How to Reward Customer Loyalty

When analyzing your data for your online business, you’d be happy to  find newcomers, converts, and of course, returning customers. So now the  question is: how do you keep the returning customers, well, returning,  and persuade the converts that they, too, should keep coming back?

Increasing  customer loyalty can be a challenging feat, but one that leaves plenty  of room for some creative ideas – and better yet, opportunity to pass  along some savings to your clients.

We often hear about incentives  like rewards points, special discounts, and information about flash  sales sent out via email. The whole point of these tactics is not just  hardcore marketing; it’s meant to reward customer loyalty. After all,  the returning customers are usually your number one cheerleaders when it  comes to recommending your online business to others.

So consider some unique practices in rewarding your frequent shoppers.

The Time Honored Thank You Note

This isn’t just a lovely email  or hard copy card that is sent to the customer who visits (and  purchases) often. This note can be combined with a request for ideas of  how enhance a customer’s experience when shopping on your online  business.

Furthermore, the customer can answer the email directly  with however many (or few) suggestions as he or she likes – as opposed  to the generic “do not reply” message with the link that the client can  click on to get a survey that takes forever to go from one question to  the next.

The Sincere Follow-Through

Customer feedback is  not meant to just collect cyber dust in the inbox. Yes, it takes time to  read through everyone’s comments, but there is valuable information to  be gleaned from these suggestions or complaints.

Also, you might  want to pay attention to what the customer says you’re doing right, such  as a user-friendly check-out or an accessible shopping cart if the  customer changes his or her mind about making a purchase.

The Social Outreach

A  strong social media presence is vital to marketing your product or  service. That’s pretty much a given in today’s world, but did you ever  consider your loyal customers who faithfully share your promotions  through Facebook or Instagram or some other platform?

Why not  reward this display of customer loyalty with some exclusive promotions  or rewards points? Another show of appreciation is simply maintaining  your own presence on social media by responding quickly to comments or  questions.

Let’s face it. Folks would sooner contact you via their Messenger app before calling the “1-800” customer line. This is where a web check-in might come in handy.

Easy Access to Customer Loyalty Rewards

Above  all, creating a rewards program for customer loyalty that’s easy to  access and redeem points will not only guarantee the return of frequent  shoppers but also serve well to gain new prospects.

How can this  be? When loyal customers tell their peers about how easy it is to sign  up and redeem points, they might pay your site a visit.

Also, by using geo fencing  technology, similar to that of Marriott, for instance, you can  personalize your customer’s experience to better meet their needs.  Again, this opens the door for more sharing on the part of your  regulars.

At the end of the day, rewarding customer loyalty also means applying the best practices in customer service such as:

• Consistent communication
• Personalized experience
• Availability to answer questions and address issues

Building  a relationship with your customers and consistently improving their  experience with your business will solidify your client base while  bringing in more prospects.