What is relationship marketing? In a nutshell, it’s a type of marketing that prioritises customer retention and satisfaction over sales transactions. Read on to find out the secrets of relationship marketing!
First, what is the importance of relationship marketing? Why should you focus on customer retention and satisfaction? For one thing, businesses spend 80% of their marketing budget on acquiring new customers - this is only money well spent if you actually keep these customers. If you keep spending money and losing old customers as fast as you’re gaining new ones, it’s money down the drain.
What’s more, trying to target new audiences and find new customers requires spending time and resources figuring out who these people are and what they want to see. If you focus on strengthening the relationship you have with existing customers, you’ll already know who you’re trying to engage and what they’re interested in.
So, we’ve established that relationship marketing matters. Without further ado, here are a few tips for your relationship marketing strategy.
Reward loyalty!
Open your wallet or purse and you’ve probably got a handful of old, half-filled loyalty cards for various coffee shops in there. Maybe you never did earn that free coffee in the end, but you probably went back a few times to get your card stamped. Rewarding loyalty works!
There are different ways to go about this. You could offer exclusive discounts codes for your product or service to existing customers, you could offer rewards for referrals or you could organize a prize draw. A more cost-efficient way to reward loyalty might be offering early-access to new products of services to your existing customers.
Use email marketing (effectively!)
Don’t underestimate the power of email marketing for building strong relationships with your customers. Email is a great tool for effective relationship marketing, as long as you use it correctly. That means no spamming!
Don’t just send a million emails to your customer with some generic copy and then wash your hands of it. Make sure that you’re communicating effectively with your customers, sending them emails that provide value and feel personal. Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened by customers. Take advantage of email marketing software such as Mailchimp that will help you to personalise your email marketing campaign and make your customers feel like they are part of a private conversation.
If you find yourself sending lots of different emails about lots of different topics, create separate mailing lists for them all and allow your customers to choose which ones they want to sign up to. That way, you can be sure that the emails they are receiving from you are emails that they will care about and want to open.
Stay on top of your customer service
Customer service is an essential element of a strong relationship with your customers; 73% of customers stay loyal to brands because of strong customer service. They need to feel that they are being listened to. Of course, they won’t feel heard if they can’t even contact you in the first place, so a top priority here is being approachable and easily reachable.
This is where social media can be really handy. Social media platforms are easily accessible to a wide range of customers, so it’s important to stay active and provide quick responses. Read our blog post about using social media for customer service effectively here.
Of course, social media shouldn’t be your only point of contact. Online chatbots, a clear helpline and a specific customer service email address are other important ways to create a line of communication with concerned customers, and these should all be clearly signposted on your website and social platforms.
Show that you’re not just in it for the money
It’s important to give back to your community in some way, whether that be through charitable donations or… There is a clear benefit for brands that are engaged with charitable causes: 85% of consumers have a more positive image of a brand that supports a charity they care about.
But don’t just pick any old charity out of a hat and support them one month of the year. People will see through this and it won’t impress them. Take the time to find a charity whose cause you genuinely care about and establish a relationship with them. Make sure you are supporting them and donating money consistently, year-round, not just every now and then to prove a point.
In fact, you could even mix giving to charity with rewarding customer loyalty, as Toms Shoes does. For every customer purchase, the brand contributes to charitable causes, and they make it clear where your money is going. This lets your customers feel much more a part of the process, and confirms that their purchases are worthwhile not just for themselves, but for others, too.
Get to know your audience
An important way to build a relationship with your customers is to get to know them really well. You can do this through surveys, polls or any other interactive element that allows your customers to have their voices heard by you.
You could send a customer satisfaction survey to your mailing list, or you could run a poll on Twitter and use the results to inform your content. Either way, you are getting in touch with your audience, hearing what they have to say and letting it shape what you do so that they know they are being listened to.
So the key takeaway is, make sure you are focusing on building up a strong relationship with your customers, creating a relationship with them that feels personal and two-sided. Hopefully, these top tips for a relationship marketing strategy have inspired you and will provide a good starting point for getting closer with your customers.