How does the thought of a loyal customer leaving your brand for a competitor make you feel? Sad? Betrayed? Like you want to binge listen to Adele and leave a thousand desperate emails begging for them to take you back?
It’s time to resist those feelings, face facts and get to work.
Brand switching is a reality. In fact, our research shows that more than 1 in 3 consumers have no problem switching brands and almost half of consumers would switch to a different brand depending on the circumstances. What’s more, consumer behavior is changing. Nearly 1 in 4 consumers purchased from a brand they hadn’t tried before during peak season 2021 and have been switching brands more frequently since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
This means it’s time to crank up the loyalty tactics and give your shoppers a reason to stick around.
As luck would have it, we’ve created a guide to help you do just that. It includes tactics to avoid brand switching and boost loyalty from us and the experts at Storey, Adyen, Space 48, Mapp, Visualsoft, Antavo, Miappi, and Mention Me.
Check out a few sneak peaks below and download the guide to discover all of our loyalty-inducing tactics and tips.
1) Optimize your out of stock pages
Products may go out of stock for a number of reasons, including increased seasonal demand. The effect can be highly frustrating for shoppers, who expect to be able to purchase what they want, when they want it. In fact, almost 1 in 3 consumers say they’ve switched brands in the past because their favorite product was out of stock.
But by optimizing your out of stock pages, you have the ability to turn an out-of-stock product into a positive customer interaction.
Product recommendations are a great way to get more of your inventory in front of your shoppers. There are many types of recommendations to choose from and experiment with. When it comes to out of stock pages, displaying similar products that are in stock can help shoppers find an alternative option they can purchase now.
Vapouriz experienced stock issues during the initial Covid-19 lockdowns due to an increased demand for vaping products. To avoid customer frustrations and potential lost revenue, the company implemented a popover with alternative products that triggers on out of stock pages.
Source: vapouriz.com
2) Segment returning customers
Savvy marketers know that it’s ineffective to deliver the same marketing content to everyone. It’s more powerful to use different approaches for different audiences. Segmentation allows marketers to take control of customer data to deliver highly relevant content to shoppers at the moment they are most engaged. This helps improve the customer experience, boost loyalty and ultimately increase revenue.
Segmenting your customers from shoppers who haven’t converted yet is a simple step towards boosting loyalty. Once you’ve set up your segment, you can target those customers with exclusive content and offers to reinforce their relationship with your brand and show your appreciation.
One way to boost loyalty with segmentation is giving your customers early access to sales or limited editions, and in fact, our research found that almost 1 in 3 customers want this.
Space NK gives their loyalty card members the chance to be the first to purchase their new product range. This increases loyalty by creating a sense of exclusivity and making their customers feel valued.
Source: Space NK email
3) Send timely, relevant info with triggered emails
Our research shows that 1 in 4 consumers stay loyal to brands that offer great customer service, for example brands who respond to and resolve issues quickly, and almost 1 in 5 consumers stay loyal to brands that understand their needs. Triggered emails are an effective way to send your shoppers timely, relevant information that anticipates their needs.
What are triggered emails?
Triggered emails help businesses deliver personalized, real-time content to shoppers at the moment they are most likely to convert. These types of emails used in email marketing are usually triggered by an individual’s activity, not sent as part of a scheduled send – so a large part of their content is likely to be very topical and timely.
Price drop emails are one type of triggered email to add to your repertoire. Price drop emails alert shoppers when a product they browsed drops in price. They’re the perfect reminder for impulsive online browsers and can also encourage price-conscious shoppers.
Wex Photo Video triggers price drop emails with big header text to help shoppers know exactly what the emails are about. They also follow best practice by including prominent images of the browsed products to remind shoppers of the item they were looking at.
Source: Wex Photo Video email
Discover more ways to boost loyalty in our Brand Switching & Customer Loyalty Guide. Spanning 11 chapters, it’s full of tactics, tips and ideas to help you avoid brand switching and heartbreak and instead foster a happy community of loyal customers.
