It is estimated that loyal customers spend up to 10 times more than new ones. Acquiring new clients can cost five times as much as generating business from existing customers.
Are you doing enough to inspire and retain your customers’ loyalty in light of these statistics?
You can give your business a boost by ensuring your marketing encourages brand loyalty, repeat business, and customer referrals. How can you promote customer loyalty and empower your existing customers to do even more for your business?
This article discusses how to increase customer loyalty in B2B. You will learn how to motivate customers to engage more meaningfully with the brand and gain new leads.
Customer loyalty can be measured in B2B transactions
What is B2B Customer Loyalty? It is a challenging metric to calculate because loyalty can manifest itself in many different ways. You can measure customer loyalty using three metrics:
- Rate of repeat customers (RCR): How often do your customers purchase from you? This metric measures how long your customers continue to buy from you after their first purchase. Set RCR up as a baseline and track it within your CRM system.
- Track RCR on a regular basis to see what percentage of your customers return to you.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV). This metric measures how much profit each customer has contributed to your business throughout the time they have been buying from you. You can predict CLV by using data from your CRM, such as annual revenue, frequency of purchases, and trends.
- This metric will help you determine the highest-value clients and what practices hinder loyalty in your lowest-value clients.
- The Net Promoter Score* is. This score reveals how likely customers are to refer you to their friends or colleagues. This score simplifies the complex relationship between B2B businesses and their customers. It is a must-have tool for marketers who want to understand customer loyalty.
- Ask customers to rate their likelihood to recommend your business on a 1-10 scale. The customers who choose a score of 9 or 10 are the key promoters, those who will most likely evangelize your brand. To determine the ratio between promoters and detractors, subtract the percentage of your customers who rate you as “promoters” from those who rate you as “detractors.”
These three metrics can provide valuable information about how loyal and engaged customers are. They also give a comprehensive view of the prospects of harnessing loyalty for your benefit.
Loyalty can be increased, and we will benefit from it
In B2B marketing, in particular, loyalty programs must go beyond the traditional punch cards. This tactic might work for certain B2C companies, but B2B businesses have a different buying process, with a slower buying cycle and fewer opportunities for repeat purchases. Both of these factors must be taken into consideration when designing loyalty programs.
The success of loyalty programs in B2B organizations depends on the ability to gather solid data about your customer’s satisfaction with your products and services.
Consider using a survey to collect this data. We conduct annual surveys at my company to determine how satisfied our clients are with our services. We can determine which clients are the most loyal and willing to recommend our services based on their responses. We can use the data to improve our relationships with clients and increase their loyalty.
The best B2B programs are not focused on product discounts but rather on service. BlueLine Rental is a company that rents construction materials. It was formerly Volvo Rents. The company crunched the data to identify its highest-spending clients. The company set “p “white gl”ve” service rules for these high-value clients. The new rules allow customers to request service at any time of the day, night, or weekend. This empowers them and shoBlueLine’se’s appreciation for their business.
BlueLine also set aside some of its marketing budget to offer extra services for customers who were close but not quite at the top. The company trusted its Marketing and Sales staff to decide how best to spend the money. One salesperson, for instance, provided freshly baked cookies and trail mixture to his client, while another hosted a barbecue event for the client’s employees. The program resulted in a 150% increase in the number of BlueLine’se’s high-value clients within a year.
This type of loyalty program allows B2B marketers to bring back emotion by empowering loyal customers and encouraging positive interactions between salespeople. In turn, relationships are continuously strengthened and nurtured.
Referrals are a great way to grow your customer base.
Referrals are a great way to reach new customers. 84% of B2B decision makers begin the purchasing process by referring a friend, so getting new leads from your existing clients is vital to your business’s success. Reward your customers for spreading the news about your company and bringing in new clients.
A successful B2B referral program must be rewarding and personal. By rewarding your customers for their time and insight, you can show them that you appreciate them.
ReadyTalk created a more social referral system. High-value customers could earn points by completing online challenges, such as discussing their experiences on social networks or completing surveys. These points could be redeemed for special services and rewards.
This referral program generated 190 referrals in the first four months for ReadyTalk. It also boosted the company’s social medicompany’se and identified 70 advocates who were willing to serve as sales references. The program referred customers who closed 33% of their deals within 60 days. The company’s typical salcompany’sis double that length.