Repeat customers are the key to business success. Your job
as a retailer is not done when you make the initial sale. You need to turn that
initial sale into repeat sales in order to grow your business.
70% of a customer’s experience with your business is going to come down to how they feel they are being treated - in other words, customer service. Retaining customers is less expensive than attracting new ones, so it makes financial sense that your business invests energy in customer service and loyalty programs in order to encourage customer loyalty.
There are so many reasons why most businesses fail to get repeat customers. In order to get repeat customers, you need to do the opposite of what these unsuccessful businesses do. This article tells you various loyalty and customer service secrets that you can use to turn new customers into repeat customers.
10 customer loyalty secrets to grow your business
1) Set up a loyalty program: A loyalty program is one way to encourage repeat customers. You can use artificial advancement in tandem with your loyalty program. Researchers Joseph Nunes and Xavier Dreze analyzed how artificial advancement affects customer effort in their paper entitled “The Endowed Progress Effect.” They hypothesized that customer loyalty programs could persuade customers to become repeat customers if customers were given a comparative head start in reaching their “payoff milestones.”
In other words, people are more likely to complete something when they are closer to the finish line. For example, a business might give a customer a head start in reaching a payoff milestone by handing them a loyalty card with two punches on it, instead of one. According to Nunes and Dreze, a head-start in reaching the payoff encourages customers to return to the business and in order to get more punches on their card.
2) Email follow-up: To get more repeat customers, you should also be putting your customer on an email list to let them know about your business’s latest news and promotions. You should specifically target new customers and follow up with them after the initial sale. Approach each new customer as though you are friend. Make sure to personalize your marketing communication. You might also send a recent customer an email with data and research explaining why they made a good purchase. This can help mitigate any buyer’s remorse that they may be feeling while building a relationship with a new business.
3) Stay on top of social media: Stay on top of social media as well as the emails and site comments that your business receives. Answer all questions and respond to comments quickly. Try to remain responsive to your customer base and show that you are engaged and invested in their satisfaction.
4) Show gratitude: Say please and thank you and make sure to send a thank you note when you are notified that a sale is processed. You can send a longer note with the product when you ship it. Make sure each note addresses the customer by name.
5) Offer a discount code: You can offer a discount code to returning customers. You can encourage them to share the deal with friends through social media.
6) Get to know your customers: Get to know your customers by asking them what they think about your business. You can use a traditional survey to do this or ask questions to your customers on social media platforms like Instagram.
7) Follow the Golden Rule: Ultimately, treat your customers the way you would want to be treated. A customer is likely to return to your business if they feel that the business respects them. The most likely reason that a customer chooses to go with a competitor is due to poor customer service. A customer is 4 times more likely to go with a competitor if the problem is service-related, as compared to price or product related.
8) Don’t let your customers forget you: “Brand recall” refers to a customer’s skill in recognizing and matching your products with your brand when they see your message. A great way to increase brand recall and encourage repeat visits to your business is through product packaging. Memorable product packaging will boost brand recall. Another way to encourage brand recall is to actively engage your customers with your brand. Any time you are reaching out to a customer you are making it more likely that they will remember and return to your business. Customers might be enticed to visit your site on a more regular basis if they know it is changing often and that new products and deals are being added.
9) Offer customers a choice: Customers feel the deepest bond with businesses that give them the option of choice. This can be through product colors or variants or even shipping and payment methods.
10) Make customers feel special: The Zopim blog notes: “According to the principle of reciprocity, as described by Robert Cialdini in Principles of Influence, when a user feels valued by a brand, she returns the favor by showing special consideration or loyalty towards the brand.” Customers who feel special are more likely to make subsequent purchases and spread the word to their friends.
Loyalty = Consistently Positive Emotional Experiences
In the end, customer loyalty is the result of a “consistently positive emotional experience.” You are trying to appeal to your customers’ emotions when you are trying to encourage their loyalty to your brand. Building loyalty involves building an emotional bond. Treat customers well and they will experience positive emotions. When a customer feels positively about your brand, they are less likely to abandon you for a competitor.
