How do you inspire customer loyalty?
PPC and social campaigns should be given more consideration.
Most marketers focus on acquiring new customers when it comes to paid marketing, but this is not always the best strategy.
That’s understandable—who wouldn’t want new customers?
While new customers are important for expanding your brand, studies have shown that loyal customers are essential for keeping your business afloat.
Your current customers are the ones who spend 67% more on your business than new customers. If you’re looking to introduce a new product or service, you’re more likely to find success with existing customers. They’re 50% more likely to try it out than new customers.
There’s no disputing the value of retaining customers. But how exactly can you do it?
The following text discusses the importance of loyalty and how it can be used to encourage customers to maintain long-term relationships. Paid campaigns can be a useful tool in this process, as they can drive sales and foster loyalty simultaneously.
Why Customer Loyalty is Important
Why exactly does customer loyalty matter so much? You could focus on getting new customers, but that may not be the best option.
A few reasons why customer loyalty is important to long-term business success are that customers who are loyal spend more, are less likely to switch to another company, and provide valuable feedback.
1. Save on Marketing Expenses
Marketing costs money. The amount of money you have to spend will depend on your line of work and how big your company is. The more competition there is, the more money you’ll need to spend to get your market’s attention and make sales.
Loyal customers can help reduce expenses. It is five times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer.
So it makes sense that they’d be more likely to buy from you again. It makes sense that your current customers would be more likely to buy from you again because they already know about your brand and at some point decided that your product or service was the right one for them. Developing good relationships with customers and making them feel loyal to your company will help ensure they don’t only make a one-time purchase, but continue to buy from you.
2. Improve Your Reputation
Many experts believe that word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective marketing strategy. This is because people are more likely to believe reviews from people they know and trust than they are to believe marketing messages from companies. People are more likely to trust individuals over brands.
It takes a lot of time and effort to create a trusted and reputable brand. If you have already convinced your current customers that you are trustworthy, then you have made progress. If someone is amazed by your products or services, they can become a brand advocate by sharing their positive experiences with family and friends.
3. Drive Sales
Loyal customers are more likely to spend money and tell their friends and family about your business. If you have a good connection with someone, that will likely result in increased sales.
If you want to improve your sales strategy, marketing efforts, and even product development, then you should focus your efforts on customer loyalty. By doing this, you will gain a better understanding of your customers, which will help you in all of the aforementioned areas.
How to Build Customer Loyalty With Paid Marketing Campaigns
Studies show that customers who are loyal to a brand convert more easily and spend more on that brand than on others.
To build stronger relationships with your customers, here are some things you can do.
Engage Customers With Ads
The digital age has made it easier to connect with your customers.
You can communicate with others more easily than ever before using social media, your company blog, or email newsletter.
How can you use this to build customer loyalty?
The value of social media platforms to marketers cannot be overestimated.
Before the digital age, things were less complicated.
Be Genuine in Ad Copy
Customer loyalty is built on trust. To be successful, you need to be real, truthful, and open.
Consumers have become increasingly interested in knowing what goes into the products they purchase and how those products are made. Marketers need to be aware of this trend and adjust their strategies accordingly.
According to a Sprout Social survey of 1,000 US consumers, 86 percent say that transparency from businesses is more important to them now than it has been in the past.
What does being “transparent” actually mean?
Transparency to consumers means that businesses are open with them, while honesty and clarity were also important factors.
This means being honest about what your product or service is and what it can do for the customer.
Show Appreciation
Your customers are human beings who want to feel appreciated.
Thank your customers for their loyalty with a personalized discount after they make a purchase.
Running campaigns that target your brand’s loyal customers will help it stand out.
If you want to find the right advertising copy for your customers, you need to understand them first.
For example:
- Are they parents? If so, do they have small kids or grown kids?
- Are they small business owners, employees, or do they have a few side hustles?
- What type of books do they read?
This information will help you understand which ad copy will make the most sense.
Provide Incentives
Sometimes it takes a little extra effort to keep your customers coming back, even if they have purchased from you in the past.
Although your product or service is great, there is still a lot competition. Your customers are interacting with other brands online, through ads and social media.
What is the best way to use paid ads to keep competitors from winning them over?
You can start with incentives!
Incentives are often used to encourage customer loyalty. Referring to loyalty programs, this could be seen as a way to make customers happy and keep them coming back.
Highlight Social Proof in Ad Copy
It is essential to have social proof to inspire customers to be loyal and to encourage new sales.
Here’s why.
Research shows that reviews impact the buying process.
- Before purchasing a product, 61 percent of customers read reviews.
- 82 percent of US consumers value the recommendations they receive from family and friends.
- 91 percent of people in the 18 to 34 age group trust online reviews as much as a recommendation from family or friends.
In what ways can you incorporate this advice into your pay-per-click and advertising campaigns?
Use the statistics from your customer success stories to show how valuable your product or service is.
