Ecommerce is one of the fastest-growing industries. It offers a lot of rewards with one of the minuscule amounts of investments. Therefore, if you've successfully set up your store, congratulations!
But, did you think you were done putting in all the effort?
Here's a statistic that will change your belief. It costs as much as 5 times to attract a new customer than to keep one.
If you've picked up on the hint, you know we're talking about customer retention. While creating an online store from scratch is quintessential, there's more to it. We're talking about your customers. They form the backbone of your business. And until you are catering to their needs efficiently, you won't earn their loyalty.
When you're making the first couple of sales, your efforts towards customers can make all the difference to your business. It can either earn you customer loyalty. Or eventually, lead to a failed business due to decreasing profits.
If you believe that traditional customer retention methods will do the job for you, you're mistaken. For starters, they don't work on customers anymore. Today's customers are more rational than ever before. They are better informed and understand the market well.
For this reason, you need innovative strategies to increase customer loyalty.
But, taking the first steps to engage your visitors and turn them into loyal customers can be tricky. Don't worry, we've got you covered! Read on to know what customer loyalty is and how you can increase it for your eCommerce website.

What is Customer Loyalty?

Customer loyalty is one of the essential concepts of business. It refers to your buyer's willingness to purchase from your business repeatedly.
For example, a buyer might discover your store for the first time. They start browning your products and looking at other pages.
At this stage, they are just the visitors to your website. Now out of these visitors, some will purchase a product from you for the first time. This is when your visitors turn into buyers.
When people purchase from your brand, your sales increase; simultaneously, your business profits on every item sold increase. However, there is a cost involved in acquiring a customer.
In other words, to bring a visitor to your website, you might have to run ads. Similarly, you might also need to invest in various marketing forms to catch your target audience's attention. And to convert those visitors into buyers, there is an additional or incorporated cost.
While businesses have to keep on acquiring new customers, their costs keep increasing exponentially. What if there was a way to increase profits without actually spending much on acquiring new customers. This is where customer loyalty comes into the picture.
Statistics suggest that by increasing your customer retention by 5 percent, your business profits can scale up to 75 percent. When your customers are loyal, they willingly purchase from you again and again. While you spend money to keep them engaged, it is far lower than acquiring new customers.

Tips to Increase the Customer Loyalty of an Ecommerce Website

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Customer loyalty is challenging to achieve. But, once you do, there is no going back. It helps you stay afloat in the changing market and attain a brand reputation. But, the question is how to turn customers into brand evangelists?
How to translate happy purchases into brand reputation? Don't worry.
Take a look at the proven tips to increase customer loyalty on your eCommerce store-

1. Be Generous to Your Customers

Generating customer loyalty can seem like a scheme at first. Since you have to retain your customers, this might turn into another one of your campaigns.
Let's face the fact that for most people, business only means making money. However, this is where things go wrong. If you truly want your customers to stay loyal to you, you must step into their shoes.
In other words, the first step to customer loyalty begins with generosity. Be generous to your customers, as they are to you. Remember that you must be thankful to them for their purchase. This should reflect in your campaigns and communications. For this reason, you must offer your customers more than your products.
For example, creating loyalty programs can be an excellent idea. For every purchase your customer makes, you reward them with some points.
Eventually, your customers can use these points for making purchases or availing discounts. Alternatively, you can also have perks such as exclusive access to your sales and more. This demonstrates your generosity towards your customers.
When your customers see these gestures, they find themselves connected to your business. In other words, they can't help but come back for more purchases.

2. Don't Miss a Chance to Show Gratitude

How do you distinguish yourself from the market competition?
Remember that pitches regularly bombard your customers from other sellers. Some of them even might be selling better products than you are right now. Therefore, chances are your customers might migrate to your competition if they feel they have something better to offer.
Are you wondering what you can do?
The answer lies in gratitude.
Gratitude is one of the most important aspects of a business. However, most sellers just look at their business as a profit-making opportunity. They miss out that the foundation of a business lies in nurturing a relationship with customers. As a result, they fail to garner customer loyalty.
A lot of businesses think that working on their ecommerce SEO or creating a loyalty program means displaying gratitude. However, think again. These are the things that almost every business does. But, unless you show genuine gratitude, you can't make a difference to your customers.
You need to tell your customers that you are thankful for their association with you.
Send them handwritten notes, one-on-one messages, and more. You can also draft personalized emails and send them to your customers as they complete their purchases.

