While they all have different personalities, audiences, and goals, businesses share a singular problem, namely, attracting customers and getting them to stick around for as long as possible. Unfortunately, this can be a lot harder than it might seem.
Gift Exchange
Shoppers are fickle with their custom – and will abandon a beloved store for all sorts of reasons, ranging from poor customer service to increasing prices. Yet, with the right relationship, customers aren’t averse to forgiving mistakes either.
Of course, this is all related to what marketers call customer loyalty. Usually associated with a kind of gift exchange, whereby frequent buyers get treats to continue what they’re doing, the fidelity of shoppers is essential to a growing business.
Done right, this give-and-take relationship can run for the duration of somebody’s time as a loyal customer, and drive up a stat known as CLV – or Customer Lifetime Value. This is how much a business can expect to earn from a person over time.
Lapsed Customers
As hinted at, loyalty is usually rewarded with small perks, like money-off vouchers, loyalty points, or even a physical item. There’s no definite answer on when customers are most receptive to this kind of gentle nudging, whether it’s inside a loyalty scheme or not.
Source: Pexels
For instance, plenty of companies try to reconnect with lapsed customers with targeted marketing materials. Print mailers might have gone out of fashion with velour tracksuits in the 2000s but the email equivalent still shines as a commercial olive branch.
We’ve all received an email that says something along the lines of “We miss you – here’s ten per cent off” or, alternatively, presenting a list of items as it was hand-picked by staff (to use an example from Etsy).
Getting Started
Entertainment companies often try to create loyalty – or, at least, excitement – immediately. In this sector, online casino promotions can take the form of welcome bonuses designed to make getting started much easier.
The website PlayStar offers free spins on the popular Starburst and Jumanji slots to this effect, letting the player get to grips with the product without having to spend money just to get through the door.
Source: Pexels
Not every company is in a position to create a rewards program, though, which leads us to an important question. Can you create loyalty without a loyalty scheme? The answer is yes – by doubling down on customer service.
A Worrying Picture
According to a collection of stats from Zendesk, up to a third of customers believe that businesses fall somewhere between “needing improvement” and “horrible” in terms of the quality of their online storefront.
Worse, only a fifth of people surveyed by Gladly indicated that customer service standards usually exceed expectations. This paints quite a worrying picture of the e-commerce industry, which, evidently, is failing its patrons.
This brings us right back to the fact that customers are happy to jump ship to a nicer, more responsive place to shop if their needs aren’t being met. With that in mind, it’s debatable whether loyalty schemes are actually worth it.
Overall, customer service is much more of a cure-all than a rewards program – but rewards are always nice. It all depends on what your audience demands.