10 Ways to Boost Customer Loyalty

‘How can you get a customer buy more from you?’

This is the problem of most business owners. While they may already have a system that is designed to convert visitors into buyers, they don’t have a system that makes their customers raring to buy from them again and again.

But this is a grave mistake.

You see, repeat customers have 10x the buying power than new customers.

Why? It is because of trust.

First, they are already familiar with you and your brand. You don’t even have to convince them to buy from you. They are already on the fence of buying.

Second, they are already familiar with the ordering process. You don’t have to educate them or ‘warm them up’ to your products and services. They already know about you and they will be willing to buy from you again if you have given them a good customer experience in the past.

New customers are generally harder to convert. You need to introduce yourself to them, tell them about your products and services and teach them how to order from your website. In most cases, you can only convert as much as 40% of new customers into loyal customers.

Loyal customers, on the other hand, will buy all of your products like some mad collector and they will be more open to upsells. In fact, 60-70% of loyal customers often buy your upsells.

So if you are not trying to boost customer loyalty in your business, you are truly missing this opportunity to make more sales and have a lasting income fueled by loyal fans.

If you’re convinced that you need to boost your customer loyalty, you’re in luck. Today, I will show you 10 ways on how you can boost customer loyalty. Such as running a Stripe referral software. You don’t even need to implement everything that you’ll see below. Even if you choose to implement one, you’ll immediately see the positive effects of customer loyalty in your business. You can also install the Shopify affiliate app.

Have a Loyalty Program

We cannot talk about customer loyalty without a loyalty program. You need this so that you can give your existing customers an incentive to buy from you.

You may have seen this in offline businesses. This is where they give you a stamp card that you have to complete in order to get a freebie or it can be a card that you swipe every time you make a purchase. This is done to encourage you to buy from the merchant again and again.

The system is quite similar online. For some websites, a loyalty program is as simple as a point system where customers get to accumulate points for every purchase. These points can then be spent on the website to replace cash. For others, it can be an accumulation of purchases. For example, you can give a free item for every 3 purchases. It is a way to encourage customers to buy from a particular online store again and again.

Have a Fan-Oriented Culture

If you want customers to continue to promote you, you should give them a chance to express their love for you. This can be done inside your website or in popular social media networks.

Ever wonder why businesses often encourage hashtags? It’s for free publicity of course! Also, it makes the customer feel that they really belong to a community for they will get to see the images or posts contributed by other people. When they do that, they’ll see that they are not alone. They’ll see that there are other people who are also fans of the brand.

When this happens, their affinity for the brand strengthens. They know that they now belong to something that’s real and amazing. This will then fuel their desire to engage with the brand more.

Encourage User Generated Content

User generated content is there for more than just search engine rankings. It is important because it encourages customer participation which can lead to customer loyalty.

Here is why user generated content is so important. It is because it increases trust. With more users promoting your product, service or brand, the more people are willing to adopt or buy it. A study by IpsosMedia CT or Crowdtap revealed that media trust is greater for user generated content and this has something to do with social proof.

You can implement this in your site by simply giving your customers a place to express themselves. This can be a simple place where they can place reviews or it can be a Facebook page where they can easily give feedback about your product or service.

Personalize Your Communications

If you want customers to be loyal to you, you have to let them know that you care about them. It is not enough to just reach out. You need to let them know that you really care about them by reaching out in a personalized manner.

You will be able to understand this if you have a person who only come to you when they need something. Your customers know that you are only after their money. Sure, customers are willing to spend but that doesn’t mean that you should be blunt about what you want. Instead, it is better to focus on helping. That’s what businesses are for after all.

So how can you show your customers that you care about them? That’s simple. You just need to personalize your approach. How personal will depend on your niche. There are some companies like General Electric that sent a Batman book to one of their customers by looking at what they are interested in. Unrelated? Yes. But I am sure that the customer really appreciated the extra effort.

This shows the power of personalization. It makes the person feel that you authentically care about them. When you do this, you win your customers as friends rather than just mere people that you have transactions with.

Ask for Customer Advice

Creating online businesses is not only about having a product or service and selling it. These days, having a community is also very important. In fact, some of the biggest brands on the Internet are created around communities.

You see, there are many reasons why a person buys from a brand. One of these is belonging. When a person feels that he is welcomed and his inputs are appreciated, he tend to support that website more.

For example, a course platform called Invanto does this. They offer a course platform and they have a Facebook group that contains all of their users.

Since their platform is still rough around the edges, they encourage their users to have an input on the software. This then works both ways, it helps the developer in improving the product and it helps the users for they get an improved version that would help them in their business.

