A lot of marketing advice out there is targeted towards finding new clients and attracting them with new customer offers. However keeping customers is often cheaper than finding new ones, yet many companies neglect their existing customers.
Brand loyalty is a lucrative thing to tap into. Not only does it keep customers buying from you, loyal customers can become an invaluable part of your marketing efforts. They can give you good reviews or show their appreciation on social media.
Potential customers will always go for the company that has positive reviews first because it develops trust.
Here are some ways you can encourage brand loyalty and keep customers coming back:
Make sure you don’t take them for granted
Taking them for granted by treating these clients like they’re not the priority because they’re already clients is a way to drive them elsewhere.
You can ensure you’re making them feel valued with some of the methods outlined below.
Birthday deals
Take a leaf out of companies like Superdrug and New Look and offer those signed up to your newsletter an offer just in time for their birthday. It could be a discount, free delivery or free gifts that could be a simple gesture to show your customers you appreciate them.
Competitions
Sending out details of competitions every now and then is a good way to remind existing customers or clients that you’re still there. Some companies did this for the recent GDPR put into place by asking people to subscribe again in exchange for being entered into a competition.
Loyalty schemes
There are tons of loyalty cards out there, so make sure yours is worth their while. You could introduce a points scheme that customers can collect and spend in the company. You could also offer loyalty member benefits such as competitions, free delivery or special deals for members.
Ensure your support is top notch
Keeping clients is all about how supported and valued they feel. So customer support is an essential ingredient to any successful business. As there’s so much competition out there, something as simple as support could end up being a selling point that could boost you above the competition. This is particularly true for service and software providers.
Keep up to date with them
Don’t assume that their needs and expectations of you will remain the same. You need to adapt to what they expect in the future and what they can expect elsewhere with your competitors.
One way to do this is to send out surveys to get your clients’ opinions to inform your future decisions. Many businesses include a review link in invoices or follow up emails to ask what they thought of the product/service.
In order to increase survey return rates, you might want to offer a competition entry for every review or survey completed.
What’s your favourite method for keeping clients happy? Please share your thoughts in the comments.