BY Rachel Cagle
What factors turn consumers into loyal, repeat customers? Research from Forbes Advisor uncovers a list of things consumers care about the most. And the best part is many of them can be covered with carefully executed email marketing strategies.
How Email Marketing Strategies Power Brand Loyalty
What Affects Customer Loyalty?
Nearly every time consumers interact with businesses, they’re also deciding whether or not they’ll ever want to do so again. According to Forbes Advisor, the top factors that affect customer loyalty include:
- Customer Service: 74% of consumers agree
- Rewards Programs: 69%
- Coupons/Discount Codes: 63%
- Alignment with Personal Values: 61%
- App Availability: 53%
Overall, Forbes says that 53% of consumers say that the experience a brand offers is just as important as the products/services they offer. And another 49% say the relationship a company nurtures with its customers is as important as its offerings as well. An easy way to achieve many of these factors is with email marketing strategies.
Email and Customer Loyalty
The right email marketing strategies can easily drive brand loyalty for your client. Loyalty programs’ primary communication with customers is through email to begin with. And your client can send out emails including/promoting coupons and discount codes and app availability. Steps the brand is taking to act on their values are also messaging opportunities.
For example, a charity or cause could be the personal value that connects your client’s brand and their customers. So, you could send out an email promoting a fundraising event like a sale where a percentage of proceeds go toward the charity/cause.
Personalization
Adding coupons/discount codes and the like to your client’s email marketing strategies is only the tip of the iceberg. According to Forbes, “46% of customers will buy more when given a personalized experience.”
So, the email messages you send to your client’s customers should reflect their interests. For example, an email could feature a coupon/discount code that can be put toward the cost of a frequently purchased item. Or the recipient could use the discount on an item they left in an abandoned shopping cart.
You can use data collected from customers’ previous website visits to determine messaging. Or you can look up more information about your client’s target audience in general on their profile on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel. There, you can get a general idea of the audience’s demographic information, interests and purchase plans.
Sure audience data as a whole tends to be more broad. However, Forbes says that product recommendations are a great addition to personalization that customers enjoy receiving. If your client doesn’t have data on the interests of potential customers, you can get an idea from their audience profile.
Opportunities to Acquire the Competition’s Customers
Don’t forget, your client isn’t the only one who needs to win over customers to gain their loyalty. Their competition also needs to do so. And their email marketing strategies might be lacking.
According to Forbes, reasons customers will switch brands include:
- Better product quality: 70% of consumers agree
- Better deals: 61%
- More product availability: 56%
- More convenient: 55%
- Better product selection: 46%
- Better alignment with my values: 25%
Even if your client’s competition isn’t lacking in those categories, your client may be even better at fulfilling this wants/needs. Highlight your client’s efforts toward each in their email marketing strategies. It could be the incentive potential customers could be looking for to make the switch.
An important note: Don’t besmirch your client’s competition in the email! Simply point out how your client succeeds in the categories.
Combine all this research to make your client’s future email marketing strategies successful.
Photo by Christin Hume