5 Strategies to Create Loyal eCommerce Customers This Year

Customer loyalty is awesome. When a customer is loyal to your business, you can’t really lose. Unless you do something that sacrifices the relationship, they have the potential to be a lifelong customer. And the more loyal a customer is, the more they will spend with you.

The difficulty lies in creating customer loyalty in the first place. 57% of marketers have admitted that they weren’t confident in their loyalty programs.

However, customers want to be loyal because it makes their life so much easier. When there’s a brand they know they can trust to give them a good product and service, they don’t need to waste any more time searching.

How can you make loyal eCommerce customers this year? Here are 5 strategies:

1. Implement Chatbots

Chatbots are important for customer service - and good customer service is very important to the customer. This study highlights just how important - 33% of Americans will switch to another company if the service is bad.

How do chatbots help to improve customer service?

Well, it’s a fast-paced world on the Internet, and consumers now expect super fast answers to their questions. If you can’t answer a query in 60 minutes, you could be left with some pretty disgruntled customers.

The problem is that you’re only human. Not only can it take a while for you to get back to people, but you might also get flustered, veer from your script - and get into a war of words with a customer.

This is where chatbots come in. Chatbots offer a speedy response time and can reply to your customers almost instantly. They resolve issues, provide satisfactory and detailed answers, and they’re available 24/7.

2. Develop a Mobile App

More and more people are accessing your site via their mobile devices, and more and more of your rivals are developing mobile apps - and it’s high time you got in on the act, too.

As well as being good for user engagement, mobile apps also boost customer loyalty. How so? Simply by making their life so much easier.

For example, mobile payments simplify the payment process. If your rivals are offering this but you’re not, you’re going to lose out.

Then there’s the fact that you can use the app to reward a customers loyalty with discounts. How does this work? Let’s imagine I’ve been buying things from the same store for a long time. Without the app, the store doesn’t recognize me and therefore doesn’t offer me any discounts.

With the app, however, the store recognizes me and rewards me each time I pass a certain milestone. It’s things like this that boost customer loyalty.

Apps can also be used to educate your consumers and keep them in the loop regarding promotions and news about your company, but they can do so much more. For example, Hilton Hotels now have an app that lets customers check into a hotel without even having to queue at the front desk.

Remember, the business that offers the most convenience to the 21st-century customer wins.

Not sure how to make your own mobile app? There’s no need to when there are mobile app development services that help with this.

3. Get Involved With Email Marketing

Email marketing remains a great way to keep in touch with your customers, building trust - and loyalty.

Email marketing works because every single one of your customers (in theory) has an email address. Each time they make the first purchase from you, make sure to get their email address. Then, you can launch a marketing campaign that keeps them in the game and converts them into loyal customers.

How to do this? It’s simple: Send out regular emails that add value to their lives. Educate them about your products and niche, inform them, engage and entertain them - and sell.

Don’t sell all the time. If you do, people will unsubscribe. Instead, provide value but save some emails to raise awareness of promotions and discounts.

4. Create a Facebook Group

Facebook groups are an excellent way of building customer loyalty because your customers are gathered together in one place, where they can interact with you and each other. It’s a great place for them to ask you questions.

Over time, prospects can convert into customers, customers can convert into fans, and fans can convert into superfans. Pretty soon, you could have your own dedicated tribe that will be the most loyal thing you’ve got.

A Facebook group allows you to provide value to your customers, it allows you to position yourself as an expert, and it lets you sell.

If you do create a group, make sure that you moderate it properly. Once it starts to grow, hire admin’s to help you out.

5. Create a Loyalty Program

Last but not least, create a loyalty program which encourages repeat custom by offering benefits to those who shop with you the most, such as points for each purchase.

It’s up to you what kind of loyalty program you offer, but as Forbes points out, the best loyalty programs go beyond rewards. Do customers really become loyal to a business because of points? Some do, but you’ll need to think outside the box to outfox your rivals.

This ties in with point 2 above. If you can integrate your loyalty program with a mobile app, you’re onto a winner.

Conclusion

These are 5 strategies to create loyal customers this year. Just remember that a lot of it is about relationship building. If you can do that and combine it with a solid mobile app and loyalty program, you’re all good.