Loyal customers are the heart of every business. They trust your products, choose you over competitors, and spread the word about your brand. However, customer loyalty isn’t built by chance–it’s nurtured! If you want to keep shoppers engaged in the long run, you need to learn how to reward loyal customers.
Price and products might catch a shopper’s attention in the beginning, but they’re more likely to stick around when they feel valued and appreciated. In this article, we’ll reveal 7 strategies to help you reward your most dedicated customers and keep them coming back for more.
Excited to learn? Then let’s dive in!
Why Reward Loyal Customers?
Nurturing customer relationships will always be a worthwhile investment in today’s competitive market. After all, businesses with a steady stream of loyal customers not only enjoy greater revenue growth–they also benefit from repeat purchases, increased brand advocacy, and long-term growth!
Check out these compelling industry statistics:
- Shoppers spend 43% more money on brands they’re loyal to.
- 86% of loyal shoppers will recommend a favorite brand to friends or family.
- Increasing customer retention rate just by 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95%.
- Loyal shoppers are 5x more likely to repurchase, 5x more likely to forgive, 4x more likely to refer, and 7x more likely to try a new offering.
- 52% of customers go out of their way to buy from brands they’re loyal to.
Pretty impressive, right? These numbers make it clear that keeping existing customers is crucial to long-term business success. It’s even more compelling when we review the cost difference between customer acquisition and retention.
According to industry estimates, acquiring new customers can cost up to seven times more than retaining existing ones! Focusing on fostering customer loyalty is a more cost-effective strategy that can help drive lasting growth for your business.
How To Reward Loyal Customers And Keep Them Coming Back
We’ve touched on the key benefits of having loyal customers, but how exactly do you ensure they stay engaged? Well, it’s time to dive into the action part!
In this section, we’ll walk you through 7 powerful strategies to help you reward your most loyal shoppers and make sure they keep coming back. Let’s get into it.
1. Provide exclusive discounts and pricing
Creating a sense of exclusivity is key when learning how to reward loyal customers. Nothing makes shoppers feel more like VIPs than knowing they’re getting a deal that others don’t have access to.
There are several ways you can do this. For example, you can reward returning customers with special discount codes or give loyalty program members access to member-only pricing.
With plugins like Advanced Coupons, you can set up WooCommerce coupons that work only for certain user roles or customer accounts. You can even combine these restrictions with cart conditions, such as cart total and product quantities. This allows you to craft highly customized promotions for your most loyal customers.
Want to learn more about creating coupons for specific customers? Check out our guide here. 👉
2. Offer early access to sales and new products
This is another great way to create that sense of privilege and exclusivity. By giving your most loyal customers early access to sales and new products, they feel like valued insiders. Like most of the strategies on this list, there are many ways you can implement this tactic. For instance, you can:
- Give early access to sales: Consider running sale events earlier exclusively for loyalty program members. This could be through giving them special coupons that are restricted to select users or by creating a private sale page.
- Provide early product launch access: What could feel more exclusive than trying out products before they’re officially released? This is also a great way to seek feedback from users before you officially launch a product line.
- Send out priority restock alerts: If certain products are more in demand than others, consider notifying loyal buyers first before announcing a restock.
🎯 BONUS TIP: Consider segmenting your email list and creating a “VIP list” of your most loyal customers. This will make sending sale announcements, restock alerts, and product launch news a lot easier. Tools like Drip allow you to segment your email list and send scheduled promotions to make sure shoppers don’t miss out.
3. Launch a loyalty program
We can’t miss this if we’re talking about how to reward loyal customers! Launching a loyalty program is one of the best ways to reward ongoing engagement with your brand. In fact, 83% of shoppers say that being a loyalty program member influences their decision to purchase again from a business.
These programs work well because they tap into the human desire to “earn rewards.” When shoppers earn points, perks, or exclusive rewards, their engagement with your brand feels more fun and rewarding! This sense of achievement encourages repeat purchases, which is a win for your business!
Thankfully, setting up a rewards program isn’t complicated with plugins like WooCommerce Loyalty Program. With this powerful plugin, you can easily set up a points and rewards system in WooCommerce. You can also choose to reward points for specific actions like orders, account sign-ups, and product reviews.