One Word: Freebies

This never gets old. People simply love freebies. The best part? They’ll not only transact with you when you do this but tell other people as well.

Brands like McDonalds have done this in the past. They launched campaigns where they give away a free McMuffin for everyone who entered the establishment.

The campaign exploded in social media channels and people were soon talking about it and sharing it.

Who does this campaign attract? Their existing customers of course. Anyone who is already familiar with a McMuffin will be interested in getting a free one.

Stand Out By Offering More

You know those moments when a business owner offer you a free upgrade and they’ll charge it on the house? Don’t you feel that it is just one of the luckiest days of your life?

That’s how existing customers feel when you offer more than what they expect. And the good news is that they will often tell their family and friends about it.

Here’s the thing. It is important to take kindness for granted. It may seem like a sacrifice on your part, but the extra mile that you took will often don’t go unnoticed.

Customers are often willing to return your kindness by promoting you to other people. And it is not just that, they will mark you in their head that you are a good company to work with and they will buy from you over and over again.

Treat Your Customers like VIPs

Aside from product upgrades and freebies, there is another thing that your customers will look for – It’s customer service.

Customers like to feel that they are supported. The communication lines should always be open and they can reach you when they need you. On top of that, you should be ready to address their needs when they require it of you.

How does this boost customer loyalty? Well, safety is a basic human need. Customers want to feel safe with what they have purchased. They don’t want to buy something and then be done with it. They want to feel that they have not wasted their money and time and that they have invested it in the right company.

A good example for this is Namecheap Hosting.

Out of all of the hosting providers on the Internet, Namecheap is the first to have instant chat. Others make you go through hoops like asking you to call them (even if you are in a different country) or pay a bit more to access support. But Namecheap understands that customers like to feel supported and this is why they have instant chat in their system.

True enough, their services have been highly recommended. Often, you’ll see their brand being mentioned because of their awesome customer service. This shows that customer service is not just a part of the value chain but an essential process to fully fulfill the needs of your customers.

Balance Price and Quality

In answering the question ‘What makes a customer loyal’, Nielsen found that there are several factors that you should consider. A prime factor is location for preferences vary depending on where you are in the world.

Here is a glimpse of their findings.

In just about any location, price and quality comes on top. The percentages may become bigger or small but the dominant factors remain the same.

So how can business owners apply these to their businesses? I think that it is about finding that balance between price and quality. It is important to give a competitive price. A price that customers are willing to pay. But it is also important to consider that what you are selling is ‘high quality’.

But how can you know the right price and quality for your product? You ask. This is what surveys, focus group discussions and observations are for. With customer feedback, you’ll now be able to create a pricing and quality strategy that will make you stay in business and keep your customers happy.

Make Exclusive Deals for Return Customers

If all else fails, you just need to be direct and just give your customers an incentive for buying again.

This is what Colony Reef Club has done and it worked. What they did was simple. They just posted a 15% discount in their Specials and Deals page and targeted the deal to their return customers. It is that easy.

You can then email your customers about this deal so that they’ll be informed that it exists. For some businesses, all it takes is a simple act of reaching out to get their customers to buy from them again.

Conclusion

Winning your customer’s loyalty is not really that complicated. You just have to remember that you are dealing with people. Sure, they are customers and they give you money. But they are ultimately people who have the need to belong, be recognized and be treated well. Once you understand this, you may come up with 10 more ways to boost customer loyalty in your business. What is contained here are just techniques but the ultimate goal is still to win the hearts of your customers so that they can relate and identify with your products, service or brand.

What customer loyalty technique will you do in your business today? Tell me all about it below.

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7 Response to "10 Ways to Boost Customer Loyalty"

  1. Comment From Rebecca Stuart

    These days loyal customers are hard to find. Most people will be quick to trade loyalty for a cheaper price. If you do however find those loyal few, then you really need to cater to them.



  2. Comment From Danny Richardson

    I have found that posting cool and funny posts on social media helps engagement of my companies fans and followers. These people are typically very loyal.



  3. Comment From Larry Hancock

    On social media I always encourage my customers to participate and comment either through a survey or just getting their opinion about a fun fact.



  4. Comment From James Vance

    I see that every month it is always my most loyal customers the continue to buy. I really need to make sure I go out of my way for them.



  5. Comment From Glenn Turner

    My rule of thumb is 1 loyal customer is worth more than 10 non-loyal ones.



  6. Comment From Fred Ruker

    I usually try to exceed my customers expectations with regards to product quality and service. Most customers have had bad experiences, so they do not expect much. They are then pleasantly surprised when I exceed them.



Comments are closed.