When you give customers a delightful customer experience, people remember the positive interactions and eventually return to do business with you again — a core fundamental of .
But how do you provide a delightful experience that inspires repeat customers? And how do you know who your repeat customers are? In this post, we’ll discuss:
Repeat Customers Definition
Repeat customers consistently return to do business with you and purchase your products and services. You can also call repeat customers loyal customers.
Why are repeat customers important?
Repeat customers are important because they spend more money with your business, engage in word-of-mouth marketing to promote you to others, and it also costs less to retain an existing customer than it does to acquire a new one.
How to Identify Repeat Customers
The best way to identify your repeat customers is to monitor your loyalty programs and calculate customer lifetime value (CLTV).
1. Customer Loyalty Program
Your repeat customers are those who have gotten the most value out of your loyalty program, regardless of the type of program you have.
For example, if you have a points-based program, your repeat customers will have the most points, and if you have a punch card loyalty program, your repeat customers will have their punch cards filled out and ready to redeem.
2. Customer Lifetime Value
As a refresher, customer lifetime value (CLV or CLTV) tells you how much revenue you can expect from a single customer for as long as they do business with you. Customers with the highest CLTV are your repeat customers because they’ve spent the most.
With this in mind, what inspires customers to become repeat customers that use your loyalty programs and have a high lifetime value? We surveyed consumers to find out what makes them stick around, and we’ll discuss their insight below.
7 Secrets for Getting Repeat Customers That Stick Around, According to Consumers
1. Have an excellent product.
In our survey, we asked consumers about the factors that made them repeat customers at a brand they’re loyal to. 77% of respondents said that a business having an excellent product or service that meets their needs is the number one factor that inspires them to stick around.
As a brand, you likely already know the importance of having a product that meets your audience's needs and sets you apart. A well-rounded understanding of your audience is the best way to create this kind of product.
Who are they? What are their needs and pain points? How will your product meet those needs better than your competitors with similar products?
Iterating and improving your product is also important as customer needs can change over time.
2. Practice excellent customer service.
Customer service is, naturally, an essential aspect of your business.
Your ability to connect with customers beyond the point of purchase demonstrates a complete dedication to their needs and goals. Unsurprisingly, our survey found that excellent customer service was the third most important factor that inspired consumers to become repeat customers at the brands they’re loyal to.
The two customer service factors that influenced survey respondents to be repeat customers are:
2.1 Support reps respond quickly and bring quick solutions.
60% of respondents told us that reps responding quickly and bringing quick solutions is the #1 customer service factor that drives them to make repeat purchases.
Quality customer service means you’re there for your customers when they need you, and immediate response times take your service up a notch and show people you’re always there to answer questions. And nowadays, consumers expect .
2.2 Customer support reps are engaged and enthusiastic.
Consumers don’t want to feel like they’re bothering a rep during a conversation. They want to speak with engaged and enthusiastic reps ready to help them and bring the solutions they need, contributing to an excellent experience.
It’s important to continuously offer excellent service to every customer, regardless of whether it’s their first or 100th purchase. A mindset that current customers are already loyal to your brand and don’t need to be wowed by excellent service can actually drive your loyal customers away.
Consumers said engaged and enthusiastic reps are the second most influential service factor in inspiring customer loyalty.
3. Prioritize the entire customer experience.
The customer experience is anything your customer does related to your business, good or bad, from how you greet them when they enter a store to how easy it is for them to leave feedback. Per survey respondents, prioritizing the customer experience is an impactful driver of repeat purchases.
Prioritizing the customer experience looks like solving for the customer and going above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction. For example, your repeat customers might have a favorite product, but you send them newsletters with product announcements and recommendations to make sure they’re aware of what you offer if new needs arise.
4. Remember the information they share with you.
When I was in college, I had a favorite restaurant that I’d go to. Why did I go back again and again? The people remembered my name, favorite drink, and what I was up to. And it wasn’t forced; they genuinely cared about the connection they built.
Personalizing the customer experience by recalling customer information and their lives encourages them to stick around. It shows you’re listening and viewing them as more than just a name on a receipt; you’re letting them know they’re valued.
5. Create successful customer loyalty programs.
An attractive customer loyalty program incentivizes customers to remain with your brand. But what makes a customer loyalty program successful? After all, when the program is free, and there are no consequences for leaving it, what's keeping your customers around?
Some key pillars of a customer loyalty program are:
- Offer rewards for various customer actions, like creating an account, signing up for a newsletter, referring a friend, etc.)
- Rewards that have meaning and value for customers, like redeemable points.
- Offer different types of rewards since customers have different preferences, like monetary rewards, event invites, donations to causes they care about, etc.)
- Make it easy for customers to join and sign up, and have a logical reward and point structure.
According to consumers, the are discounts, points or rewards, and exclusive or early product access.
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- A 5% increase in customer retention can produce more than 25% increase in profit. (Bain & Company).
- Acquiring new customers costs 5 to 10 times more than selling to a current customer. (Business.com)
- For 37% of buyers, it takes at least five purchases for them to call themselves loyal to a brand. (Yotpo)
- Consumers say that loyalty to a brand means buying from one business despite cheaper options elsewhere. (Yotpo)
- 64% of loyal customers are likely to purchase more frequently. (McKinsey)
- 64% of consumers say a driver of customer loyalty is if the brand offers good value for the money they spend. (Deloitte)
- Existing customers are 50% more likely to try a new product and spend 31% more than new customers. (Forbes)
- The average number of active loyalty memberships among US consumers is 7.6. (eMarketer)
- Customers receiving value during a service interaction are 82% more likely to repurchase or renew when presented with the chance to switch to a competitor. (Gartner)
- 73% of consumers will leave for a competitor after multiple poor interactions, and more than half will leave after just one. (Zendesk)
- 66% of salespeople say the highest quality leads come from existing customers. (黑料吃瓜网)
Over to You
Repeat customers are more profitable than new ones. Obtaining them can be a challenge, though, because hundreds of competing brands can draw them in after the slightest roadblock with your business.
Insights from our recent survey tell us more about what drives repeat customers, and leveraging direct consumer insight can help your business improve retention rates and build loyalty.