For example, our customers recommend our toothbrushes to others 10,000 times! Another example is that 5,000 people have lost weight through our program!
This type of ad copy establishes the value of your product by showing potential customers that other people like and use your product.
Promote Your Rewards Program
It is not enough to simply create a rewards program, you also need to make sure that your potential customers are aware of it. There are many ways to get customers to sign up for a store’s loyalty program, such as encouraging sales associates to talk to customers about the program, advertising the program with in-store displays, or sending out email announcements.
Encourage Referrals
“Refer a Friend” programs are a great way to incentivize your current customers to help you acquire new customers.
Something like “For every friend a current customer recommends to your company, they will get $10 off their next purchase.” You can also utilize social media. If someone shows interest in a post from one of your customers, you can give them a special link to a promotion that is meant just for them.
There are many ways to share referral programs with others. You can get a $75 Amazon gift card if you refer a friend to the Casper mattress. Your friend will receive a 10% discount on their mattress if they purchase it through you. It’s a win-win-win for everyone!
Create a Point System
Retailers use loyalty systems to offer rewards, such as points, to customers based on purchase activity, status, and other factors.
Starbucks excels at this with their mobile app. For every dollar you spend, you receive two stars. This is their Gold Level tier. Different customers earn different rewards at different intervals. For example, one customer might earn a reward every 25 starts, while another customer might earn a reward every 400 starts. You can also earn bonus stars by making certain purchases multiple days in a row.
Some retailers have agreements with other companies where customers can earn points. This is an example of what’s known as a loyalty program, where customers can earn points from making purchases at specific establishments, which can then be redeemed for rewards.
If you want to create a loyalty management system for your company, you can use your company’s CRM system as a foundation. To make sure it meets your specific needs, you should work with a qualified solutions provider.
Case Study: Building a Unique Loyalty Rewards Program on Microsoft Dynamics >>
Partner with Another Company
Partnering with another relevant brand is a great way to boost your exposure and offer your existing customers more options. This allows you to tap into a new customer base that may be interested in what you have to offer.
You may partner with the local pet food store if you are a veterinary office. This will help to promote both the pet food store and your office to each other’s customers.
The same principles that apply to making a profit can also be applied to charity work. By informing your customers that a part of their purchase goes to charity, you are displaying your dedication to your community, as well as giving the charity more exposure.
Set Up a Subscription Service
A subscription-based program keeps customers for a set period of time and offers them rewards that they may not get from any other source.
Chewy.com, for example, offers a discount for signing up for autoshipping. You can choose how often you want your pet’s items delivered to your home and cancel at any time.
Ask for Feedback
Your commitment to improving your business shows that you value customer feedback.
Feedback should be requested immediately after an interaction with a customer for the most effective results.
After contacting Warby Parker, they will email you asking how your chat with the customer service representative was. It’s important to make it quick, simple, and painless for customers to share their feedback.
The purpose of customer voice CRM systems is to allow retailers to gather first-hand experiences and perspectives of customers in order to better understand what the customer experience is like. This information is then used to improve the product or brand.
Successful Examples of Customer Loyalty
Amazon Prime
There are many notable customer loyalty programs, but Amazon Prime membership is one of the most notable. This is a subscription-based service with one yearly fee. If you subscribe, you get free two-day shipping and can stream movies and TV shows through Prime Video.
This program has been an incredible success for Amazon. Prime members spend approximately $600 more per year on the website than non-Prime members.
Starbucks
While there are many successful mobile apps, the Starbucks app is used by 23.4 million people every six months. More than twice as many people will use Samsung Pay than Google Pay, with 1.4 million more people using Samsung Pay than Apple Pay.
The app is easy to use, customers can load money onto their mobile device to pay for items in store. You can order from your mobile device and pick up at your closest store. Customers who purchase anything on their mobile phones earn “stars” which can be redeemed for free drinks or other treats.
TOMS
Some companies choose to be charitable in order to create customer loyalty. For every pair of shoes purchase, TOMS will donate a pair to people who are in need. According to the organization’s website, it has donated 86 million pairs of shoes to date.
Sephora
Sephora’s Beauty Insider customer loyalty program has been very successful, with over 25 million members. Offering customers unique experiences, rather than just discounts, is often just as effective, if not more effective. Rather than just offer discounts (which it does), the popular makeup retailer gives “insiders” access to exclusive experiences, such as meet-and-greets with brand founders and a behind-the-scenes look at how their favorite products are made.
The North Face
The most effective way to appeal to customers is to make them feel like they are a part of an exclusive club. This can be done by using a tiered loyalty program.
The North Face excels at this. With the VIPeak program, outdoor recreation customers are put into different categories, depending on how much money they spend. These categories come with different perks and rewards. VIPeak uses icons and tier names to make exclusivity more fun. Becoming a VIPeak member has shown to result in shoppers spending twice as much as the average shopper and 20% more.
