spend grows alongside trust and loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones?
On top of that, it costs five times more money to attract a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. Whichever way you look at it, customer loyalty is crucial and something you should be prioritizing throughout your sales activity and at every stage of the marketing funnel.
But, what are the steps you need to take to ensure you build a loyal customer base that keeps coming back for more?
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1. Understand What Makes Your Customers Tick
Before you can even think about establishing loyalty, you’ll need to know what attracts customers to a company like yours in the first place. Start by conducting some research into their location and demographics before moving onto more specific metrics like interests and behavior.
Once you’ve collected as much data as you possibly can, you’ll be in a position to piece together a coherent and compelling plan of action. Brands that are able to connect with their customers in an emotional and engaging way will always build more loyalty.
2. Be Honest And Authentic
This should already be the case with your marketing activity, particularly on social media where users will quickly see through any spurious or insincere updates. However, honesty and authenticity should be ingrained within your customer service too.
No business is perfect, but your response and reaction to mistakes will go a long way in building loyalty. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes – would you prefer a call apologizing that your order has been delayed or a scripted mass email that clearly goes out automatically?
3. Offer Rewards For Being A Customer
Why should your customers continue being your customers if they can purchase the same product or service elsewhere? By offering them rewards for sticking around.
Discounts and promotions through loyalty programmes show that you care about your customers. In turn, they get a great deal and will keep buying from your business in the future. There’s a reason why 77% of consumers participate in a retail loyalty programme.
4. Have An Active Voice Online
With so much choice and variety online, it’s imperative that you remain in the minds of your customers until they are ready to make a purchase again. This can be done in a number of ways, from creating content to posting social media updates.
With blog posts and email newsletters, you can tell customers about new products or company updates to keep them excited. Social media, on the other hand, is a great platform for interacting with customers and sharing their stories.
5. Make It Easy
Last but not least, you should make it easy for customers to browse your products or services, get in contact with staff, and most importantly make purchases.
Thankfully, today’s extensive online world provides every business with a number of channels and platforms for communication, publicity, promotion, and commerce. Go back to your original research to find out when and how your customers prefer to browse and buy.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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