How to improve Customer Loyalty and win over shoppers
We know it might seem a bit too early to be thinking about it, but, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday season is just around the corner. So, what better time to cultivate some customer loyalty so you can supercharge your sales towards the end of the year?
Your customers are the heart and soul of your business. And, while it’s always important to bring in new customers, you’ll need to make sure you’re retaining your current customers too. We’ll explore our top tips for making sure you’re building relationships with your customers that will last a lifetime. Let’s get started.
What is customer loyalty?
Customer loyalty is a customer’s willingness to repeatedly buy products and services from your business. This is often decided by customer satisfaction, customer service, competitive pricing, and other benefits that can be offered.
Why is customer loyalty important?
It might be easy to disregard the benefits of customer loyalty as a nice-to-have rather than a need-to-have. But, you’d be wrong in making that assumption. Studies have shown that 65% of a company’s sales come from returning customers. And, increasing customer retention rates by as little as 5% increases profitability from 25% to 95%.
If your business does not value its customers, and makes no effort to keep them coming back, there’s a high chance you’ll lose out on a lot of your potential sales – and profits. Plus, 70% of companies even found that customer retention was far cheaper than customer acquisition.
You’ll likely have to spend more money on advertisements to recruit new shoppers to make up for the customers you lost. And, then you’ll have to establish brand loyalty with your new customers all over again.
Here’s what we’d recommend to improve your chances of retaining your customers’ business.
Launch a loyalty program and offer rewards
Your customers want to feel loved. If they’ve been loyal to you for some time, you’ll need to recognise that with discounts, offers, and exclusives just for them. That’s where a customer loyalty program comes in.
A customer loyalty program recognises and rewards customers who repeatedly purchase or engage with a brand or business. There’s many different ways a loyalty program can look. Some examples include:
- Customer discounts
- A rewards program (like a stamp card) or a point system
- A subscription service (that offers great value and even a free gift or two)
- A loyalty ‘tier’ system (with improved rewards and benefits for frequent customers)
Make sure to provide your customers with a loyalty program they will actually enjoy. Keep your rewards and benefits fresh and relevant. If you want to do this, you can offer personalised offers based on their buying habits.
If you’re unsure how to collect all these handy bits of consumer information about your customers, you might want to try Lightspeed Retail. With built-in features like customer profiles, gift cards, and discounts, you can reward your customers however you’d like, whenever you want to.
Make use of social media
Social media marketing is no longer optional. It’s essential. If you’re thinking about better ways to interact with your customers, increase your engagement, and improve customer loyalty (and sales), you’ll need to start taking it more seriously.
36% of UK shoppers said they had actually purchased a product after seeing it on a social media platform. Plus, by 2027, the number of people projected to be using social media worldwide is expected to reach 6 billion. You could be increasing the number of people visiting your eCommerce store, or visiting your local branches, exponentially if you make efforts to grow your social media presence.
The point of social media for companies and brands is to connect with your customers. You should focus more on creating and publishing content that showcases your brand. We’ll give you some examples:
- Share behind-the-scenes content of how your business operates: Document the ordering process from start to finish, record photoshoots of your latest products, or even introduce your team. Customers love to see the human side of your business.
- Encourage users to create user-generated content using your products or services: You can repost and share anything your business is tagged in.
- Host a competition for people to participate in: You can offer rewards and benefits for the winners. And, you can benefit from loads of user-generated content. It’s important to make this a mutual exchange. Your customers won’t like this if they feel you’re just trying to profit off of them.
- Making a guide or ‘how to’ video on how to use your products: Provide inspiration or styling guides.
- Make your customers part of product development: Ask your customers what they want to see more of. Do you no longer stock something that your customers were fans of? Ask them if they think you should restock it. Is there a new trend you’ve not jumped on yet? Ask them if they’re interested in your business bringing it in. People want to know that you’re listening.
Encourage customers to give your business feedback
You should let your customers know that you value their feedback. You’re constantly willing to improve processes, inventory, customer service, and more. So, to do this, you’ll need to reach out every once in a while to make sure everyone’s happy.
Offering your customers a chance to give feedback lets them know they’re being listened to, and also allows you to correct any issues your customers may be facing. So, send out surveys, request email reviews, and maybe even incentivise your customers with “5% off their next purchase” if they leave a review. Cultivate an environment where customers know they’re being heard.
And, most importantly, respond to them and let them know you’re correcting any issues they might be facing. If you want to keep your customers loyal, you’ll have to keep them happy too.
Chat with an expert to learn more about how to increase your customer loyalty.
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