Julie Hong
In many businesses, closing deals gets a lot of attention, and acquisition and conversion rates are sometimes all that’s ever talked about. But did you know that there is another way to boost your bottom-line profits that is much more cost-effective? A smart customer retention strategy that embraces message personalization, rewards, customer recognition, and tactics to turn each and every one of your customers into brand advocates and maximize upselling can be game-changing for your business.
Your business can only profit from happy returning clients that absolutely adore buying from you, so let’s look at some of the most up-to-date customer loyalty marketing tips and trends explained by social media influencers.
Using social media analytics tool Talkwalker, we found the top 10 most viral articles about customer loyalty published in July.
1. Develop long-term relationships with social media fans, says Ravi Shukle
#1: Personalize the Fan Experience
#2: Offer Rewards
#3: Surprise Fans and Customers
#4: Listen to Your Customers
#5: Know Your Product
#6: Follow Up With Fans
#7: Cultivate Trust
#8: Share Your Values
Our own tip: Use the right social media listening tool for all feedback detected as negative about your product and service.
2. Reward your customers, says Belle Beth Cooper
#1: All the world’s a game—stickers, badges and pins
#2: Digital discounts: Online-only offers
#3: And the winner is… Content-creation competitions
#4: Say cheese: Involving your customers in advertising and promotions
#5: Hand ’em over: Collecting suggestions and ideas
#6: Gracias, Merci, Danke, Xiexie: Thank you goes a long way!
3. Learn from top brands, says Kandice Linwright
#1: Embrace Your Brand Advocates
#2: Provide Exceptional Customer Service
#3: Show Additional Uses for Your Product
#4: Address Customer Concerns Publicly
4. Give your customers more than they expect, says Leonard Kim
If you go the extra mile, this will encourage your customers to:
#1: Become a loyal client for as long as your business exists
#2: Share their experience of why they are happy with your company
#3: Advocate on your behalf and spread the word
Our own tip: Make use of social media analytics to measure and report on your customers’ endorsement impact.
5. Investing more time and marketing dollars in cultivating customer retention, says Jerry Jao
#1: Build trust
#2: Add real value
#3: Don’t be afraid to show your personality
#4: Listen attentively
#5: Surprise and delight your customers
#6: Build loyalty
#7: Don’t skimp on customer service
6. Turn repeat customers into brand advocates with smart newsletters, says Chris Syme
#1: Give out information your customers need for free
#2: When you demonstrate generosity, people are drawn to your brand
#3: Use social media to connect with your customer’s needs
#4: Value your repeat customers
7. Wow your current customers and they will help you by referring their friends, says Heidi Cohen
#1: Supply new customers with the help they need to use your product
#2: Offer your prospects a trial
#3: Introduce your customers to each other
#4: Try to turn negative customer experiences into positive ones
#5: Recognize returning customers
#6: Ask for referrals
Our own tip: plug your social media tool to your CRM for a powerful customer relations strategy.
8. Ensure visitors not only stay on your site, but return for more, says Nadav Shoval
#1: Develop user generated content
#2: Create a social experience
#3: Gear your website for the needs of a mobile user
#4: Try segmenting your users and developing content unique to each segment
9. Implement a loyalty rewards program, says Paul Chaney
#1: Begin with the end goal in mind
#2: Determine the target audience
#3: Make the program ROI-positive
#4: Offer programs that customers already use
#5: Promote the program with email, social media and mobile technology
10. Deliver truly effective 1:1 personalisation, says Cassie Lancellotti-Young
Lancellotti-Young insists on the importance of building long term customer value, for the following reasons:
#1: It can cost anywhere between five and seven times more money to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one
#2: Game-changing insights can be found with predictive modelling and analytics
#3: Brands that have applied predictive modelling to personalisation have seen as much as 95% of revenue coming from just 5% of customers
#4: Customer retention can be used to optimise the acquisition mix
#5: The use of retention data to inform and optimise acquisition strategies can drive down the cost to acquire and add customers that are more valuable to the brand
Image Credits: Designed by Freepik
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