4. Celebrate customer milestones
Learning how to reward loyal customers, in essence, is about building a stronger emotional bond with your shoppers. One of the most effective ways to do this is by celebrating their milestones with your brand. Here are some meaningful ways to do this:
- Grant birthday perks: Offer a special gift, such as a discount, freebie, or bonus loyalty points to celebrate your customer’s birthday.
- Recognize member anniversaries: Celebrate the 1-year, 2-year, or 5-year mark of a shopper’s journey with your brand by sending a thank you email, along with an exclusive gift or discount.
- Reward purchase milestones: Grant a special discount or perk (such as free shipping) when customers reach their 5th or 10th order with your business.
These are just some examples. With tools like Advanced Coupons, you can set specific cart conditions for your coupon discounts to quality your most loyal customers. For instance, you can offer discounts based on total customer spend or number of previous orders. This is handy when you want to reward your most engaged and top-spending customers.
5. Grant referral rewards
Shoppers who are already loyal to your brand won’t hesitate to share their experiences with their friends and family. Offering referral rewards can amplify this benefit while making customers feel valued for recommending your business.
Best part? It can bring in new shoppers who already trust your business. According to industry insights, 84% of customers trust recommendations from people they know. Referred shoppers are also 18% more loyal than customers acquired through other marketing channels.
To encourage your loyal customers to spread the word, consider offering exclusive referral discounts and perks. You can also explore granting store credits or gift cards. These types of perks keep the revenue in your store while encouraging repeat orders, creating a win-win scenario for you and your customers.
6. Feature customer stories in your marketing
Reward your most valued customers by sharing their stories and experiences with your brand. Featuring real customers not only recognizes their loyalty–it’s also a powerful way to build trust and social proof. In fact, a whopping 98% of customers read online reviews before deciding to purchase!
One way to shine a spotlight on your customers is by featuring their feedback and stories on your website. Some brands even create a dedicated user testimonials page to showcase customer success stories. Check out this great example from Buffer:
7. Ask for feedback
If you really want to learn how to reward loyal customers and understand what they value, ask for their feedback and listen! When you ask for feedback, you show customers that their opinions matter. It’s a powerful way to enhance their emotional connection with your brand. You also gain invaluable insights which can help you improve your products and services.
Sending out post-purchase surveys is one excellent way to gather customer feedback. You can also consider rewarding product reviews. Plugins like WooCommerce Loyalty Program allow you to grant bonus points to shoppers who leave product reviews after they make a purchase.
Looking for inspiration? Check out our guide on how to get customer feedback here. 👉
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you reward customers for loyalty?
Some of the most common ways to reward customer loyalty include offering exclusive discounts, early access to sales, referral rewards, customer milestone perks, and VIP experiences. Other strategies include offering gift cards, featuring customer stories in marketing, and granting bonus loyalty points.
Plugins like Advanced Coupons allow WooCommerce store owners to create advanced coupon promotions exclusive only to certain user roles or customers. This makes it easier to grant member-only discounts and perks to repeat buyers.
Why is it important to reward loyal customers?
Loyal customers contribute to the long-term growth of a business. They tend to spend more, choose your business over competitors, and refer your brand to others. By rewarding your customers, you can increase their lifetime value and strengthen their emotional connection with your brand. In the long haul, this contributes to a more sustainable and profitable business.
How do you retain loyal customers?
One of the most powerful ways to retain loyal customers is by launching a loyalty program. A loyalty program rewards customers with points, perks, or exclusive discounts as they keep engaging with a business. This gives them a reason to keep coming back. With tools like WooCommerce Loyalty Program, store owners can easily set up a rewards and points system in their ecommerce store.
Conclusion
Your most loyal customers are the lifeblood of your business. They trust your brand and choose you over competitors. This is why learning how to reward your loyal customers is crucial! By making shoppers feel valued, you deepen their emotional connection with your brand and encourage long-term engagement.
In this article, we showed you seven powerful ways on how to do this:
- Provide exclusive discounts and pricing
- Offer early access to sales and new products
- Launch a loyalty program
- Celebrate customer milestones
- Grant referral rewards
- Feature customer stories in your marketing
- Ask for feedback
Tools like Advanced Coupons make rewarding customers a lot easier. This powerful plugin extends the default coupon features of WooCommerce, allowing you to create exclusive promotions for your most valued shoppers.
We hope this article helped you out! Do you have any questions on how to reward loyal customers? Let us know in the comments.
