How to build customer loyalty Communicate your values, provide exceptional customer service, activate loyal customers to help spread the message, show your appreciation with a loyalty program, connect more deeply, ask for feedback and continuously improve. This is especially important and evident in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Establishing emotional connections is a powerful way to improve the customer experience and, by extension, to ensure customer loyalty. In fact, by implementing a strategy based on emotional connection, a retailer was able to reduce its customer churn rate from 37% to 33% and increase customer defense from 24 to 30%.
For retailers interested in taking a more emotional approach, using their CRM system to discover hidden information about emotional motivators from customer data is a good starting point. This plan worked because it helped customers by offering them manageable monthly payments and helped the company get cash during an otherwise slow time of year. In fact, customers were so happy that they often recommended the store to others, and the company experienced a nearly 400 percent increase in total sales. Companies with strong omnichannel customer acquisition strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, compared to those with weak omnichannel strategies, which retain only 33%.
Maintaining a consistent voice and tone in all company communications is important to maintain the strength of the brand, but also to keep the customer experience strong. In addition, a customer that you go the extra mile for is likely to be willing to write a positive review about your company. Customer loyalty can improve your sales and reduce your marketing costs compared to customer acquisition. This gives you the opportunity to better understand your customers, so that you can personalize their experiences and increase the chances that they will remain loyal to your brand.
Not only does a subscription-based program retain the customer for a set period of time, but it also offers customer incentives that they may not receive anywhere else. Let's say you have a strict 30-day return policy, but a long-time customer requests a refund a few days after this deadline. This metric is especially important for SaaS or subscription companies that have customers who pay regularly. When a customer is loyal to a product, service, or brand, they're willing to wait for it to be restocked or to spend a little extra money on it.
Communicating frequently with your customers keeps you fresh in their minds and allows you to transmit important information, but it's important to know which platforms and methods of communication are right for them. Customers earn points with each stay and a certain amount of points allows them to move up the loyalty ladder. One of the best, and perhaps one of the cheapest, ways to reward customer loyalty is to offer additional benefits to the most trusted customers. If someone “likes” a post from one of your loyal customers, you can send them a unique link to a special promotion just for them.
Reflect on and improve the way you treat potential customers for the sake of them and current customers. By offering a real 360-degree view of the customer, a CRM system gives you all the information you might need to adapt marketing campaigns, product recommendations, promotional offers, and more to the needs and interests of an individual customer.
