Customer Retention: How To Earn Loyalty And Trust

In a highly competitive market, customer retention can be challenging and businesses are needing to stay ahead of the change in order to compete. For an eCommerce retailer, getting creative with how you draw in customers and keep them is vital because, as a new customer’s initial interaction with your store isn’t physical, you need to win their trust from the offset and ensure that they’ll shop with you time and time again.

So what can you do to encourage customer loyalty and build trust?

Make your returns policy clear

Picture a new customer landing on your site, they’ve found a product that they like but know very little about it and they’ve never purchased from your site before, so they are now hovering hesitantly over that “buy now” button. Whether the outcome resulted in a conversion or not, the question is, how do you prevent hesitation? Make sure your returns policy clear and make it free. (product dependent) If customers are unsure on how they can return a product this will be an immediate turnoff. Whereas showing that they can easily make a return and get a full refund, means that they’ve got nothing to lose by making that purchase.

This instills trust in your customer, assuring them that you are honest when it comes to selling your products.

Be transparent on products

The more your potential customers know about your products the better. As the majority of the time their going in with no expectations of your brand the best tool you can give them in guiding their purchase is detail. When given enough detail, the customer can visualise that product within a situation and make an educated decision on whether it’s going to be suitable for their needs. Consider you’re selling gymwear and you’re potential customer is interested in a pair of leggings, you need to set the scene, let the customer know the benefits, the fit, what activities they are suitable for, colour, customisable elements and so on so they are 100% sure they want to make that purchase.

Dedicate time to customer queries and complaints

There are many platforms that customers might search for when wanting to ask a question or make a complaint. Customers might look to contact you on your social channels like Twitter or Facebook, live chat, contact form or telephone. So you need to ensure you have a customer service team readily available for support and advice. As a rule, the ideal reply rate should be 1 hour and you should always inform your customers of this by automatic reply.

This is crucial in connecting with your customer and more importantly, receiving feedback will help to make improvements and continually grow your business.

Give a little extra

How an order is received can be a key decision maker in whether you see that customer again. This is where you can be creative with packaging, offering packaging inserts can be a great way of generating brand awareness, but also making the customer feel they are getting that little bit extra. Inserts can be anything from, discount codes, thank you cards and special notes, free product samples, gifts or lookbooks…these should be based on what your customers are interested in. By doing this you are piquing their interest further and making them want to shop again.   

Add that personal touch

Offering deals and benefits to returning customers is important, as it will encourage their trust and loyalty in your brand. Offering sneak previews and first purchase of new products to customers who have signed up to your newsletter or have a certain account can make them feel that they are a part of something exclusive and leave them wanting more. Adding that personal touch can also be as simple as follow up email, asking your customer how satisfied they were with their product and perhaps guiding them to leave an official review, which will benefit your organic search results when you are generating 5* reviews.        

Need help optimising your eCommerce store? Get in touch!