3. Always Focus on the Quality

A majority of the customers walk away from a business because they fail to find the quality. Statistics suggest that as many as 78 percent of buyers say that quality products are why customers stay loyal to a brand. Therefore, quality is one of the most critical factors you must take care of in your eCommerce business.
Most businesses start offering high-quality products but change suppliers in the middle. This results in different quality of products, which the customers might not like.
Remember that customers who shop online cannot get the actual touch and feel of the product. The experience is quite different than that of retail. Therefore, it is also challenging for customers to decide whether to buy a product or not. This is where product images and descriptions come into the picture. Buyers take a look at product images to identify the quality of your products.
Make sure you have good quality images clicked by a professional uploaded. Similarly, write a product description that talks about the value of your products. And don't forget to include SEO by researching the top keywords in your industry.
But, as you provide your customers with superior images, you must also make sure that your product quality stands for it. Partner with good suppliers and manufacturers. This will ensure that you offer what you promise your customers.

4. Keep Your Promises to Your Customers

The biggest mistake that you can make in your eCommerce business is not keeping promises. Online sellers often promise their customers a lot. This is due to the market competition. Because they want to lure customers, sellers tend to write what all the other competitors are writing. So, when a customer comes to purchase from you, they expect you to offer what you say.
For example, your eCommerce store might say 'Free Shipping.' This means that you need to need to provide products to your customer without any shipping charges.
However, if you charge your customers a hidden shipping cost during checkout, it leaves you with a bad reputation.
Customers don't like being cheated. And this is why you must learn to keep your promises. Remember that customers need to be certain about your brand before purchasing from you again. If you underdeliver, you will earn a bad reputation.
Online business does come with a lot of lucrative opportunities. At the same time, it also has its challenges. Remember that word of mouth is one of the fastest types of marketing. If your customer finds you not keeping promises, they will spread the word on the Internet.

5. Leverage the Power of Emails

Emails might seem like old school. With the popularity of social media soaring, many people believe that the era of emails is dead.
On the contrary, it remains one of the most important channels of business communication. In simple terms, your customers are expecting emails from you. If you are not yet sending these, you are losing out on a big opportunity.
Start leveraging emails in your ecommerce marketing strategy. This can help you retain a lot of customers.
Remember that establishing a relationship with your customers serves as the foundation of customer retention. And emails help you do that.
A good idea is to start by sending your customers a welcome email.
Keep your email personalized and the message a warm welcome. This can help you ignite a relationship with the customer. If you're just getting started with emails, encourage your customers to sign up.
For example, you can offer a coupon to your customer as they sign up for your emails. The reward can help customers get excited about your emails. At the same time, it provides you another channel to engage them.

6. Curate a Post-Purchase Experience

If you think that your task is complete just by delivering the product, you are mistaken. The journey of a customer begins right from the time they place an order on your eCommerce store. It is after that you send them notifications, pick, pack and ship the product. But what happens after that?
Most businesses end their tasks at this stage. However, it is what you do beyond this stage that makes all the difference.
To make sure that your customers stay loyal to your business, you must offer a post-purchase experience. This means to travel an extra mile for the customer. One of the interesting ways that you can do it is by sending a survey to your customer. Ask them about their product and delivery experience. Similarly, ask them about what they would like you to improve in your business.
Surveys that intend to gauge customer satisfaction also impart value to the buyers. They feel a valuable part of your brand.
In other words, when you send your customers the survey, they feel they have some power over your business.
Furthermore, it makes them feel that their opinions matter in your business. This lays the foundation of an emotional bond with your customers. And when customers know they matter, they are going to come back to purchase more.

