In Spain, 7 out of every 10 citizens feel a predilection for a brand if it has a loyalty plan that offers them savings, prizes, gifts, shopping facilities and, of course, returns. On the other hand, 68% stop buying from a business if the value for money is not what they expect and, above all, if they encounter many problems when returning products.
This demonstrates the importance of creating customised customer loyalty strategies for each business. We must never forget that customers are absolutely essential for a business to function, grow and evolve.
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At Cerdá, as wholesalers of clothing and accessories with many years of experience, we want to help your business succeed and, therefore, in this post we are going to talk about the different loyalty strategies that you can apply to ensure that your customers are recurrent.
Customer loyalty is the set of a series of actions and strategies that the company implements so that the customer feels a great satisfaction when making a purchase and decides to return.
To achieve customer loyalty, it is not only necessary to offer good customer service, but also to develop a complete service that takes into account customer service, quality, promotion, marketing, sales and returns.
Customer loyalty actions bring great benefits to companies with a good customer loyalty plan. Some of them are:
With loyalty, the business can get to know its public better, have a more fluid interaction and a great facility to create a community. All this helps to better prepare the stock, to make a better sales forecast and also to increase revenue.
Customer loyalty is very advantageous for the company since, in addition to having customers who already buy the products, they recommend their friends and family to come to the establishment to buy. Because, in the end, if they themselves are satisfied, why not share it with their people?
Customer loyalty allows, as we have said, to get to know customers better and to have greater communication. And this makes it easier to analyse the frequency of purchases, so that the company can make an approximation of the revenue it will receive at the end of the month only with loyal customers.
Customer loyalty strategies are not set in stone, that is to say, as they are implemented they can be varied to achieve greater profitability and satisfaction. And what better way to achieve this than by relying on the opinions of customers who are already loyal to the brand? These are the ones who know the business best and knowing what their needs are allows you to expand your actions to satisfy them.
When a customer goes to an establishment to make a purchase and feels satisfied with the overall service received, it does not mean that he or she immediately becomes loyal to the establishment, as consumers go through different phases before offering their loyalty.
The phases are:
The consumer discovers your business and the products you offer there.
It informs about what your business is like, the qualities you offer, the opinions of other consumers who have already bought products from your business, the services you offer, the values of the company, what customer service is like?
Once they have got an idea of the overall package, they decide to buy. This first contact is a test to find out if everything really is as they have been told and if they really feel identified with your brand.
Once the consumer has purchased your products, they try them out and evaluate them. They test the quality and, depending on the results, decide whether or not to return.
The customer will sporadically buy products in your shop. And they will continue to evaluate whether they are really satisfied with all the services or whether the success of the first purchases was just a coincidence.
When the consumer verifies that satisfactory service is an essential part of your business and that, with all the purchases made so far, the results have been good, they will become loyal to your company and, of course, recommend it to friends and family.
There are many customer loyalty strategies and all of them must be assessed, analysed and adapted to each company according to its objectives and the type of customers it has.
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At Cerdá, we propose the most effective ones for you to include in your loyalty plan:
Good customer service is essential, so investing in improving it is a priority. Offer good support, treatment, contact and provide your customers with different means of communication. Telephone numbers with extended opening hours, email addresses with quick responses within 12 hours, live chat, social networks...
Rewards encourage sales, so to build customer loyalty you can't overlook the creation of a loyalty programme.
Discounts, exclusive offers, access to products for loyal customers... All this, in addition to increasing sales, makes the relationship with the customer stronger, as they feel more pampered and cared for.
Social networks have become essential in people's lives, so it is the best channel to establish a fluid communication with customers, to attract new ones and, of course, to expand the range of action of the company.
With social networks, customers will also be able to get news about products and news, which will ensure that your business is not forgotten and that the relationship remains active.
Any relationship is based on trust and, of course, the basis for customer loyalty is the same. Therefore, your company must be clear, honest and transparent and never promise things that cannot be fulfilled or offer services, discounts or rewards that will not be given.
When a customer buys a product, especially if it is purchased online, it is necessary to have the guarantee that if a return is necessary, the process will be easy and quick.
Many companies lose loyal customers when they find themselves in this situation, because the difficulty of returning a product causes them such a high level of dissatisfaction that they prefer not to buy their products again.
So don't hesitate, invest in creating a customer loyalty strategy in which returns are well thought out and organised.
Gaining someone's trust costs a lot, but losing it is a matter of seconds.
Therefore, it is important that you take into account everything your customers tell you. Whether they are improvements or complaints. Improving and achieving their satisfaction is a high priority to take into account in your actions to build customer loyalty.
In this post we have discussed some of the customer loyalty strategies that are essential for your loyalty plan but, of course, remember that each company must customise the actions they want to implement depending on their type of premises, their products or services and the customers they have.
At Cerdá we help you to achieve your objectives, so get in touch with us and let's get to work for the success of your business.