One of the biggest challenges businesses face is attracting loyal customers who return frequently. Let's look at some of the benefits of increasing customer loyalty and some ways to accomplish this.

Why Loyal Customers Are So Valuable

As a business owner, you surely appreciate customers who return to you regularly. There are obvious reasons to hold such customers in high regard. After all, the more often someone returns, the more sales you make. However, not everyone understands just how valuable repeat customers truly are.

• They help you save on marketing costs. It always costs more to attract brand new customers than to connect with existing ones. With new customers, you must do market research to find them and then figure out the best way to engage with them. You already know how to contact your current customers.


• It's easier to sell an existing customer new products. Once someone has tried one of your products or services, he or she is more open to trying others. It doesn't matter if you're selling food, clothing, salon services or pet grooming services. Once customers are sold on one of your products, they're more open to trying others.


• They're more likely to provide you with word-of-mouth business. Loyal customers often act as brand advocates for you. If someone eats in your restaurant every single week, he's likely to recommend it to his friends. A loyal customer will tell people about your salon when people ask where she gets her hair or nails done.

These benefits are significant for both online and brick and mortar businesses. Now let's look at some strategies to help you improve customer loyalty and get more customers who return to you again and again.

Reward Customers with Special Offers

Giving coupons to your customers is always an effective way to keep them coming back. In my own SMS marketing business, I encourage my business customers to send out coupon codes via text message. However, you can also do this via email and social media. Make sure you emphasize that these deals are only for customers receiving this special coupon. Keep the offers relevant by keeping track of what your customers most need (see the tip below on segmentation).

Create a Unique Customer Loyalty Program

Many businesses, from coffee shops to airlines to e-commerce sites, have customer loyalty or rewards programs. These can be powerful tools to entice people to return. If you have such a program or want to start one, try to make it as creative and distinctive as possible. In addition to rewarding customers with your usual products, you might have bigger prizes they can win if they accumulate enough points. Another creative idea is to give people the option of donating their points to charity. In addition to getting points when they buy something, think of other ways to award them points. Some ideas include: referring new customers, special holiday and birthday points and creating games or contests in which players can earn extra points.

Ask for Feedback

The more you know about your customers, the better you can serve them. That's why it's essential to ask people's opinions as often as possible. If you have a retail store or office, you can simply ask people informally what they think about something. This isn't always completely reliable, as people may be too polite to tell you what they really think in person. But at least it shows you care. For more accurate assessments, create polls, surveys and questionnaires, either online or that you or your employees hand out. Ask about as many details as possible. If you serve food, ask about specific dishes and for suggestions on how to improve. Ask about your decor (or website), which products or services they like best (and least) and for suggestions for new products.

Segment Your Marketing Lists

Whether you contact people via email, SMS, direct mail or phone, it's important to use some form of segmentation. Customers never appreciate getting pitches for something they already bought. Nor do they want to see offers that don't apply to them. Generic messages are often not relevant, and they also show that you're not making the effort to get to really know them. Learn as much as you can about your customers based on their buying behaviour, demographics and the feedback you're hopefully requesting from them. Then you can separate them into categories and contact them with offers that are relevant and appealing.

If you want to make your business more successful, one of the most important areas to focus on is increasing customer loyalty. Repeat customers play a major role in selling more items, reducing marketing costs and spreading the word about your business. The above tips will help you keep the customers you have and motivate them to keep coming back.

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