No matter if you are running a coffee shop or electronics store, a strong, loyal customer base is vital for any business in the 21st century to stand out from the rest of the competition. There is almost no industry that is not over-flooded with competitors, so gaining customers who truly value your differentiating qualities is a necessity. Smartly run businesses find ways to make their customers feel like — in the grand scheme of things — that they are more than just individual numbers. Here are four strategies your small business could implement to increase customer loyalty.
1. Develop an Astute Loyalty and Rewards Program
Companies like Amazon and Starbucks have added significant wealth to their already mammoth-like value, thanks to their Amazon Prime and Starbucks Rewards customer loyalty programs. Prime members spend much more than non-Prime members, thanks to the exclusive benefits that the program brings them. These benefits include free delivery and quick turnaround shipping.
While developing a rewards program of that scale probably is not feasible for most businesses, starting small would be a wise idea. Companies like Netspend provide a powerful payment solution in the form of pre-paid debit cards. From there, you can incorporate exclusive discounts for cardholders, loyalty tiers, and a couple of more strategies that we will get into shortly.
2. Offer Targeted Discounts
There is more that goes into implementing discounts and promotions than just knocking off 10% off all items and hoping your products or services fly off shelves as a result. With intelligent market research, you can strategize your discounts to target specific members from your consumer base. In other words, make them feel valued via unique discounts that absolutely benefit them.
Offering discounts during heavy traffic periods to specific target consumers (i.e. happy hour at lunchtime for college students who show identification) can be a great way to build a strong customer base. On the contrary, offering unique discounts during slow, low-traffic periods is another method of attracting customers who now know they can get better deals at certain hours or days.
3. Incentivize Referrals
Whether it is through incorporating it into your rewards program or an individual promotional strategy, incentivizing referrals only boosts your current customers’ sense of loyalty in your business. Moreover, it is an excellent method to attract new clients. The fact that they would be willing to endorse your business is a strong indicator of them backing your products, no matter what.
Nonetheless, solely incentivizing them can be a tricky task at times. Ways your business could do so include rewarding customers for referring your business to friends who end up making purchases, free items of actual value for a certain number of referrals, or social media tactics in which you can get them to post your business in exchange for exclusive discounts.
4. Humanize Your Business
The most crucial step towards building a loyal consumer who will always endorse your products is making each individual feel valued as a customer. Of course, this starts and ends with always finding ways to improve and expedite the shopping experience and customer service realm. However, there are other ways you can establish long-lasting emotional connections with your customers.
For example, if many foreigners visit your business, prioritize offering your services in at least one other common language and attempt to hire employees who speak multiple languages. Active communication channels are also necessary, and having interactive social media pages is great for building a presence within the community.
Wrap-Up
Remaining competitive and staying ahead of the curve is harder than ever in such a competitive business landscape. Thus, making your customers feel valued and increasing customer loyalty towards the products or services on offer have to be atop the priorities list in order to stand out from the rest.
