A loyal customer is a precious treasure. In any business it is important to make this maxim your own, but it becomes more and more fundamental when we talk about product categories of non-durable goods, that an average consumer finds himself buying over and over again in the course of his life. In this case, creating an emotional bond with the customer that guarantees his return, thus building what is called customer loyalty, becomes a process that is not only useful, but necessary.
According to a research by Kantar, only 12% of Italians declare themselves loyal to a brand, a fact that makes it clear how much customer loyalty mechanisms are still underused. But what is customer loyalty and how can it be used to grow a business?
Customer loyalty: inspire it, don't impose it
Many studies indicate that the cost of acquiring a new customer is about six times that required to retain an already loyal customer: looking at this data, it is easy to understand how the choice to invest in customer loyalty is far-sighted. It must be said, however, that customer loyalty cannot be improvised but requires time and a series of interventions that lead the customer to develop a real movement of affection towards the brand.
What are the activities to be developed to favor the creation of this relationship of mutual trust?
Customer loyalty step by step
-Excellent customer experience: from the first purchase to remarketing promotions through to telephone calls to assistance, it is essential that the customer feels accompanied in his experience, step by step. Problem solving skills are also important so that any customer can feel supported even when an order or product does not fully meet expectations.
-Personalization: the standard purchase no longer meets the needs of the customer, who expects an offer that is increasingly personalized and calibrated on his purchasing interests. Part of this process also includes the insertion of marketing automation processes through which to customize the experience with the help of artificial intelligence.
-Reviews, recommendations, loyalty programs: if investing a part of your budget on new customers is important, dedicating a part to remarketing is essential. The main mistake of all marketing mistakes is in fact to interrupt the conversation between seller and customer once the purchase is finalized. Choosing to keep the communication channel open with the customer can mean requesting a positive review, using a discount code as a lever for a second purchase and creating a virtuous circle that makes the customer feel pampered and allows a second purchase.
How is customer loyalty measured?
How can I measure the customer loyalty of my brand?
According to four main metrics that together make a complete picture of brand loyalty: Customer Lifetime Value, CSAT, CES and Net Promoter Score.
-Customer Lifetime Value is in fact the most important KPI for evaluating a customer loyalty strategy: it defines, in fact, the total net revenue that a company can expect from a customer over a given period of time. This type of indicator allows you to design and implement strategies less focused on immediate gain and more on customer acquisition and maintenance over time.
-CSAT or how happy is your customer? This is the question that the Customer Satisfaction Score proposes to answer, a parameter commonly found through a survey activity. Through a few targeted questions it is therefore possible to take a snapshot of the relationship between customer and company at a given moment.
-CES: The Customer Effort Score is closely linked to the customer experience and aims to identify the difficulties that a user experiences in carrying out certain actions. This data can be obtained through a survey, but has the defect of not indicating precisely which are the nodes of the customer journey, providing only a numerical value.
NPS: The Net Promoter Score is nothing more than the customer's propensity to recommend our brand to friends and acquaintances.
Advantages in improving Customer Loyalty
-Savings on the cost of acquiring new customers;
-Improvement of the brand reputation;
-Increase in the retention rate;
-More possibilities for cross and up selling.
Do you want to find out through which activities to promote customer loyalty? To find out more, contact us!
