Know the Difference: Customer Retention vs. Customer Loyalty

When it comes to “loyalty” and “retention”, both of them have some differences, as well as similarities. By the word “customer retention” we mean such customers those may or may not return to your website after making a purchase.

However, a customer with loyal intention will purchase items from your store again and again. They will also refer your products/services to others. What could be better than having a positive review and reference without investing a single penny?

A loyal customer will always support you, defend you from marketing competition. He is more than a client. Whereas, customer retention has a massive potential if you do it correctly. When you delve into this topic, you can see that their behavior is very different.

Main differences between loyalty and retaining customers

The loyalty is based on clients who will be very pleased with your product voluntarily, despite having other options available.

Retention is when a user continues to buy from your brand, but does so because he does not know other options or can buy products from other brands any time soon. What it does not have is that emotional link with your brand.

But why are the differences between loyalty and retention so important?

Mainly, making a differentiation will help you better plan your strategies. Good companies are never going to forget about their customers once they have bought. They look for a way to continue working to retain them for as long as possible.

Since you know the difference between these two terms, it is very important that you understand how each one of them works and learn to adapt your strategy to the achievement of the objectives of both types of clients.

Customer loyalty to increase your reach

Building customer loyalty is a process where a positive relationship develops. This relationship occurs between consumers and your company. The greatest benefit of loyalty is that it is loyal customers who will speak well of your brand in their environment.

Customers can become loyal when they see the positive responses your business has had on social media. Therefore, it is very important that you carry out strategies on social media aimed at the loyalty of potential customers.

Another of the main reasons for you to invest in customer loyalty is that selling to those current customers is going to be much faster and cheaper.

Customer retention to improve business profitability

Customer retention is the strategy applied by a company or brand in order to keep its buyers through a set period. Its main objective is to keep customers for as long as possible or for a necessary time.

It is a very different strategy from acquiring new clients and finding potential leads, but it is still as important as these. Anyone who has bought from you, or only interacted with your brand even once, can be a retention target.

For this, you are going to have to invest a lot of money, but the results you receive will be greater.

Keys that is crucial for customer retention, also build loyalty

Know the main keys so that you can attract and retain your customers by applying both concepts –

Humanize your communication

One of the main complaints that people leave about customer services is that they are often unnatural and with a robotic attitude. Many companies train their employees to show greetings, apologies, and sales pitches, while customers are always waiting for responses that are genuine. So, when you go to talk to your clients, try to make communication as natural and “face to face” as possible. Why will you miss any opportunity?

Always know your customers

The process of loyalty and attracting customers has a lot to do with the sales process. And it is necessary to know the name of the user with whom you are communicating, when their birthday is, what they need and how far they live, etc. But how can you get all this information? The key to this is that you continue the conversation once the first transaction has been made. Once you have your information, you can create techniques to add value to it.

Keep in touch

Creating a relationship that is ongoing will allow you to monitor the way the customer feels about your brand. This way, you can stop some problems before they come to light. Follow up your customers after an interaction. Constantly send messages that are friendly to your customers. Send an email once a month with all the news that your business has.

Long-term relationships and trust are synonymous. To achieve the commitment, be honest and sincere. Always show the good intentions you have, and be flexible. Creating and sharing genuine and informative content will add value to your effort to gain trust of the customers. You can do this through videos, articles on your blog, reports, eBooks and other content.

A new lead is going to be the beginning of a great friendship.

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