5 Tips to Create Repeat Customers

Relationships are key to building brand loyalty. By creating a pleasant rapport with your customers, you build a relationship that they’ll feel good about—one that will keep them coming back time and time again. 

Our virtual receptionists consistently witness this phenomenon and can attest to it. But what do customers do for brands they love?

According to a study done by Yotpo, 60% of customers who consider themselves loyal to a brand will tell friends and family about it.

Similarly, almost 40% of loyal customers will spend more on a product even if there are cheaper options elsewhere. 

Of course, establishing those relationships is easier said than done. Use these five tips to help retain customers who will stick around for the long haul. They’ll help you earn business and achieve ultimate success.

How to Create Repeat Customers

1. Keep in Touch With Customers
2. Reward Brand Loyalty
3. Stay Active on Social Media
4. Ask for Customer Feedback
5. Over-Deliver on Customer Requests

1. Keep in Touch With Customers

Maintaining an active role in the lives of your customers is easier than ever thanks to the internet. Your relationship with a customer might start when they click on your website, call your office, or walk through your front door. But the end of that relationship is less obvious. 

Keep the door open for repeat business by staying in touch with your customers. Depending on your business model, this might mean signing them up for your newsletter, targeting them in a post on social media, or booking a follow-up appointment. 

The main goal of this strategy isn’t to constantly push sales and products in your customers’ faces. Instead, you want to work on your relationships with specific customers. 

For example, acknowledging birthdays with a standard form email might not require much on your part, but it’s a quick and easy way to share your appreciation for customers. But keeping in touch shouldn’t end there. Be sure to reward your customers’ loyalty whenever you can. 

Keeping in touch should feel natural, easy, and purposeful. 

2. Reward Brand Loyalty

Humans respond to incentives. If customers believe they’ll benefit from a continued relationship with your brand, they’ll continue to return.

Everybody loves a freebie, but discounts and giveaways aren’t the only way to reward customer loyalty, especially if your margins are thin. If you’re eager to honor the relationship you’ve built with repeat customers, consider the things they value the most about your products and services. Then use that to think outside the box. 

Instead of giving away free or discounted products, invest in the customer experience. Invite customers to private events in your store or office. 

• Holiday celebrations with wine and cheese are a great way to show your customers your appreciation. In turn, they’ll be more likely to make purchases while they’re in the store. 
• Charity events, themed parties, and the occasional early-access sale for loyalists can go a long way to nurture customer relationships. 
• Sharing these events on social media is another great way to highlight your brand persona and nurture relationships with clients.

Reward loyal customers, and they’ll multiply in no time.

3. Stay Active on Social Media

Keep your company at the top of your customers’ the minds so they’ll think of you first when it’s time to re-order by creating an omnichanel customer service experience.

It’s never a good idea to shove your brand in the faces of your customers. At best, they’ll grow tired and ignore you—at worst, you’ll annoy them into never using your services again. 

Thankfully, social media has made it easy to meet your customers where they’re at. Your instinct might be to update only when there’s news to share. Instead, create engaging, meaningful posts that reflect your brand persona and share a few times a week.

Check out this sample Facebook post from our own page:

We’ve taken a relevant phenomenon (employees going on summer vacation) and tied it into our own content. With that simple plug, we’ve managed to reach nearly 1,000 people.

Customers who love your products will naturally gravitate towards your page, especially if you’re featuring relevant content that they care about. Comments, likes, and shared posts help keep your name at the top of a customer’s mind. So the next time they’re in need of what you’re offering, they’ll think of you first. 

Engagement rates may not immediately impact sales numbers, but social media helps to maintain a reliable, relevant presence in your customers’ daily lives. While you’re at it, use social tools to collect valuable feedback about your brand. 

Social media experts encourage businesses to use social media to build relationships with the consumer and practice soft sale strategies.

4. Ask for Customer Feedback

Check in with consumers about their experiences to show your commitment to customer service.

Once reserved for the latest box office releases and new restaurant openings, reviews can now be found for just about every organization. A good one can bolster your reputation, but a bad review can do serious damage to your brand. 

If you’re hoping to bring customers back again and again, get in front of their review and ask for feedback while you’ve still got their attention.

Not everyone is willing to share their insight into your business. And the people who do volunteer to fill out a survey are often the squeakiest of wheels. Still, the chance to fix problems quickly or even before they occur is too good to pass up. 

Even if customers don’t take you up on the opportunity to give feedback, they’re still receiving the message that you’re willing to listen, grow, and change based on their opinion. 

All good relationships require two-way communication of needs, desires, and challenges. By staying open to feedback, you’ll nurture customer relationships and keep them coming back for more. If you’re serious about putting what you’ve learned into practice, you’ll want to over-deliver on the expectations of your customers.

Put feedback to work for your brand by prioritizing the customer experience.

5. Over-Deliver on Customer Requests

Find out what the consumer wants and then over-deliver on their expectations.

To really stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to deliver on promises and delight customers in the process. When a transaction is completed, take the opportunity to express your gratitude through a handwritten note. This simple gesture can carry a lot of weight in the digital era. 

Not crazy about showing off your messy scrawl? The opportunities to inspire and surprise customers are endless! Accepting a return you might not normally take, shipping out a package earlier than expected, and providing information before it’s asked for are all great ways to over-deliver.

No matter your strategy, make a point to highlight your appreciation—and your willingness to over-deliver. It might initially feel like bragging, but pointing out how far you’ve gone to express your gratitude can help cement the interaction as a positive one. Your message is the thing that will stick with customers long after their excitement has faded.

Over-delivering on expectations inspires delight and excitement in customers, upping the odds that they’ll come back for more.

Create Repeat Customers to Grow Your Business

No matter your goals, the value of repeat customers cannot be overstated. These five strategies are cost-effective and easy to implement in businesses large and small.

At MAP Communications, we’ve seen these strategies pay off in spades, both for our own clients and the end customers we support. By staying relevant in the lives of consumers, you’ll keep at the top of their minds for when they next re-order.