How to retain your customers | 4 proven retention strategies you can use to create client loyalty

Everyone knows it’s easier and cheaper to retain a customer than to attract a new one, but in reality, how can you actually create customer loyalty and keep them from experimenting with your competitors?

The hard truth is, you can’t. Ultimately, it’s a free market, and customers are free agents, incentivised to explore the variety of what both you and your competitors are offering. Every business plays introductory offers and does what they can to put products in people’s hands, or illustrate and advertise how their service does X, Y and Z, but, and this is a huge, momentous, ginormous BUT, eventually, habitually, people will gravitate towards the brands and businesses who serve their needs best, and make them feel valued. That’s the key

We’ll run through 4 key strategies you can implement to put your business in the best position to retain its customers.

1. Create a customer loyalty programme

Implementing a customer loyalty programme is a proven and effective way to enhance customer retention. By rewarding your customers for their loyalty, you provide an incentive for them to continue choosing your product or service over your competitors. A well-designed loyalty programme should be tailored to your specific customer base’s needs and expectations, and should cultivate a sense of exclusivity and appreciation.

The perks of a good loyalty programme could include exclusive promotions, exclusive competitions and contests, value-adding content such as videos, podcasts or a regular publication dedicated to your niche or industry, or personalised rewards or gifts based on their buying history with you. This not only encourages repeat business, but can strengthen the emotional bond between your brand and your customers.

By creating your loyalty programme in alignment with the profile of your customer base, you can foster long-term relationships and increase customer satisfaction.

Pro tip: Whether it’s online or instore, if a customer knows that through your loyalty programme they get entered into a prize draw or a game of chance to potentially win a complimentary item to their main purchase, that could be the difference between them choosing you over a competitor who might be more conveniently located. Games and contests can be created easily on the Drimify gamification platform, and you could even use the Dynamic Path™ format to create a series of games or contests that unlock on specific dates throughout the entire year that coincide with your marketing calendar, or that customers gain access to by using codes they get with purchases.

2. Provide content and resources that add value to shopping with you

Delivering valuable content and resources is crucial for client loyalty. It’s not enough to just sell X and be done with it. You need to sell X and you need to engage in the culture around X. By going beyond the core product or service you offer, and providing relevant educational materials, tutorials, or industry insights, you position yourself as a trusted advisor and resource in your niche.

Consider creating a dedicated blog, or a podcast, or video tutorials inspired by customer pain points or queries. By consistently delivering high-quality content, you showcase your expertise and commitment to your customers’ success and happiness. If you work in an industry niche that includes a particular hobby, do you run a club, or sponsor a team or an event? Even if you don’t serve a hobby or activity-based niche, could you start a mass participation-based club? Even pizza joints have started holding their own run clubs that spawn their own merch – it all contributes to the brand and keeps people coming back.

3. Host exclusive events that cement you as leaders in your industry

Organising exclusive events is a great way to showcase your expertise and strengthen customer loyalty. Whether it’s a virtual webinar, a live conference, a product launch, or a VIP gathering, hosting events allows you to connect with your clients on a deeper level, and position yourself as an authority within your niche or industry.

Exclusive events provide an opportunity to share valuable insights, product updates, or industry trends directly with your customers. By offering exclusive experiences, whether digitally or in person, you foster a sense of community and belonging among your customer base, and strengthen the bond between your brand and your customers.

Pro tip: Events, both digital and physical, are areas that can be massively enhanced by gamification. You can create digital experiences that encourage people to visit your stores, or tell a brand story that creates hype around your event.

You could also create a longer form, multi-level gamification experience with Drimify’s Dynamic Path™ that could start online, but carry over to a product launch, and encourage users in store or to a launch event to complete the experience for a chance at a prize. Leveraging the digital to complement the physical, and vice-versa, is called “phygital,” and is going to be a more and more essential component of capturing and guiding customer attention in the coming years.

4. Solicit and act on customer feedback

Listening to your customers and acting on their feedback is crucial for creating loyalty and retaining customers. Encourage open communication channels and actively seek feedback from your clients regarding their experience with your business. This can be done through Surveys, which can easily be created and embedded with Drimify, feedback forms, or even personal outreach in some cases.

This is an area where it can pay big dividends to include gamification. You can easily use the Drimify platform to incentivise people to leave reviews – good or bad – on your preferred review platforms in exchange for a play on an instant win game that distributes a promo code. Equally, you could invert this, and have your end screen of your instant win ask customers to leave a review, which, if every participant is winning a promo code, will send them to leave their review in a good mood.

You could even create a Video Contest as a way to source video testimonials, which can sometimes be more impactful than written reviews. For example: “The good, the bad, and the ugly: tell us what you think about your experience with our business in a video to be entered into our prize draw.”

Pro tip: Additionally, be sure to monitor reviews your business receives, whether they’re on social media, Google Reviews, or other review sites like Trustpilot – thank the positive reviews with a personal message, and engage with the negative reviews to try and resolve issues and learn as a business. A lot of the time, engaging with a negative review in the right way can not only turn that situation around, but show other potential customers that see the interaction that you’re a business that cares about its customers, and operates with a growth mindset.

Key takeaway

There’s no one size fits all answer to retaining customers, but the strategies listed above have all been proven to work in real life, and are repeatable across different industries and business sectors.

Ultimately, if you offer a good product or service at a competitive price, you’re halfway there, if you can make your customers feel valued, and like you’re as much a resource to them as you are a retailer or vendor, you have a great chance of retaining their business. A big part of customer and client loyalty is being seen not as a business that’s trying to sell them products, but a business that’s trying to solve their problems.