DIMENSIONS OF

Customer Loyalty & How to Put Them Into Practice 4

Why does customer loyalty matter?

4-Dimensional Loyalty Framework

Source: Maritz Motivation Solutions, 2015

What is inertia loyalty?

In the inertia loyalty phase, customers shop from you because there are no other alternatives to choose from. This may be because you’re the cheapest on the market, or offer a very rare product. Although that may sound like utopia, you should be cautious, because…

• Prices can be beaten• New competitors can enter the market

Here customers are flocking in, but they can just as easily disappear. That’s why the best competitive strategy is to move beyond this stage and offer your customers real value. This shows you care about them and provides you with a chance for deeper engagement. This is what we will explore throughout the next slides.

Inertia loyalty

Relevance is key here. Try to create ads that are based on your customers’ browsing history, purchased products, or any kind of data that can help you personalize.

Mercenary loyalty: Limited offers

Image source: apptus.com

Tools to help:Apptus, Findify

Give customers a coupon code for certain actions, e.g. when they’ve finalized their first purchase, or when they’re about to leave your site (a.k.a. exit-popups).

Mercenary loyalty: Pop-ups with coupons

Image source: storeya.com/public/couponpop

when they’ve finalized their first purchase, or when they’re about to

Tools to help:Optimonk, NudgrCouponPop

Customers don’t want to earn discounts just for themselves. They also want to share the best shopping opportunities with their friends.

Mercenary loyalty: Coupons forreferred friends

Image source: antavo.com

Tools to help:Antavo, ReferralCandy

Reward customers every time they make a purchase from you. Let customers earn points through a loyalty program by making a purchase, inviting friends or interacting with your social channels.

Mercenary loyalty: Reward programs

Image source: antavo.com

Tool to help:Antavo

every time they make you.

Let customers earn

loyalty program by making a purchase,

interacting with your

Patagonia is an outdoor clothing company that supports the recycling of their products. When your Patagonia clothes get completely worn out, the company buys them back from you and uses them to produce new clothes.

Cult loyalty: Brand message

Image source: patagonia.com

the recycling

Since the 1980s, Harley-Davidson has been diligently building up a brand community based around a shared lifestyle, taste, and ethos. HOG was born as a way for the brand’s highly passionate consumers to connect and engage online.

Cult loyalty: Community

Image source: harley-davidson.com

After forming a strong bond with your customers, the next stage is to allow them to produce content for you, like photos and videos.

Cult loyalty: User Generated Content

Image source: hi.photoslurp.com

Tool to help:Photoslurp

Liliputi is a company that produces baby carriers. In their brand ambassador program, every time their ambassadors post a picture using their hashtag, they display their coupon codes for their followers, so they can get 10% off their next order.

Cult loyalty: Brand advocacy

Image source: instagram.com/liliputilove

carriers. In their brand

so they can

Customers need to be able to reach you whenever a question arises. Moreover, next to your product, customer support is the second most important factor influencing loyalty for 76% of customers.

True loyalty: Friendly customer support

Image source: subiz.com

Make your customers’ shopping journey easy. For example, help them find products they need by listing similar products based on previous purchases.

True loyalty: Personalized product recommendations

Image source: apptus.com

Tools to help:Semknox, Clerk.io, Nosto

In addition to a mobile responsive design, supporting mobile checkout is key. This feature is not one to take lightly –0.75 billion people globally are m-commerce buyers today.

True loyalty: Optimized mobile experience

Image source: stripe.com

Tools to help:Stripe, Applepay

This feature is not

Content marketing expert, Marcus Sheridan, offers an outstanding example of how you can sell swimming pools –quite a unique product – online, by offering customers real value.

True loyalty: Practical marketing content

Image source: riverpoolsandspas.com

The best strategy for maintaining customer loyalty in your store is to optimize your current strategy by mixing the

elements of mercenary, cult and true loyalty.

BUT WHERE CAN YOU START?Just ask yourself the following questions:

Are you making it easy for your customers to engage with you?

Do you reward their purchases in different ways, but also offer them

the opportunity to build an emotional bond with you?

And the most important thing: have you maximized the positive

customer experience throughout the full customer journey?

Next steps

Want to know more? Then sign up to our Loyalty Academy

where you can learn more about customer loyalty.

ENROLL

Resources:Insightsquared.com, Kissmetrics.com, Spoken.com, Branderati.com,

Formisimo.com, Internet Live Stats, Gigya.com,

Blog.accessdevelopment.com, Salesforce.com, Blog.hubspot.com,

Getambassador.com, Citygro.com, Outerboxdesign.com