To thrive in the modern retail environment, attracting new customers is important, however more importantly is to 
retain existing customers. According to a study published in Harvard Business School (Schefter, 2000), increasing customer retention rates by 5%, increases revenue by 25%-95%. Over the years, the cost of serving loyal customers has reduced, and in today’s dynamic retail environment with high costs associated with staying ahead of competitors, customer retention makes more sense than ever.
Communicate with your Customers
The first step to increase customer loyalty is to get customers to pay attention to you. Communication with your customers is essential, and sharing similar values with them helps build common ground and ultimately, to help you build rapport. A cognitive bias that you should leverage is simple, ‘People like things that resemble them’. Identify your target customers – their pains, goals, aspirations – and work to fulfil their demands. Train your staff to identify their motivators to buy and link your products in ways that encourage customers to buy.
Offer Value during their Shopping Experience
Great shopping experiences begin with exceptional service. Your staff should be able to engage customers in a genuine manner. Instead of pushing customers towards marked-down items, explain the value of good quality items in ways that benefit your customer. Focus on the long-term value those products offer and always focus on selling the best option for the customer. Salespeople should be perceived as a trusted advisor by the customer.
Connect in a Personalized, Meaningful Way
Go above and beyond customer expectations, over-deliver and get repeat business. Offer your customers something that makes life easier for them and reward your customers for their loyalty. The important concept of reciprocity comes into the picture for maintaining and increasing customer loyalty. If you want a customer to stay brand loyal, offer them something your competitor doesn’t – from a personalized product or experience, to a personalized gift, or even attentive customer service. Even small gestures matter to customers, it makes them feel connected to the company in a meaningful, personal way. A unique, yet inexpensive gift based on a customer’s personal likes and dislikes, can go a long way to making the customer happy and even having them recommend your organization to their friends and family. This sort of personalized experience is essential for building brand loyalty and a more enjoyable overall experience.
Solve your Customer’s Problems
Help your customers when they have a problem. Great customer service is essential for distinguishing you from your competitors. Your social media channels, blogs, or twitter feeds may not be your primary mode of customer service, but if customers get in touch with you through these mediums don’t just redirect them to your customer service page. Train staff that handles these portals to offer customers help when they get in touch through these media. Talk to customers in the medium they are comfortable with, if a customer emails, respond to them via email, if they get in touch over social media, respond back through social media.
Of course, in today’s highly competitive retail environment, it takes more than this to truly thrive and succeed. In a crowded consumer market, you need to strengthen customer loyalty, but also increase business productivity, gain new customers, boost employee productivity, analyze customer data correctly and take a number of other actions to truly succeed. Expert speaker Nicole Leinbach Reyhle is conducting a session on all points of successful retail such as point of sale companies, customer data resources and sales and customer retention strategies.
