HOW TO BUILD LOYAL CUSTOMERS OUT OF ONLINE SHOPPERS?

It’s festive season and online shopping sites are buzzing with new collections in every category. Customers are constantly comparing and making choices, selecting one site over the other, one brand over the other, trying to strike the best deal. In fact, all online shopping sites are constantly running campaigns, related to sales and offers to keep their customers coming. For sure these sites receive huge turn ups, but the spill-over is also equally high. Making sure you still have a pool of loyal customers is difficult and in this report, we will discuss what you need to achieve to keep them loyal.
With mobile apps playing a key role in increasing sales among online sellers and smartphones providing the options to switch between sites easily, it has increased the competition among the brands extensively. According to a research by Forrester (published on YourStory), here’s how much customers spend while shopping online, specifically through mobile phones:

During the initial launch years of Ecommerce, electronics and gadgets were the most selling products but with increasing offers around apparels and accessories, this segment has picked up sales extensively. With newer apps being introduced constantly, providing access to latest apparel collections, this segment seems to have taken the front-seat.

There’s enormous potential for businesses in the Ecommerce industry and keeping your contacts close is the key. Here’s what you can do to ensure your customers stay loyal to you and attract other customers as well.
Regular Updates
Once you have received an order, take it upon yourself to provide your customer complete and transparent information. Provide them with order details, a sort of confirmation message about what they have ordered, how much did they pay/need to pay, associated offers, easy links to make changes in order and more. Always try to create the impression that your customer is important and you care about their order as much as they do.
Offers and Discounts
Every customer who makes a purchase with you has expectations such as amazing product quality, perfect fit, receiving exactly what they see on the site and such, which are the basics. However, what is underlying beneath the basic is expectations of offers during the next purchase, fringe benefits of being a regular customer etc. What can brands do here? The easiest thing to do is, writing back to the customer and requesting them to share their joys of receiving the delivery, probably a picture, which the brand can later host on their social channels. That’s one step towards achieving customer delight. Following which, the brand can offer user specific coupons/offers as well.

Unquestionable Customer Service
Good customer service is when you listen to your customers and provide solutions to their problems on time. Turns out that’s not enough to maintain customer loyalty. Awesome customer service begins right from the moment an order is placed. From providing order details to providing order status details on a daily basis, letting your customers know about any possible delays or unavailability of products is also important. Suggesting them with the best options for purchase, such as fastest delivering seller, problems that the product might have, how to use the product details and more. The idea is to make the CRM process creative.
Be a Friend
It’s social media and you can take advantage of being a little laid back in terms of language. Unlike chat or email, social media allows your customer service agents to be a friend to your customers, showcasing a real personality rather than hiding behind the brand’s banner. Make your customer service experience more inclined towards a real-life conversation rather than one similar to talking to a robot! All of this while keeping in mind the brand guidelines and maintaining customer service guidelines. However, adding a smiley or high-fiveing a customer never causes any harm.
Prioritize your Customers
Your customers are a mix of pro online shoppers, new to app based shopping buyers, frustrated with multiple brand kinds or even the over expecting types and many more. Hire smart CX agents, who understand the difference between them all, even if it is a thin line. Each kind of customer requires various levels of attention to be provided. For e.g. some buyers prefer a great buying experience through a smooth functioning app and be left alone until the order arrives and then there are those who would need help at every stage. The strategy for each should be different, calling some customers whose concerns cannot be addressed on social media or will only lead to a bigger chaos, is a great idea. Certain customers who prefer only to communicate through email should be dealt with accordingly. Basically, make your customer experience journey flexible and unique for each customer.

More Updates
Your customers are constantly looking for newer products, along with which, comes latest offers and discounts. If your competitor is doing a better job at promoting themselves and showing off what they have to offer to their customers, you might end up taking a back seat in the long run. The best way to deal with this is displaying what’s new on your website, landing pages, app homepage and obviously your social channels. Be visible and you can be sure that you have almost struck the deal with your customers to keep them loyal.