With so much competition in an overcrowded marketplace, boosting customer loyalty is more important than ever before. According to a Customer Service Institute report on customer retention, 65 percent of a company’s business comes from existing customers (1). However, many businesses still don’t have a solid customer retention strategy in place.
Fortunately, email marketing can play a huge part in strengthening customer loyalty and should be harnessed by any business looking to improve results. For inspiration, here are nine email marketing strategies to help your business hold onto more customers.
Show Gratitude
Sometimes, the simplest messages can be the most effective. Whether it’s a message thanking a customer for making a purchase, or an email thanking all your subscribers for being a part of your journey, these emails are a great way to invoke positive emotions and make your audience feel appreciated.
Tip: In “Thank You” emails, take the opportunity to highlight related products or offer a discount on the next purchase. However, keep it simple and avoid being too “salesy.”
Reinforce Your Personality
Consumers like to stick with brands they can relate to, so it’s important to continually show your personality and highlight why you’re different from other businesses. By doing this, you’re more likely to create a loyal following and encourage more people to talk about your business.
Tip: Promote the story of your business, especially in welcome emails. Tell people what you believe in, and use a unique tone of voice that sets you apart from the competition.
Introduce a Customer Loyalty Program
In the 2019 iVend Retail “Global Shopper Trends Report”, around 60 percent of consumers said that earning rewards or loyalty points was the shopping experience they valued the most (2). Consumers are clearly influenced by loyalty programs, and email is the perfect channel for promoting them.
Tip: Use a VIP loyalty program to give subscribers exclusive coupon codes, access to deals, and invitations to special events. Also consider introducing a referral program, offering redeemable points to customers when their friends or family make a purchase or sign up to your email list.
Use Data
If you’ve collected enough data in the email subscription form, such as the user’s age, gender, location, and interests, you can start segmenting your email list accordingly. This way, you can make people feel more connected to your business by delivering more personalized, relevant email content.
Tip: Send out automated anniversary emails based on users’ birthdays or the date they subscribed. Attach a coupon code or special offer to show you appreciate their loyalty.
Survey Customers
Send out periodic customer surveys to your email subscribers. By asking people questions, you gain valuable insights into what people like or don’t like about your business, products, and services. As a business, it’s important to track negative feedback from customers, but it’s also crucial to understand why loyal customers stick with your brand.
Tip: To boost engagement, keep surveys as short as possible and consider offering exclusive deals for participants.
Get Feedback on Your Email Content
It’s also a good idea to find out what your subscribers think about your emails. Are they happy with the content they receive? What else do they want to know about? Ask these questions in a simple email survey. You can then make informed decisions about how you communicate with customers and what types of email content to deliver in the future.
Tip: After you receive the feedback, email subscribers with the results of your survey and explain what you’re going to do in response to their feedback.
Regularly Provide Helpful Information
Loyal customers don’t want to read constant messages promoting your company and products; they want useful information and inspiring content. To build on the relationships you have with customers, regularly send emails containing company news, product guides, and expert advice.
Tip: To build trust, don’t force subscribers to click a link to visit your content. Simply include all the useful information in the email. And don’t ask for anything in return.
Give Exclusive Updates
As well as delivering informational content, consider sending exclusive content to regular customers and long-time subscribers. It’s a simple way to make people feel more involved with your business.
Tip: Give subscribers unique insights into how you create your products or how your business operates. For example, share exclusive behind-the-scenes videos or interviews with employees.
Identify and Re-Engage Inactive Subscribers
From your email analytics data, you can identify inactive subscribers and create an email campaign targeting this specific segment of your audience. Keep it conversational in tone – just remind subscribers of the value of your products or services and explain how they can find out more.
Tip: Highlight new products or services and include a special promotional code or discount coupon.
Wrapping Up
Keeping customers loyal to your business is an ongoing challenge as consumers have more choice than ever before. This is why it’s important to use a variety of email marketing strategies that encourage customers to keep coming back to your business.
While it takes time and effort to build customer loyalty through email marketing, if you use these techniques alongside other online marketing strategies, you can consistently engage more customers and stay one step ahead of the competition.
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