We may have gone a bit overboard with the title, but if you can master customer loyalty, then you should have customers coming back to you time and time again, which is a healthy prospect for any business. Not only can loyalty help with longevity, but it can also save you money, with it costing 5 times as much to generate new clients as opposed to keeping the ones you have.

Here are some ideas for promoting loyalty in your customers:

 

It’s All About the Feels

Customers that feel an emotional connection with a brand can be more likely to stay with them for longer and spend more money with them. In a report by Motista, customers that were connected to a brand in this way stayed with them on average 1.7 years longer than those that didn’t, and spent more than double annually.

Live support offers the perfect chance to nurture an emotional bond with customers and make them feel valued. Although not face to face, your representatives can offer a personal service, getting to know the customers and understanding their needs.

 

Loyalty Schemes

Loyalty schemes can be a great way to keep customers coming back to you and make them feel valued. In a report by Bond Insights, 77% of customers said that loyalty programmes make them want to stay with brands.  Depending on your type of business, there are a number of systems you can use to offer discounts from points-based to spend and cash back types.

You could use live chat as part of your implementation plan for your loyalty scheme, letting return customers know about the benefits during conversation.

Look at this:
With a quality live support software such as Slaask, you can see if a customer is returning or not thanks to his chat history and our integrated CRM.

 

Customer Service Still Matters

Customer service is still a key player in the loyalty game. With increased competition, the need to shine brighter than your competitors could be more important than ever. In the International Council of Shopping Centers’ survey on brand loyalty, 74% of Millennials say that they would switch to a different retailer if they receive poor customer service.

Live support can help with consumer satisfaction when it comes to customer service, real-time conversation allows reps to get to the bottom of customer’s needs and deliver.

 

First Impressions

Building customer loyalty over time is a good strategy, but first impressions can help to reduce churn too. A survey by ClickFox found that 48% of consumers said that the most important time for a company trying to gain their loyalty is when they make their first purchase.

Live support helps with a good first impression for a number of reasons, but one that stands out is its response time. Indeed, there’s no hanging around waiting for an email to hit your inbox.

 

Play the Long Game

There are quite a few methods for increasing your loyal client base and reducing churn. Adding live support to your strategy can complement many of them. A quality live support software such as Slaask will allow you to offer instant, personal service and also comes with a wide range of metrics, including consumer satisfaction so that you can monitor what is working and what isn’t.

---

About the author