Here’s one fact that you may be surprised to know: a majority of enterprises can lose almost 50 percent of their customers in a five-year timeframe. Studies have also shown that it takes more effort to earn new customers than to retain current ones – and it can cost you as much as twenty times compared to trying to retain a regular customer. Engaging your customers is essential, and you can potentially increase your profit margin from 25 to 85 percent just by making sure your current customers are happy and fully engaged with your brand. But whilst the facts and figures mean a lot, what you do about the data is what matters. So what can you do to encourage customer loyalty and engagement? Here are some best practices for enhancing customer loyalty: what you should know
- Give them rewards
You may already be aware of this, but one main reason why you may know about it is that it works. When you give rewards to your customers, it shows them that you appreciate their business – and more than this, you are thankful to them. Have you ever wondered why a lot of major brands and corporations have loyalty programmes? Loyalty programmes have been proven effective through the years, and with such a programme, you can give your customers a real incentive to transact with you again. Your programme can consist of earning points or rewards for purchases, presenting customers with coupons and freebies, and more.
- Always focus on customer service excellence
This may also be obvious, but it doesn’t hurt to emphasise it, even more, today when competition can be fierce amongst different businesses. Even if you offer your customers the best product ever, if your brand’s customer service doesn’t live up to your customer’s expectations, you might as well give them an inferior product. This is where some critical numbers and figures come in once again. For instance, most diners will not as readily accept poor customer service as they will accept food that’s unremarkable or forgettable, as confirmed by an expert customer experience consultant. Apart from this, satisfied customers will visit you around four times each month and can be your customer for almost five years. But a very satisfied consumer may well visit you seven times each month and stay with you for up to 8 years or more. Here’s another aspect worth noting: providing excellent customer service doesn’t just happen in the physical realm – it also happens on social media and the digital arena, so keep this in mind.
- Establish trust
Building trust may also be a given, but with proof, you can enhance trust even further and improve the loyalty of your customers by leaps and bounds. Establishing trust doesn’t just happen physically nowadays – it is more important than ever to establish trust digitally. As more people turn to social media, your business needs ‘social proof.’ What does this mean? It means sharing highly relevant content in your niche, getting endorsements from celebrities (cliché, but it works!), encouraging users to give feedback and reviews, and inviting consumers to join your company’s Facebook page.
You can nurture your relationship with your customers even more by welcoming your brand’s latest subscribers with a warm email and staying in touch regularly through newsletters, promotions, updates, and more.
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