“ Companies must shift their focus from short-term transaction-focused goals to building long-term relationships with customers ,” writes Philip Kotler, summarizing in these few words what is the real key to success for a company : transforming the occasional consumer into a frequent buyer first and then a loyal customer.
Sweepstakes, loyalty cards, loyalty programs: too often customer loyalty is reduced to the sole objective of stimulating recurring purchases, forgetting how it can make a difference the very moment a relationship of trust is established between the brand and the consumer such that the latter becomes a true supporter and, in addition to the product, embraces its values and principles.
It is immediately evident that if a second purchase can be stimulated even with a simple promotional campaign, the same cannot happen for customer loyalty, which cannot be improvised. On which levers, then, can we act for an effective loyalty strategy ?
User Profiling and Segmentation: The First Step for a Winning Strategy
A loyal customer, we know, tends to buy more frequently and spends more on average than an occasional customer and, no less importantly, is more likely to share his positive experience with others.
But how do you identify loyal customers and, above all, how do you accompany them on a complete loyalty journey ?
The first step is undoubtedly to thoroughly understand your customer base : characteristics, interests, purchasing behaviors, and customer journey phases are fundamental information that helps us accompany our users on a loyalty path , providing them with personalized and valuable experiences at every stage.
In this context, using a Customer Data Platform like Blendee can really make a difference: on the one hand, it allows us to collect user data from multiple channels and normalize them at a single customer view level , on the other hand it allows us to streamline the activities aimed at creating personalized customer experiences .
Customer retention VS customer loyalty: when customer experience can make the difference
We often tend to use the list of antarctica consumer email terms “customer retention” and “customer loyalty” as synonyms, but perhaps they are not exactly the same and their etymology can be of help to us: with the term “ customer retention ” we are essentially referring to a brand’s ability to retain the customer, stimulating recurring purchases , but such purchases can also occur due to economic convenience compared to the competition, a convenience that could however run out so much as to then push even the “most loyal” customers to choose to buy their products elsewhere.
The concept of “ customer loyalty ”, however, goes well beyond the mere transaction or at least does not end with it: brand loyalty , in addition to being demonstrated by repeated purchases and confirmation in the choice of products, materializes with a sharing of values , with the creation of a real relationship .
It is immediately evident that customer experience plays a key role in this case : regardless of product quality, which remains a fundamental aspect of customer loyalty , the personalization of communications, offers, pre- and post-purchase services, and interactions at the point of sale become crucial factors.
The customer feels understood, valued and this is the real winning weapon to challenge the competition.
