Posted by It’s not enough to get someone to buy from you just one time. To be successful, you need to have loyal customers that come back time and time again. With positive customer experiences, you can build customer loyalty, help ensure people spend more money with you, and encourage others to shop with you as well.
In this article, we’re going to outline six different ways to earn and build up customer loyalty. Through personalized emails and deals, a top-notch customer service program, high-quality content, and regular engagement, you’re sure to develop a loyal customer base. Let’s dive right in.
Engage with your customers on social media
You can communicate with your customers easily and effectively through social media marketing! Whether you’re monitoring your direct messages, combing through customer comments, or sharing positive customer experiences, you can build loyalty by humanizing your brand with the help of social media platforms.
Keep in mind that different platforms attract different customers, and you might not need to focus on them all. If your business is very image-focused, Instagram and Pinterest are good choices. Twitter is great for posts that will link back to your website or that are word-heavy. Facebook has a huge audience, the largest of all, and has lots of tools helpful for businesses.
It might be helpful to bulk post your social media posts in order to ensure your output is consistent. Crowdfire can help you schedule posts in advance, increase audience interaction, monitor and reply to your mentions, and curate content efficiently. When your customers know what to expect and see regular social media activity from you, this will help to improve their loyalty.
Establish a multi-channel customer service system
To provide great customer service and increase your revenue, you’ll want to make it easy for people to get in touch with your business if they have questions, concerns, or complaints. Just like different people gravitate towards different social media channels, people like to communicate with companies in different ways! Having channels that cater to all different types of customers will improve their loyalty to you as more questions and concerns pop up.
Your communication channels could include email, phone, social media direct messages and comments, and a live chat service. Consistency is important; if someone has to communicate through multiple channels, make sure that it’s easy for your team to access old conversations and information.
Furthermore, it’s true that you should offer as many channels as you can, but make sure you only offer what your team can handle. If your customer service is poorly managed due to something like a lack of manpower, there’s no sense in offering every communication channel possible.
Publish informative content that provides value
If you want people to make repeat purchases, you need to give them a reason to visit your website time and time again. One of the most effective ways to do this is through content creation — publishing high-quality content that your audience will enjoy reading or watching.
There’s practically no limit to what types of content you can create for your audience. See if your competitors are creating blogs or videos, conduct keyword research to see what information your customers are searching for, and check in with your customer service team to field questions. Let’s take a look at a few examples of companies that do a great job of creating informative and relevant content their customers will keep coming back for.
Take a look at how My Canada Payday does this in their blog post on why a good credit score is important. They outline why it’s vital to monitor your credit for job searches, moving, applying for financing, and more. This is something very relevant to their audience, who are people looking for financial help or advice, and will build trust with their ideal customers.
Similarly, UTires does this well with their post outlining how often you should get your tires rotated and balanced. UTires sells used tires to their customers, and this type of content is highly relevant to their audience. This is a question people often ask during the tire purchasing process and is likely to drive more traffic to their site, and increase their customer’s loyalty, as they know they can always visit the site and ask the company for help in this area.
Another great example is TheRealFX’s post on FICO credit scores. As a real estate agency based out of Texas, it’s in their best interest to get their customers the lowest mortgage rates possible to build their credibility and drive customer loyalty. The article outlines easy tips to keep your score high and how a realtor can help.
Last but not least, Best Value Schools offers helpful content, such as their round-up of the best online universities. They outline costs, program information, and more. Think about how helpful this type of content would be to a family with several kids! They have round-ups for all sorts of different subsections, like online universities, MBA programs, and more, too. If someone found one of these articles helpful, they might come back to the site the next time they or a loved one is looking for their next step in education. This is how loyalty is forged.
If you would like more inspiration, check out Crowdfire’s round-up of great content marketing examples, which will give you plenty of ideas.
Reward existing customers with discounts
One of the best ways to encourage people to make another purchase is by offering a discount — everyone likes saving money! Consider how you can incorporate this into your business strategy. You could tie limited-time-only discounts to a customer’s birthday, or send out codes to people who haven’t shopped with you in a while, for instance. It’s all about showing your existing customers that you appreciate them, so they keep coming back for more.
There are a range of ways you could provide discounts for your loyal customers. For example, if someone posts about your products on social media, you could jump into their DMs and reward them with a discount code. Or, if someone hasn’t shopped with you for a while, you could drop them an email with a code that will provide them with 10% off their next purchase to convince them to visit your website. If you have your own app, you could even shout about certain promotions you’re offering with push notifications. The goal is to give people a reason to stop by your site — once they’re there, they’ll be far more likely to make a purchase.
Show customers behind the scenes
You can build loyalty and help customers feel a deeper connection with your company by sharing behind-the-scenes content with them. This humanizes your business and can help increase your audience’s engagement.
There are lots of ways you can achieve this, whether it’s through live streams, sneak peeks, or by showing your day-to-day office life. It’s important to be authentic and personable in this type of content; this will help customers feel a stronger connection to your business.
Powered by Search does this well in their blog post outlining a major business decision they recently made. In their article, they discuss why they decided to rebrand as a B2B SaaS marketing agency. This gives their prospective customers a glimpse of how the company works, and shows that a lot of thought is put into every decision they make.
Or, take a look at how Fixer Upper, the hit HGTV show, showcases the behind-the-scenes work of their home renovations. Not only is this entertaining for fans of the show, but the additional context shows off their authority in their field and encourages viewers to watch the show again with this in mind.
Adobe Life, the blog featuring the day-to-day work of Adobe, does this well across the board. Take a look at their post about a new employee, Adi Muraru. They outline his motivations for joining the company, his career goals, and more. By introducing their readers to the team at Adobe, they show their human side and build loyalty.
Create free tools and resources your customers will appreciate
You can also help provide value to customers and ensure their loyalty by creating free templates and resources! Everyone loves free stuff, and these resources will draw people to your website time and time again.
Consider how Venngage, an online infographic maker, does this with their series of free infographic templates. They have a variety of styles, colours, and fonts that are offered for free to draw in customers; if they like the service, they can then pay for additional styles. By offering free content to start, they help build a potential customer base that will grow more loyal!
Canva does something similar with their online graphic design program. A variety of their styles and templates are offered for free, such as those for Instagram posts and business cards. This lets people try out their service and get used to the program, which will bring them back for their other graphic design needs.
Lastly, take a look at how FreshBooks, an online accounting service, offers free invoice templates for their leads and potential customers. Their customer base is full of people looking for online accounting services, and their templates target their customer base of freelancers and small businesses well. If someone signs up for their accounting software, they’ll likely want to check out the invoice templates, and vice versa.
Summary
Building customer loyalty is vital for making more sales. After you build up your web traffic and get someone to make a purchase with you once, they’ll already be in your network; now it’s just a matter of drawing them back in. You can do this in lots of ways, through content creation, showing your work behind the scenes, offering discounts and free tools, and so much more. What works will vary from business to business — start testing the waters with a few of these tips and go from there.
Guess it’s time to get to work!
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