A bold push into digital: How retailers and eCommerce providers can build brand loyalty
Consumers have become choosier than ever. And you can’t turn a blind eye to the fact that 86% of them are open to switching brands.
To prevent clients from fleeing to your competitors, enhance your business processes with innovative techs. This will help you vastly improve service quality and create real customer value, while strengthening your brand reputation and build brand loyalty.
Add digital flair to customer service
A 2019 survey by Marist College and National Public Radio revealed that 76% of US adults prefer shopping online. These eye-opening stats boil down to the fact that the stronger online presence — both web and mobile — you have, the more clients and revenue you’ll get whilst you build brand loyalty.
Outstanding usability, performance, and security
Perform overarching UI testing to make sure your online shop is easy to use for all website visitors, including those with disabilities. Adapt your design to mobile, tablet, and smartwatch, giving users more convenience with purchasing items online.
To prepare well for Black Friday and Christmas rush, integrate your eCommerce store with single or multiple CDNs. Such an approach will enable your platform to support a virtually infinite number of simultaneous shoppers, avoiding costly downtime.
Also, make your e-store is a safe place to shop. Secure a consumer’s personal information with PCI DSS compliance, frequently run security tests, and make regular website backups.
Round-the-clock client support
81% of customers expect to receive a response to their query within 24 hours. For an online shop it’s too much. Make it a point to deliver 24/7 support, exceeding client expectations.
One avenue to do that is to enhance your e-store with a smart chatbot. You can use one of the ready-made software available on the market or team up with a reliable eCommerce development provider to build a tailored solution from scratch.
Trained with huge amounts of relevant data, such online assistants can give instant replies about package tracking, order cancelling, payment methods, login information updates, refunds, and more.
Advanced reputation management
If you still think a couple of negative reviews can’t ruin your reputation, stats from BrightLocal will make you change your mind. According to one of their recent surveys, 86% of consumers rely on online reviews, and 91% trust them as much as personal recommendations.
To know what people say about your brand, think integrating your eCommerce store with a reputation management platform. Such a tech combination will allow you to automatically surf the Internet for customer feedback and brand mentions, thoroughly analyze them, and get decision-ready insights.
The obtained information will be instrumental in improving your service and increasing customer satisfaction.
Focus on great customer value
Today’s online marketplaces are customer-driven, and to continue expanding the client base, you should stand out from the pack.
Loyalty marketing
Don’t underestimate the power of loyalty programs. As practice shows it’s an actionable mechanism for boosting engagement, satisfying client needs, and reducing customer churn rate. Encourage customers to shop by applying simple and effective rewards schemes.
For example, if you sell food, reward shoppers not only for recurring purchases — give bonuses when they make healthier choices. Provide elite members of your programs with early access to exclusive products and events or allow them to redeem their points at partner stores.
On top of that, drive customer engagement with captivating location-based marketing campaigns. Send shoppers relevant offers — in the form of SMS messages or in-app notifications — based on their current location. Reward them for entering your brick-and-mortar store, visiting fitting rooms, and more.
Hyper-personalization
Consumers are becoming increasingly frustrated with brands who don’t tailor their offerings to specific client needs, which one more time emphasizes how essential personalization is to the B2C world.
To make the grade, blend data from a slew of relevant sources — such as social media, purchasing history, search results, and more — and mine them to get actionable insights into customer preferences.
Then, leverage this information to craft personalized product offers, while bringing cross-selling into your marketing equation.
Enhanced customer engagement
A vital cog in the marketing machine, client engagement is able to take your business to new heights of success and efficiency.
To convert consumer interest into dollars, ensure smooth integration of your online shop with social networks. Examples include the possibility to shop right from Facebook and Instagram pages, automatic display of customer reviews in your e-store, and more.
Knowledge sharing is another instrument for effective client engagement. Allocate resources to create helpful clips about your products or leverage online video for streaming relevant educational events.
Final note
It’s a given that only satisfied shoppers will come back to your store, and in the highly competitive retail and eCommerce environment, it’s no walk in the park. The process requires a lot of effort and resources. Moreover, brand loyalty is something that you have to build over time, adapting your marketing strategies and approaches to ever evolving customer needs and purchasing behaviors.
Yana Yelina is a technology writer at Oxagile, a provider of software engineering and IT consulting services. Her articles have been featured on KDNuggets, ITProPortal, Jaxenter, Singularity Hub, and Datafloq, to name a few. Yana is passionate about the untapped potential of technology and explores the perks it can bring businesses of every stripe. You can reach Yana at yana.yelina@oxagile.com or connect via LinkedIn or Twitter.
