Turning New Customers into Loyal Advocates for your Brand

If you run a business, you’ll understand the importance of building sales funnels, creating brand awareness, and marketing. That said, if you want to maximize ROI, you should focus on getting as many return customers as possible. Statistics show that a return customer is 27% more likely to buy from you again, and retaining an existing customer is 5 times more affordable than acquiring a new one. Having loyal customers is a key indicator that you’re doing everything right, and if you want to boost your numbers, there are many ways you can do so.

Create a Loyalty Program

If you don’t have one yet, you should create a loyalty program. Incentives are one of the best ways for you to keep customers coming back for more, and the long-term benefits speak for themselves. The cost of implementing a loyalty program and offering discounts may seem like a hit to your bottom line, but when you take into account the cost of acquiring a new customer, it makes financial sense. The Betfair daily spin is a prime example of how a simple loyalty program can be used to your advantage. Prizes are awarded at random, with transparent playing conditions that make it easy for someone to see what they’re signing up for. It’s an effective way to grant free spins while encouraging users to keep checking in, as they are awarded daily, rather than being given as a larger sum.

Another example of a good loyalty program would be Starbucks. Starbucks Rewards is points-based and it rewards customers based on both the number and value of what they buy. A lot of coffee shops have a system of buying ten coffees to get a free one, and although this is good, it doesn’t take into account how much someone is investing to get that final reward. Starbucks also offers personalized benefits, along with games that people can play through the app. The loyalty program has millions of members, and it’s been a game-changer for the brand, who benefit significantly from customer loyalty. In Hungary, you also have SuperShop, which merges different shops to create one large loyalty program. 800 shops accept the card, and you can spend your points at a huge range of stores across the country, a great example of how loyalty cards can be operated on a bigger scale.

Special Days

Ask your customer to provide their birthday when signing up for an account. Krispy Kreme are a good example of a brand that provides birthday rewards, in combination with its loyalty scheme. Depending on the type of site you run, you could ask your customers for a special date, such as a wedding anniversary. This works especially well for jewelry stores, and sites that focus on gifts.  Incentives like birthday discounts or even free products that are sent out at certain times of the year work well too. 

If you want to turn someone into a loyal advocate, then sending discounts and products for anniversaries and birthdays is more effective than sending them out on major holidays, such as Valentine’s Day. The main reason for this is that during these seasonal peaks, you have to compete with nearly every other brand on the market. It’s easy for someone to overlook your offer during these times, but if you can cater your service with a more personalized approach then you will soon find that it is easier for you to not only target your audience more effectively but to also provide them with an experience they won’t forget. In the grand scheme of things, this is key to long-term customer loyalty.