Christmas is one of the best opportunities to build up your customer base. If you sell physical products, you’re more than likely going to have shoppers coming to your brand – who may not necessarily know your brand – to simply buy a gift from you for someone else. This is the perfect chance to turn them into a returning customer, who will repeatedly shop from you, whether that’s for others or for themselves.
There will be customers who will prefer to do their Christmas shopping online, and others that prefer to shop in-store, listening to Christmas music. Whatever way they decide to interact with your brand, there are ways you can turn them into returning customers.
Keep reading to learn how to attract loyal customers this festive season in six simple and easy ways.
What are the advantages of customer retention?
There are many advantages of customer retention and one of them is enhancing your social connections. Returning customers are invested in your brand and therefore feel secure buying from you. If they continually purchase from you and enjoy a positive experience with you, they’ll share this with others on their social pages which encourages people to follow your brand on your social media channels, thus improving your social connections.
This kind of exposure also enhances your brand awareness, especially if you share a seasonal offer. Your returning customers will share your festive discounts with their friends and family which not only means more conversions for your business, but also widens your reach.
Overall, by turning your Christmas shoppers into returning customers, you can generate a steady income long after the festive period. But to do this effectively, there are tactics businesses need to adopt, as we outline below.
6 ways to turn your Christmas shoppers into a returning customer
Here are six effective ways you can encourage your seasonal shoppers to repeatedly shop with you.
1. Keep them interested
This may seem pretty simple, but if your Christmas shoppers are only coming into your store to grab a few presents for someone else, and that’s the end of their consumer journey with you, then it’s unlikely that they’ll come back. You need to be grabbing their attention and keeping them interested throughout their journey. A couple of ideas you could put into practice are things like an exclusive in-store or online discount code or include a free small gift in every order for example.
2. Offer a loyalty scheme
If you’re offering Christmas discounts, you could make it so they can only receive them if they sign up to your loyalty scheme, or they can gain extra discounts by signing up to your scheme. Once you’ve got them involved with this, they’re more likely to make repeat purchases to increase their future discounts and offers. This will also make them feel a part of your brand and build further trust with your audience.
3. Send regular newsletters
If your customers shop online on your website, you’re more than likely going to have them on your database. Provided you have gained consent to send email marketing communications to them, you can send regular newsletters to them, which you can personalise and promote any new offers, deals or products in the run up to Christmas. This way of marketing is far more direct, and it can be done in mass – just make sure you don’t become spammy!
4. Deliver an excellent shopping experience
Even in the mad Christmas rush, you still want to make your customers’ shopping experience memorable, especially if they come in-store. They’ll have already come out in the masses of shoppers, waited in endless queues, and the last thing they want is a bad experience to add to it. Even in the busy periods, it’s still really important to deliver excellent customer service and many brands hire Christmas temps to be able to manage the influx of customers.
You could set up a fun Christmas campaign, and make their experience interactive. Let them have some fun in your store or on your site during the festive period! Whether it’s in-store or online, get them to share their experience on your social media channels too so the rest of your audience can see your commitment to their shopping experience.
5. Collect feedback
Collecting feedback is something that can coincide with your newsletter. It’s a good way to find out what you were doing right or wrong this Christmas, so next year you can improve upon this.
Customer feedback will give you the best insight into what the customers are thinking about your brand. It’s best to ask them this shortly after they’ve made a purchase with you and there are many platforms you could utilise for this including Trustpilot, Reviews.io or Feefo to name a few. As you start to gain a star rating, you can share this across your website, social media channels, email marketing campaigns and any other places your customers will see to increase your conversion rate!
6. Get them following you
In our digital and connected world, getting these customers to follow your brand on social media is the perfect way to encourage them to become loyal. As they scroll through their news feed, you should be continually popping up, as long as you’re creating regular and relevant content. The more they see your brand popping up, the more likely they’re to click back onto your site or head into your store and make that all important purchase with you.
Want to learn more about how to attract loyal customers?
Turning your Christmas shoppers into returning customers is an opportunity you really don’t want to miss out on. By adopting the above six simple tactics, you’ll have your seasonal shoppers making repeat purchases with your brand long after the festive period.
If you’d like to learn more about increasing customer loyalty, get in touch with us today. Our team of digital marketing experts can share all the secrets you need to know regarding customer retention and how you can incorporate them into your existing marketing strategy. We can even implement these tactics on your behalf, leaving you one less thing to worry about this Christmas. Find out how else we can help today.