April is International Customer Loyalty Month.
While we advocate for building customer loyalty every month of the year, this is a great opportunity to focus on how well your customer retention strategy is performing. Customer loyalty has the power to grow your business and sustain long-term growth.
Not only do loyal customers come back again and again – they also spread the word among their social circles, potentially bringing you brand-new leads.
However, it’s important to know the difference between loyal customers and repeat customers. Repeat customers choose your shop for now because it’s convenient (eg, location, pricing, inventory, services) but will leave for a competitor if they think another shop is offering a better deal. Loyal customers keep coming to you because they’ve built a relationship with your business.
Building customer loyalty is much more attainable if you adjust your focus from retaining customers for a lifetime to convincing them to come back next time. After all, 37% of consumers say it takes five or more purchases to become loyal1. Consider this: Is what you’re doing now going to bring a customer back when they need auto and tire services? Think about your customer service process. What are you already doing that works well? What could you add?
In today’s digital world, the opportunities to build customer loyalty start long before a customer sets foot in your shop. The customer retention process begins with the first instance of brand awareness and builds from there. Here’s a list of digital tools you may already have in your roster that can convince customers to buy from you again:
Easy Website Engagement
It’s not enough for a website to be responsive and up to date. Now that customers are spending most, if not all, of the buying journey online, your website needs to serve as an extension of your customer service center.
- Online appointment scheduling: While your business isn’t open 24/7, you can still give around-the-clock access to your service schedule directly from your website.
- Store locator: If you have multiple store locations, make sure your customers can easily identify the nearest location.
- Diagnostic center: Many people are hesitant to diagnose a car issue because they’re worried it will cost thousands of dollars to fix. With an online diagnostic center, your customers can answer a series of simple questions to diagnose the likely cause of their vehicle issue and eliminate costly surprises.
Rich Catalog Offerings
Make sure your customers know that you carry the brands and services they need. Include high-quality videos to capture buyer interest and deliver the information your customers are looking for before they ever visit your shop. We recommend that you offer a quote feature (delivered on the website or by email or text) on tires and services to soothe buyer anxiety and demonstrate your competitive pricing.
Bonus: Include an interactive tire fitment guide to help customers understand what type of tires their vehicle needs so they can plan their purchase in advance.
Interactive Online Showrooms
Whether you’re selling cars, car parts or tires, your website needs an interactive showroom to provide customers with a “try before you buy” experience. For example, if your shop prides itself on offering custom wheels, offering an online wheel configurator tool allows shoppers to see how a set of wheels would look on their vehicle – essentially taking those wheels for a virtual test drive!
Investing in an interactive browsing experience makes your website more memorable and makes customers excited to visit your platform again the next time they have a purchasing need.
Dynamic Texting
If you’re not already texting your customers, we encourage you to start. Text messages have a 98% open rate, which is even higher than email. Customers prefer texting over other communication tools because it’s fast, easy, casual and can be used anywhere.
If you want to kick up your customer service several notches and impress your customers, start using a dynamic texting tool that goes beyond sending and receiving simple text messages. Dynamic texting provides your team with a streamlined communication platform to perform important touchpoint tasks, such as receiving payments, sending service and appointment reminders and providing your customers with a receipt of their purchase.
Social Media Service
These days, a lot of customers are turning to a business’ social media to ask questions and share feedback. That’s why we encourage businesses of all sizes to have a dedicated social media rep to monitor post comments and direct messaging apps and respond to messages promptly, both good and not so good. A complaint or poor review is not the end of your relationship with that customer – it’s your opportunity to reach out, hear them out and see if you can change their opinion. Oftentimes, customers are willing to come back once they feel heard.
In short, social media is where you can turn a disgruntled customer into a loyal one.
Team Input
So far, we’ve nominated several digital tools, but let’s not forget the crucial human capabilities that come from your team. While digital tools can capture metrics, feedback and lead data, they can’t replace the ingenuity and collaboration that take place when a group of experts come together. Gather up your team and pitch these two questions for discussion: “Why do customers choose us over the competition?” “Why do customers choose a competitor over us?”
If your business can have a positive impact on a customer at any stage of the buying journey, that customer is much more likely to come back the next time they need your service. Over time, and with a consistent experience dictated by your digital tools, you won’t need to focus so much on hard selling because customers will know what to expect from your business. So, when strategizing your customer loyalty campaign, make sure your digital presence is geared toward bringing a customer back the next time. And then the time after that.
Do you have questions about optimizing the strategy and performance of your website or other digital tools? Feel free to connect with Net Driven today.