74% of Indian consumers stay loyal to their preferred brand because of a personal and emotional connection. They will likely choose the brand even if a competitor offers similar perks or lower prices.
For companies, loyal customers are critical to being a successful business. This is because loyal customers:
Are likely to advocate for your brand and recommend it to friends and family.
Help keep marketing costs down- since retention is cheaper than acquisition.
Typically spend more than new customers. There is a direct link between customer loyalty and customer lifetime value. Existing customers can spend 67% more on average than new customers.
96% of Indian customers said that being treated as a person, and not a number, was important to building trust in companies- Salesforce State of the Connected Customer report.
How to use technology to drive customer loyalty
In order to keep customers for the long term, brands would do well to treat them as individuals and not just as a number.
Here are a few ways in which technology could help drive customer engagement and boost customer loyalty:
1. Use a complete, shared customer view to deliver delightful customer experiences
Consistent and personalised customer experiences are at the heart of customer loyalty. With a shared customer view, all teams - sales, service, marketing, and others - can interpret customer needs similarly, speak in a unified brand voice, and deliver consistent experiences that delight.
Tip: Use a customer data platform for a single source of customer truth, so teams can deliver true 1-to-1 personalisation.
2. Use data to build dynamic and personalised customer journeys
Technologies such as AI and ML can process data surrounding customer interactions across channels to provide intelligent insights on consumer preferences and needs. Use these insights to create personalised, dynamic customer journeys and drive high customer engagement beyond just the peak seasons.
Tip: Use first-party data to assess customer preferences, and predict purchasing patterns and buyer behaviour throughout the buying cycle. Build a deeper understanding of the customer and deliver targeted communication and offers that are in sync with their unique journey.
3. Create a customer loyalty programme focused on experience
A modern loyalty programme is one that caters to customer needs at every step, and even anticipates what they are looking for. This requires a collaborative ecosystem that consolidates all customer information, provides real-time insights into customer journeys, and streamlines processes for enhanced personalisation.
TCL DigiTech is a case in point. The company works with marquee hospitality brands to build loyalty program apps that give hotel guests a customised experience.
With the help of Salesforce solutions, TLC DigiTech has revolutionised the way hotel guests interact with loyalty programs. Their white-label apps, websites, and SaaS solutions are customised to each hotel brand's requirements. Guests no longer need to manage physical cards or certificates to take advantage of membership benefits, or call or email to make a restaurant reservation. They can fulfil such requests in real-time and at the touch of a button, by using a smartphone app or a website. The result is a personalised, convenient, and delightful loyalty experience for all customers.
Like TCL DigiTech, you too can create a customer loyalty program focused on enhancing customer experience. This involves identifying the key touchpoints where customers interact with your brand and enhancing those interactions. Here are some points to keep in mind while creating an experience-focused loyalty program.
Offer personalised rewards
It's important to create a program that resonates with your customers and meets their expectations. One way to do this is by offering rewards that are personalised to their individual needs, preferences, spending habits, purchasing history and so on. For example, you can offer discounts on the products or services they frequently purchase, provide exclusive access to events or promotions, or create a VIP tier for your most loyal customers with special perks like free shipping and priority customer service.
Learn how PVR gets to know each customer and targets them with personalised offers.
Integrate your customer loyalty programmes into the entire customer lifecycle
According to the 2022 Forrester’s global marketing survey, loyalty programmes are amongst the most successful owned marketing approaches across all stages in the customer lifecycle.
For example, discounts on first-time purchases help transform potential customers into loyal patrons during the discovery stage. Alternatively, complimentary gifts to customers leaving positive reviews on your website is a good approach during the advocacy stage.
To engage your customers throughout their brand journey, and consequently maximise the impact of your loyalty programs, you need to leverage customer data. With the right customer data, you can truly customise your offers and rewards at every touchpoint and create a more personalised experience that fosters loyalty and long-term engagement.
Tip: To increase your Return on Investment (RoI), choose loyalty management solutions that integrate with all your programs and systems for a unified customer experience.
Use a customisable platform to seamlessly upgrade your loyalty programme
Build your loyalty ecosystem on a platform that allows substantial customisation over time - a platform that is capable of integrating with various tech stacks, providing enhanced personalisation, and facilitating effortless development and deployment of intuitive apps. This gives you a holistic view of customer interactions, preferences, and behaviours, creating a single source of truth which can inform your loyalty program strategies and enable personalisation at scale.
It is evident that to make customer loyalty a business strategy, you need a solution that can unify customer data, design flexible programs and help you better target members with more personalised loyalty engagements. With Salesforce Loyalty Management, you can build a unique program with differentiated experiences and exciting rewards and benefits for your customers.
Salesforce Loyalty Management: Put customer experience at the centre of your loyalty program
Built on the trusted Salesforce platform, Loyalty Management is a standalone product that can be integrated into any ecosystem and is designed to scale with your business needs over time.
With Salesforce Loyalty Management, you can:
Get a unified view of program members for personalised engagement
Manage programs end-to-end with an easy-to-use interface
Leverage existing Salesforce integrations to create complete loyalty-boosting experiences
Unify your data strategy for deeper customer understanding
Configure programs that fit the exact needs of your business and customers
Build a loyalty program with Salesforce that boosts customer retention.
Learn more about using Salesforce Loyalty Management Solution
Read more about cultivating customer loyalty:
How emotional intelligence increases customer loyalty
Get marketing engagement right to boost customer retention. Here’s how
