There are few things more valuable to a business than the loyalty of their customers. When someone shops with your business, you want them to continue coming back and making repeat purchases. Research shows that customers who come back for a second or third visit are likely to spend 67 percent more than a first-time shopper.
As business owners, we want to make sure that our customers are getting excellent service and products they expect, which will give them a reason to come back to your website. There are plenty of ways to turn prospects into loyal customers. Most companies assume that the only way to increase loyalty is through discounts.
If you’re on a budget or want to gain the loyalty and respect of your customers, we are going to show you how without offering a single discount on the products in your showcase.
Engage using Social Media
Consumers enjoy doing business with companies who interact with their followers. If you don’t use your social media accounts much, now is a great time to start. Sometimes all you have to do is thank someone for complimenting your brand. A tiny action can have a huge impact on your social media engagement statistics.
You can also engage with your audience in the comment section of your videos and posts. When you engage with your followers, this will likely encourage other people who would otherwise lurk on your post to comment and join the conversation.
Engaging on social media using your voice helps break your brand identity from a corporate personality to a real person. As a result, your followers will feel more connected to your brand and potentially more loyal.
Deliver Outstanding Customer Service
Delivering excellent customer service is another way you can keep your customers coming back to your website. Have you ever purchased something from a business and they messed your order up, then took forever to fix the problem? How likely are you to shop with that business again? We guess the answer is. “Not likely.”
Your goal is to avoid these negative emotions people feel when an order goes wrong by turning the negative purchase into a positive customer experience. Imagine if someone made an order, but selected the wrong product. They contact your customer support team for assistance. Instead of making them wait, you have someone immediately ready to solve their problem. Your team catches the mistake and corrects their order in minutes because the package was even shipped. If you were in that situation, would you shop with that business again? Now you’re likely saying you would because the circumstances have changed. The company proved that they have your best interests in mind, which only helps to build brand loyalty.
Offer Valuable Content
If you don’t have another reason for a customer to come back to your website, why would they bother? The short answer is, they wouldn’t. However, if you update your website with valuable content for everyone — not just paying customers — you’re appealing to your current customers and prospects alike.
There are various ways to create content. Creation methods range from creating video content on YouTube, hosting/appearing on podcasts, and the most common way is through an on-site blog. A staggering 77 percent of consumers read blogs, and it’s a safe bet that they’ve done business with quite a few sites that they frequent.
When you’re creating any content for your website, you have to take your niche and audience into consideration. Dive deep into sites like Quora, which display trending articles based on keywords. Google News is another excellent resource for seeing what people in your industry are talking about in real time.
Take some of that information and see if there are any tips or additional thoughts you could add to the topic to flesh it out for your readers. When you create valuable content and news in your niche, it’s far more likely that you’ll build a loyal following.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are quite a few ways to build customer loyalty to your business without offering a direct discount on your items. If you want to work towards creating great content or engaging on social media, you could survey your audience to learn what they expect from you. Now you can take this information and craft your social media posts and content, all while building brand loyalty.
