5 Post-holiday tips for customer retention

Ah, January. The holiday rush is over, and we’ve all (finally) had a chance to breathe. Customers are wrapping up their holiday spending, which means one thing for businesses: it’s time to shift gears from selling to nurturing.

We’ve got a few tips to keep your holiday shoppers come back to you after the shopping frenzy has calmed down.?

1. Stay in touch with them

You’ve got their email address, which is a great start. Most likely, your customers will have a case of shopping fatigue right now. Piling on more sales emails won’t do much to win their hearts.?

The key here is connection, not conversion.?

Implement customer relationship management strategies at every stage of your customer experience. For example, promptly respond to initial inquiries with personalised and helpful information. After a transaction, initiate post-purchase follow-ups, expressing gratitude, checking in, and seeking feedback.?

Prioritise close communication to show that your customers are heard and valued. This can include personalised email newsletters, exclusive offers, or even simple “let us know how we can help you” messages.?

2. Invite them to join your loyalty program

In case they haven’t already, invite your customers to join your loyalty program. You can make the offer more tempting by personalising the invitation, eg. suggesting what they will benefit from if they join your loyalty program, based on their past purchases.

Despite what you might think, customer loyalty is about more than just discounts and cold, hard cash. Non-financial rewards are increasingly popular with customers, and they're even beneficial for your bottom line.?

Things like shoutouts, gamified rewards such as badges and certificates, or even a simple personalised message can go a long way in making customers feel valued.

Creating a sense of exclusivity can make customers feel like they’re part of something special. Experiences such as behind-the-scenes tours, meet-and-greets with industry experts, or early access to product releases can be highly enticing.?

3. Social media

To start harnessing the power of social media for customer loyalty, you can first follow some key steps: actively monitor your social media channels, and promptly respond to comments, messages, and mentions.

Engaging in conversations with your customers, whether initiated by them or you, is another crucial step. If you want more activity from your users, you can use the right tech to track your users’ activity on social media and offer incentives for following, liking and posting content.

This combination of engagement and appreciation nurtures a strong bond between your brand and customers, fostering lasting loyalty and creating more social media and loyalty engagement.

4. Leverage social proof

User-generated content (UGC) refers to brand-related content created by consumers and brand advocates instead of an employee of that brand.

We all know that reach is the key to social media: UGC makes your customers the stars of the show - and what better way to engage with consumers beyond monetary transactions?

You can encourage social engagement and user-generated content through points and by rewarding consumers for submitting reviews, photos, videos, and other content.

What’s more, younger generations like Gen Z expect more brand interaction via channels they know best - social media. A recent study found that there’s a 120.3% increase in conversion when a shopper engages with ratings and reviews on a product page, and a 91.4% lift when a visitor interacts with UGC on a product page.

5. Understand them better

Understanding your customers' needs better will help you tailor your approach to their needs, resulting in a more meaningful connection.

Customer engagement begins with a genuine understanding of your customers - who they are, what they do, what they like and what they loathe. You need to get to the specifics of their preferences, needs and behaviours.

Conduct surveys, like asking about their favourite products or desired services.?Actively listen to their feedback on platforms like social media or customer reviews.?Analyse data, such as purchasing history, to understand patterns and anticipate future activity.?

Armed with this knowledge, shape your engagement strategies accordingly. For example, if your analysis reveals a strong preference for eco-friendly products, promote your sustainability initiatives.