Brand Loyalty: 3 Tips to Turn One-Time Shoppers into Repeat Customers
Your eCommerce website is live and customers are starting to trickle in. It’s exciting! After all that hard work getting your brand online, the default reaction is to take a break and just watch the sales come in.
At least, that’s what stores do that aren't interested in building long-term growth.
Repeat customers make more purchases and spend more than first-time shoppers.
Acquiring new customers might sound more “fun”, but the fact of the matter is that those purchases aren’t the ones that are going to pad your bank account. That’s because while repeat customers typically make up 8% of your customer base, they account for more than 40% of your revenue.
Clearly, it’s worth your time and effort to work on bringing your customers back. But how?
Here are 3 of the best ways to create brand loyalty and turn one-time shoppers into repeat customers:
Continuously deliver valuable content
Make engagement a habit
Offer customer rewards with a loyalty program
01. Continuously deliver valuable content
The most successful brands in the world are the ones that consistently deliver value to their customers. Most of them have top-of-the-line products and their customer base gets significant value from the goods and services they provide. But that is not the only value-adding way to build a sustainable, high-growth business.
Regardless of your industry, your goal is to make it so your customers are excited to hear from you. Whether you’re sending an email, posting a blog, or launching a podcast, the point of it all is to create something that interests your audience and gives them something they can use.
What are your customers’ interests?
The first thing you will need to do is figure out what content your audience actually wants. That includes not just the content of your content, but the medium and distribution channel as well.
If your customers are millennials, you probably shouldn’t take out an ad in Reader’s Digest. If they primarily consume their content in blogs and articles, focus on that instead of starting with a YouTube channel.
Value-add marketing focuses on exceeding customer expectations by delivering more than they asked for with every interaction.
You can always branch out later as you build your audience and understand them better, but to start with you need to pinpoint where they are and what they want to hear you talk about.
Be the leader in your space
They say that history is written by the victors, and the same could be said with eCommerce. For your industry and market, becoming the leading voice for your niche can make or break how customers view your brand—no matter what channel they access your content from.
Remember that you can’t be everything to everyone. Create buyer personas and cater your content toward them. If you sell auto parts, it can be a long and hard hill to climb to try and be the best general automotive blog. Instead, aim to become the best place to get DIY tips for luxury car repair, or the most trusted YouTube channel to see what repairs you should or shouldn’t try yourself.
Creating niche content will put you at the forefront of that part of your industry, making you a trusted expert that your customers don’t just tolerate content from, but actually get excited to hear from.
02. Make engagement a habit
By continuously delivering value you can become a part of how the members of your brand community live their everyday lives. Providing valuable content in emails, social channels, and videos will keep them excited. But turning them into repeat customers doesn’t stop at just creating content—you need to be inspiring them to engage with your brand.
Running polls in your Twitter feed, asking a question in your newsletter so that readers can respond, or showcasing your user-generated content to prompt more customers to post photos are all great ways to make it fun to engage with your business.
These promotions will make it easier for customers to keep engaging. The more they engage, the more they think about you, and the more likely you will be on their mind when it is time for them to make their next purchase.
03. Offer customer rewards with a loyalty program
A loyalty program is one of the best ways to keep shoppers coming back, whether they are not-yet-customers or have already placed several orders from your store. Statistics show that all around, loyalty program members are better for your business. They are twice as likely to make another purchase, spend more when they shop, and are nine times easier to convert.
Using the science behind the psychological idea of reciprocity, when you give your customers something of value, like loyalty points, it makes them more likely to do something for you in return—like place another order.
In the meantime, when customers have earned points from engaging with your brand through purchases, social engagement and other earning actions, it creates what is called a switching barrier. This makes it tougher for customers to rationalize changing providers. Plus, when there is built-up value associated with returning to your business, it makes it that much easier for your customers to come back and make the second, third, and fourth purchases—especially if they are earning more rewards as a result of those purchases. Creating this feedback loop of value helps keep you on their mind.
With each of these tactics, the key is to deliver value to your customers, whether it’s through value-add marketing, by motivating engagement or with a rewards program. Customers will keep buying from brands that they feel valued by and get value from. So no matter how you plan to keep them coming back, remember to make value at the forefront of your strategy.
Want more business tips like these? Check out the Wix eCommerce online courses and 18 best businesses to start with little money
Tim Peckover
Content Manager at Smile.io
Tim Peckover is the Content Manager at Smile, helping over 30,000 businesses turn one-time shoppers into loyal repeat customers. A proud father of two, when Tim has spare time you can usually find him in a good book accompanied by a strong cup of coffee.
