Loyalty Blogs

Covid 19 is not too old but is surely a deadly wave which took so much including our lives and livelihoods. In the challenging time when everything was dipping down, the only thing which has taken a flight are the digital experiences. Every brand today are indulging in digital services and contributing in working on customer retention program. Especially in times of crisis, having more customers onboard is the best thing possible to not just run business presently but, keep it alive in the longer run.

Customer retention can be a bliss as it can trigger immediate purchases and let the business stay long in power. Right after the crisis, companies are deemed to focus on their employees as well as their customers. In the unprecedented times, customer expectations take a rise with elevating needs around relevance, speed, service community and sometimes about entertainment too. The brands are required to establish a clear and effective communication with their customers, tagging them along as a loyal & valuable individual.

So, are you interacting with your customers the way they need? Is your brand ready for the leap to future? Let’s discuss how we can get through the times of earning digital customer interactions and staying in power, leading the game.

Addressing Customer Requirements and Planning for the Future

Its important to understand your customers, find ways to connect and have strong planning to stay for long. Here’s what steps can be taken-

• Focus on Retention, not Branding

As a brand one must be able to build a connection with the customers emotionally rather than just giving in their marketing strategies to boost sales. Focus on the targeted community and stay true to the company purpose and values.

• Reach your Customers where they are

Not every customer stays at the same level of communication. Innovate your ways to connect with the customers and reach then exactly where they are! For the purpose, one can enable home deliveries, connect over whatsapp and give them a personalized feeling to foster contactless operations.

• Consider the future

Whatever efforts you’re doing aren’t limited to the present times! It will pave a way to the future, so, its imperative that you have a plan in hand, keeping your considerations fair and logical. For instance, the future belongs to social media rather than textual surveys, go for engagement options through social media. Focus where your programs can fail and where exactly have you missed the customer feedbacks on service loopholes, correct them then and there!

Implementing Digital Customer Experiences

To no surprise, digital is the new normal and we’re slowly obsessed with the digitization but the market is overburdened with the options offering similar sort of services. How will the brands create a unique digital experience for their customer? Will implementing a loyalty program or choosing from different loyalty program types benefit the business in the near future? Let’s decode what could really benefit the brands as well as the customers –

• Consider the Basics; Connection & Care

More than ever, people today need something extra to maintain stickiness and perks to navigate a novel set of challenges right from keeping their families safe to getting all what they need conveniently. Exactly how we all need someone to rely on, customers need a brand to trust and everything after that seems smooth enough! According to a research by Mckinsey, 64% of customers choose to buy from socially responsible brands. Here a brand needs to build a strong emotional connect and let the customers believe that they’re valued throughout. A sense of care involved will surely be the major factor which can add up to the brand value and customer retention strategy as well.

Though there bottlenecks in the process but a strong blend of digitization and loyalty can lead to brighter customer experiences establishing an effective bond with a brand.

• Foster Digitization

So home deliveries are the necessity today and why’s that? Firstly, as customers are confines to their homes and secondly, they’re habitual & quite obsessed with convenience! Covid has surely changed the way of living. Having a digital presence, online delivery options and providing a digital experience all together is the basic need as of now! Even the banking industry has turned their operations completely digital and we can make out how important it is to focus on digitization. As a brand, be ready to implement the new wave of the internet dependent world and find out ways to stay in sync with the customers. Provide them with the experiences they need and that’s surely a win-win not just for today but for the longer future too!

Another imperative aspect here is to reach customers where they are rather than wait for them to come and join you! And how’s that possible? Continue to reach to your target set of customers through an omnichannel approach rather than following the traditional methods to encourage engagement. Make use of social media, digital advertisements, SMS, email marketing, personalized deals, mobile app engagement and all in your reach to stay on the top of the game!

“The way organizations deal with their customers, their employees, and the broader community in a crisis is likely to leave lasting memories in customer’s minds.”

Mckinsey & Company

• Track, Analyze and Implement the Changing Customer Preferences

No customer or a group of customers will have the similar purchasing pattern through years, their needs change with time and the brands need to race up according to the customer’s requirements. Talking about the traditional customer insights techniques including surveys often involve a 18 to 24 day lag between the phases of launching and final results. To your surprise, customer requirements change every hour then what purpose would a month long tracking serve? Companies should find out the right ways to quickly connect with the customers and address their requirements, alter choices then and there! With the surge in online usage of digital aspects, it has offered numerous new opportunities for brand to establish a better way to communicate with their customers. Go personal and stay in track with the flipping customer choices.

Wrapping Up

The poorly defined customer experience is now meeting new heights and dimensions. The scratchy path came with the crisis bringing a pool of opportunities along and innovation is the only savior in the race. Customers are the leaders, running the businesses and brands are deemed to stay in sync with the customer requirements. Get started with digitization and encourage excellent experiences bringing fruitful results to the business.