Customers are also more likely to make a purchase when experiencing positive emotions. Study after study tells us that when we buy, it’s for emotional reasons. When your actions encourage your customers to feel positively, it acts as a long-time return on investment. Try some of the above tips to increase your customer’s positive feelings and encourage customer loyalty in the long term
70% of a customer’s experience with your business is going to come down to how they feel they are being treated - in other words, customer service. Retaining customers is less expensive than attracting new ones, so it makes financial sense that your business invests energy in customer service and loyalty programs in order to encourage customer loyalty.
There are so many reasons why most businesses fail to get repeat customers. In order to get repeat customers, you need to do the opposite of what these unsuccessful businesses do. This article tells you various loyalty and customer service secrets that you can use to turn new customers into repeat customers.
10 customer loyalty secrets to grow your business
1) Set up a loyalty program: A loyalty program is one way to encourage repeat customers. You can use artificial advancement in tandem with your loyalty program. Researchers Joseph Nunes and Xavier Dreze analyzed how artificial advancement affects customer effort in their paper entitled “The Endowed Progress Effect.” They hypothesized that customer loyalty programs could persuade customers to become repeat customers if customers were given a comparative head start in reaching their “payoff milestones.”
In other words, people are more likely to complete something when they are closer to the finish line. For example, a business might give a customer a head start in reaching a payoff milestone by handing them a loyalty card with two punches on it, instead of one. According to Nunes and Dreze, a head-start in reaching the payoff encourages customers to return to the business and in order to get more punches on their card.
2) Email follow-up: To get more repeat customers, you should also be putting your customer on an email list to let them know about your business’s latest news and promotions. You should specifically target new customers and follow up with them after the initial sale. Approach each new customer as though you are friend. Make sure to personalize your marketing communication. You might also send a recent customer an email with data and research explaining why they made a good purchase. This can help mitigate any buyer’s remorse that they may be feeling while building a relationship with a new business.
3) Stay on top of social media: Stay on top of social media as well as the emails and site comments that your business receives. Answer all questions and respond to comments quickly. Try to remain responsive to your customer base and show that you are engaged and invested in their satisfaction.
4) Show gratitude: Say please and thank you and make sure to send a thank you note when you are notified that a sale is processed. You can send a longer note with the product when you ship it. Make sure each note addresses the customer by name.
5) Offer a discount code: You can offer a discount code to returning customers. You can encourage them to share the deal with friends through social media.
6) Get to know your customers: Get to know your customers by asking them what they think about your business. You can use a traditional survey to do this or ask questions to your customers on social media platforms like Instagram.
7) Follow the Golden Rule: Ultimately, treat your customers the way you would want to be treated. A customer is likely to return to your business if they feel that the business respects them. The most likely reason that a customer chooses to go with a competitor is due to poor customer service. A customer is 4 times more likely to go with a competitor if the problem is service-related, as compared to price or product related.
8) Don’t let your customers forget you: “Brand recall” refers to a customer’s skill in recognizing and matching your products with your brand when they see your message. A great way to increase brand recall and encourage repeat visits to your business is through product packaging. Memorable product packaging will boost brand recall. Another way to encourage brand recall is to actively engage your customers with your brand. Any time you are reaching out to a customer you are making it more likely that they will remember and return to your business. Customers might be enticed to visit your site on a more regular basis if they know it is changing often and that new products and deals are being added.
9) Offer customers a choice: Customers feel the deepest bond with businesses that give them the option of choice. This can be through product colors or variants or even shipping and payment methods.
10) Make customers feel special: The Zopim blog notes: “According to the principle of reciprocity, as described by Robert Cialdini in Principles of Influence, when a user feels valued by a brand, she returns the favor by showing special consideration or loyalty towards the brand.” Customers who feel special are more likely to make subsequent purchases and spread the word to their friends.
Loyalty = Consistently Positive Emotional Experiences
In the end, customer loyalty is the result of a “consistently positive emotional experience.” You are trying to appeal to your customers’ emotions when you are trying to encourage their loyalty to your brand. Building loyalty involves building an emotional bond. Treat customers well and they will experience positive emotions. When a customer feels positively about your brand, they are less likely to abandon you for a competitor.
Customers are also more likely to make a purchase when experiencing positive emotions. Study after study tells us that when we buy, it’s for emotional reasons. When your actions encourage your customers to feel positively, it acts as a long-time return on investment. Try some of the above tips to increase your customer’s positive feelings and encourage customer loyalty in the long term
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