Brand loyalty isn’t dead — you just have to work harder to guarantee it

In recent years, we’ve seen a spike in conversations surrounding customer loyalty, with many businesses professing that brand loyalty is dead.

Accompanied by the rise of small and side businesses, competition is increasingly stiff and it is now more challenging to gain a customer’s loyalty — however, it’s not entirely impossible.

Brands just have to work harder. Many ask then – is it worth it?

It is said that new customers cost five times more to attract than to keep one.

Additionally, the existing customers are 50 per cent more likely to try new products.

With that in mind, here are some ways to level up your customer loyalty strategy for 2019.

Building a holistic experience

The foundation of building customer loyalty is having a product that people care about and value.

The starter checklist comes in the form of quality, features, design, and specifically for online stores, factors like e-store interface, ease of purchase and customer service matter.

Other factors that have grown in importance for customers of today include sustainability and ethics.

With customers and potential ones eagerly engaging with brands on social media, you’ll find that brand experience becomes more holistic than the direct interaction of shopping at a store and extends far beyond.

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It is important to create a unified online and offline presence which will solidify your brand and make people feel as if they’re consistently interacting with the same brand across multiple platforms.

Providing loyalty programmes through email marketing

Email marketing is a great way to stay on top of the minds of your existing customers who have already developed some form of interest in your brand.

For instance, website hosting platforms like GoDaddy make it easier to connect businesses with customers with its built-in email marketing system that provides a full suite of services from A/B testing to template building.

To help make more marketing emails and make it worth the customers’ while, you could also run loyalty programs through your email marketing.

It doesn’t have to be complicated or overly sophisticated — as long as its underlying purpose is to provide value to your existing customers, it’s enough.

Monthly giveaways, discount coupons or invitations to events are some methods you could employ. This way, your customers will feel like they are part of an exclusive circle of valued customers and can encourage them to continuously support your brand to reap more rewards.

Encouraging and enabling word-of-mouth marketing

While SEO and digital advertising might help to put your brand in front of people, word of mouth marketing ultimately ends up being one of the most effective in conversions.

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Re-using the GoDaddy example, the platform also provides merchants with the ability to automatically generate reviews as soon as they sell.

People are more likely to take the plunge and purchase a product when they have heard good feedback from friends, family or even other customers of the brand who might be strangers.

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At the end of the day, customer loyalty is truly an art to be mastered and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

By trying some of these ideas you might be better poised to stay engaged with your customers and grow your business.

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