Customer Loyalty Analytics: 5 Trends To Watch Out For & What To Do Next
Is your store delighting your customers? You might say, “Well, I haven’t heard any complaints!” But that doesn’t necessarily mean your customers are happy.
96 percent of unhappy customers won’t complain of a poor experience… but they’ll tell their friends. If your customers aren’t getting what they need from your store, you’ll lose their business, and you could lose their friends’ business, too.
Customer loyalty trends can tell us exactly what our customers want, without them having to tell us explicitly. By monitoring our customers’ behaviors and actions, we can optimize our in-store experience in order to provide as enjoyable and welcoming of a grocery experience as possible. We don’t need them to tell us exactly what they want — you just have to pay enough attention to see what can make their experience better.
With our experience in the grocery industry, we’ve seen it all. There are few things worse than losing your customers to things you can change, and paying attention to customer loyalty analytics and trends can help you avoid exactly that.
This post will walk you through five essential trends to keep in mind for 2023 and beyond. After reading, you should have all the information you need to start updating your processes and practices to keep your customers coming back for more.
Unlocking the Power of Customer Loyalty Analytics
The connection between customer loyalty and revenue growth comes from listening to your customers’ wants and needs, and giving them what they want without them having to ask.
Your growth and success as a business comes from creating happy customers. You can spend all the money you want on marketing to bring in new customers, but if you’re not managing to keep your existing customers happy, loyal, and coming back for more, you’ll have a hard time running a profitable store.
In an environment and industry as competitive as grocery, it’s imperative that you listen to the needs of your customers. Customer loyalty metrics like customer retention, repeat purchase rate, and Net Promoter Score (NPS) can provide valuable insight into customer behavior and help businesses make data-driven decisions.
Understanding the power of trends will help you predict future behavior, identify areas of improvement, adapt to change and identify new opportunities.
The benefits of tracking customer loyalty analytics include:
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Increased customer retention and experience
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Better understanding of customer behavior
Here are 5 trends to watch out for, and what to do when you see them.
1. Value and Pricing
In a time where “recession” is a word on everyone’s tongue, it’s safe to assume many of your customers are dealing with financial challenges that may result in less spending. It’s important to notice these downward trends if they start to happen so you can get ahead of a decrease in revenue.
Take note of certain products that may be seeing lower sales. Maybe prices have gone up due to inflation, or the item was an expensive product to begin with. Loyalty programs are beneficial to a company’s success in these kinds of scenarios because you can reward your customers for continuing to purchase with you.
You can also provide discounts or offer coupons for products you know customers love, but may not be able to afford. Use this information to find cheaper alternatives, or lesser-known brands that offer similar products for less.
With quality inventory management and a robust POS system, you can identify if certain key products aren’t performing the way they usually do. A POS system like Markt POS also offers customizable loyalty programs, so you can still help customers get their hands on their favorite products.
Using Markt POS’ purchase history feature, you can offer them promotional rewards based on products they love, so your loyal customers can still get the products they need.
What to Look Out For
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Customers leaving concerns about products or services via store reviews and feedback
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Customers expressing frustration with rising grocery prices
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Popular products seeing dips in sales
What to do Next
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Implement a loyalty program that rewards customers for their repeat business
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Stock up on lesser-known brands that sell cheaper versions of similar products
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Offer coupons or discount days
2. Social Responsibility
Owning and operating a business doesn’t come without a need for social responsibility. Consumers care about things like diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as environmentally-sustainable practices.
Build trust and loyalty by being transparent about your company's values and practices, and take steps to support your community and the environment. Consumers want to support businesses that align with their values, and it’s important to show your community that you care.
This can look like avoiding single-use plastic products, or selling reusable bags to customers. You could also invite customers to bring their own product bags to limit the use of plastics. Offering email receipts is also another great way to avoid waste.
