The customer is always right. The heights your eCommerce business will climb depend on how your customers experience your business. A study conducted by McKinsey revealed that 70% of buying experiences are based on how customers experience your services. Brands that put up strategies that impress customers and keep them glued to their services always triumph over their competitors.
One of the strategies that improve customer experience and foster customer retention is loyalty programs. Loyalty programs are designed to reward clients who make regular purchases from a business. That means a well-crafted marketing effort would take customer engagement to another level. Besides, it translates to enhanced customer satisfaction, improved conversion rates, and increased overall profitability of your brand.
What are some of the most successful technologies that will be shaping the eCommerce loyalty programs in 2022 and beyond?
Let’s see.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
It is not easy to stand out in the crowded modern business environment: eCommerce. For you to stand out, you need to invest in a technology that gives you a competitive edge over your customers. For instance, you can look out for eCommerce software that makes it easy for you to personalize your interactions with your customers to cultivate brand loyalty. In that case, the use of artificial intelligence(AI) comes in handy.
For example, running AI-powered chatbots in your ecommerce helps you streamline the interaction between you and your customers. More advanced customer loyalty programs can also offer better customer support and better interactions – actually, on a more personal level – with new visitors.
Digital Wallets
The excessive number of smartphones used for shopping is changing how consumers make payments in eCommerce stores. Today, customers are turning to their mobile devices to make monetary transactions. The convenience which mobile devices offer consumers makes this offer a very attractive option. That is why the use of digital wallets as customer loyalty programs is attracting businesses in a horde.
But, that is not the only benefit of having a smartphone-based digital wallet at every point of sale. The wallet can also get all the customers’ information in real-time. As a result, it becomes easier to see who, where and what of all transactions made. This information can be used by the sales team to send personalized messages to the customers. That way, it will make them feel engaged and valued. In short, here are some of the benefits ecommerce would get from implementing digital wallets in your customer loyalty software programs:
- Reduced advertising costs – Getting your message across to the customers can be costly. Digital wallets provide personal information that can be used for targeted messaging. That way, you end up reducing both promotional and advertising costs.
- Improved customer experience – Customers are always for brands that offer them better shopping experiences. Mobile wallets support multiple accounts; have better payment management, and offer alerts and personalized offers from merchants. Besides, digital wallets are stored on a mobile phone. That makes it compatible with eCommerce websites. Besides, it makes it easy to maintain.
- Better payment security – what makes digital wallets more secure is the several layers of encryption that protect electronic transactions. Since each transaction is encrypted, all it means is that the transmitted data is devoid of the account holder’s information. Besides, for you to make a successful transaction, you need a fingerprint or PIN authorization.
In-App Rewards
It’s not a surprise that apps are the most preferred customer touchpoints even when it comes to loyalty and rewards. While there are a lot of financial ways to pay like mobile wallets, many companies also find great success through the use of their own loyalty apps.
Starbucks is a good example by far. They built their digital loyalty marketing platform that allows customers to upload money or gift cards straight onto the app, which can then be used with a simple QR code scan at the register or for mobile ordering ahead of time. Also, it gives gift drinks after you buy a couple of coffee or else which gives you points for your next purchases.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The IoT is simply a trend that would herald the tech world to another level of connectivity. It makes use of techs like wearables, wireless sensors, and beacons that transmit data to a central location where it can be processed. Today, it is evolving into a must-have tech that every serious ecommerce store can’t do without.
Thanks to IoT’s numerous touch-points; it offers ecommerce a fresh opportunity to engage its customers. Businesses can benefit from the analysis of real-time, big data that comes from different connected devices. As a result, it would help build loyal relationships with the brand. Besides, businesses would reach a new level of targeting.
IoT also combines brand and customer data to create more individualized experiences. eCommerce merchants can take advantage of the consumer’s relationships in this way to provide more individualized information and activities.
Digital Beacons
The biggest challenge with most loyalty & retention programs is that they lack the ability to provide tempting offers that are related to storing experiences or individual customers. That is where web beacons come in handy to provide a dynamic loyalty program that responds to the feel of the customer. That way, you will be sending your customers highly targeted and tempting offers that feel fresh, exciting, and relevant.
Moreover, omnichannel personalization could help to reinforce customer relations according to a loyalty perspective. Customers are more likely to purchase secured and versatile online stores.
Summing It Up
1- Structure out how your customers define loyalty.
2- Adopt technological plans to evolve purchase security.
3- Provide personalized dynamic programs to meet your customers’ needs.
Customer-brand relationship determines how far your business would go. One of the ways of making your customer the king is by improving their shopping experiences. Reward and loyalty programs are one of the surest ways your business can use to impress and retain customers. Using the latest technology in your customer loyalty program helps you fine-tune your offerings. As a result, you end up increasing the profitability of your eCommerce store.
Customer-brand relationship determines how far your business would go. One of the ways of making your customer the king is through improving their shopping experiences. Reward and loyalty program is one of the surest ways your business can use to impress and retain customers. Using the latest technology in your customer loyalty program helps you fine-tune your offerings. As a result, you end up increasing the profitability of your eCommerce store.
customer relationshipsecommerceloyalty programs
