The prerequisite for any customer loyalty strategy is good customer knowledge. This is valid in all sectors of activity, regardless of the size of the company, from small retailers to large groups.
Knowing your customers allows you to:
Build an offer, services, products that meet their expectations list of australia whatsapp phone numbers and needs (align supply and demand).
Implement targeted and personalized relationship marketing, in particular through marketing segmentation .
The two pillars of customer knowledge
Improving customer knowledge is based on two pillars:
- The implementation of “first party” customer data collection mechanisms at the various points of contact. The main data to be collected are:
Profile data, which includes socio-demographic data (first name, age, gender, address, occupation) and psychographic data (interests).
Transactional data: purchase history, products purchased, RFM (recency, frequency, amount)…
Behavioral data, in particular visits to the website (web “events”: page views, clicks, etc.).
Consent data (“optins”)
Relationship history: interactions with salespeople, customer support, etc.
- The centralization and especially the unification of this data in a database which can be built in a data warehouse or in a Customer Data Platform (CDP).
2. Excellent customer service
A company that sells quality products but offers terrible customer service will have a hard time retaining its customers. The quality of the contact center is a key factor in customer experience, customer satisfaction and the ability to retain customers. If you operate in an industry where it is difficult to differentiate yourself through your offering, the main differentiator is in the quality of service you deliver to your customers. How to offer quality customer relations service? There are some golden rules. Here are 3:
Respond quickly to customer requests
Leaving hours or even days to go by before responding to a customer request is a surefire way to create an unhappy customer. The first rule of thumb is to handle customer requests quickly. It’s no coincidence that one of the key metrics for measuring contact center performance is average handling time (AHT).
Here are some tips for optimizing the speed of processing customer requests :
Continuously train advisors to increase their ability to process requests quickly.
Build documentation describing the main reasons for contact and processing procedures.
Set up a self-care system (an FAQ, for example) to allow the customer to quickly find the answer to their simple requests.
Use artificial intelligence to assist advisors in processing complex requests and automate the processing of standard requests (via a chatbot, for example).
Use technology to optimize call flow routing, sending requests to the right skills.
Be kind and courteous
The friendliness and courtesy of advisors play a major role in customer loyalty. An exchange with a courteous, attentive, empathetic advisor can even transform a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied and loyal customer, ready to recommend the brand to those around them.
One only has to refer to personal experience to know that a difficult interaction with customer service can lead to switching brands.
It is no coincidence that an important part of the training of advisors involves work on attitude and posture.
Make returns and refunds easier
The digitalization of purchasing journeys contributes to increasing requests for returns and refunds. And for good reason: we often buy products without having examined them closely, without having tried them.
For an e-commerce business, the generosity of the returns and refunds policy is a key element of the quality of customer service. Beyond the promises, it is the quality of execution that must live up to expectations. If you want to offer a differentiating customer service, we recommend setting up an easy-to-follow returns system to create happy customers who will not hesitate to buy again… and become loyal.
3. A loyalty program
A loyalty program , as its name suggests, is a program that aims to reward its loyal customers. There are several families of loyalty programs depending on the nature of the rewards and the mechanics used. Here are three:
The points loyalty program
This program consists of granting loyalty points to the customer for each purchase made - points that can then be exchanged for rewards: discounts, promo codes, etc. This classic but very effective mechanism encourages the customer to buy regularly from the brand. Below is an example of the program of our client Le Temps des Cerises:
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The tiered loyalty program
The tiered program rewards customers based on their level of engagement or spending with the brand. Each new tier reached gives the right to new benefits and rewards. This loyalty mechanic makes it possible to offer progressive rewards based on the customer's loyalty level. Below, an example with the program of the company Intersport which adopted the tiered loyalty program.
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The cashback program
Cashback consists of offering customers a percentage discount on their purchases, credited in the form of real money or vouchers. This is the approach chosen by our client Supermarchés Match, which offers to collect 10% discount on the visit and purchases of your choice every 10 visits.