What to Look Out For
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Plastic bags are not environmentally friendly
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Receipts are a waste of paper
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Customers bringing their own bags, or refusing them when you offer
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Customers asking where products come from, or how you source inventory
What to do Next
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Develop branded reusable bags for customers to purchase — and after a certain amount is spent, the customer receives one for free
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Offer loyalty program users the option of an emailed receipt with bonus sale offers
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Stock your shelves with diverse products from around the world, and do taste tests
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Introduce more local brands or alternatives
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Try to avoid single-use plastics for things like veggies, and sell reusable vegetable bags
3. Data Privacy
Privacy can be a huge issue with customers, and is an issue that rarely gets talked about. Privacy regulations have changed and staying aware of the legalities behind data research is imperative. Businesses must be transparent about their data collection and use practices, and give customers the ability to control their personal information.
Customers want to know their information is secure. This can be as simple as providing them with the option to unsubscribe to email marketing, or sending them a message that their information is being shared with no one.
If you have a loyalty program, provide clear details as to why you collect customer data so they know their information is secure.
What to Look Out For
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Customers skeptical about sharing personal information for an in-store reward
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Reluctance to give a phone or email address
What to do Next
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Communicate data privacy with pamphlets, brochures, and clear messaging when signing up for loyalty programs
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Slow down on email marketing, and make sure you don’t come across as spam-ey
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Send targeted emails so customers only receive messages that they want (such as personalized offers based on their purchase history)
4. Convenience
With the rise of technology, customers have come to expect easy, fast and seamless experiences when going about their day-to-day activities. This expectation can include how they pay, how they search for products, or even how they manage loyalty memberships.
It’s important to stay up to date with these kinds of trends, and new technologies designed to make life easier for customers. Consider offering different payment options like Google Pay or Apple Pay.
Markt POS offers digital loyalty programs, so there’s no more worrying about carrying a physical card. Our payment processing also accepts flexible payment methods, including mobile payments.
What to Look Out For
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Customers not bringing their wallets to the store
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People holding their phones out to pay
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Customers reluctant to register for memberships, or never bringing the physical card around
What to do Next
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Look to adopt newer technology
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Offer multiple payment options
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Develop a digital customer loyalty program
5. Personalization
Companies are using data and technology to offer personalized experiences and rewards for customers. Analyze data on customer behavior, demographics, and purchase history in order to create customized promotions or marketing programs that customers can relate to.
Consistency in messaging, branding, and customer experience across all services helps build a sense of reliability and predictability. With so much marketing and noise surrounding customers, it’s become an increasingly large trend that customers want to feel more taken care of.
They no longer want things to be transactional, and they want to feel cared for, catered to, and seen.. Make them feel seen, greet them at the door, and do your best to make customers feel as at home as possible.
What to Look Out For
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Customers looking for someone to ask questions, or chat with
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Visitors spending more time in-store looking around
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Loyalty sales dipping, or customers not returning as often as you would like
What to do Next
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Offer taste tests, and create more opportunities for customers to engage with your team members
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Have a store greeter, and make sure customers feel welcomed when they come in
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Send out personalized offers, looking at what customers have purchased and offering a discount on items they buy frequently or entice them to try something new that’s similar to a product they purchased in the past.
Stronger Customer Relationships: Dialing Into Customer Loyalty Analytics
If you listen closely enough, your customers will tell you exactly what they want and need to keep coming back.
Paying attention to customer trends and behaviors can help you work behind the scenes to optimize their experience and make them as happy as possible. By using insights from customer data, you can track how your efforts are impacting customer loyalty analytics.
The more you listen to your customers, the better your ability to create customized marketing campaigns that will attract even more traffic. Using automated processes and integrated systems will increase the effectiveness of your operations. Markt POS can help you consolidate all of your processes so that all the features you need communicate with each other the way you want them to.
A solid POS system can help you track important customer information and trends that will help drive these activities.
Markt POS can help you develop a customized customer loyalty program so you can have your eyes on everything you need. Get in touch with us and we can help set you up for customer loyalty success.
