3 Ways To Turn One-Time Customers Into Lifetime Customers

As a business owner, your customers are the lifeblood of your business. After all, they’re the ones who not only generate revenue but also push you to innovate your products and services. 

When it comes to marketing, many businesses focus solely on the acquisition of new customers. This makes sense because, after all, successfully doing so is the main way to promote growth. Unfortunately, this focus can come at the expense of maintaining current customers and growing them into frequent, lifetime customers.

In many cases, encouraging current customers to stay loyal to your brand can actually be more profitable than simply increasing conversion rates with new customers. That’s because your current customer base has a 50% greater likelihood of trying one of your company’s new products. Furthermore, they’ll spend at a higher rate than new customers – up to 31% more. 

Despite the fact that these numbers indicate overall greater revenue from current customers than new customers, businesses still have a tendency to focus their marketing dollars on customer acquisition rather than customer retention. If you’re ready to make a change in your company’s marketing approach and start making customer retention a priority, the good news is there are several simple ways to give your current customers the attention and care they need to stay loyal to your brand.

Option 1: Take Advantage of the Flexibility of Email Marketing

To encourage repeat purchases, start where your customers are spending much of their time already – in their inbox. While this method may seem old-fashioned to those who believe social media marketing is the only way to reach people these days, the truth is Americans still spend hours each day in their email inbox. 

In fact, a recent study by Adobe showed respondents spent up to 5 hours a day checking email. Furthermore, consumers seem to prefer developing relationships with brands through email. According to Adobe’s survey, 50% of respondents stated a preference for receiving offers from brands via email over all other channels. 

This may be because email marketing is so flexible. Consumers know they can opt out at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link, or change their preferences to only receive certain types of emails. With this kind of trust already in place, taking advantage of this preference is an easy way to:

• Send promotions to your current customers
• Keep them engaged with your brand’s community
• Ensure they’re always up to date with your product and service offerings

Option 2: Promote Loyalty Through a Customer Loyalty Program

Another tried-and-true method for retaining loyal customers is to implement an incentive-based customer loyalty program. When one-off customers realize they can enjoy rewards by choosing your brand in the future, they’ll have a reason to return. Many companies choose to focus their loyalty programs on providing discounts for frequent purchases, while others use them to promote special offers or package deals. 

When it comes to crafting your customer loyalty program, one thing to keep in mind is registering must be a seamless experience for the consumer. If a first-time customer is interested in signing up for the program but finds the process to be clunky or invasive, they won’t hesitate to opt out. While this won’t translate into an immediate loss of revenue, it could spell a loss of potential profit that should be avoided at all costs.

Option 3: Utilize Reviews as a Marketing and Data Acquisition Tool

If you want to promote repeat purchases, the key is to provide exactly what your customers are looking for. One of the best ways to gain insights into these specifications is by leveraging customer reviews and ratings. 

Although you may not think of reviews and ratings as a marketing tool, they are in fact one of the most powerful marketing tools you have at your disposal. Reviews are not limited to helping improve your reputation and online presence. They can also reinforce brand loyalty and give you detailed insights into what aspects of your products and services you should be highlighting in your marketing communications.

There are plenty of analysis tools and easy-to-use software platforms available that do the work of identifying trends and commonly used keywords in reviews. These technologies can help you more easily keep up with what customers are saying about your products, including flaws that need to be remedied and particular features customers appreciate. 

You can then use this data to resolve issues that may have otherwise gone unnoticed or adjust your services to better meet consumer needs. In doing so, you’ll be taking a huge step to keep your customers around for the long haul without draining your resources in the process.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to turn your one-time customers into lifetime customers! With these tips, you can easily and inexpensively promote a trust-filled relationship with customers that translates into brand loyalty over time.