Building customer retention and loyalty is key to long-term success for your eCommerce business. One of the best ways to do that is by using loyalty programs or customer clubs. Some eCommerce owners are hesitant to leverage them because it does require extra resources and, usually, some extra discounts or offers for customers. But it’s an excellent long-term solution that brings actual ROI.
Why Is It Worth Having A Customer Club?
As we mentioned, a customer club is an excellent way to get users to sign up or register within your online store. And that on its own has significant benefits for eCommerce owners. Once a customer signs up and creates an account, you can leverage their information to personalise their experience in your online store. And ultimately, that’s the best way to engage and retain customers. When users sign up you can ask them for information that will help you make their experience in your store more relevant. For example, if you’re selling tea you can ask about their favourite flavours and drinking habits. Then you can use this information to showcase different products more suited to their preferences.
Today’s customers are more likely to purchase from and go back to online stores that offer personalised experiences. If you’re unsure whether a customer club would benefit your business - that’s the only argument you need!
Read also: Quality content is the key to customer conversion
The Key Elements Of A Good Customer Club
Let’s dive into what makes a good customer club and how you should go about establishing one to make sure it’s a success.
Defined Goals & A Clear Plan
Before you implement a customer club or a loyalty program, you first need to define what your goals are. What will this club mean for you as well as your customers? This largely depends on your business model, the type of products or services you offer and other variables. For example, some businesses encourage frequent purchases (like a monthly subscription for tea) while others sell products that are bought less often (like skiing equipment). Both of these can have a customer club, but they will need to be set up differently in order to succeed.
Think about what kind of benefits you can offer as well - why should the customers sign up for this club? What makes it special? It’s important to keep it simple and clear for the customers, so they don’t get confused by your club before they even sign up. You should also think about how the club will be displayed in your eCommerce store - how much attention should it pull? Do you just need a banner or a separate landing page?
Good Registration Process
The next thing that’s crucial for a customer club’s success is a well thought out registration process. You should make it as easy as possible for your customers. One of the most popular ways to do that is to offer them to register at checkout when they have already filled out all their information. Another way is to showcase the membership benefits they could gain at checkout if they choose to sign up. This will help you attract more customers into the club or loyalty program without disturbing the user journey.
User-Friendly “My Account” Page
Another very important element of a customer club is the user panel where they can manage their account. It should be easy to locate and easy to use. The customer should be able to edit their information, manage their consents and, if they wish to, delete their account or unsubscribe. A good thing to include on the user’s account page is the benefits they’ve earned or discounts they can redeem.
Read also: 5 principles for a good user experience
Seamless Checkout
Your customer club benefits and discounts should integrate easily into the checkout experience. Registered users need to be able to quickly add the available discounts etc. to their cart or, ideally, the discounts should be applied automatically. Again, the checkout is the perfect place to encourage customers who haven’t signed up yet to do so by showcasing the membership benefits.
If you’re looking for a team of eCommerce experts to help you implement a customer club or loyalty program - contact us and let’s talk about your project!
