Cloud Topics

How to Build a Loyal Customer Base and Get Consistent Revenue

By Nicole Lim / May 12, 2020

Finding customers is tough, but keeping them is tougher. Building a loyal customer base requires time, effort, and the right tools. What works for one company, however, isn't going to work for every other. Companies must do thorough research into their target audience in order to implement the best strategies for their goals. While further research is necessary to prime your services for your specific users and to support discovery through the correct cloud marketplace, the following tactics are a great starting point for building a winning customer retention strategy.

1. Focus on Customer Service

First and foremost, companies must provide their customers with a memorable customer experience, as well as stock quality products to back it up. Give your customers quick, educated, and thoughtful service. Loyal customers are essentially brand ambassadors, spreading information about your company via word of mouth. What they say matters, as word spreads fast.

Below are strategies for strengthening your company’s customer service:

• Be friendly and say thank you;
• Know your products or services;
• Know your customers;
• Respond in a timely manner.

2.Maintain Usability of Your Website

Not all customer service has to do with interactions between customers and employees. The usability of your website plays just as big a role. If your website takes too much time to load, features several redirects, or is generally difficult to navigate, customers won’t stick around long — thus impacting customer retention. When it comes to satisfying shoppers, how user-friendly your website is has a direct correlation with your company’s quality of customer service.

Below are strategies for maintaining your company’s website usability:

• Make it to-the-point: Customers should be able to understand, at least partially, what you sell from the home page on your site.
• Clear navigation tools: With that in mind, make it easy for customers to navigate your website. The goal behind building an online marketplace is that you eventually want customers to end up on conversion pages, so don’t make those hard to find.
• Use SEO: Search engine optimization (SEO) is an excellent way to lead a prospective audience to your site. Furthermore, an SEO-optimized site aids in website usability.
• Choose the right colors and typography: Visual appeal matters too. Choose a combination of colors that is easy on the eyes and does not make it difficult to read the text. With that in mind, opt for clear and legible typography.
• Choose the right platforms: Having a subscription commerce platform, for instance, can help you deliver ongoing support and improve customer experience. With this kind of platform, your customer receives a consistent, recurring cost on a platform that includes everything they need to onboard, upgrade, and get all the support they need.

3. Offer Deals and Incentives

One way to boost your revenue and maintain customers is to create customer loyalty benefits. People naturally respond to deals and incentives so programs that reward returning customers for their loyalty are an excellent idea.

Below are a few examples of deals and incentives companies can offer:

• Referral bonuses: Offer recurring customers a reward for referring new ones. This not only provides an incentive for current customers to say good things about your company, but also may attract new customers.
• Early access: Giving loyal customers early access to products or services makes them feel good and helps maintain strong rapport between buyers and sellers.
• Promotional pricing: Introductory pricing is a great way to give customers access to your services and see the value you have to offer. Earning loyalty through results can make it easier for these customers to justify signing on at full price later on.

4. Perform Regular Outreach

Customer outreach involves reaching not only new and potential leads, but also your current customers. You want to keep recurring customers engaged and informed. This can largely be done by choosing the right channels, as well as the right words. What’s more, having an efficient composite of customer outreach strategies saves your company from wasting time, cash, or sales resources.

Below are a few strategies for performing regular outreach to customers:

• Social media: Social media channels can be used to build brand loyalty. These can open up more pathways to solicit feedback and engage directly with current and prospective customers. Analytics support can allow you to get powerful data and insights through social platforms, as well as to create targeted advertising to reach new users.
• Email marketing: Email marketing can strengthen relationships, improve communication, and drive conversations. The rate at which customers reply can be higher than in the crowded social media environment, and the nature of subscriptions means that those on an email list have opted in, rather than simply seeing display ads.
• Newsletters: Part of building a loyal customer base is involving your customers in your work as often as possible — a monthly newsletter, of course, helps keep them in-the-know.
• Personalization: Personalizing your outreach to customers builds trust. Using the customer’s name, tailoring your message, or adding customized information to an email or letter helps them feel seen and heard. Personalization can largely be done through the use of data analytics and visualization.

5. Make Yourself Easy to Reach

In order to gain new customers or maintain a recurring customer base, you need to make your business reachable. Customers may grow frustrated by a lack of such features.

Below are a few ways to make your company easy to reach:

• Use your company’s name and contact info: Using your company’s name and contact information whenever possible is key. You could, for instance, attach a signature to the bottom of emails or use business cards.
• Chatbots: Chatbots are an excellent way to streamline various aspects of customer service at a company. They provide customers access to information quickly and efficiently, satisfying customers and businesses alike.
• Prioritize accessibility: Always make your online store accessible. This could mean including alt text on photos, avoiding bright or flashing colors, or ensuring that content is aligned logically. Without these accessible features, you may miss out on demographics such as seniors or people with disabilities.

6. Give Back to the Community

Corporate social responsibility can be just as important as customer service when it comes to building customer loyalty. Which charitable organization a company supports speaks to who that company is. Recurring customers don’t just come back for the services you offer, but for the way you offer them. In giving back to your community, you strengthen the emotional bond that customers have to your company.

Below are a few ways to give back to your company can give back to the community:

• Donating: Larger companies could donate a percentage of their profits to their community or to a specific nonprofit organization.
• Volunteering: Company volunteer events are another way to give back to your community. Allowing employees to do volunteer work can also be thought of as a team-building exercise for the company.
• Prize drawings: Employees could compile a list of their preferred charitable organizations, have a raffle, and purchase tickets.
• Offer free services: If your company has extra funds to spare, consider offering your services for free to a local nonprofit in need. You could also use this as a teaching opportunity by working with members of the community to offer your company’s service.

7. Take Feedback Seriously

Finally, you always want to take feedback seriously. Feedback is not only an opportunity to fix mistakes, but also a chance to take your products or services to the next level. A thorough look into feedback can launch a successful go-to-market plan for a new product or service.