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Customer Loyalty 101: How Small Businesses Can Retain More Loyal Customers

Avatar MoodGuru
May 1, 2022
201 views


There’s nothing quite like the rush of seeing new customers walk through your door. But without a strategy to retain these fresh faces, up to 50 percent of new customers will never return to your business. Considering that it costs five to seven times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, one-time customer, like one-hit wonders (Blue (Da Ba Dee), anyone?) are not very lucrative.

Ignore Customer Retention And You’re Doomed To Become A Throwback Jam On ‘90s Night

So, how do you retain those first-time customers coming through your door? Here are my tried-and-true customer loyalty tips to make sure you never lose another customer.

Offer A Digital Loyalty Program

Here’s the nightmare: A customer walks into your store, makes a purchase and leaves. Now your mind starts racing. Who are they? Why did they choose to come in today? Will they ever come back? If you’re not breaking into a cold sweat visualising this scenario, you should be.

Forty-eight percent of consumers say that the most critical time to gain their loyalty is when they make their first purchase or begin their service.

Thanks to digital loyalty programs like Belly, small businesses can access technology that large companies like Starbucks, Kohl’s and CVS rely on to build customer relationships.

Offering a digital loyalty program ensures that you can capture customer information the first time a customer visits your business so that you can continue to engage with them after they’ve left

Make it super simple for customers to sign up by requiring just an email address or phone number. It’s also critical to make sure that the rewards you’re offering are relevant and enticing to your customers. The top two reasons consumers participate in loyalty programs are that they’re easy to understand (81 percent) and the rewards and offers are relevant (75 percent). But in order for your customers to sign up for your loyalty program, they have to know about it! It’s critical that you and your staff clearly pitch your program. Say things like:

  • “It’s free to join our loyalty program, and you’ll get a free cup of coffee after just 5 visits! You can sign up with just your email address.”
  • “We reward our loyal customers with unique experiences! You can get a styling party for you and 5 friends after just 10 purchases!

Provide Fun, Memorable Experiences

surprise-and-delight-for-customer-loyalty

Discounts and monetary rewards are great, but to really stand out, consider offering memorable experiences to your loyal customers. In a survey conducted by coalition loyalty program company,  LoyaltyOne, 95 percent of Canadian consumers polled confirmed that “surprise and delight” experiences (unexpected moments that “wow” shoppers and leave a lasting impression) from retailers and brand owners boost their positive perception of the brand. With 90 percent of the survey’s respondents preferring special privileges from the brands they’re most loyal to, it’s pretty apparent that these one-of-a-kind, unique moments are what consumers really want.

On top of that, our data at Belly shows that offering a high-point value reward has a positive impact on customer visit frequency. Take Classy Girl Cupcakes in Milwaukee, for example. Last spring, Belly Member Matt Agen visited 85 times in order to earn enough points to get the reward he was after: a tour of the bakery and a private session with the bake shop’s head decorator. Classy Girl Cupcakes even made a video about Matt’s unique experience.