One of the most important tasks for a business owner is getting the customer to return. So how can you keep your customers coming back for more? The process starts with the simple task of engaging with customers and making them feel welcome. Other methods of getting a customer to come back is giving them an incentive and free products is always the best reason to return to a business. Here are free ways to boost the all-important customer loyalty.
Engaging with Customers
An easy way to build loyalty with customers is by providing great customer service. A company can have an innovative line of products that engages their audience, but it won't get very far if customer service isn't reliable. Don't neglect one just to enhance the other.
"A whopping 73% of businesses that provide an above average customer experience are financially better off than their competitors"
An important step to improve customer service includes encouraging staff to engage in small talk to create a friendly environment, gather customer information, and generate customer loyalty and happy customers. Customers will reflect on every interaction they have with your staff and business and will use these interactions to evaluate the service.
Rewarding Customers
One of the easiest tricks to improving customer loyalty is by providing a customer loyalty programme. Give customers a reason to come back, by offering incentives such as points, coupons and free items.
What kind of rewards are provided for the customer? Will your business be offering a free drink with every 10th purchase or will the customer be collecting points for every spend. How will the customer be receiving these rewards, will the customer have a stamp card in their wallet, a loyalty card that can be swiped at the till or maybe a mobile app where they can access their loyalty information and see how close they are to a reward.
Be creative with the rewards, is every coffee shop competitor proving a free coffee at a 10th purchase? Then maybe your coffee shop should do it differently, perhaps give the customer baked goods on a Monday to start the week the right way.
Adding a CRM to a business is the best method to understand and build a relationship with the customer. SPARK CRM has features like email marketing, Customer Service Index, and customer profiles. The customer loyalty programme tool offers an even deeper insight into the customer, it allows a business to view a customer's purchase history so they can determine what kind of offer will be the most appealing for each individual customer.
Loyalty programmes are a great way to attract customers and increase sales so find a way for your business to reward customers so they don't take their business elsewhere.
Add Levels To Your Loyalty Programme
When providing a loyalty programme, consider tiering the programme to better segment the dedicated customer.
Instead of the usual incentive of a free drink for the 10th purchase, give the customer the chance to feel like a part of the customer base by providing levels they can progress through. Starting at Bronze, customers could receive a free coffee for every 10th purchase, then progress to Level Silver where they could receive 5% off and a free coffee and cake for their 10th purchase. Then the top tier Level Platinum rewards the customer on their birthday and exclusive drinks and food before they hit the menu.
Through tailored rewards a business can gain valuable insight regarding customer base, in-demand products and service. What are customers responding to and what isn't working?
Accessing the Loyalty Programme
An important question to ask yourself when creating a customer loyalty programme is how does the customer access the loyalty programme? The simplest method is giving the customer a paper card which they will present to the staff to collect stamps. However, this method means the customer will have to remember the card, not lose the card and it's a very restricting method if rewards want to be changed.
With phones glued to everyone's hands, a mobile app is the smartest and most flexible method. Loyalty apps can clog up a phone which is why SPARK offers a web app which allows a customer to log into their account to view their loyalty. SPARK Mobile Ordering has various features to assist customers and excel businesses. A business can add loyalty rewards for customers to acquire when they place an order, with each purchase a customer might collect points or stamps which will then give them a reward and move them up a loyalty level. With an app, customers can view their loyalty whenever they want, and even though it's pricier than a piece of paper, it's more reliable and customers can't lose the points they've built up.
Feedback
When building a business, always remember the customer is most important. Customers are the ones buying the products so make sure you know who they are. Through feedback find out which products customers like, how the service is and how the loyalty programme is. Do customers prefer collecting 500 points for a free product or 10 stars for their 10th item free. By collecting this information not only does it help the business but it also shows the customers that they're cared for and that you're interested in making the service better.
Feedback can be collected in a variety of ways, through surveys, social media, emails, and only reviews. Ensure your business has a sturdy method of collecting positive and negative feedback and that your business knows how to respond to it.
If your business struggles to retain customers then you're going to need a new strategy to reel them in. Making customers feel valued may take more energy, time and money but you will find the value returned exponentially through customer loyalty. Find ways to continue to build and nurture relationships with your customers so that you can build loyalty and advocacy over time.
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