Loyal customers are the key to generating revenue, and loyalty programs are incredibly influential in the new digital world. So how can we effectively build customer loyalty?
The good news is that there are many ways to achieve this and this is what I am going to do today. But first, let's take a closer look at the importance of retaining customers or earning their loyalty.
Why customer loyalty in the digital age is more important?
In the digital age, there are exponentially more opportunities to find products and services. This is a wonderful thing for customers, but it can be a nightmare for businesses. However, changing your strategy to ensure customers keep coming back will be key.
It is not news to know that it costs companies 5 times more to win new customers than to make existing customers buy again. However, according to Forbes, selling is very different now and personalization alone can increase consumer spending by up to 500%.
Customer loyalty plays a big part in this state, making it more important than ever. Specific reasons for this include the fact that loyal customers are more likely to buy again.
Good experiences cannot be overrated to keep customers buying again. Loyal customers also tend to be your best salespeople and brand ambassadors by spreading the word to others about their satisfaction with your products, services, and company.
The fact that loyal customers also offer real, helpful, and constructive feedback should not be overlooked. This type of feedback can be invaluable with future products or customer interactions.
Of course, the customer lifetime value (CLV) rates of loyal customers will be much higher than those of non-loyal customers, since the average time a customer will continue to buy from your business increases. This is a useful metric to track as you build loyalty.
Guide to customer loyalty in the digital age
With all that said, I've compiled a guide to building customer loyalty that includes the essential tips to follow to achieve your customer loyalty and retention goals.
Improve your customer service
The first thing you can do is make improvements to your customer service to ensure that your customers have an optimal experience and leave customer service interactions highly satisfied.
This is extremely important in the digital age, as consumers have much more opportunities to research and find other products like yours at potentially competitive prices.
To start this step, create a customer service strategy. Determine what you want to achieve and how. Next, make sure you have a complete understanding of customer segments so that you can talk to them individually about their specific needs.
Improve response time
Customers want to know that they are heard right away. Improving your response time will help significantly, as well as answering prospects' questions in a timely manner.
Steps you can take to improve response time include the following :
Plan your communication: Make sure you have the means for your customers to contact you immediately and that you have representatives or chatbots available to respond to them in a short period of time.
Focus on needs: The old phrase “the customer is always right” is popular for a reason: it really works. So make sure you focus on what they need.
Use all channels to communicate: In the digital age, this means that you have to be available by more than the phone and in person. You also have to be available through your website, social networks, chat applications, etc.
Keep positive language: Yes, even when you are in contact with your clients virtually, keeping positive language will help to communicate better and your clients will notice it.
Encourage customer feedback
Asking for feedback from your customers has some advantages. First, you show that you really care about them and their opinion, which can have a big impact on their loyalty to your business.
Second, it can be valuable for your future strategies, since you are hearing it directly from your users. You will also be sure that your current customers will like what you do in the future if it is based on feedback.
Provide personalized communication and offer
Another essential way to build customer loyalty is to remember not to lose focus on the little things that make a big difference. Make sure that you are really attentive to your customers when they are talking or writing to you, for example.
Don't just rush them for closing a support ticket. Let them know that what they have to say is important. You should also be transparent when you talk to them so they don't think you're being elusive.
Use the right technology
Customer loyalty depends not only on human talent but also on technology. And it is that we cannot do everything ourselves no matter how good intentions we have. However, there are processes that we cannot do without the help of an omnichannel platform.
For example, Ticker is an omnichannel customer support software that integrates all your channels in one place. In addition, your database will also be attached to this platform. Thus, all your attention will be centralized. This greatly helps the agent to offer more personalized interactions.
Offers a self-service
Customers now require 24/7 attention. Not all of us have the same hours to consult a business, many times the majority of clients have consultations outside of your working hours. Therefore, it is important to be prepared for this challenge.
The first thing you should do is establish chatbots in all your communication channels to answer frequently asked questions about your business. This way, potential customers will have instant responses every time they contact your business. This reduces purchase abandonment.
Establish a resolution flow
While it can be hard work, you don't need to solve every problem from day one. Looking at the entire customer journey, you need to identify the right moments to optimize among the hundreds or thousands of possibilities.
Choosing something that can offer proven benefit to your organization and the client is key to building your case for funding all the necessary work.
One approach we have found successful is to list all the touch points when a customer interacts with your business, specifically focusing on those moments when the customer initiates the interaction.
What is customer loyalty?
Market Business News defines loyalty as the probability that your customers will continue to buy from your company. Customer loyalty looks quite different than it once did decades ago.
Before the digital age, customers were likely to be loyal to local stores. Proximity was more important than price or customer experience because store owners were personally known and appreciated.
However, today there are countless businesses within the same sector that compete to retain customers. This implies high advertising costs, so retaining customers who have already purchased is a key point for profitability.
Conclusions
Building customer loyalty in the digital age is full of challenges. First, because now businesses in the same category and similar products abound on the Internet. Given so many offers, it makes it easier for the user to go from one business to another easily.
Getting loyalty is key if you really want to increase your sales. And you can't achieve all of this with a good offer or a quality product, but with good service. Although value for money is important, attention will be the key factor that will decide a purchase.
Given this premise, the need arises to offer A1 customer service with personalized messages, immediate responses, and much more.
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