At some point, each business has faced a difficulty of struggling to keep their clients loyal to their brand. Retaining customers is the ultimate goal for any business, as it is less effort to upsell than to generate new leads. Whether online or offline, ensuring that customers are satisfied is critical for long-term success.
So you might ask how to do that? JC Penny has said
“Every great business is built on friendship”
Hundreds of thousands of similar companies are targeting the same customers that you’ve worked so hard to earn. The easiest and most predictable source of revenue comes from the existing customers who already know your company and have already bought from you.
So let’s jump right into these 6 steps on building a stronger bond with your customers:
1. Choosing the right platform
Oftentimes digital businesses are making it complicated for customers to buy from them. Buying a product or service should be made as simple as ABC.
But it is not for 2. Simple reasons:
- Developers choose to make their own CMS that’s complicated and far from the industry best practices
- Or webmasters choose a platform that’s hard to understand and even harder to manage.
So, how do you solve this problem?
It’s simple, there are e-commerce platforms that have worked tirelessly to create the best user interface out there. So simply, use that.
The platforms like Shopfify or CommerceHQ are making it simple to create 1. click purchases a reality. No more lengthy sales processes or confusing user experience – simply use these CMS systems, choose a beautiful theme and your conversion rates will shoot through the roof.
Well, most of the time.
2. Send Regular Customer E-mails
Your email list is a critical tool for maintaining and building relationships with your current customers. It is possible to send special offers, notifications about the newest products to keep your client updated and interested about your company’s actions.
You might have directed these customers down the funnel at an earlier stage before they even became your customers, but don’t forget about them now, that they have proven to be really interested in your product – keep engaging with automated email campaigns.
3. Surprise & Delight Your Customers
From handwritten notes to freshly-baked cookies, a simple gesture can go a long way toward shoring up customer loyalty in a competitive marketplace.
Even just a quick phone call or ‘thank-you’ note can do more to earn your customers’ long-term trust.
Pick what feels right for your line of business and whether you run an online or offline business.
4. Reach out and Connect on Social Media and Post Often
In our generation, social media plays a huge role in business success. The more valuable and engaging information you share the more loyal followers you attract. The information can be about the company actions, products, innovations, intentions, goals and missions – all which keeps the customer interested and lets them identify with the beliefs of your brand.
5. Offer a Discount or Credit to Return
Discounting can be a really effective trigger to bringing back customers that haven’t purchased in a while.
There you have it. Your current customer is the best asset your store has. They already know your brand, they know your products and they know your service. Focusing your time and energy on this group as opposed to always trying to find new customers can be a powerful way to supercharge revenues for your store, especially over the holiday season.
There are many ways that you can make your customers feel like they are spending their money in the right place.
6. Implementing a customer loyalty program
Creating a loyalty program can be as simple as rewarding customers for their second purchase. For offline business, you can create loyalty card to collect points for every purchase, or for online business add bonus points to their membership account.
Make sure these points can be exchanged in the future for a discount or some free goodies.
Next level is to decide on the membership levels, for example, “Silver”, “Gold” and “Platinum”, to create a long-lasting loyalty program and appreciate the most valuable customers for your business.
Wrapping it up
These are just a few tips that I have found to work for me on both sides – as a customer I’m loyal to brands that value me, and as a business owner, I see gratitude from customers that I keep engaged.
Let me know – what are other methods that have worked for you to keep your customers loyal?
