Driving Consumer Confidence & Loyalty
Research has shown that consumer confidence typically increases when the economy expands, and decreases when it contracts. And since expectations are tightly linked to current macroeconomic conditions, it has made things particularly challenging for businesses when we’re living through numerous historical moments in the course of a couple of years. From Covid to Brexit, to now the conflict in Ukraine, issues like these cause all kinds of disruptions and ups and downs in everything from the values of currency to the price of properties, fuel, the cost of living and much more. It means as businesses, we need to be smarter than ever and driving consumer confidence and loyalty should be at the forefront of our marketing, planning and strategy. If you want to thrive as a brand, it’s so important to keep adapting to current consumer preferences; here are some of the things that customers emphasize that they want from business in the current climate.
Sustainability
Customers want to be sustainable, but according to research, price is still the number one thing they’re looking at (and is important above all else). This makes it difficult for many brands to balance cost vs sustainability when looking into driving consumer confidence & loyalty. One challenge is that customers state that they often don’t even know which brands actively support sustainable practices such as using recycled/ recyclable materials or packaging. Taking steps to be more sustainable is important for the planet as well as for customer confidence and loyalty, so look to moving towards more eco-friendly options that still work for your budget. Make it clear to customers what exactly it is that your brand is doing to be more sustainable. You can communicate this message on your social media, website and on packaging/ products themselves.
Convenience
When it comes to shopping we’re all looking for the quickest, easiest way to get what we want when we want it. Consumers today state they often feel “overwhelmed with digital communications from brands,” but it’s simplicity and convenience cut through the noise. There are a number of ways that customers want businesses to provide convenience and ease. These include:
- Easy return options
- Free returns
- Buy online, pick up in store
- Curbside pick up
- Simple to navigate mobile site
- Intuitive checkout process
- Easy to access customer service
Necessity over the course of the pandemic has meant that consumers often had no choice but to switch to online shopping just to keep getting access to the things they needed, and they did this in droves. While things were already moving in this direction, the pandemic accelerated the shift. However, some now wont move back, so it’s crucial to embrace this. As a result, utilizing a fulfillment company is now a necessity for many businesses, for more information check out our Facebook or contact us via email.
Free shipping
Consumers have been conditioned to expect free or fast shipping, likely due to the Amazon Prime effect. Small and large businesses alike should try to offer this as well as a way to provide customers with what they want. One way to accommodate this expectation, driving consumer confidence & loyalty while still accounting for expensive shipping is to offer multiple shipping options. You could offer to ship items faster with a fee added or offer to ship for free with a longer shipping window.
How are you providing customers with confidence and loyalty during the times of major shift that we’re experiencing in the modern day?