To build long-term relationships with your current customers, loyalty is essential. So, thanks to our advice, find out how retain a B2B customer.

Why implement a loyalty strategy?

Retaining customers costs 5 to 6 times less than winning over another.

According to a study, 72% of customer contract breaches are due to a relational deficit and not to a “technical-commercial” problem per se.

The older a customer is, the more revenue they will generate.

Maintaining good professional relationships with your customers is therefore crucial for your business. Creating a close relationship and maintaining good professional relationships without regular physical contact is not that easy. So, don't hesitate to pull out all the stops to seduce your customer: be flexible and friendly, listen, make him understand that his opinion counts and anticipate all types of eventsIf... All these elements will affect the balance of your customer's loyalty.

What are the techniques for customer loyalty?

There are many techniques for customer loyalty. Let's discover the 10 essential tips together.

Integrating the customer into the business

The first element and certainly the most important. You have to integrate customers into a community and involve them in it. If your customers feel integrated, they will want to share, follow their evolution. It is also a way for you to send them relevant information on video, photo or other media. Content that will seem to them to be added value and not just a promotion or product enhancement.

Adapting to the customer

Another very important element of customer loyalty in B2B is the ability to adapt. You need to be able to adapt to exceptional situations. If the customer asks for last-minute favors or services, you need to be able to organize yourself to satisfy them. Thus, proximity to it will be more important.

Listening

In addition to retaining your B2B customers, it is also very important to know their opinion. Do not hesitate to Evaluate customer service by offering a fun quiz allowing them to respond quickly and easily to your survey. It will also have to be studied and taken into consideration in order to change and improve this service. If customers notice that their advice has been listened to, they will feel that much more integrated and loyal to the company.

Define a loyalty program

You have understood it well, today, it is no longer enough to use a point system that allows discounts when shopping, it is necessary to promote personalization, with a targeted program and especially grateful to the most important customers. That's why you need to know your customers.

You can take into account various loyalty factors:

• The volume of purchase;
• Market share in the store;
• Evolution of turnover compared to one year on the other;
• The seniority of the customer...

You can also combine these different factors in order to establish studies and obtain results. This will allow you to have several visions of the loyalty levels of your customers.‍

Setting up a loyalty program is also a perfect method to offer your customers discounts on their purchases, free gifts, or special promotions.

Note that there are several types of B2B loyalty programs: the transactional program, the statutory program and the conversational program.

The transactional loyalty program

The transactional loyalty program is the most common program. The concept is simple: offer your customers loyalty points based on their purchase so they can enjoy rewards.

The statutory loyalty program

The statutory loyalty program rewards customers for their loyalty. It is in fact a program that allows you to reach different levels, and more and more advantageous, as the customer makes purchases. Thus, a regular customer will have a privileged status that will give him the right to interesting promotions. As a result, setting up this type of program makes it possible to encourage the customer to come back regularly to make purchases and to reward them for their loyalty, up to it.

With a statutory loyalty program, the company then succeeds in attracting customers, multiplying purchases and retaining its customers by offering them increasing advantages at several levels. The customer's desire: reach the highest level to get the most benefits...

The conversational loyalty program

This loyalty program is intended for maintaining a special relationship with the customer, for whom conversation is an essential tool. Communication channels, especially digital ones, make it possible to share brand information, gather feedback and testimonies, and offer personalized conversations, facilitated by the use of marketing tools.

A professional customer relationship program will include conversational features to support multi-channel communication and strengthen customer relationships. Indeed, communication platforms such as forums and social networks, which are initially aimed at consumers, can also be used in a B2B context.

Have a responsive customer service

And yes, it's no surprise to anyone. Customers are delighted with businesses that provide them with a prompt and effective response to their questions or difficulties, making them feel that the company is genuinely interested in their well-being.

A good experience with this service can encourage customer loyalty to the business. If customer service is responsive and effective, this generates trust between the company and the customer, which helps to consolidate loyalty.

Responding quickly and appropriately to your customers' requests can greatly improve their level of satisfaction.

By providing responsive customer service, you'll make customers feel like you take their needs and satisfaction very seriously, making it more likely that a deal will close. Through a professional response to their requests and concerns, you show them your desire to offer them the best possible service.

Offer assistance in getting started with the product or service

In order to ensure an optimal customer experience, theOnboarding is an essential element. Offer your customers video tutorials and e-learning content to help them get the most out of your product or service. In this way, you can count on their loyalty while reducing the risk of frustration.

Make your new customers welcome and engage them immediately by offering gifts and promotional codes. Send welcome emails and newsletters to strengthen their engagement and provide proactive customer support to ensure a long-lasting relationship.

Opt for proactive communication

Communication is essential for creating and maintaining B2B relationships. A productive communication strategy is a powerful tool for strengthening your customer engagement.

To strengthen communication, you can organize periodic meetings, send newsletters, and launch automated email marketing campaigns. Track customer engagement and stay in touch with them when you notice a drop in communication.

One frequent and regular exchange not only strengthens customer loyalty, but also offers new opportunities for complementary and cross-selling. Good communication thus contributes to the growth of your business revenues.