Brand loyalty is critical to business success, especially in competitive industries like eCommerce. When you have a group of customers that will return to your business for repeat purchases despite competitors trying to lure them away, it will provide you with a base that you can grow from as well as help you to develop a positive reputation.
90% of consumers are brand loyal despite having many alternatives and this means that it is possible to develop brand loyalty. In addition to excellent customer service, you will find that a loyalty program is key for this and there are 3 reasons why you need a loyalty program for your business.
1. Rewards & Benefits
As a business, customer lifetime value is a key metric that you will want to maximize. This is the total income that a business can expect from one customer in their lifetime and can make a big difference to your success. Creating a loyalty program that is unique to your brand to showcase your values and personality is a smart way to increase customer lifetime value and build a strong connection with your customers. This could include 1000 points on their birthday or prizes once they reach a certain number of points to encourage repeat purchases.
2. Gaining Support
A loyalty program is also a smart way to build support for your business over the years and through any changes that you make. Once customers are part of a loyalty program, they will have a vested interest in the company and continue to shop with you over the years. An effective eCommerce strategy is to relaunch your website to improve the customer experience with loyalty activities, such as reviews each time someone buys a product, leaves a review, follows the company on social media, or refers a friend.
3. Customer Reviews
Customer reviews are incredibly powerful in eCommerce and this will be one of the first things that people look for when deciding on a product. As most eCommerce store owners will find, it is not easy obtaining customer reviews and this could be holding your business back. A loyalty program can reward customers for leaving reviews, which will allow you to collect a large number of reviews as well as receive feedback that will help you to make improvements. Additionally, eCommerce businesses can screenshot social media reviews and use these as social proof.
These are the three main reasons why every eCommerce business should use a loyalty program. In a competitive industry like eCommerce, you need to do all that you can to retain your customers and build loyalty. A loyalty program will reward customers for repeat purchases and help you to build a strong customer base as well as develop positive relationships. This should then make it much easier to attract new customers and compete at a much higher level.
