Why customer loyalty matters to your company 

For your business, could there be anything harder than attracting new customers? Quite possibly, yes: keeping existing customers.

Business 2 Community defines customer loyalty as “a buyer’s preference for doing business with a particular business establishment.” However, why could your own company come to rely much more heavily on existing customers than a revolving door of new but temporary customers?

Customer retention is more cost-effective than customer acquisition 

This is attested by a number of eye-opening statistics shared by SmallBizGenius. A massive 82% of companies agree that keeping customers is cheaper than attracting them — but you might not have realised that as much as 65% of a company’s business is typically garnered from existing customers.

There’s potentially a huge amount to gain from increasing customer retention — as doing so by a mere 5% can hike profits by anywhere from 25% to 95%.

Loyal customers can practically become your brand advocates 

Think about it: if you wanted a recommendation on which company to buy from, would you most trust an advert you know the company in question has created and paid for, or a friend or relative who has always had your best interests at heart?

When people are genuinely impressed by their experience with a company, these customers won’t be shy about telling other people seeking the same kind of product or service.

Loyal customers stay loyal even in tough times 

This is undoubtedly one of the true tests of customer loyalty. You might even have seen it in action during the COVID-19 pandemic if you ran a brick-and-mortar shop that was forced to temporarily close due to lockdown but you found that many of your in-person customers quickly switched to buying from you online.

Even if you drop the ball occasionally, such as by releasing a less-than-satisfactory product, loyal customers are relatively likely to see it as just an uncharacteristic blip on your part rather than a fundamental problem.

You could strengthen loyalty by introducing loyalty schemes  

According to another of the above-mentioned statistics mentioned by SmallBizGenius, 58.7% of internet users deem earning rewards and loyalty points an especially valued aspect of shopping.

So, you could capitalise on this by introducing opportunities for your customers to be rewarded in a truly meaningful way for buying from you. With the help of a company like TCC, you could let your customers accrue digital points and digital coupons for redeeming on further purchases later down the line.

Your local customers can also let you know where you are going wrong 

This might come across as a somewhat peculiar statement, given that your loyal customers are surely likely to be among your most satisfied, too. However, loyal customers are also more inclined than other, more fleeting customers to respond to polls and surveys you hold about your company’s offerings.

They are willing to set aside time to provide feedback exactly because they don’t want your firm to go under; on the contrary, they want to help you with keeping it afloat for as long as possible.