Customer segmentation is something we frequently mention on this blog, and for a good reason. With a well-segmented target audience, you can conduct more effective sales and marketing campaigns. In many cases, customer segments are also the basis for special deals and offers that aren’t available to everyone visiting your online store or website. This is the case with the loyal customer segment. Companies frequently want to reward such customers by giving them access to perks that aren’t available to other visitors. Let’s take a moment to find out how to make the most of this segment.
Loyal or regular customers are the backbone of every company. They help you grow your business and provide this essential stability that allows you to weather worse periods or finance investments in your business.
There are many options that you can utilize when it comes to regular customers, but first, you need to actually know how to find them and separate them from other customers/users in your base. Let’s have a look at how to do so.
Build a segment consisting of loyal customers with iPresso
Depending on the type of your business, you may define regular customers in different ways. For some companies, e.g., FMCG ones, a loyal customer is the one who buys your products at least several times a month. For online stores, a regular customer is someone who places more than two or three orders throughout the year.
Regardless of the business profile, though, most of the time, you’re looking at two factors:
- Order frequency
- (Combined) order value
In terms of both factors, the more, the better, obviously. But how can you identify those people in your database, especially if your database consists of thousands of entries? You can do so manually and simply look for customers who match your criteria. In tools like Excel, you can find the relevant column and then sort by the highest value.
It’s easier to do so with a flexible CRM solution, such as the one offered by iPresso. With our system, you can simply sort customers based on such factors as:
- How many orders have been placed in general
- How many orders have been placed in a specific period (e.g., over the last year)
- What was the value of the orders
- How often a given customer places an order (once a week, once a month, once a year…?), etc.
This way, you can easily specify who your ideal regular customer is and identify those people in your database.
And it goes further; you can assign scores to specific customers or label them as “regular customers”, so that you don’t have to go through the same process over and over again whenever you want to find loyal customers or offer them something special.
How to use the loyal customers segment
Once your segment is ready, you can use it in several different ways. Here are some ideas for you:
Presale/early access
The first thing you can do is give your loyal customers early access to new products, features, or services before they are available to other customers. This works especially well with new products or limited products in your offer. Giving your regular customers early access shows your appreciation and allows you to establish more in-depth relationships with your customers. What’s more, such an approach helps you build the sense of “belonging to an exclusive group” and can help generate some positive word of mouth about your business.
Create a loyalty program
Implement a loyalty program where customers who have reached a specific threshold of purchases receive benefits, such as:
- Freebies
- Discounts
- Additional incentives, e.g., free delivery
A well-designed loyalty program helps you create and maintain ongoing brand engagement, especially when it comes to purchases and other brand interactions.
Ask them for reviews and offer something in return
Positive reviews are immensely important in every business, but people are frequently reluctant to give them. Reaching out to loyal customers improves your odds of receiving such reviews. People who already value your brand will be more eager to write something positive about it.
Also, consider offering something small in return, e.g., a 5% discount on the next order, which is a good idea to get more reviews for your business.
Personalized gifts and communication
While thank-you notes may not be so popular these days, it’s still a nice gesture showing your loyal customers that you value them. Such a thank-you note could be sent along with a personalized gift and messaging tailored to this particular person. To achieve this, you can, for example, mention past purchases and express your hope that the customer is satisfied with the product.
But don’t make it sound cheap and salesy. Personalized thank-you notes should be about genuine appreciation; save your sales efforts for different occasions.
Special offers
The last idea is probably the most straightforward one. You can create special offers that are available only to loyal customers in your business. To do so, you can, e.g., create a special promo code with an additional discount and distribute it only to people matching specific criteria.
Grow sales with iPresso!
Reaching out to regular customers will surely help you get more sales and win the engagement of your customers, thus allowing you to achieve many long-term benefits. And iPresso has got you covered when it comes to all the tools and features you need to use to stay in touch with your customers.
If you’d like to give our platform a try, we invite you to start with a free 30-day trial access. All you need to do is fill out this short form. We’ll handle the rest!
Leave a Reply