How Your Digital Presence Drives Brand Loyalty

Many companies look at their digital assets with one thought in mind – “when will I see a return on investment?” They look at a spreadsheet full of pluses and minuses and want to know how long it will take to recoup the costs of adding a new email workflow to nurture customers who abandon items in their shopping cart. Five purchases? Ten? Twenty?

But, the crucial element that can’t be captured in a spreadsheet is brand loyalty. All of your digital assets—your website, your social media profiles, your app—act together to create an experience for your customers. How you shape that experience will determine how loyal your customers are.

Before we get into how your digital presence drives brand loyalty, let’s look at why customer loyalty is so important. Consider the following statistics from Retention Science:

• 80% of your future profits will come from 20% of your existing customers.
• The probability of converting an existing customer is 60-70%. The probability of converting a new customer is only 5-20%.
• Satisfied customers tell 9 other people about their positive experiences while dissatisfied customers are likely to talk about their negative experiences with 22 other people.
• Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.

As you can see, it pays to cultivate brand loyalty with your customers. How can you do that with your digital presence? There are three main points in a buyer’s decision-making process that are relevant to your digital strategy. Here are scenarios for each of those phases.

Pre-shopping experience

Maia needs a dress for a wedding that she’s attending in two months. She spends part of her lunch break looking at dresses online. Maia follows a few fashion icons on Instagram and sees a dress she loves from a brand she’s never heard of before. A quick look at the brand’s social media accounts shows her behind-the-scenes fashion shoot photos, a video showcasing this season’s hottest trends, and a photo gallery about how to accessorize your dress for any occasion. So, she clicks over to their website and starts browsing, eventually finding not one, but three dresses she wants to buy.

Digital Dissection:

What worked in this scenario? In this situation, Maia had a problem that needed solving—she needed outfit inspiration. A combination of timely, relevant social media posts helped her find a brand she liked. In the pre-shopping phase, you want to make sure that you’re providing as much information as possible to your potential customer. Videos, photos, and blog posts are all great ways to communicate the personality of your brand.

Ease of use while shopping

Luke just adopted a puppy and needs to buy all the essentials—food, treats, collar, leash, and training toys. He goes online to his favorite pet store, one that he’s used in the past to buy things for his two older dogs. At the start of his shopping experience, the site asks him to fill in a short questionnaire about his pet. Once he’s done that, it takes him to a page of recommended items for a new puppy and gives him a “Congrats on Your New Pet” offer – a 25% off coupon. The photos on the website are high quality and the accompanying product reviews help him narrow down his options quickly. Before long, Luke has put over $500 worth of items in his cart. 

Digital Dissection:

What worked in this scenario? Every part of this brand’s website was geared to making it easy for Luke to find what he needed. Recommended items, product reviews, and high-quality photos all provided him with the information he needed quickly and efficiently, all in one place.

Post-shopping experience

Nadia recently bought an all-inclusive trip to Europe from a travel deal website. Within 24 hours of making her purchase, she receives an email from the company with suggested itineraries in each of the cities she will visit. The itineraries have been tailored to her interests in art and architecture. The travel company has also offered her a discount on any travel guidebooks she needs. All of her itineraries and guidebooks will be loaded onto the company’s app, which Nadia can access while she’s traveling.

Digital Dissection:

What worked in this scenario? The travel brand went above and beyond to make sure that Nadia had a positive experience. They built a post-shopping experience that increased Nadia’s loyalty by thinking of ways to value-add to her purchase.

As more of our shopping money and time move to eCommerce, it’s important for brands to think of their digital strategy in terms of what it takes to gain customer loyalty, rather than making a quick sale.

Contact Pyxl

Want to learn more about creating a digital strategy that drives profit and brand loyalty? Contact us today! We’d love to get to know you and your brand.

Updated: Nov 15, 2024