7. Provide a Robust Support

Customer support sits at the heart of customer loyalty. If you can't provide your customers with robust support, there is no way they are coming back to you again. You need to understand that customer satisfaction has to do everything with loyalty.
If your customers aren't satisfied, why will they purchase from your brand?
Therefore, focus on creating a robust support system for your brand.
Statistics suggest that as many as 78 percent of the customers do not return to a business if they experience poor customer support.
On the other hand, fast and quality support can go a long way in retaining the customer. There are many ways that your online business can provide support to your customers. The first idea is to have your in-house support team.
Make sure you hire qualified staff and train them well for the job. Make them familiar with the proceedings of your business.
In case you cannot do that, outsource your support. Several small businesses are unable to hire a customer support team. Therefore, outsourcing can be a good and affordable way to cater to your customer's needs and save costs.
In another way, you can offer live support to your customer through chat. It can be a live chat option on your website or Facebook messenger.

8. Swear by Personalized Recommendations

Personalized recommendations are a must in eCommerce. It is what separates you from the rest of your competitors. In simpler terms, personalization is the technique where you address a customer as if you are speaking to them directly.
Imagine yourself walking into a retail store. Almost everywhere, you will find a salesman who addresses your query. Upon understanding your needs, they suggest to you the product that fits you perfectly. But, when the business is online, the concept of a salesman goes away.
This is where personalization plays a crucial part. It helps you speak to your customer as a salesman in a retail store. The first step to personalization is segmenting your customers. The more detailed your segments are, the better your campaigns will be.
Statistics back up this fact. As many as 87 percent of the customers tend to purchase more when online stores personalize the shopping experience.
Ever wonder why Amazon is the go-to store for shoppers?
Personalization is one of the biggest reasons behind this. Amazon offers its customers an excellent level of personalization. The store offers its customers recommendations based on the customer's browsing history. At the same time, it also considers past purchases and general customer behavior.
All of this is extremely important and adds to the customer experience. Therefore, customers are drawn to purchasing even more.

9. Offer Exclusive Discounts

Customers love discounts. Discounts and offers are the biggest reason why eCommerce is a thriving industry. Your customers are already expecting you to offer them lucrative purchase options. And when you do this, there is no way they won't come back for a purchase.
Offering exclusive discounts to your customers can be one of the best ways to retain your customers.
The idea is not just to display discount banners on your website. But, curate offers as a reward for your customers. This should reflect in your campaigns. For example, if your customers are reaching a milestone purchase, offer them a reward.
Send them an email that says you are offering them an exclusive 20 percent off on their next purchase as a token of gratitude. This helps you retain your customers in two ways.
On the one hand, you are expressing your gratitude to your repeat buyers. On the other hand, you are giving them an incentive for the next purchase. The customer appreciates your gestures and feels valued. There isn't a reason they will not purchase from you again.

10. Develop a Loyalty Program

A customer loyalty program is a must for modern eCommerce businesses. No matter how popular your brand name is, a loyalty program goes a long way with the customer.
Take the retail giants H&M as an example. The brand is a renowned seller of apparel and accessories for men, women, and kids categories. They have hundreds of stores across the world. But, with their online store in the market, they have a membership program in place.
The brand provides the customers with a barcode or unique membership. So, when customers make a purchase, they earn points. And these points, when adding up to a certain threshold, can be redeemed.
For example, the spend of every $100 will earn the customer 10 points.
Over time, when customers have 1000 points, they can redeem a shopping voucher worth $100. But, a loyalty program is far more than this. The brand also offers its members exclusive access to sale days before other buyers.
At the same time, customers also get occasional discounts and offer for being a part of the loyalty program.
When you create a loyalty program, you provide a reason for your customer to be associated with you. It keeps them engaged. And it also entices them to purchase from time to time. All of this ultimately helps in increasing the customer loyalty of your brand.

