6 Customer Retention Strategies to Increase Loyalty

Customer retention is crucial for businesses of all types, but it’s increasingly difficult to maintain it. It’s also more cost-effective than acquiring new customers, with the cost of getting a new customer being seven times more than the cost of retaining existing customers.

Unfortunately, with so many brands vying for people’s attention online, it can be difficult for eCommerce businesses to stand out and keep their customers loyal.

To help you increase customer retention and loyalty, the following are some effective strategies you can use.

1. Make the Onboarding Process Smooth and Engaging

One of the most important aspects of a successful eCommerce website is its onboarding process. Today’s customers specifically look for a company that offers a superior onboarding experience, with Userpilot finding that 86% of customers will remain loyal if a brand offers onboarding and additional education.

Not only should you offer an onboarding experience, but you should also ensure it’s optimized. Let customers know which steps to take with clear guidance and directions. You should use follow-ups, emails, and other touchpoints to connect with your customers. If you show that you value good customer service through a good onboarding experience, this will go a long way in gaining more loyal customers.

2. Enable Customers to Create Accounts on Your Website

You can increase retention if you give your customers the chance to commit to your website and brand by creating a customer account. This will give people an incentive to keep coming back to you and making repeat purchases.

However, you should avoid making a customer account mandatory. Make it an option and clarify the benefits that customers get when they create an account. You should also make it easy for customers to set up their accounts. For example, you can allow users to sign up using their social media logins with the click of a button.

When purchasing products on your website, give people the ability to complete their orders as guests. You can then give these customers the ability to easily create an account after completing their purchase. If you offer a subscription, your customers should be easily able to manage their subscriptions as well.

3. Use Personalization to Your Advantage

People encounter countless brands every day that offer a generic customer experience, making it necessary for you to offer personalization that gives people what they want and need. Personalization is key to connecting with customers and building a lasting relationship with them. One report found that 99% of marketers consider personalization important for advancing customer relationships.

You can use rich data and AI to deliver a personalized experience to each of your customers. This experience could include unique product recommendations based on order history and interests. You can also promote deals that apply to each user to entice customers to make repeat orders. For instance, if a customer hasn’t ordered from your website after a certain period, you can send emails or notifications encouraging orders with a limited discount.

4. Set Up a Newsletter

Email marketing is also important to use when attempting to retain customers. You can encourage more people to stay with your brand by getting people to subscribe to a newsletter. This newsletter could send updates to customers every week or month with valuable information.

For example, if you’re a food brand, you could set up a newsletter that notifies customers of new additions to your menu. You could also send recipes that incorporate the foods you offer. Additionally, you may send updates about your industry that may interest consumers, such as updates to regulations or standards in the food and beverage industry.

A newsletter can be a great way to keep customers engaged with your brand and make sure they don’t forget about you. However, you should ensure people have the option to opt in before sending newsletters. It’s also important to make it easy for people to unsubscribe if they no longer wish to receive your updates.

5. Create a Rewards Program

Another step you can take to increase customer retention for an online business is to develop a loyalty program of some kind. This would help gamify the customer experience and give people even more of a reason to keep buying from you over competitors.

A rewards program could enable members to earn points with every purchase or specific types of purchases. Over time, these points will accumulate until members unlock certain rewards, which could include everything from free shipping to free products or exclusive discounts.

Take some time to consider what you’re willing to offer members of your program. What will make these programs profitable for you while giving your customers what they want?

6. Request Feedback from Customers

Customers want to know that you care about their satisfaction. Requesting feedback from your customers indicates that you value their input and want to optimize the customer experience even further.

There are many ways you can go about requesting customer feedback. For instance, you can send a follow-up email to customers asking them about the quality of their orders. You can also use social media and other platforms to conduct surveys about what customers would like to see from you. You can ask about specific products they like in your inventory or what’s missing.

You can use the information you collect to improve the customer experience and fine-tune your offerings and services. As customers see how you’re taking their input into consideration, they’ll be more inclined to stay loyal to you over less involved brands.

Develop an Effective Strategy to Retain Your Customers and Boost Loyalty

With the help of the right customer retention strategies, you’ll be able to differentiate yourself from competitors and keep your customers on board. Through strong onboarding, personalization, customer accounts, loyalty programs, and more, you can develop the ideal customer experience that ensures people come back to you.

To find out more about how to drive success for your online business, consult the experts at Gray Growth Logistics. We can give you the guidance you need to succeed online and stay ahead of competitors.