If you’re involved in setting your business
marketing budget, you know that acquiring customers is expensive. It’s so
expensive that it has been dubbed a ‘startup
killer’.
While our techniques are constantly
evolving and improving, the investment can be considerable.
Triggering repeat purchases is a great way
to lift ROI, and it’s the reason why businesses spend so much on nurturing
relationships. The potential gains from repeat custom are worth the investment,
particularly in the B2B market where decision-makers may take many months to
choose a supplier.
Measuring client loyalty
First of all, you need to figure out the
lifetime value of your client. There are three KPIs to look at when assessing
customer loyalty:
1. The number of times they have placed an order
2. The frequency of their order
3. The value of the relationship, overall
Businesses prefer to strike up long-term
relationships with suppliers, so we often find that B2B relationships are
highly engaged. But if their purchase value is low, there may be additional opportunities
to upsell and increase your margin with that client. Whether you approach them
directly with a proposal, or improve your website to make your services
clearer, there are many things you can do to drive extra income.
If a decision-maker returns to place a
second order, but then drops off your radar, there could be an opportunity to
bring that customer back into the fold by improving the value of the product or
service.
And if the decision-maker is purchasing occasionally,
but infrequently, you could perhaps tweak your offering to increase that
frequency over time. For example, many businesses now work to a subscription
payment model that encourages lock-in over the longer term.
Knowing your client
In the world of retail, companies set up
loyalty cards and reward repeat purchases with incentives. In business, this
kind of scheme is less common. However, there are cases where loyalty
programmes can work in a B2B market. If the business is owner-operated, the
owner is likely to be more sensitive to loyalty offerings, and a long-term
relationship with a small business can become more lucrative as that business
grows.
It’s important to know what you want to
achieve, whether it’s B2B referrals, additional business, or a longer tie-in
for the customer. Even if you don’t make more money from a loyalty programme,
you can learn more about the customer and figure out why other customers may or
may not be buying from you.
This might result in new website landing
pages, new content marketing strategies, different payment options or an
increased product range.
Of course, if you run a micro business, you
might already have a good idea of who your best customers are – and what they
spend. If that’s the case, simply pick up the phone and ask them if there’s
anything else you can do to assist them.
Using your assets effectively
Across the board, having the right data
about your clients is imperative when it comes to effective loyalty programs,
and B2B markets are no different in that respect. Designing the right solution
means thinking like a decision-maker, and using data to understand what makes
them tick.
Maintaining data quality is an important
part of the process, and you’ll need to allocate a certain amount of your
budget to marketing and developing your brand. But as you get better at
nurturing your existing clients, you should find that marketing becomes more
effective, and results in more rapid growth for the business while leveraging
the assets you already have.