11. Say Yes to Retargeting

A smart way to turn your visitors or one-time buyers into loyal customers is to retarget them. Retargeting campaigns can help you convert more customers and entice them to make purchases. If you have customers looking at your products, you can target them on other platforms.
For this, you might need the assistance of analytics. Identify your website visitors and one-time buyers. Then figure out which platforms they are coming from. For example, a majority of your customers may be coming from social media platforms.
Therefore, you can run retargeting ads on Facebook and utilize the opportunity. Remember that today's customers head to social media platforms for two reasons.
First, they want to connect with other people. At the same time, they also want to engage with their favorite brands. If you are missing out on this opportunity, you are losing a significant amount of sales.
Retargeting ads also work when customers are unable to check out items for some reason. In other words, sometimes buyers plan on purchasing a product at a later duration of time. Retargeting ads can therefore serve as a reminder for them.

12. Use Customer Generated Content

One of the most interesting ways to garner loyalty from your customers is to leverage user-generated content. User-generated content refers to anything that your customers post about your business online. It could be product ratings, customer reviews, or discussions about your brand. You have to make the most of these for your business.
Statistics suggest that user-generated content has as much as 300 to 700 percent higher conversion rates. Remember that online purchases are based on the trust factor. The customer doesn't get to see or feel the products for real.
All they make their decision based on our product images and descriptions. However, when they find another customer writing about your brand, they want to engage with it.
Because they would trust a word coming from your customers more than from you, so, use customer-generated content such as testimonials on your website. Similarly, you can create graphics and post them on social media. This will reinforce your customer's purchase decision. And once a positive word gets out in the market, your visitors will have no doubts about continuing with their purchase.

Top Ecommerce Customer Loyalty Software

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You can take customer loyalty to the next step with marketing tools. Today there are several customer loyalty software that can help you make the most of your efforts. And guess what? You don't even need to empty your pockets to leverage them!

1. Antavo

Customer loyalty depends largely on personalization. This is where Avanto excels. It is one of the leading customer retention software in the market. Whether you're selling apparel, groceries, or anything else, Avanto is there for you. It offers a personalized experience to your customers that results in customer loyalty. One of the best parts is that Avanto integrates with popular CRMs and marketing automation tools.

2. LoyaltyLion

Modern marketers depend mostly on data than on intuition. LoyaltyLion is one customer retention software that offers a robust data-driven solution. It provides your customers unique loyalty programs that are designed just for your business. With meaningful interactions and data-driven insights, LoyaltyLion can help you increase your customer retention rate and spends.

3. ReferralCandy

One of the most popular customer loyalty software in the market is referral candy. More than 3000 buyers trust the tool. Like others, ReferralCandy helps in increasing customer retention and driving sales through word-of-mouth marketing. With this tool, you need not do all the hard work. You can easily design your referral campaigns and entice your customers. This way, your customers receive rewards for every referral, and you acquire new customers.

4. Smile.io

Smile.io boosts repeat purchases by several folds. It helps your customers receive points as they spend on your eCommerce store. The software offers your buyers a branded reward program that entices them. The best part of using Smile.io is that it helps you get started with a customer loyalty program in minutes.

5. RewardCamp

Suppose you are looking for the fastest way to grow your customer retention rate, leverage RewardCamp. You can use the free trial of the software to get started with customer loyalty for your buyers. RewardCamp is pretty easy to use and can be customized to suit your business needs. Moreover, the software also lets you identify any lost customers and retarget them.

6. Yuzu

If you are an eCommerce seller leveraging cross-selling, Yuzu is for you. The software lets sellers acquire new customers and re-engage with them at various levels. It enables you to keep your customer engaged and reach out to active shoppers instantly. Yuzu can help you get started with customer loyalty programs without any delays.

Conclusion

Customer loyalty can be challenging to achieve. This is especially due to the growing market competition. The first step is to try the proven tips to increase your customer loyalty.
Start by enticing your customer and providing a platform to keep them engaged. Remember that the more platforms you provide them to interact with, the more will they stay in your business loop.
Then leverage platforms to suggest to them the products they have been looking for. To top your efforts, pick a customer loyalty software. This will amplify your actions and take customer loyalty to the next level for your brand.
All you have to do is make your customer's moments last with your business. This begins with focusing on your online business pillars- customer satisfaction, trust, and reliability.
Are you looking to increase customer loyalty for your ecommerce website? Speak to our ecommerce marketing experts now!