3 Marketing Strategies to Increase Customer Loyalty

Modern retailers are struggling to stand out amongst the many marketing emails, advertisements, and promotions consumers see daily. More connected than ever before, these consumers use smartphones to research products instantaneously—and if your product is overpriced or you don’t have the correct size or color in stock, you can bet they’ll find a similar version elsewhere.

In this age of the connected customer, it can be difficult to foster loyalty and gain repeat shoppers. However, it’s a challenge retailers should put effort into overcoming, because loyal customers are worth more to your business since, over the course of a year, the average return customer spends over 120 percent more than new customers. In order to tap into this profit, here are three marketing strategies that can help you gain more loyal customers:

When thinking about promotions, don’t email blast your entire customer base. We’ve all received the 30% off email that practically begs us for our business, and desperation isn’t attractive. An alternative to promotional spam is a promotion for a specific network or event, as 33% of consumers have acted on a promotion on a brand’s social media page. Consider an Instagram only Valentine’s Day promotion - when your followers see that they didn’t see the promotion on your other social media channels, they might follow you just in case you have a Memorial Day promotion.

Since 85 percent of consumers prefer businesses and brands that support a charity they care about, philanthropic campaigns or events are a great way to boost business while making a positive impact on your community. Additionally, 75 percent of Millennials (who have enormous purchasing power in the U.S.) said it’s either fairly or very important that a company gives back to society instead of just making a profit. Hosting an event, creating a campaign, or donating proceeds to a certain philanthropic cause are all ways you can promote your brand while gaining customers’ trust and loyalty.

  An active social media presence is an incredibly cost-effective way to create engagement and foster loyalty. For example, ask customers via social media to post a picture of themselves wearing your product. Have them tag your company and from these submissions, select a winner at random for a $100 gift card to your store. Your customers are then helping market your brand to their own followers, and in the process of winning a prize or even being reposted or retweeted by your brand’s official account, they will feel more brand-loyal.

 

You can directly influence your bottom line by leveraging customer advocates, and you’ll fall behind when your customer experience isn’t worth sharing. While it’s certainly important to create brand awareness with consumers who haven’t shopped with you yet, it’s imperative to put effort and resources toward potential brand advocates. For more tips and strategies for marketing to the connected customer, check out Developing Scalable Marketing Strategies, a chapter in our Ultimate Guide to Scaling Your Retail Business.

This blog post was written by Megan Lierley, Content Marketing Specialist at Stitch Labs.